She was a plain-looking woman with bad teeth and a plumpbelly.
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| Instant attraction: Hitler and Unity |
Yet Unity Mitford had never been hindered by her strangelooks. Now, in the summer of 1934, she was determined to do everything shecould to meet her idol, Adolf Hitler.
Unity travelled to Munich and began stalking Hitler aroundtown, Although he was fuhrer of Germany, it was relatively easy to see him inpublic since he was accustomed to eat at the same cafés and restaurants eachday.
When Unity learned that he frequently had lunch at theOsteria Bavaria, she began eating there as well.
She did everything she could to get his attention. Yet tenmonths passed before Hitler finally invited the persistent English girl to histable. They chatted for half-an-hour and quickly realised they were soul mates.
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| One for the family album |
‘It was the most wonderful and beautiful [day] of my life,’wrote Unity to her father. ‘I am so happy that I wouldn’t mind a bit, dying. I'd suppose I am the luckiest girl inthe world. For me he is the greatest man of all time.’
Herfeelings were reciprocated. Hitler was particularly intrigued by Unity’s middlename, Valkyrie. And he was fascinated to learn that her grandfather hadtranslated the anti-Semitic works of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, one of hisfavourite writers.
Hitlerbegan to see more and more of his fair-haired English friend, much to theannoyance of his ‘official’ girlfriend, Eva Braun.
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| Hands up who likes Hitler: Unity and sister Diana |
‘She isknown as the Valkyrie and looks the part, including her legs,’ wrote Braun inher diary. ‘I, the mistress of the greatest man in Germany and the whole world,I sit here waiting while the sun mocks me through the window panes.’
Unity wasnow introduced to members of Hitler’s inner circle. She got along particularlywell with the thuggish Julius Streicher, publisher of the vitriolicanti-Semitic newspaper, Der Sturmer.
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| Munich: Unity's new home |
When Unitydelivered a particularly nasty diatribe against the Jews, Streicher asked if hecould print it in his paper. Unity was flattered.
‘TheEnglish have no notion of the Jewish danger,’ began her article. ‘Our worstJews work only behind the scenes. We think with joy of the day when we will beable to say England for the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler!’
She ended her text with the words: ‘Please publish my name in full, I want everyoneto know I am a Jew hater.’
Hitler wasso pleased with what Unity had written that he awarded her a golden swastikabadge as well as a private box at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
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| Unity with the thuggish Streicher (right) |
Unity nowbecame one of the fuhrer’s intimates, visiting him on numerous occasions andexpressing her constant admiration for him. He was no less smitten with her: in1938, he even offered her an apartment in Munich. Unity had high hopes ofreplacing Eva Braun in his affections.
By now, herbehaviour had aroused the suspicions of the British Secret Service. The head ofMI5, Guy Liddell, was particularly alarmed by her closeness to Hitler. He feltthat her friendship with him warranted her being put on trial for high treason.
Unityrefused to leave Germany even after Britain’s declaration of war on 3September, 1939. Yet she was deeply depressed by what had happened, not least becauseof the implications it had for her relationship with Hitler.
She tookherself to the English Garden in Munich, held to her head the pearl-handledpistol given to her by Hitler and pulled the trigger.
She wasbadly wounded but - amazingly - survived. Hospitalized in Munich (the billswere paid by Hitler), she was eventually moved to Switzerland. When she waspartially recovered, her sister, Deborah, flew to Bern in order to bring herhome to England.
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| What fun we had: Unity and Diana at Nuremberg |
‘We werenot prepared for what we found - the person lying in bed was desperately ill.She had lost two stone (28 pounds), was all huge eyes and matted hair,untouched since the bullet went through her skull.’
Whathappened next remains shrouded in mystery.
The official account relates thatshe was taken to the family home at Swinbrook in Oxfordshire. She learned towalk but never made a full recovery.
She eventually died in 1948 as a result ofmeningitis caused by the bullet in her brain.
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| He's my dad: as it might have been |
She eventually died in 1948 as a result ofmeningitis caused by the bullet in her brain.
But thereis another, more intriguing theory about her return to England. It has recentlybeen claimed that she was actually taken to a private maternity hospital inOxford. Here, in absolute secrecy, she gave birth to Hitler’s love child.
The womanwho made the claim, Val Hann, is the niece of the hospital’s former manager,Betty Norton. Betty had told the story to her sister, who in turn passed it onto Val.
If true, itwould mean that Hitler’s child is quite possibly still alive and livingsomewhere in England.
But thefacts will never be known for certain: Betty Norton died long ago and thematernity hospital neglected to register many of the baby’s who were bornduring the war.
NOW PUBLISHED IN PAPERBACK
Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War available here for just £5.30
And for my American readers, it is now published under the title: The Boy Who Went to War: The Story of a Reluctant German Soldier in WWII available here
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Newly published US edition |
'Idiosyncratic and utterly fascinating... an extraordinary tale of hardship, horror and amazing good fortune' James Delingpole, The Daily Mail
