Helene Bechstein née Capito (26 May 1876 – 20 April 1951) was a German

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

and businesswoman. She was an etiquette tutor for

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and was the wife of Edwin Bechstein, the owner and later majority shareholder of

C. Bechstein C. Bechstein Pianoforte AG (also known as Bechstein, ) is a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein. History Before Bechstein Young Carl Bechstein studied and worked in France and England as a piano craftsman, be ...

, a leading manufacturer of pianos.

Background

Helene Capito was born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in 1876. Helene married

Edwin Bechstein Edwin Bechstein (1859 – 15 September 1934) was a German piano maker and businessman and early supporter of Adolf Hitler. He was the son of Carl Bechstein and was the owner of the C. Bechstein piano company from 1900 to 1923 when it became a lim ...

, the son of Carl Bechstein, the owner of the C. Bechstein piano factory. In 1923, following C. Bechstein becoming a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

, Helene and Carl started buying the majority of shares with Helene speaking in public on the company's behalf. At numerous events, she was heard making

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

comments, which led to a number of high-profile musicians boycotting C. Bechstein pianos. In 1934, the company was restructured so that Helene became the majority shareholder. To help raise capital, she sold company property to

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

through his capacity as

Minister President of Prussia The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the Allie ...

Hitler

Bechstein first met Adolf Hitler in 1921 through

Dietrich Eckart Dietrich Eckart (; 23 March 1868 – 26 December 1923) was a German '' völkisch'' poet, playwright, journalist, publicist, and political activist who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, the precursor of the Nazi Party. Eckart ...

at her Berchtesgaden Villa. She took a liking to him and when he was imprisoned after the failed

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...

, she would regularly visit him in prison and once claimed to the prison that he was her adopted son. Upon Hitler's release, Bechstein introduced him to German high society in Berlin. Along with

Elsa Bruckmann Elsa Bruckmann (23 February 1865 – 7 June 1946), born Princess Cantacuzene of Romania, was since 1898 the wife of Hugo Bruckmann, Munich publisher of the writings of Houston Stewart Chamberlain. She held the "Salon Bruckmann" and made it a ...

and

Winifred Wagner Winifred Marjorie Wagner ( Williams; 23 June 1897 – 5 March 1980) was the English-born wife of Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, and ran the Bayreuth Festival after her husband's death in 1930 until the end of World War II in 19 ...

, she helped to teach Hitler

table manners Table manners are the rules of etiquette used while eating, which may also include the use of utensils. Different cultures observe different rules for table manners. Each family or group sets its own standards for how strictly these rules are ...

and helped reform his public image. Both Bechstein and Hitler grew close to each other, with Bechstein giving Hitler gifts including a RM26,000 Mercedes and calling him "Wölfchen" ("little wolf"), stating she would have liked to have had him as a son. Hitler reciprocated by allegedly giving her an original manuscript of ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...

''. The Bechsteins both publicly funded Hitler, giving him the funds to continue publishing ''

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

''. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hitler awarded her the

Golden Party Badge __NOTOC__ The Golden Party Badge (german: Goldenes Parteiabzeichen) was an award authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers fr ...

in 1934. Bechstein herself did not join the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

until 1944. Bechstein had hoped that Hitler would marry her daughter.

Later life

After

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's surrender in the Second World War, C. Bechstein was commandeered by the Allies in the US Occupation Zone and Bechstein's shares were confiscated by the Americans. The company was not permitted to start making pianos again until 1948. Bechstein herself was sentenced to 60 days hard labour and had 30% of her assets stripped from her for being a Nazi collaborator. She died in 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bechstein, Helene 1876 births 1951 deaths Nazi Party members German socialites 20th-century German businesswomen Businesspeople from Düsseldorf Bechstein family