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Blondi

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This article is about Adolf Hitler's dog. For similar names and related words, see Blondie.

Blondi
Blondi in 1942
SpeciesCanis lupus familiaris
BreedGerman Shepherd
SexFemale
Born1941
Died29 April 1945(1945-04-29) (aged 3–4)
Berlin, Nazi Germany
Cause of deathCyanide poisoning
Nation fromNazi Germany
OwnerAdolf Hitler
OffspringWulf and four other pups

Blondi (1941 – 29 April 1945)[a][2] was Adolf Hitler's German Shepherd, a gift as a puppy[3][4] from Martin Bormann in 1941. Hitler kept Blondi even after his move into the Führerbunker located underneath the garden of the Reich Chancellery on 16 January 1945.[5]

Hitler was very fond of Blondi, keeping her by his side and allowing her to sleep in his bed while in the bunker. According to Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge, this affection was not shared by Eva Braun, Hitler's companion, who preferred her two Scottish Terrier dogs named Negus and Stasi.

Blondi played a role in Nazi propaganda by portraying Hitler as an animal lover. Dogs like Blondi were coveted as "germanische Urhunde", being close to the wolf, and became very fashionable during the Nazi era.[6] On 29 April 1945, one day before his death, Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Heinrich Himmler's SS. To verify the capsules' potency, Hitler ordered SS physician Werner Haase to test one on Blondi, who died as a result.[7]

Blondi's puppies

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In March[8][9] or in early April[10][11] (likely 4 April)[12] 1945, she had a litter of five puppies with Gerdy Troost's German Shepherd, Harras. Adolf Hitler named one of the puppies "Wulf", his favorite nickname and the meaning of his own first name, Adolf ("noble wolf"),[13] and he began to train her.[14] One of Blondi's puppies was reserved for Eva Braun's sister Gretl. Eva sent Gretl a letter containing a photo of Blondi and three of her puppies, Gretl's being indicated with an arrow.[15]

Other dogs

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During his military service in World War I, Hitler rescued a stray white Fox Terrier named Fuchsl. Hitler had great affection for the dog, and when he was not on duty at the front, he would spend much of his free time playing with the dog in the barracks and teaching it tricks. Hitler was profoundly distraught when his unit had to move and the dog was lost in August 1917.[16][17][18]

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, the dog 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.[19]

He also owned a German Shepherd called "Muckl".[20] Before Blondi, Hitler had two German Shepherd dogs, a mother [born 1926] and daughter [born ca. 1930] – both named Blonda. In some photos taken during the 1930s the younger Blonda is incorrectly labeled as Blondi (in most cases photograph inscriptions were written later).[12]

In May 1942, Hitler bought another young German Shepherd "from a minor official in the post office in Ingolstadt" to keep Blondi company.[21] He called her Bella.[22] According to Traudl Junge, Eva Braun was very fond of her two Scottish Terrier dogs named Negus and Stasi. She usually kept them away from Blondi.[23]

Hitler was jealous about his dogs and got irritated when they showed affection to other people.[24][25] The physician Ferdinand Sauerbruch claimed that in 1942 Hitler threatened to kill the dog Blondi because Sauerbruch played with it.[26][27]

Hitler was very strict with his dogs, and got very angry when they disobeyed him.[28] He often used to beat them on such occasions.[29] Maria Reiter, a girl Hitler had dated on the late 1920s, told of an occasion where their dogs got into a fight, and then "Hitler suddenly intervened, like a maniac he hit his dog with his riding whip [...] and shook him violently by the collar."[30][31] When she asked him how he could be so brutal to his dog he said "it was necessary".[31]

Death of Blondi and other dogs

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During the course of 29 April 1945, Hitler learned of the death of his ally Benito Mussolini at the hands of Italian partisans on 28 April. This, along with the fact that the Soviet Red Army was closing in on his location, strengthened Hitler in his resolve not to allow himself or his wife to be captured. That afternoon, Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Heinrich Himmler's SS. By this point, Hitler regarded Himmler as a traitor.[32] To verify the capsules' contents, Hitler had SS physician Werner Haase summoned to the Führerbunker that afternoon to test one on his dog Blondi. A cyanide capsule was crushed in the mouth of the dog, which died as a result.[7] Hitler was expressionless as he viewed the dog's corpse,[33] but he became completely inconsolable.[34]

