Hedwig Potthast

Hedwig (Häschen) Potthast, the daughter of a sergeant-major in the German Army, was born in Cologne on 5th February, 1912. After high school she left home and trained in Mannheim as a bilingual secretary.

Potthast worked for Kurt von Schröder before being employed by the Schutzstaffel (SS) in Berlin. In 1934 she met Heinrich Himmler and two years later he became his private secretary. Himmler confessed his love for her in 1938 but she did not become his mistress until the following year.

Himmler's wife, Margarete Himmler, and their daughter, Gudrun Himmler, and adopted son, Gerhard von Ahe, lived in a large villa at Gmund on the Tegernsee, a lake south-east of Munich enclosed by mountains. Himmler remained close to his daughter, who he phoned every few days and wrote to her at least once a week. Himmler adored his young, blue-eyed, blonde-haired daughter and would often take her to official state functions.

Himmler and Hedwig set up home in Mecklenburg. Hedwig gave birth to a son, Helge (born 1942) and a daughter, Nanette Dorothea (born 1944). Lina Heydrich commented that Himmler become more relaxed and human as a result of his relationship with Hedwig. Peter Padfield, the author of Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (1991): "All testimony suggests that the relationship between Himmler and Häschen was a loving one on both sides. A girl who joined Himmler's secretarial staff two years later and lived for long periods in his special train noticed that he kept Häschen's photograph in his desk and often, when he was working, took it out to look at it.... At one time, she said, he had wanted to divorce Marga to marry her. Häschen had stopped him for Marga's sake. It is more likely perhaps that he stopped himself for the reasons he had refused Wolff permission to divorce. There must be no malicious gossip around the person of the Reichsfuhrer; he above all had to set an example of decency."

After the death of Heinrich Himmler on 22nd May 1945, she lived in Rosenheim with Eleonore Pohl, the wife of Oswald Pohl. According to Katrin Himmler, the author of The Himmler Brothers (2007), Hedwig Potthast, did marry soon after the war but her husband died soon afterwards. His name gave her a new identity for her and her children. Her son was apparently in a poor state of health and remained with his mother. Her daughter trained and later practiced as a doctor. She remained friends with those Nazis who remained alive. This included Karl Wolff, Lina Heydrich and Gerda Bormann.

Hedwig Potthast died in Colone in 1994.

Primary Sources

 

(1) Peter Padfield, Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (1991)

All testimony suggests that the relationship between Himmler and Häschen was a loving one on both sides. A girl who joined Himmler's secretarial staff two years later and lived for long periods in his special train noticed that he kept Häschen's photograph in his desk and often, when he was working, took it out to look at it. And immediately after the war, when she must have known she would not see Himmler again, Häschen confessed to the aviatrix Hanna Reitsch "how much she loved Himmier, and how good he had been to her".... At one time, she said, he had wanted to divorce Marga to marry her. Häschen had stopped him for Marga's sake. It is more likely perhaps that he stopped himself for the reasons he had refused Wolff permission to divorce. There must be no malicious gossip around the person of the Reichsfuhrer; he above all had to set an example of decency.