Never-seen-before diaries of an antisemitic British socialite who had a personal relationship with Adolf Hitler have been unearthed, providing startling and intimate insights into her life and connection with the Nazi leader. According to the Daily Mail, the leather-bound journals, missing for over eight decades, detail how Unity Mitford harboured a fascination with the dictator and stalked him when she moved to Munich at the age of 20. The handwritten entries chronicle a total of 139 meetings between Hitler and Mitford from 1935 to 1939.
"It is extremely rare in modern times for the diaries of a well-known figure of the Nazi movement to be discovered and published," said historian Andrew Robers, per Daily Mail
In her writings, Mitford, a Nazi worshipper, often referred to Hitler as "He" or "Him," suggesting she perceived him as a godlike figure. She recorded an account in February 1935 as "the most wonderful day of my life" when Hitler summoned her to join his table at the Osteria Bavaria restaurant.
"Lunch Osteria 2.30. THE FUHRER comes 3.15 after I have finished lunch. After about 10 minutes he sends the Wirt [owner] TO ASK ME TO GO TO HIS TABLE. I go and sit next to him while he eats his lunch and we talk. THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF MY LIFE. He writes on a postcard for me. After he goes, Rosa [waitress] tells me he has never invited anyone like that before," she wrote in her diary, according to The Guardian.
Mitford was a part of Hitler's inner circle. Her close relationship with the dictators also reportedly caused Hitler's lover, Eva Braun, to grow jealous of their relationship. The outlet reported that no Britisher had known Hitler as well as she did. In her journals, she even described Hitler as "very sweet and gay".
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Mitford's final entry in the diary is on 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland, with war declared two days later. The aristocrat - then 25 - later attempted suicide as she was distraught over her motherland and her beloved Nazi Germany going to war with each other.
The attempt was unsuccessful. She was left brain-damaged and the bullet remained lodged in her skull. She returned to Britain, where she died in 1948, aged 33.
Mitford's diaries are reportedly filled with details of her meetings and conversations with Hitler over the years, running up to the Second World War. They contain horrifying and intimate entries about the dictator and his regime.
Notably, the Daily Mail unveiled the diaries 42 years after the infamous "Hitler diaries" incident, in which two prominent newspapers were duped into publishing forged accounts.