New documents cast doubt on timeline of Hitler’s niece’s death — Jerusalem Post
In Munich, Germany, newly discovered archival documents have cast doubt on the established timeline of the death of Angela “Geli” Raubal, Adolf Hitler’s half-niece. The records may indicate that her body was found on September 18, 1931, while Hitler was still in the city, rather than the following day, as previously believed.
Records for September 18
Raubal was 23 when she was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in Hitler’s Munich apartment. Her death was officially ruled a suicide. The pistol from which the shot was fired belonged to Hitler.
According to the established version, Raubal’s body was discovered on September 19, after Hitler had left Munich for Nuremberg. However, German historian Harald Sandner found an entry in Munich’s official death register stating that the body was discovered at 10:15 a.m. on September 18. Two death notifications found in the archives also bear the date September 18, the Jerusalem Post reports, citing CNN.
Official records indicate that Hitler left Munich for Nuremberg only in the afternoon of September 18. If the documents are authentic, Raubal’s death may have occurred about a day earlier than researchers had assumed, and Hitler would have been in Munich when her body was discovered.
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Historians’ assessments
Sandner suggested that inconsistencies in the documents could point to a possible cover-up of the circumstances by police, some members of whom sympathized with the Nazi Party. His findings were previously published by the German outlet Der Spiegel; the researcher plans to present them in greater detail in a future book about the circumstances of Raubal’s death.
Thomas Weber, a historian of Nazi Germany at the University of Aberdeen, told CNN that he had reviewed copies of the documents provided by Sandner. He said he had no reason to doubt their authenticity and considered the findings convincing. According to him, the existence of three documents dated September 18 makes the explanation of an ordinary clerical error less likely.
At the same time, Weber did not conclude that Hitler killed Raubal. In his assessment, the Nazi Party may have had other reasons to conceal details of the death: it sought support from right-wing political forces, while Hitler was trying to cultivate an image of a respectable politician.
Raubal moved into Hitler’s Munich apartment in 1929. Historians have described his attitude toward her as deeply attached and controlling, while claims of a sexual relationship between them remain disputed. Shortly before her death, according to the common version, they quarreled over her intention to move to Vienna to study music.
