Most of the post-war misidentifications found in these photo groups involve Eva Braun and her sisters and friends. Eva and her younger sister Gretl (Margarethe) looked very much alike, and their older sister Ilse resembled both (although Ilse rarely visited the Berghof). Eva herself tended to change her appearance regularly (her hair, especially), and Eva can look quite different in photos taken at different times (so can Gretl). In fact, it can sometimes be very hard to tell Eva and Gretl apart. One misidentification that is quite common in modern books is the photo on the left above. This studio portrait is invariably labeled as showing Gretl and Eva, with Eva on the right (note Eva's brooch showing her personal monogram - see below). This photo is sometimes printed reversed, but I show it here as it appears in Eva's photo albums (Album 26, No. 7, NA RG 242-EB).

In fact, this is not Gretl at all, but Eva's best friend Herta Schneider. Eva and Herta had been friends from childhood, and even after Herta married (her maiden name was Ostermeyer), she and her children spent a great deal of time with Eva, living with her at the Berghof, because Herta's husband was away in military service. The photo on the right above shows Eva and Herta at the Königssee lake in July 1941, with one of Eva's Scottish terriers. Eva herself labeled the album page on which this photo appears, removing any doubt that this woman is Herta Schneider, not Gretl (NA RG 242-EB-27-39D; in addition, many photos in the albums that originally belonged to Frau Schneider confirm her identity in Eva's photos).

Eva Braun's personal monogram showed her initials forming a four-leaf clover (Kleeblatt), and was designed for her by Dr. Karl Brandt (this symbol is sometimes incorrectly identified as a butterfly). On the right are two examples of the EB Kleeblatt monogram, from some of her silver pieces. (See Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, p. 574; Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 216; and Pierre Galante and Eugène Silianoff, Voices from the Bunker, p. 21)

Herta is often misidentified as Gretl in these photos as well. Herta is on the right in both photos, with Eva beside her. The photo on the left is often grouped with photos of Eva and Gretl taken at the Kehlsteinhaus (see below), but this photo was actually taken on the Berghof terrace. The photo on the right was taken at the side of the Berghof "wintergarten" sunroom. I have been unable to identify the woman on the left, who appears in many Berghof photos as well as Eva Braun's home movies (see more below).   (NA RG 242-EB, Album 14)

The photo on the left above shows Herta and Eva on the side steps of the Berghof. On the right above, Eva plays with Herta's daughter "Uschi" (Ursula), who was one of Adolf Hitler's most welcomed guests. So many photos were taken of Eva and Hitler with Uschi, that many people in the post-war years thought this was their child. Two of the most common of these photos are shown below, when Uschi was a couple years older.  (NA RG 242-EB)

These photos of Eva and Gretl were taken at the Kehlsteinhaus. Also seen is one of Eva's omnipresent dogs. She had two Scottish terriers, named Negus and Stasi (in her photo albums, the dogs are labeled Negus and Katuschka - perhaps "Stasi" was a nickname, or there were, in fact, three dogs (although no more than two are ever seen together). Although they looked very much alike, it seems clear that Eva is on the left, and Gretl on the right  ...  but compare to the two photos below.  (NA RG 242-EB, Album 14, Nos. 17A and 17B)

These photos (and others taken at the same time) are almost always labeled in books as showing Eva Braun, but the details of the dress and hair show that this is really Gretl, taken on the same day as the photos above.  (NA RG 242-EB, Album 14, Page 17)

The photo on the left is invariably labeled as Gretl and Eva on the Berghof terrace, but the woman on the right is not Eva. This woman appears in other Berghof photos and films taken on the same day (see below, and photo above, where Eva appears with her in a photo). The photo on the right is invariably labeled as Eva, but this photo appears in her albums on a page with two photos showing Gretl, and the page is labeled "Gretl - Greta."  (NA RG 242-EB, Album 2, Page 43 - the Finding Aid in the National Archives says Album 2 actually belonged to Gretl)

