HEINRICH HOFFMANN PRESENTS HITLER WITH AN ALBUM OF PHOTOS OF GELI RAUBAL One of the most telling of all of Hitler's personal mementoes ever to have been recovered a photograph album presented to Hitler by Heinrich Hoffmann which features images of Hitler with Geli Raubal. The album created by Frieda Thiersch is gifted on Hitler's birthday in 1933 two years after Raubal's suicide! Measuring 14 1/4"" x 11"" this fine presentation is bound in blue calfskin with five raised hubs on the spine. A section of fine white parchment is affixed to the inside front cover and it bears a gilt printed gift inscription in German: ""20. APRIL 1933 IN ADMIRATION AND THANKFULNESS"" and is signed in ink at lower-right by Hitler's personal photographer HEINRICH HOFFMANN and his second wife ERNA HOFFMANN who signs only her first name preceding that of her husband. Within are mounted 61 original photographs each 4 1/2"" x 3 1/2"" b/w specifically showing Hitler Geli Raubal Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels journalist and Hitler's de facto deputy Hermann Esser and other friends and family members in private moments never intended for public consumption. This album was clearly prepared in homage to Raubal as she appears in almost every image. We see Geli and others in a variety of outdoor scenes picnics trips to the beach with her mother family members etc. many including Hitler and a few showing him obviously ill at ease. One image shows Hitler asleep in a lounge chair beside his alleged lover while another shows him with his back turned to Geli and others who are enjoying a picnic in the forest. One photo is scuffed another bears a slight spot otherwise the images are excellent. Front cover is coming loose but remains attached. This is truly a remarkable find and was no doubt one of the most personal and important items Hitler possessed. GELI RAUBAL (1908-1931) was Hitler's half-niece and alleged by some to have been his lover. She accompanied her mother when she became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925 and Geli spent the next six years in close contact with her half-uncle. Raubal moved into Hitler's Munich apartment in 1929 when she enrolled in college. As he rose to power Hitler was domineering and possessive of Raubal. When he discovered she was having a relationship with his chauffeur Emil Maurice he forced an end to the affair and dismissed Maurice from his service. After that he did not allow her to freely associate with friends and attempted to have himself or someone he trusted near her at all times accompanying her on shopping trips to the movies and to the opera. Raubal was in effect a prisoner but planned to escape to Vienna to continue her singing lessons. He and Raubal argued on Sep. 18 1931—he refused to allow her to go. The next day Raubal was dead from a gunshot wound to the lung; she had shot herself in Hitler's apartment with Hitler's Walther pistol. Hitler slid into a deep depression and later declared that Raubal was the only woman he had ever loved. This album was obtained by our consignor's uncle a G.I. in post-war Cairo where he obtained it from another soldier in exchange for cigarettes and other items in trade.