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Erna Hanfstaengl


Erna Hanfstaengl (1885–1981) was the elder sister of Ernst ("Putzi") Hanfstaengl and was an acquaintance of Adolf Hitler. She also befriended Unity Mitford, who lived with Erna for a period.

Hitler may have been romantically involved with Erna, who was reported to have been beautiful, charming, cultured and intelligent. In the days following the failed Beer Hall putsch, it was rumored that Hitler and Erna had sex while the former was hiding at a country house in Uffing.

Rumors circulated in Munich in 1923 that Hitler and Erna were to be engaged; in the spring of 1923, the most widely read newspaper in Munich, the Münchener Neuste Nachrichten, published a story to this effect.

It appears that the "tall and stately" Erna had simply been polite to Hitler and had shown courtesy to her brother's friend at their initial meeting in the early 1920s, and Hitler misinterpreted this as romantic affection. Gross claims that Hitler was in love with Erna, but that she considered the whole business to be a joke, and that she was amused at his attempts to court her. According to Gross, she was teased by her society friends about the unwanted affections shown by her "suitor" and made sure that she was never alone with him.

In any event it appears that during the period 1922-23, Erna assisted her brother in his aspirations to become one of Hitler's inner circle, by furthering Hitler's introduction to people of wealth and social standing in Munich.

Several writers claim that, years later, Geli Raubal, Hitler's niece (and possibly his lover for a period, although many authorities doubt their relationship was consummated) was jealous of Hitler's association with Erna.

According to Heinrich Himmler's personal aide and special-plenipotentiary Walter Schellenberg, Erna was also involved in a plot to overthrow Hitler and to sue for peace with the Allies.

Erna owned a shop in Munich in 1943, and Schellenberg made her acquaintance in March 1943 at Himmler's suggestion. Himmler's wife and Erna were acquainted, and Frau Himmler had suggested to her husband that Erna would be a suitable person to conduct peace negotiations with the English, perhaps because she knew "people of influence" such as Randolph Churchill.


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