Into the Light: Eva Braun's Personal PicturesRecently released photographs from Eva Braun's personal picture albums reveal new dimensions of the woman who was Adolf Hitler's longtime girlfriend and, in their last, frantic hours together, his wife. Braun became the central woman in Hitler's life after the 1931 suicide of Geli Raubal, the future Führer's 23-year-old niece (and rumored lover). By all accounts, Eva was an unpretentious companion for the Nazi leader, but also a woman at once frivolous and vain -- unsurprising characteristics, perhaps, in a former teenage model, but striking in a figure long associated with the darkest chapters of the 20th century. This collection of rare photos comes from a cache of images confiscated by the U.S. Army in 1945 and brought to light by collector and curator Reinhard Schulz. Pictured:
Eva Braun in a rowboat on Lake Worthsee near Munich in 1937. 
Braun SistersEva and her sister Ilse in a childhood photo, 1913. In later life, Ilse worked for -- and had a relationship with -- a Jewish surgeon, Dr. Martin Levy Marx, until he emigrated to the United States in 1938.
Little EvaBraun at the Beilngries convent school Beilngries, Germany, 1922.
Eva's Early DaysNine-year-old Eva Braun (second from right), with some of her classmates at the Beilngries convent school Beilngries, Germany, 1922.
Day Dreaming"My first carnival costume" wrote Braun underneath this 1928 photo.
Teenage EvaEva Braun sitting on a table in the living room at her parent's house in Munich, Germany, 1929. She was staying with her family after finishing her education at a trade school; later that year, she met Hitler at Hoffmann's photo studio.
Bending Over BackwardBraun exercising in her bathing suit at Konigssee lake, a few miles from Hitler's mountaintop retreat.
Braun and BearEva Braun and friends in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, 1935.
Master of the HouseA portrait of Adolf Hitler in Eva Braun's living room at the Berghof, Hitler's residence near Berchtesgaden, Germany, 1937.
On HolidayEva Braun (left) and friends on vacation in Bad Godesberg, Germany, 1937.
Life of the PartyThis 1937 photo of Braun was titled "Me as Al Jolson" and depicts her in blackface as the American actor and singer in his role in
The Jazz Singer. Braun was a fan of American movies, including
Gone with the Wind.
A Couple of Cut-UpsEva Braun and an unidentified friend at a house party in Munich. By all accounts Braun enjoyed these parties and frequently dressed up for them during carnival. She also liked to smoke but only when Hitler was not around.
Carnival at the BraunsEva Braun (far right) celebrates carnival time at her parents house in Munich, Germany, 1938. Among the group are her mother Franziska Katharina (center) and her sisters Ilse and Margarethe.
Hoffmann's Photo AgencyHeinrich Hoffmann's photo agency, Munich, Germany, 1938.
Happy New Year, 1939Hitler rang in 1940 at his mountaintop home, the Berghof. Among his guests were many Third Reich insiders.
In the SunHitler disapproved of some of Braun's habits such as smoking, wearing makeup, skinny dipping, and nude sunbathing. Here, Braun, in a bathing suit, relaxes by Konigssee lake in 1940.
Behind the Umbrella, 1940
The Braun FamilyEva Braun (far right) with her parents, Friedrich "Fritz" and Franziska, and her sisters Ilse (left) and Gretl, 1940.
Bathing BraunBraun in her bathing suit near Berchtesgaden, Germany, 1940.
Picture ViewingEva, the second daughter of a respectable Bavarian Catholic family, became a photographer's model at age 17, working in the Munich studio of Heinrich Hoffman (above, left), the official photographer of the Reich. Through the job, Braun met "Herr Wolff," an older man with "a funny moustache" whose real name was Hitler. By 1931 Braun and Hitler were, in effect, a couple, and Hitler was the undisputed star of Germany's fast-growing Nazi Party. (Eva's sister, Gretl, married Hermann Fegelein, a general in the Nazi SS. Gretl survived the war. Fegelein did not; he was executed -- some say by Hitler's own orders -- in 1945.)
Pictured: Heinrich Hoffmann, Eva Braun, and Hitler at Hitler's residence, the Berghof near Berchtesgaden, Germany, 1942. Hitler and Braun are looking at photos Hoffmann has brought to the Berghof.
Hitler and 'Uschi'Hitler holds Ursula "Uschi" Schneider, the daughter of Herta Schneider, a close childhood friend of Eva Braun's, at Hitler's home in the Bavarian Alps, 1942.
Behind the CameraBraun filming with her 16mm camera in 1942. Occasionally, she shot with color film which, years later, proved invaluable to historians as it offered an inside view of Hitler and his entourage.
Dog LoverHitler pets Braun's Scottish terriers, Negus and Katuschka, in 1942. (Katuschka was nicknamed "Stasi.") Braun didn't like Hitler's German shepherd, Blondi, who occasionally shared the bedroom with him.
Down, BoyBraun and Hitler's German shepherd in 1942.
On Hitler's TerraceEva Braun sits on the terrace at Berghof, Hitler's home in the Alps, 1942. A photography buff, she took many photos of daily life at Berghof; note the camera by her side. But her life would not long remain so idyllic. By April, 1945, as Russian and German troops fought -- savagely, street-by-street -- for control of Berlin, it became increasingly clear that the Allies would win the war in Europe. Hundreds of thousands perished in the Battle of Berlin, including untold numbers of civilian men, women, and children. But it was two particular deaths -- that of Hitler and Eva, his wife of one day -- in a sordid underground bunker on April 30, 1945, that truly signaled the end of the Third Reich. Historians are quite certain that Hitler shot himself in the bunker; Braun committed suicide by biting a cyanide capsule. He was 56. She was 33.
Hitler's BirthdayHitler with guests at his 54th birthday party at Hitler's Bavarian Alps residence, April 1943. Eva Braun is on the far left; behind her is her close friend, Herta Schneider.
The Sisters BraunEva Braun (left) and her younger sister Margarethe "Gretl" Braun in 1943.
Arm in Arm with Hitler's ArchitectPosing with Hitler's architect Albert Speer, who designed the Reich Chancellery, the Reichsparteitagsgelände (the massive grounds and stadium where Nazi rallies were held), and other significant structures. He was also the Reich's hugely powerful Minister of Armaments. At the post-war Nuremberg Trials he was found guilty of war crimes, but was sentenced to 20 years rather than executed as many of his co-defendants were. After his release from prison he became a best-selling memoirist, and died in London in 1981.
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