Английская Википедия:Hedwig Potthast
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Good article Шаблон:Infobox officeholder
Hedwig Potthast (5 February 1912 – 22 September 1994) was the private secretary and mistress of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, with whom she had two children.
Born in 1912, Potthast began as Himmler's secretary in 1936 and by 1938 she had become his lover. She resigned from her duties in 1941, and subsequently had two children with Himmler, a boy and a girl. After World War II, Potthast married and lived the rest of her life outside the public eye. In post-war interviews, she refrained from answering questions about Himmler's involvement in war crimes committed by the Nazis or about her own knowledge of them. She died in 1994.
Biography
Early life
Hedwig Potthast was born on 5 February 1912 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia as the daughter of a local businessman.Шаблон:Sfn After her final Abitur exams at secondary school, she trained as a secretary qualified in foreign languages.Шаблон:Sfn At the end of her training in 1928, Potthast worked in Koblenz.Шаблон:Sfn
Relationship with Himmler
Through Kurt Baron von Schröder, one of the founders of the Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft ("Circle of Friends of the Economy"), she met Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.Шаблон:Sfn In 1934, she was employed at Gestapo headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse in Berlin.Шаблон:Sfn From early 1936 until early 1941, Potthast was Himmler's private secretary, and in this function was particularly responsible for Himmler's sponsorship and giving of awards.Шаблон:Sfn
Himmler and Potthast confessed their love for each other at Christmas time in 1938.Шаблон:Sfn At first they tried to keep it platonic, but they fell into an adulterous relationship.Шаблон:Sfn Margarete, Himmler's wife since 1928 and mother of their daughter, found out about Himmler's relationship with Potthast at some time in February 1941.Шаблон:Sfn She felt humiliated and bitter,Шаблон:Sfn and Potthast's parents rejected the extramarital relationship.Шаблон:Sfn Potthast first took up residence in Grunewald and from 1943 she lived in Brückentin, near the estate of Oswald Pohl, because she was a friend of his wife, Eleonore.Шаблон:Sfn Lina Heydrich, wife of Himmler's right-hand man Reinhard Heydrich, and Gerda Bormann, spouse of Martin Bormann, were also counted among her friends.Шаблон:Sfn Later she lived in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria.Шаблон:Sfn
Potthast had two children with Himmler. Helge, a son born 15 February 1942 in the Hohenlychen Sanatorium, and Nanette-Dorothea, a daughter born 20 July 1944 in Berchtesgaden.Шаблон:Sfn That same year, Himmler borrowed 80,000 Reichsmarks from the Nazi Party Chancellery and had a house built for Potthast near Berchtesgaden.Шаблон:Sfn Actually, in the small picturesque city of Schönau am Königssee.[1]
Little is known about the overall relationship between Himmler and Potthast.Шаблон:Sfn The couple most likely saw each other only infrequently due to Himmler's activity in his numerous offices.Шаблон:Sfn It remains unclear how much, if anything, either Potthast or Himmler's wife knew about his "secret work", his involvement in the Final Solution, the genocide of the Jews.Шаблон:Sfn Potthast's relationship with Himmler ended in early 1945,Шаблон:Sfn—they met for the last time in mid-March 1945, after which they shared daily telephone calls until 19 April 1945.Шаблон:Sfn
Post-war
When World War II in Europe ended, Potthast was in Achensee, Austria, and, after having learned of the death of Himmler on the radio on 23 May 1945, went into hiding, living temporarily with Eleonore Pohl in Rosenheim, Upper Bavaria.Шаблон:Sfn In June/July 1945, she was arrested there by members of the U.S. Army and interrogated for several days in Munich.Шаблон:Sfn Margarete and Himmler's daughter, Gudrun Burwitz, did not learn of her half-siblings until after the war.Шаблон:Sfn When she tried to make contact with them, Potthast refused.Шаблон:Sfn She lived in Theissendorf and kept in contact with the family of Himmler's older brother, Gebhard, as well as Himmler's former close confidant, Karl Wolff, until the 1950s.Шаблон:Sfn
Final years
Potthast later married and took her husband's name.Шаблон:Sfn Her son struggled with ailments throughout his life and stayed with her; her daughter became a physician.Шаблон:Sfn In a 1987 interview with former Der Spiegel editor Peter-Ferdinand Koch, Potthast remained silent about Himmler's responsibility for Nazi war crimes.Шаблон:Sfn She died on 22 September 1994, aged 82, in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg.[2]
References
Sources
Printed
Online
External links
Шаблон:Heinrich Himmler Шаблон:Authority control
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- Women in Nazi Germany
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