At first glance, this man embracing a smiling girl seems like a scene of happiness. But there is a very complex story behind this photo taken in 1933.
This man is Adolf Hitler, the German dictator responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews. The daughter is Rosa Bernile Nienau, who is of Jewish origin.
Rosa's friendship with Hitler continued for several years after this date, until the intervention of high-ranking Nazi officials.
Summary of the story of the half-Jewish little girl whom Hitler loved like his daughter or niece: Her mother is Jewish. Her name is Rosa Bernile Nienau. He and Hitler have the same birthday. Hitler loved spending time with her, starting in 1933. But this time his private secretary Martin Ludwig Bormann prevailed and in 1938 he was forced to stop seeing the little girl.
Rosa Bernile Nienau (20 April 1926 – 5 October 1943), called Bernile, was a German girl who became known as "the Führer's child" because of her close friendship with Adolf Hitler that lasted from 1933 to 1938.
This strange photograph, taken by photographer Heinrich Hoffmann, was sold for $11,520 at an auction in the United States, BBC Mundo reported.
“This signed photo is a piece that has never been made public before,” the auctioneer told the Daily Mail newspaper: “Hitler sometimes took photos with children for propaganda purposes. "The surprising thing is that in this photo there seems to be a real closeness between him and the child."
“Hitler's Love”
The photo appears to have been taken in 1933, on April 20, Hitler's birthday. According to the auctioneer's website, Rosa and her mother went to Hitler's retreat in the Bavarian Alps for the dictator's birthday. When Hitler learned that Rosa was born on the same day as him, he invited the little girl and her mother to his home.
Before long, Hitler learned that the girl's mother, Karoline, was Jewish. But despite this, Hitler, the murderer of 6 million Jews, continued his friendship with the little girl. On a photograph he sent her, Hitler wrote, “Dear Rosa Nienau. Adolf Hitler, July 16, 1933,” he wrote. Rosa also later drew flowers on the black and white photo.
Rosa wrote to Hitler and his deputy Wilhelm Bruckner at least 17 times between 1935 and 1938. The letters continued until Hitler's private secretary, Martin Bormann, ordered the little girl to stop writing to Hitler.
As photographer Hoffmann later stated, Hitler did not pay much attention to the order. In his book “Hitler Was My Friend,” Hoffmann writes that the dictator told him, “There are people who are skilled at ruining my joy.”
Sad ending
After Bormann intervened and cut off contact between the "two friends", World War II began. When the war ended in 1945, it left behind 6 million dead Jews. Rosa did not survive the war. He died of polio in a Munich hospital in 1943, when he was 17 years old, 10 years after his first meeting with Hitler.