The Story Behind Hitler’s Unusual Friendship With a Jewish Child
Their picture got sold at auction for more than ten thousand dollars.
Hitler was a man so inundated with hatred that he etched his mark into the annals of history as one of the most brutal personalities to have ever lived.
Having killed upwards of six million Jews in the Holocaust, Hitler committed one of the largest genocides in history.
However, despite the immense animosity Hitler had for the Jews, an unlikely friendship would arise in 1933.
A friendship between the man who would go on to slaughter millions of Jews and a young Jewish girl.
The Start of a Curious Tale
Hitler met Rosa Bernile Nienau in 1933 when she and her mother had been a part of the crowds attending Hitler’s birthday celebrations.
Hitler’s interaction with Rosa resulted from the child sharing her birthday with the Fuhrer, which resulted in Hitler inviting her and her mother up to his house.
It seems Hitler took a liking to the child, though this would only be revealed later when Hitler refused to cut off contact even when he learned her mother was Jewish.
He even sent her a signed copy of the photograph they took when they first met and would be in correspondence with her for some time.
On at least seventeen distinct occasions between 1935 and 1938, Rosa would write to Hitler, who would promptly respond.
The friendship only ended when the party’s private secretary told the family to cut off all communication with the Fuhrer.
It was done because of Rosa’s Jewish lineage.
Hitler was reportedly furious about this and said,
“There are people who have a true talent for spoiling my every joy.”
Hitler enjoyed the girl’s company irrespective of his hatred for Jews and despite being one herself.
Rosa would later die of polio, aged only 17, in a hospital in Munich in 1943.
By then, Hitler had genocided millions of Jews in his Holocaust.
What Made Rosa So Special?
Critics have tried to explain why Hitler was so remarkably tolerant of, if not downright affectionate with, Rosa Bernile Nienau.
Many think this was another propaganda scheme, as Hitler would often have photographs taken of him being kind to children.
Importantly, however, these kids were mostly of Aryan descent, a key requirement in Hitler’s racially hierarchal ideology.
Furthermore, most research shows that Hitler found out about Rosa’s Jewish heritage quite early, yet still refused to cut off contact with her.
Therefore, the explanation for Hitler’s unlikely friendship with Rosa likely cannot be simply explained by propaganda.
Another example further illustrates Hitler’s fondness for Rosa is his reaction when he found out that Rosa had not been writing to him because she had been forbidden.
Hitler’s exasperation and frustration make it even unlikelier that his interactions with Rosa were purely political.
Though it is hard to say why Hitler took such a liking to this child despite the cognizance of her lineage, what one can say with relative certainty is that he really did adore her.
An Oxymoronic Photograph
Remember that signed photograph Hitler sent Rosa?
The photograph of their first meeting?
That photograph sold at auction for 11,520 USD.
The anonymous buyer wished to stay that way, with the auctioneer not even revealing their gender.
Whatever reasons the buyer may have had to purchase such an item, the photograph is poignant.
Now adorned with colorful drawings of flowers added by Rosa, it shows an immensely powerful scene.
It shows a monster smiling sincerely and warmly at a member of the very people he would brutally genocide later.
It is an oxymoron picturized, a paradox given form.
Human beings are intensely complicated creatures, and perhaps nothing can get more complicated than Hitler’s friendship with a young Jewish girl.
References
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/15/world/photo-hitler-and-jewish-girl-auctioned-trnd/index.html
