Adolf Hitler and Geli Raubal: Obsession and a Forbidden Relationship

If there was one woman whose association with Adolf Hitler fascinated the world, it was Geli Raubal. His half-niece, she became the object of his obsession. Historians have debated the nature of their relationship, but many agree that she was the woman he loved most deeply. She was found dead on 19 September 1931 in Munich, Germany, in the apartment she shared with Hitler. Discovered in a pool of blood in her bedroom with a gunshot wound, Geli had taken her own life. She was 23. Her death deeply affected Hitler.Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal was not just his niece, but also his passion and love. In The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler, Robert Waite wrote, "With the single exception of his mother's death, no other event in his personal life had hit

him so hard."The couple shared a strange and intense relationship. Geli, born on 4 June 1908, was the daughter of Leo Raubal Sr. and Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal. She lost her father at an early age, and more than a decade later, her mother became Hitler's housekeeper at his new home in Obersalzburg in 1925. Geli and her sister, Elfriede, accompanied her. Geli was 17 when her mother moved in as Hitler's housekeeper. Hitler, who was 19 years her senior, was enchanted by her "unusual beauty". He took every opportunity to be around her.Read More: The Englishman Who Drew a Line Through 88 Million Lives in Five WeeksIn October 1929, she moved into Hitler's apartment in Munich after enrolling at a nearby college. As Hitler's power grew over the following year, he became increasingly domineering and possessive of Raubal. "When he discovered she was having a relationship with his chauffeur, Emil Maurice, he forced an end to the affair and dismissed Maurice from his service. Her social outlets became more controlled and limited once she moved to Munich, and she soon dropped out of school and gave up on having a singing career," states the website Hitler Pics.By 1931, he was controlling almost every aspect of her life, leaving her feeling suffocated. She was expected to be accompanied at all times by someone he trusted. Geli wanted a life of her own and began making plans to escape to Vienna and resume her singing lessons. The night before her death, the pair reportedly had an argument when Hitler refused to allow her to leave. The following morning, she was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. She had used Hitler's Walther pistol to take her own life. Her death remains shrouded in mystery. Various attempts were reportedly made to conceal the circumstances surrounding it. The body underwent only a perfunctory post-mortem examination, and the case was quickly ruled a suicide. But questions persisted. Despite efforts to keep the matter quiet, Münchner Post, the city's leading anti-Nazi newspaper, splashed the story across its pages under the headline: "A Mysterious Affair: Hitler's Niece Commits Suicide."