Eva Braun was born in 1912 in
Simbach-am-Inn,
Germany. Her parents were both religious, hence she was educated at a school run by nuns. Eva was befriended with
Heinrich Hoffman, a photographer, and it was in his studio that she first met
Hitler. Later she described Hitler to her sister as "
a gentleman of a certain age with a funny moustache and carrying a big felt hat." She was only 17 years old by then.
After her education Eva officially became Hoffmans's assistant: her main function was to help with the process of pictures of Hitler. During this time she got to know him better, and fell in love with him. In 1931 Hitler's niece Angela, of whom he was obsessively possessive, committed suicide. To help him overcome his distress Eva started copying Angela's dress and behavior, slowly becoming a clone of the dead girl. Five years later she moved to Hitler's villa in the Bavarian Alps called Berghof. Hitler demanded of her that she would keep their relationship a secret.
In Berghof Eva lived an isolated life, spending her time reading cheap novels, watching romantic movies and minding her own appearance. She wasn't interested in politics whatsoever: a tragedy, since she was probably the only one who could have had an influence on Hitler's political views. Hitler's indifference to her as he became totally preoccupied with affairs of state after 1933 led her to attempt suicide on several occasions.
On April 28th, 1945 as the Russians closed in on Berlin, she joined Hitler in the so-called Führerbunker, an air-raid shelter of his Berlin headquarters. At 11.45 pm Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler got married in the very same bunker. The next day Eva committed suicide by swallowing poison, two minutes before Hitler took his own life. Their bodies were burned by Hitler's guard and have never been formally identified.