Adolf Hitler’s niece, Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal, was the one and only woman the Fuhrer ever loved, claims a new book titled "The Angel of Munich", written by Fabiano Massimi. According to the author, the course of history could have been different and Hitler himself might have been a different person had the young woman not died in 1931.
Massimi says that although his work is a novel, it is based on 70 historical documents that he studied while writing the book. According to the author, the relationship between Hitler and Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal began when he was 36 and she was 17. They started living together in Munich in 1929, but no one knows whether the two were lovers. However, on various occasions Massimi claims that Hitler said Geli was the only woman he would marry and painted some nude portraits of her.
Over time, their relationship worsened. Massimi writes that Hitler was "very possessive" and that Raubal wanted to leave him. There are contradictory testimonies about what happened next.
What is known for sure is that on 18 September, Geli and Hitler had an argument. He reportedly didn’t let her go to study singing in Vienna, where she might have had a lover. Hitler was afraid that Raubal would leave him, Massimi claims. "People said that her lover could have been her vocal teacher, a violinist or even a Jew", said Massimi.
When Hitler returned to the apartment after the argument, he discovered Geli dead with a gunshot wound. Although her death was ruled a suicide, the tragic incident sparked numerous theories. According to some of them, Hitler could have ordered the murder of his niece so that she wouldn’t run away with her lover. Others claim that his closest allies killed Raubal to protect Hitler from scandal. However, Massimi has his own version of what happened on 18 September 1931. The writer claims that the young woman was assassinated by the Nazi leader’s photographer, Heinrich Hoffman and that he shot her with the gun that Hitler later used to commit suicide in 1945.
After her death, Hitler disappeared for three days and nights and, according to Massimi, the Nazi leader wanted to leave politics and even kill himself.
Later, Hitler always requested that portraits or busts of Geli be put in his office, and turned her room into a sort of mausoleum. Even when Hitler met Eva Braun, he didn’t let anyone remove any objects that reminded him of his niece. "Goering said in Nuremberg that Raubal’s death was the final straw. Hitler lost the last remnants of humanity”, said Massimi, adding that the course of history could have been different if she hadn’t died.