According to a report commissioned by Joseph Stalin and based on eyewitness accounts, Hitler's dog-handler, Feldwebel Fritz Tornow, took Blondi's pups and shot them in the garden of the bunker complex on 30 April 1945, after Hitler and Eva Braun had committed suicide that same day. He also killed Eva Braun's two dogs, Gerda Christian's dogs, and his own dachshund. Tornow was later captured by the Allies.[35] Erna Flegel, who met Hitler and worked at the emergency casualty-station in the Reich Chancellery, stated in 2005 that Blondi's death had affected the people in the bunker more than Eva Braun's suicide.[36] After the battle in Berlin ended on 2 May 1945, the remains of Hitler, Braun, and two dogs (thought to be Blondi and her offspring Wulf) were discovered in a shell crater by a unit of SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency.[37][38] The dog thought to be Blondi was exhumed and photographed by the Soviets.[39]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources incorrectly suggest 1934 as Blondi's date of birth.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Eatwell, Roger (1995). Fascism: A History. Chatto & Windus. p. 152.
  2. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 252.
  3. ^ Comfort, David (1994). The First Pet History of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 247. ISBN 0-671-89102-2.
  4. ^ some sources suggest the Summer of 1942 (see: Wires, Richard (1985). Terminology of the Third Reich. Ball State University. p. 9.) or even February 1943 (see: timelines.ws Archived 14 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine)
  5. ^ Beevor 2002, p. 139.
  6. ^ Sax, Boria (2000). Animals in the Third Reich: Pets, Scapegoats, and the Holocaust. Foreword by Klaus P. Fischer. New York and London: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-1289-8.
  7. ^ a b Kershaw 2008, pp. 951–952.
  8. ^ Galante, Pierre; Silianoff, Eugène; Silianoff, Eugene (1989). Voices from the Bunker. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's. p. 12. ISBN 0-399-13404-2.
  9. ^ Dekkers, Midas; Vincent, Paul (2000). Dearest Pet: On Bestiality. Verso. p. 171. ISBN 1-85984-310-7.
  10. ^ Eberle & Uhl 2005, p. 188.
  11. ^ Brush, Karen A. (2007). Everything Your Dog Expects You to Know. New Holland Publishers Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-84537-954-4.
  12. ^ a b "Distant Relatives". Abby K-9. March 2006. Archived from the original on 9 November 2007.
  13. ^ Bullock, Alan (1962). Adolf Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Penguin Books, p. 785.
  14. ^ Kohler, Joachim; Taylor, Ronald K. (2001). Wagner's Hitler: The Prophet and His Disciple. Polity Press. p. 19. ISBN 0-7456-2710-2.
  15. ^ Gun, Nerin E. (1969). Eva Braun: Hitler's Mistress. Meredith Press. pp. 241, 246. ISBN 0-7456-2710-2.
  16. ^ Altman, Linda Jacobs (2005). Adolf Hitler: Evil Mastermind of the Holocaust. Internet Archive. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow Publishers. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7660-2533-2.
  17. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 56.
  18. ^ Giblin, James; Payne, Robert (2000). The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. New York, Praeger [1973]. p. 20. ISBN 0-395-90371-8.
  19. ^ Beevor 2002, p. 357.
  20. ^ von Schirach, Baldur (1967). Ich glaubte an Hitler. Mosaik Verlag. p. 106.
  21. ^ Goebbels' Diary, 30 May 1942: " He [Hitler] has bought himself a young German Shepherd dog called "Blondi" which is the apple of his eye. It was touching listening to him say that he enjoyed walking with this dog so much, because only with it could he be sure that [his companion] would not start talking about the war or politics. One notices time and time again that the Führer is slowly but surely becoming lonely. It is very touching to see him play with this young German Shepherd dog. The animal has grown so accustomed to him that it will hardly take a step without him. It is very nice to watch the Führer with his dog. At the moment the dog is the only living thing that is constantly with him. At night it sleeps at the foot of his bed, it is allowed into his sleeping compartment in the special train and enjoys a number of privileges...that no human would ever dare to claim. He bought the dog from a minor official in the post office in Ingolstadt."
  22. ^ Dowd, Maureen (13 July 2011). "Opinion: Hitler's Talking Dogs". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  23. ^ Junge, Traudl (2003). Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-297-84720-5.
  24. ^ Speer, Albert (2015). Inside The Third Reich: The Classic Account of Nazi Germany by Hitler's Armaments Minister. Orion. ISBN 978-1-4746-0338-6. I avoided, as did any reasonably prudent visitor to Hitler, arousing any feelings of friendship in the dog. That was often not so easy, especially when at meals the dog laid his head on my knee and in this position attentively studied the pieces of meat, which he evidently preferred to his master's vegetarian dishes. When Hitler noticed such disloyalty, he irritably called the dog back.
  25. ^ Callan, Paul (27 June 2009). "I was Hitler's secretary". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2025. One sure way to irritate the Führer was to make an excessive fuss of his pet dogs. He was noticeably selfish in his desire for their unflinching affection and if they responded to stroking from anyone else, Hitler became visibly irritated.
  26. ^ Mohnhaupt, Jan Wolf (2022). Animals Under the Swastika. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-0-299-33800-8.
  27. ^ Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1956). Das war mein Leben. Bertelsmann.
  28. ^ Moorhouse, Roger; Dietrich, Otto (2023). The Hitler I Knew: The Memoirs of the Third Reich's Press Chief. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-78438-997-0.
  29. ^ Lambert, Angela (2 September 2014). The Lost Life of Eva Braun: A Biography. Macmillan + ORM. ISBN 978-1-4668-7996-6.
  30. ^ Marrus, Michael Robert (2 August 2011). The Origins of the Holocaust. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-097049-4.
  31. ^ a b Rosenbaum, Ron (8 July 2014). Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil, updated edition. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-306-82319-0.
  32. ^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 945, 946, 951.
  33. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 952.
  34. ^ O'Donnell, James (1978). The Bunker: The History of the Reich Chancellery Group. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 166. ISBN 0-395-25719-0.
  35. ^ Eberle & Uhl 2005, p. 273.
  36. ^ Harding, Luke. "Hitler's nurse breaks 60 years of silence", The Guardian, May 2, 2005.
  37. ^ Beevor 2002, p. 399.
  38. ^ An autopsy determined that both dogs had been shot and that Blondi had been killed by poison. Some sources say that Wolf was killed with the other puppies in the Chancellery garden (see Moorhouse, Roger (2007). Killing Hitler: The Plots, The Assassins, and the Dictator Who Cheated Death. Bantam. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-553-38255-6.).
  39. ^ Le Tissier, Tony (1992). Berlin Then and Now, After the Battle. ISBN 978-0900913723

Sources

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