LAH253
King & Country
It was often said that Hitler loved animals more than people... perhaps there is more than a shade of truth in that.
During the First World War, “Corporal Hitler’s” best friend and most loyal companion was a stray mongrel he adopted while serving in the trenches on the Western Front.
‘Blondi’ was Hitler’s German Shepherd given as a gift to the Fuhrer by his Chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, Martin Bormann in 1941. The dog stayed loyally by Hitler’s side for the remainder of the war and eventually moved into the Berlin Fuhrerbunker located under the garden of the Reich Chancellery in January 1945. Hitler was extremely fond of ‘Blondi’ and she featured in many press photographs showing the Fuhrer as a dedicated and kind ‘animal lover’. The dog also met the same fate as her master when, in order to test the special cyanide capsules all top Nazis carried, Hitler ordered his doctor to test the potency of a capsule on his pet dog. This was done and ‘Blondi’ died as a result.
This ‘Adolf & Blondi’ set shows dog and master in other times, maybe enjoying a walk in the Bavarian Alps near his mountain retreat.