Anni Winter's husband?

[Br. James]

I'm looking for some information on the husband of the most well-known of Hitler's housekeepers, Frau Anni Winter. I understand that her husband's name was Georg Winter and that he was supposedly a member of the LSSAH -- probably honorary. I believe he assisted his wife in maintaining Hitler's apartment on the Prinzregentenplatz in Munich as well as the Berghof. But the only "Georg Winter" I can locate in the DALs held SS Member #2613 and was assigned to the Staff of the SS-Hauptamt, not the LSSAH. Am I totally off-base here, or is this the person I'm looking for? If you have any words of correction or insight to offer, I will welcome all such responses!

With many thanks,

Br. James

[CPB]

Hmm, interesting.

Here's what I could fine online:

Musmanno interview with Anni Winter, dated Sept 3 1948

Also, a quick search of Google Books (highly recommended research tool), brought this up from the recent book by Despina Stratigako:

Note..."Although he did not serve in the SS..." – so I suspect your Georg Winter #2613 is not the Georg Winter (unless he lied at some point about not being in the SS, which is entirely plausible)

[Br. James]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for providing this information in response to my request...very helpful and informative!

I'm ashamed to say that I read "Hitler at Home" by Stratigakos some while ago and I somehow missed the passage you kindly highlighted for me! Reading it again now, it seems a bit odd. She tells us that "...Hitler had asked [Georg Winter] to join the SS in 1930 in order to wear the uniform when serving at table or otherwise helping his wife with official functions and thus make a suitable impression on party bigwigs. Although he did not serve in the SS, promotions in rank followed, resulting in an ever-more-imposing appearance. His employer's vanity about livery, Winter claimed, cost him a long and harsh internment at the war's end..." If Georg Winter "did not serve in the SS," what is meant by "promotions in rank followed, resulting in an ever-more-imposing appearance?" What was Georg wearing that produced "an ever-more-imposing appearance," if not SS livery, and in what organization was he being promoted, if not the SS?

Earlier in that entry, Stratigakos states that "In October 1929, the 33-year-old Winter was hired as a packer at Eher Verlag..." The DALs tell us that SS member Georg Winter was born on 4.7.1896, which would make him 33 years old in October of 1929.

The DALS tell us that SS member Georg Winter entered the ranks of SS officers on 22.3.34 as an SS-Untersturmführer and that he held SS Membership Number 2613, making him an early member from about 1930...when Stratigakos tells us that Hitler asked him to join the SS.

If SS member Georg Winter was assigned to 'special service' as a house staff servant for Hitler, that may well have meant that his position on the Staff of the SS-Hauptamt was the way which permitted him to carry out that service for Hitler while not being in conflict with regular SS service. And by 20.4.1938 the DALs tell us that SS member Georg Winter had ascended to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer, which sounds very like his "promotions in rank followed, resulting in an ever-more-imposing appearance!"

I think this is the same Georg Winter that was the husband of Frau Anni Winter! Many thanks, my friend!

Br. James