Magda Goebbels

Magda Goebbels was the wife of Joseph Goebbels, who had served as the propaganda minister of ‘Nazi’ Germany from 1933 to 1945. Magda was an eminent figure in the ‘Nazi Party’ and was one of the most powerful people in ‘Nazi’ Germany. She had a close relationship with Adolf Hitler and was one of his most vociferous supporters and admirers. She was also known as the unofficial "first lady" of Nazi Germany, as Hitler's wife Eva Braun kept a low profile. Magda was born in Berlin in 1901 to an unwed couple. Her mother later married a wealthy Jewish merchant who adopted Magda and gave her his surname. Magda attended a convent school in Belgium and later a ladies' college in Germany. She married Günther Quandt, a rich industrialist, in 1921 and had a son named Harald. The marriage ended in divorce in 1929. Magda joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and worked as a volunteer. She met Joseph Goebbels in 1931 and married him later that year, with Hitler as a witness. The couple had six children, all named with the letter H. Magda was a devoted wife and mother who shared her husband's fanatical loyalty to Hitler and his ideology. She accompanied him to various political and social events and entertained guests at their lavish residence. She also supported his anti-Semitic policies and propaganda campaigns. She was known for her elegance, charm, and intelligence. As the war progressed, Magda became increasingly disillusioned with the Nazi regime and its atrocities. She also suffered from her husband's infidelities and mood swings. She remained faithful to him until the end, however, and followed him to Hitler's bunker in Berlin in April 1945. There, she witnessed Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun and their subsequent suicide. She then decided to kill herself and her six children, rather than face capture by the Soviet troops. She poisoned her children with cyanide capsules and then shot herself in the head after kissing her husband goodbye. Her eldest son Harald survived the war and inherited his father's fortune. Magda Goebbels is remembered as one of the most notorious women in Nazi history, who sacrificed her own life and those of her innocent children for a doomed cause.