Rare Hitler photos designed to show Fuhrer’s ‘softer’ side
RARE propaganda pictures of Adolf Hitler have emerged showing him taking leisurely strolls in the countryside with children.
It was an attempt by Nazi propagandists to show a softer side to the Fuhrer.
They arranged for him to be pictured engaging in pursuits that would present him as a friendly and approachable character.
The photographs were taken in the idyllic Obersalzberg area of the Bavarian Alps – Hitler’s favourite holiday retreat.
Decked out in Nazi flags, his mountain hideaway – the Berghof – was one of his most frequently used headquarters during the Second World War.
Hitler bought it with the proceeds from sales of his chilling autobiographical book Mein Kampf, which detailed his genocidal political beliefs.
But despite the efforts of the photographers, the images struggle to hide the tension as Hitler poses uncomfortably in the snaps.
In one picture, a young boy in lederhosen looks distinctly unhappy as the Fuhrer holds him in an awkward hug.
Other images show Hitler stony-faced as he appears with dogs and deer.
The pictures will appear in a new book, Hitler’s Alpine Headquarters, by James Wilson. Hitler hosted various VIPs at the Berghof – including former British prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd-George.
The Fuhrer’s long-term companion Eva Braun also spent time there with him, although the pair are said to have had separate bedrooms with an adjoining door.
The Berghof was bombed by the British in 1945, just five days before Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.
Retreating SS troops later set fire to the building.
Its shell remained in the Bavarian mountainside until 1952, when it was demolished.