Helene von Exner

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Helene Marie "Marlene" von Exner (born April 16, 1917 in Vienna ; † (?); Probably after 1995) was an Austrian dietician . During the Second World War she was Adolf Hitler's diet cook from July 1943 to May 1944 . Her successor was Constanze Manziarly .

Life

Helene Marie von Exner, called "Marlene", came from a respected Viennese family and had three siblings, a sister and two brothers. She trained as a dietician at the University of Vienna . After completing her training, she worked as a dietician at the Clinic for Internal Diseases at the General Hospital in Vienna, headed by Hans Eppinger . Under Eppinger's leadership, the clinic had achieved a worldwide reputation, so that there were also medical inquiries from personalities from society and politics. From September 1942 to July 1943 she worked as a diet cook for the Romanian military dictator and field marshal Ion Antonescu . Antonescu, who suffered from temporary stomach problems, had approached the Vienna Clinic, whereby von Exner had been given the job with Antonescu by chance.

During a state visit in April 1943 to Kleßheim Castle near Salzburg, Hitler and Antonescu probably also talked about their illnesses, with Antonescu reporting on his helpful diet regimen and Adolf Hitler recommending his own diet cook. Hitler then turned to his personal physician Theodor Morell , who finally consulted the Vienna University Clinic, where Helene von Exner was recommended to him. He urged her to take the position with Hitler. According to Traudl Junge , Hitler's private secretary, von Exner initially had no great interest in taking on the position of Hitler's diet cook, since she saw this as a restriction on her independence and her professional development.

On July 15, 1943, Helene von Exner began her job. She received a tax-free salary of 800 Reichsmarks a month, as well as an incentive of 2000 Reichsmarks in cash when starting work. From now on von Exner cooked in all of the Fiihrer's headquarters . In Wolfsschanze , next to the Hitler bunker, she had her own small diet kitchen next to the casino kitchen. She partially changed Hitler's food preparation, made it more varied, cooked vegetarian soups instead of meat broths , but also served Hitler pastries and the stews he wanted , carrots with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs . She took part in Hitler's meals and the nightly round tables together with the quartet of Führer secretaries consisting of Traudl Junge, Gerda Christian , Christa Schroeder and Johanna Wolf . According to Traudl Junge, a friendship developed between her and Marlene von Exner; she also helped her prepare meals in the diet kitchen. In recognition of her appreciation, Antonescu and Hitler each gave her a young fox terrier , which von Exner didn't really know what to do with.

During her service with Hitler she met the young SS adjutant Friedrich "Fritz" Darges , with whom she fell in love. According to Traudl Junge, she had rejected an advertisement by Reichsleiter Martin Bormann . As soon as she started work, she told Hitler that her mother's papers were not in order because her grandmother was a foundling. Because of the National Socialist sentiments of von Exners, Hitler initially did not attach any great importance to this statement. However, during the routine check of the marriage papers by the Reichsführer SS security service , it was found that Helene von Exner had a Jewish grandmother and great-grandmother. Thereupon she was given leave of absence by Hitler in February 1944 and then finally released in early May 1944; Her salary continued to be paid for another six months. Through Hitler's secretary Gerda Schröder, von Exner looked for a replacement for himself on Hitler's behalf, who was finally found in Constanze Manziarly, who took up her position with Hitler in May 1944.

In the spring of 1944, Helene von Exner returned to her family in Vienna. Because of her Jewish descent, she was discharged from the Vienna University Hospital. Hitler personally ordered an Aryanization of the von Exner family, which he commissioned Martin Bormann to carry out and which was completed in March 1945.

Little is known about von Exner's post World War II . In the post-war period, she published numerous books and guides on dietetics for various diseases at Welser Verlag Leitner & Co. Traudl Junge reports that she stayed in contact with her after the Second World War. They were friends and occasionally met again in Pörtschach am Wörthersee during the summer . In 1995 the Austrian historian Brigitte Hamann was in correspondence with von Exner during her research for her book Winifred Wagner: or Hitler's Bayreuth and asked her about Hitler's taste in music in Wolfsschanze; it can therefore be assumed that she was still alive in 1995. The list of notes in Traudl Young's book Up to the last hour. Hitler's secretary tells her life (List Verlag Munich, 2002), which contains a short biography of Exners, does not contain a date of death. Further reports about her life or news of her death have not yet officially become known.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller: Until the last hour. Hitler's secretary tells her life . Book review. Retrieved May 10, 2016
  2. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Traudl Junge , Melissa Müller: Until the last hour. Hitler's secretary tells her life , List-Verlag. Paperback edition October 2004. ISBN 3-548-60480-3 .
  3. a b c d e f g h i Did the "Führer" really have food tippers? in: DIE WELT of September 16, 2014. Retrieved on May 10, 2016.
  4. a b c d MARLENE EXNER : Jewish Virtual History.org: The Nazi Party: Women of the Third Reich . Retrieved May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  5. a b TIME HISTORY: Rarely grace in: Der Spiegel | DER SPIEGEL. Edition 20/1998 of May 11, 1998. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  6. ^ A b John M. Steiner / Jobst Freiherr von Cornberg: Arbitrariness in the arbitrariness. Exemptions from the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws ; in: Quarterly issues for contemporary history . Issue April 2, 1998, page 162. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  7. ^ Armin Spree: The secret table discussions of Adolf Hitler . BookRix Munich 2014. ISBN 978-3-7368-1072-3 . (Preface). Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  8. ^ Brigitte Hamann : Winifred Wagner: or Hitler's Bayreuth . Piper Verlag Munich 2002. Page 431. ISBN 978-3-492-04300-7 .