The woman in the photo on the left (part of a larger photo) is sometimes labeled as Eva, but this is Gretl on her wedding day. On 3 June 1944, Gretl Braun married Hermann Fegelein, an SS-Obergruppenführer on the staff of SS chief Heinrich Himmler. The reception took place in the Berghof (see photo on right above - the group is in front of the fireplace in the Great Room), and a party followed at the Kehlsteinhaus. Gretl is dancing with SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lt. Col.) Waldemar Fegelein, her new brother-in-law (see note below). On the right can be seen - 1st row, left-right - Fegelein, Gretl, Hitler, Eva, Fransiska "Fanny" Braun (Eva and Gretl's mother); 2nd-3rd rows - Georg Alexander, rest unknown to me (although the woman just behind Hitler's right shoulder may be Ilse Braun); 4th row - Himmler, unknown, Anni Brandt (?), Hanni Morell, Dr. Theo Morell (Hitler's personal physician, and a regular of the inner circle, along with his wife); Otto Dietrich (Press Chief - another Berghof regular); standing in the rear - Nicolaus von Below (Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant), unknown. There are several other photos in this series, showing Fegelein, Gretl, and Eva in the Berghof and Kehlsteinhaus, celebrating the wedding.  (NA RG 242-HL)

NOTE - When I first put this page up, I did not know the identity of the man with whom Gretl was dancing. My thanks to E. Reid for identifying him as Fegelein's brother Waldemar - see the Axis History Factbook Gallery, http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/gallery-wss-persons.htm .

These photos and the following two were taken in the Berghof on the occasion of Hitler's 55th birthday, 20 April 1944. The woman in the center is often labeled as Eva, but Eva is third from the left. The woman in the center appears in many photos taken at the Berghof, but I have been unable to identify her (on her album page, Eva gave only the men's names). Left-right - Herta Schneider, Martin Bormann, Eva Braun, Otto Dietrich, unknown, Dr. Hans von Hasselbach, Gretl Braun, Dr. Karl Brandt (Hitler's personal surgeon, a regular in Berghof group photos), Anni Brandt. On the far right in the second photo is Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's official photographer and resident Berghof "clown."  (NA RG 242-EB)

The inner circle examines Hitler's birthday presents in the Berghof dining hall. On the left, Heinrich Hoffmann shows off a newly acquired painting for Hitler's art collection, as many of the same people in the photos above look on. The tall officer is Walter Frentz, a staff photographer (Frentz took most of the color photos now seen in Hitler photo collections). On the right, AH and EB look over the presents, with Herta Schneider in the background.  (NA RG 242-EB)

Albert Speer and his wife Margarete were frequent visitors at the Berghof ... they had their own house a short distance down the road to Berchtesgaden. On the left, the Speers and Gretl and Eva Braun (with Frau Engel between - wife of Hitler's Heer (Army) adjutant Gerhard Engel) relax on the lounge chairs outside the old Haus Wachenfeld part of the Berghof. On the right, Margarete Speer with four of her children, in the same location (the Berghof Adjutancy appears in the background). The Speer and Bormann children are frequently seen visiting "Uncle Führer" at the Berghof, in Eva Braun's photo albums and movies.  (NA RG 242-EB-11-10B)

Who are the women pictured here? In the view on the left, Herta Schneider is seated at the right, and Gerda Bormann is in the middle (wearing the hobnailed Bavarian country shoes), but who is the woman on the left? She appears to be the woman shown on the Berghof terrace in a photo above, and she appears in other Berghof photos taken this same day (and also in Eva Braun's films - see photo below), but I have been unable to conclusively identify her (she is sometimes labeled as Ilse Braun in some of these photos, but she doesn't look like Ilse to me). The laughing lady in the photo on the right, seen with Hitler in the Mooslahnerkopf Teehaus, is sometimes labeled as Herta Schneider, and sometimes even as Eva Braun, but she doesn't look like either one to me; one source has identified her as the wife of Albert Forster, Gauleiter of Danzig.  (NA RG 242-EB and 242-2512)
NOTE: Thanks to André van Deun and Rick Hader for identifying the woman on the right as Maria "Mitzi" Reiter, one of Hitler's early romantic interests.

