Adolf Hitler walked out of Landsberg prison in December 1924 and returned to Munich to find his Nazi Party in chaos. The Bavarian government had banned him from public speaking, the tool he had used most effectively as an orator and demagogue. For a man who built his appeal on his voice, the restriction was a serious handicap.
Hitler responded by changing tactics. The failure of the Beer Hall Putsch had convinced him that revolution in the old style was impossible, so he left prison determined to pursue power through legal means. His first priority was to shed his gangster image.
The task of rebranding Hitler fell to Heinrich Hoffmann, a former paparazzi photographer and ally who greeted him as he emerged from Landsberg prison. Together, Hoffmann and Hitler tried out many different poses and costumes, including lederhosen. When Hitler later saw the contact sheet of images of himself in lederhosen, he crossed them all out in red, thinking he looked silly. He never wore lederhosen in public again.
It was at this point that Hitler began to remake himself as a more statesmanlike figure. Those who knew him were shocked by the change. Some of his friends mockingly called him "legal." Hoffmann took over two million photographs to perfect Hitler's idealized image of himself. Hitler wanted the many photos he disliked destroyed, but Hoffmann kept them, and they survived.
In September 1931, Hitler's most important relationship was with a woman who lived in his Munich apartment and routinely appeared with him in public: his 23-year-old niece, Geli Raubal. Hitler used Geli to promote his image as a wholesome family man, but speculation mounted over the exact nature of their relationship. She was described as a wonderful, beautiful girl, and he was obviously attracted to her and kept her around all the time. Whether they were lovers is not known.
Hitler was the dominant figure in Geli's life and wanted to control it, insisting he should be the only man in her life. When he found out she had an affair with his chauffeur, he was devastated, upset, and terribly jealous. Geli told friends, in a chilling sentence, that her uncle was a monster and that nobody understood what he demanded of her.
Rumors swirled in the press that Hitler was keeping Geli a virtual prisoner in his apartment. By then she had fallen in love with a young man in Vienna and wanted to go there, but he would not let her. On September 18, neighbors overheard a fight between Hitler and his niece. Later that day Hitler left Munich for Nuremberg, and the next day she was found dead, killed by his revolver.
Whether he shot her remains unclear. There were many witnesses who said he was not there that night, so it is not known whether he shot her, she shot herself, or a third party shot her. The question remains a mystery to this day.
In his relationship with Eva Braun, as in so many other areas of his life, Hitler resorted to drugs. He was injected with testosterone, cocaine eyedrops, and more. As his health worsened, his leg shook uncontrollably. His personal physician, Dr. Theodor Morell, noted in his diary that it was probably stress-related, and the treatment was an injection believed to contain methamphetamine.
Hitler was on a cocktail of some 74 drugs, which clearly clouded his mind. Such substances keep a person up and keep him going, but they rob him of a great deal of perspective. He was an addicted leader.
His daily routine reflected the strain. There was the long lie-in, the late breakfast, the medical treatments, the injections, and the pills before lunch. He would then walk down to the tea house, eat cake, and be driven back uphill because he never liked to physically exert himself. Supper was another vegetarian meal.
Afterward came a very strong expectation that everyone would gather around the fire while he talked and talked about art, race, music, and vegetarianism. Memoir accounts record guests sitting there and listening, with some saying they were ready to shoot themselves because they thought he would never stop.