The diary of Eva Braun - Alan Bartlett

When the fake Hitler diaries were taken up by The Sunday Times, it was accompanied by all the razzmatazz of the modern media. Yet in 1949, when Eva Braun's diary was published, there was no such circus in a world already tired of the war. The source of the diary was Luis Trenker, a film-maker, and there was plenty of evidence to verify that this was no fake. He had not the slightest doubt that Eva had given him her private diary in which she reflected upon the most momentous years and events not only in her lifetime but in that of millions of others. She alone knew of the most intimate facts concerning one of the most infamous men in the history of the world, Adolf Hitler, Fhrer of the Third German Reich. And here they were spread out before a small-time film director. Yet here, quietly languishing on the odd bookshelf, is one of the most fascinating documents about the personal life of Hitler, chilling in its naivete and its comparative disinterest in the grim events that affected the entire world. There is something infinitely disturbing in reading how Eva Braun set out to keep her lover, later her husband, at her side, through her attempts to satisfy his unusual tastes -- moral and sexual. Yet, the reader may not feel any real hostility towards this woman who gained so little from her association, but more likely experience the kind of discomfort that one suffers when the family dog licks the burglar. The reissue of the diary should furbish further debate on the analysis of evil and those who live at its side.