Here is the "mystery woman" posing on the Berghof terrace, as seen in Eva Braun's 16mm films. This film was taken on the same day as the photo shown just above, and others shown earlier on this page. Not Eva, not Gretl, but evidently a frequent Berghof guest ... but who was she?  (NA RG 242.2, Reel 1)

Other Berghof regulars, but not usually identified in post-war photo books, were the house managers Wilhelm and Margarete Mitlstrasser. In the photo on the left, Gretl Mitlstrasser is sitting by a porcelain Kachelofen in the living room of the old Haus Wachenfeld part of the Berghof; on the right, she appears with Hitler at the Great Room window.  (NA RG 242-EB-3-14B)

Some members of the general public even became special visitors to Hitler's house. Hitler loved being photographed with children, and it seems that he genuinely enjoyed their company. One of his favorites among those who visited the Obersalzberg with their parents, hoping to see or even meet their Führer, was a young girl named Rosa Berneli (or Bernile) Nienau, from Munich. She visited on her birthday in the summer of 1933, and Hitler invited her out of the crowd and up to Haus Wachenfeld for strawberries and whipped cream. Hoffmann made maximum use of propaganda photos taken of the two together during this and other visits - the one seen here on the right below was published as a postcard with the caption "Thanks for the Birthday Invitation."

Unfortunately, some meddling member of Hitler's staff investigated Berneli's background and discovered that her ancestry was not 100 percent Aryan (her maternal grandmother was Jewish), and Martin Bormann eventually forbade her to visit again.  (This story is related in Heinrich Hoffmann's books "Hitler Was My Friend" (London, 1955, pages 193-194) and "Jugend um Hitler," (Berlin, 1934, in the introduction by Reich Youth Leader Baldur von Schirach), also information from the Dokumentation Obersalzberg; photos from "Jugend um Hitler;" bottom right from a 1937-dated colorized postcard.)

Regularly seen in Berghof photos, but not always identified, is Hitler's SS aide Otto Günsche. On the left, Hitler shakes hands with SS-Leibstandarte commander Sepp Dietrich on the Berghof terrace, with SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lt.) Günsche behind. On the right, Günsche has been promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (Capt.); he ended the war as an SS-Sturmbannführer (Major), and was one of the key personnel present during the last days in Hitler's Berlin bunker. Günsche and his comrades Max Wünsche, Hansgeorg Schultze ("Frettchen"), and Richard Schultze are often called Hitler's "Ordnance Officers," but this is a mistranslation of their title "Ordonnanzoffizier" - the term actually means orderly officer or aide-de-camp. All were later promoted to Adjutant, in which position they still functioned as aides. (autographed photos courtesy Herr Otto Günsche, author's collection)
(Click here to read a short biography of Otto Günsche, by someone who knew him.)
RIP Herr Otto Günsche - died 2 October 2003.

Some more of the many Berghof visitors ... on the left, officers of the 1st SS Panzer Corps visit the Berghof ca. April 1944. From left-right: SS-Brigadeführer Theodor "Teddy" Wisch (commander, 1st SS Panzer Division LSSAH), SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Wünsche (commander, SS-Panzerregiment 12), SS-Obergruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (Corps commander), SS-Oberführer Fritz Witt (commander, 12th SS Panzer Division HJ) - all holders of the Ritterkreuz - Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.  (NA RG 242-EB, 16-20A)

On the right, Eva clowns around with a man who looks like Gauleiter Adolf Wagner, and who appears to be holding something representing a mock "Hitler" mustache in front of Eva (Robert Payne's The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) says this is Dr. Wilhelm Frick).  (NA RG 242-EB, 30-10B)

The man looking up to the left is Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and Italian Foreign Minister. Ciano is standing with Hitler's interpretor Paul Schmidt.

Eva admired Ciano's looks and dashing style, but she was forbidden to meet him. So she sometimes secretly photographed his visits from the upper windows of the Berghof. In this photo, apparently taken by Heinrich Hoffmann (many of the photos in Eva's albums were actually taken by others), Ciano appears to be glancing up at a window of one of the guest rooms above the Berghof dining hall. 

Eva labeled this album page "Da oben gibt es Verbotenes zu sehen - mich!" (up there is something forbidden to see - me). 

(NA RG 242-EB, Album 6, No. 30A)