

Did Adolf Hitler have any pets?

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Hitler Blondi Berghof

"Blondi (1934 - 29 April 1945) was Adolf Hitler's female German Shepherd dog, given to him as a gift in 1941 by Martin Bormann. Blondi stayed with Hitler even after his move to the underground bunker in January 1945. During the Battle of Berlin in April 1945, she had a litter of five puppies with Gerdy Troost's German Shepherd, Harras. Hitler named one of the puppies "Wolf", his favorite nickname and the meaning of his own first name, Adolf (Noble wolf).

By all accounts, Hitler was very fond of Blondi, keeping her by his side and allowing her to sleep in his bedroom in the bunker, an affection not shared by Eva Braun, Hitler's girlfriend, who hated Blondi and was known to kick her under the dining table, according to Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge.

As a soldier in World War I Hitler had great affection for a stray white terrier named "Fuchsl" and was distraught when he lost it. He had been given a German Shepherd before named "Prinz" in 1921, during his years of poverty, but he had been forced to lodge the dog elsewhere. However, it managed to escape and return to him. Hitler, who adored the loyalty and obedience of the dog, thereafter developed a great liking for the breed.

Blondi's death

Before Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, he ordered physician Werner Haase to test a cyanide capsule on Blondi. The capsule killed her. According to a report commissioned by Stalin and based on eye witness accounts, Hitler's dog-handler, a Sergeant Fritz Tornow, took Blondi's pups from the arms of the Goebbels children, who had been playing with them, and shot them in the garden of the bunker. He then killed Eva Braun's two dogs and his own dachshund by lethal injection. Tornow was later captured by the Allies. Hitler's nurse, Erna Flegel, said in 2005 that Blondi's death had affected the people in the bunker more than Eva Braun's suicide had. When the battle of Berlin fizzled out, the dog was exhumed and photographed by the Soviets.

In Hitler's Bunker: A Boy Soldier's Eyewitness Account of the Führer's Last Days, Armin D. Lehmann elaborated on Blondi's death.

 "That afternoon Hitler summoned Professor Werner
  Haase from the emergency hospital to the bunker to
  stage a dress rehearsal of his own suicide.
  Hitler no longer trusted the SS and he wanted an
  assurance that the poison capsules he had been
  provided with by the SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger
  actually worked.  The guinea pig chosen for this
  experiment was his beloved Alsatian Blondi.
  The dog was led into the toilets off the waiting-room
  at the foot of the steps to the upper bunker by Hitler's
  dog attendant Sergeant Fritz Tornow. Inside, Tornow
  forced Blondi's jaws open and crushed the capsule
  with pliers as Haase watched. The dog collapsed on
  the ground instantly and didn't move. Tornow was
  visibly upset. Hitler couldn't bear to watch the
  scene himself. However, he entered the room
  shortly afterwards and, seeing the results for
  himself, departed without saying a word. Tornow
  was further mortified to be given the task of
  shooting Blondi's four young puppies. The Goebbels
  children were understandably upset when their
  sprightly little playthings were wrenched from them.
  Tornow took them up to the Chancellery Garden where
  they were put to death along with several other pets
  of the bunker inmates. Later, Hitler met the medical
  staff to thank them in the lower bunker. As Professor
  Schenck records in his memoirs, one of the nurses
  became hysterical."
Includes CC-BY-SA content from Wikipedia's Blondi article (authors)


An interesting side note: Hitler and Fascists of the time in general were real lovers of nature. Nazi propaganda videos included long sweeping shots of hills and mountains. Quite interesting, really.

I believe this panoramic filming of the 'Fatherland' was designed to promote some sort of mythical germanic nationality. The mountains and hills served as a backdrop to some Wagnerian idyll. Hardly nature watch, more Nazi watch.

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