⚠️ SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING ⚠️
THE TRAGIC FATE OF THE NAZI LEADERS’ DEADLY BEAUTIES: The Little-Known Dark Destiny of Nazi Wives and Mistresses After the Fall – From Lives of Luxury to Hiding in Shame
The content of this article is for educational and historical understanding purposes, not to endorse or glorify Nazism. We apologize if the article’s title may cause any offense or be deemed inappropriate.
The Fates of the “Nazi Princesses” – Wives and Partners of Hitler’s Inner Circle After 1945
When the Third Reich collapsed, the women who had stood beside its most powerful men faced dramatically different destinies.
Emmy Göring (wife of Hermann Göring)
Arrested by U.S. forces in 1945, stripped of almost all property during de-nazification, lived in poverty in Munich doing manual work. Died in 1973.
Eva Braun (Hitler’s wife)
Married Adolf Hitler on 29 April 1945 in the Führerbunker. Committed suicide together with Hitler the next day (cyanide).
Gretl Braun (Eva’s sister, wife of SS-General Hermann Fegelein)
Gave birth to a daughter shortly after Fegelein was executed on Hitler’s orders for desertion. Lived quietly in Bavaria, refused all interviews, died in 1987.
Margarete Himmler (wife of Heinrich Himmler)
Briefly detained with daughter Gudrun in 1945, then released. Lived reclusively in southern Germany, never publicly distanced herself from the ideology. Died in 1967.
Gerda Bormann (wife of Martin Bormann, mother of 10 children)
Fled to Italy after the war with Church assistance, died of cancer in a Merano clinic in 1946.
Henriette von Schirach (wife of Baldur von Schirach, Hitler Youth leader)
The only woman from the inner circle who publicly criticised Hitler and the regime (in her 1970 memoir). Lived until 1992.
Ilse Pröhl (wife of Rudolf Hess)
Remained loyal to her husband throughout his life imprisonment in Spandau, visited regularly. Died in 1995, eight years after Hess’s suicide.
Lina Heydrich (widow of Reinhard Heydrich)
Ran a hotel on Fehmarn island (property returned by West German authorities). Defended her husband’s memory to the end, never apologised. Died in 1985.
Carin Göring (Hermann Göring’s first wife)
Died in 1931; after 1945 her grave was repeatedly vandalised and her remains moved several times.
Most of these women were never criminally prosecuted (or received only light sentences), but they spent the rest of their lives under the shadow of the past—some in silence, some in denial, very few with public reflection.
History records not only the men who gave the orders, but also the women who chose to stand beside them.
Reliable Sources
Gudrun Burwitz (née Himmler) and Margarete Himmler files – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Emmy Göring memoirs and de-nazification records – Bundesarchiv Germany
Henriette von Schirach, “Der Preis der Herrlichkeit” (1970) & “Anekdoten von Hitler”Lina Heydrich, “Leben mit einem Kriegsverbrecher” (1976)
Anna Maria Sigmund, “Die Frauen der Nazis” (2000, 2014 edition) – one of the most respected academic works on the subject
Fabrice d’Almeida, “High Society in the Third Reich” (2008)
Oliver Rathkolb, “Baldur von Schirach: Nazi Leader and Head of the Hitler Youth” (2022)
National Archives (US & UK) – captivity interrogations of the wives (1945–1948)