Pictures of Inga Ley

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DavidFrankenberg
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Inga Ley

#256

Post by DavidFrankenberg » 06 Sep 2017, 15:09

mm92280 wrote:
Brumbar wrote:
Big Orange wrote:Why did a babe like Inga, shack up with a scum bag like Ley? :?

And I heard that Ley suffered from mental problems that were induced either by heavy drinking or head trauma due to a flying accident.

And Trandl labeling Inga Ley as "dull" possibly meant that Inga Ley was a self-obsessed and empty headed bimbo.
Perhaps because, as Henry Kissinger once observed (while dating Jill St. John), "Power is an aphrodisiac."

"I heard" just doesn't cut it. Suggest you read the affadavit taken at Nuremberg, "The Private Life of Ley", given by his personal secretary, Hildegard Bruninghoff (IWM, FO645, Box 155, "Private Life of Ley. Bruninghoff, Notes through Interrogation Division", October 1945, pp. 2-8.)

Has anyone found the Bruninghoff affidavit online? I assume it must have been online at one point for Brumbar to post such detailed info on it. I know quite a bit of the Nuremberg documents are online but haven't been able to find this particular affidavit from Hildegarde Bruninghoff yet. I am particularly curious to find it and read it online, if it is available.
The affidavit is posted earlier in this very thread.

The photo of Inga with Annelise Ribbentrop and Attolico's wife http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/new ... d545920705 posted earlier in this thread but not visible anymore. I dont know how to post photo, sorry, so i give the link.
ferraday wrote:Hi everybody:
I have just found a video on youtube where Inga and Robert Ley appeared in Paris in 1937. Here you have the link
I give the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAsHo4VsMY, and when she appears in the video https://youtu.be/-SAsHo4VsMY?t=23

Concerning the nude painting of Inga, i guess it has burned in 1945 with the house.

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Re: Inga Ley

#257

Post by mm92280 » 07 Sep 2017, 04:31

DavidFrankenberg wrote:
mm92280 wrote:
Brumbar wrote:
Big Orange wrote:Why did a babe like Inga, shack up with a scum bag like Ley? :?

And I heard that Ley suffered from mental problems that were induced either by heavy drinking or head trauma due to a flying accident.

And Trandl labeling Inga Ley as "dull" possibly meant that Inga Ley was a self-obsessed and empty headed bimbo.
Perhaps because, as Henry Kissinger once observed (while dating Jill St. John), "Power is an aphrodisiac."

"I heard" just doesn't cut it. Suggest you read the affadavit taken at Nuremberg, "The Private Life of Ley", given by his personal secretary, Hildegard Bruninghoff (IWM, FO645, Box 155, "Private Life of Ley. Bruninghoff, Notes through Interrogation Division", October 1945, pp. 2-8.)

Has anyone found the Bruninghoff affidavit online? I assume it must have been online at one point for Brumbar to post such detailed info on it. I know quite a bit of the Nuremberg documents are online but haven't been able to find this particular affidavit from Hildegarde Bruninghoff yet. I am particularly curious to find it and read it online, if it is available.
The affidavit is posted earlier in this very thread.

The photo of Inga with Annelise Ribbentrop and Attolico's wife http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/new ... d545920705 posted earlier in this thread but not visible anymore. I dont know how to post photo, sorry, so i give the link.
ferraday wrote:Hi everybody:
I have just found a video on youtube where Inga and Robert Ley appeared in Paris in 1937. Here you have the link
I give the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAsHo4VsMY, and when she appears in the video https://youtu.be/-SAsHo4VsMY?t=23

Concerning the nude painting of Inga, i guess it has burned in 1945 with the house.

I went back to check to see if I somehow overlooked it but the Bruninghoff affidavit itself was not posted (unless I somehow still missed it); what was posted was a document detailing the reaction to Robert Ley's suicide by the defendents at Nuremberg (with Bruninghoff being the only one who apparently was saddened by it) and a page or two of an affidavit detailing the finances of Robert Ley (which actually comes from the Bruninghoff file).

So, last night I did some more searching and found it online at the National Archives Catalog site. One thing that immediately stood out is that they spell her last name "Brueninghoff" rather than "Bruninghoff" in their file, which may be part of why I was struggling to find it online. When you do an Advanced Search at the National Archives Catalog, it returns 101 pages from her file, including her affidavit.

Some of the takeaways from the Brueninghoff file:

Robert Ley gave Brueninghoff poison to give to the children if the Russians captured them, as he felt the Russians would murder the children.

Brueninghoff stated that Robert Ley did drink but not as much as people seemed to think or say.

Brueninghoff began serving as Inga/Inge's secretary beginning in 1939. Brueninghoff stated that Inga was already a regular drug user by this time. She stated that Inga was a very regular user and could be quite difficult if she had to go without it. "Dope" and "narcotics" were the terms used, though no specific drug is mentioned. I think it was previously assumed on this thread that morphine was her addiction.

Robert Ley and Inga were married on August 20th, 1938

Inga Ley suffered from gallstones and suffered the horse accident while pregnant with her 3rd child and subsequently started drinking heavily. Inga killed herself after a trivial argument with Robert Ley and, in her suicide note, stated that she couldn't really handle life without drugs.



Overall, not much additional information on Inga Ley. I guess, in general, she just wasn't involved enough in the party or the war effort to be any real focus of attention. Below is the link to the National Archives Catalog for anyone wishing to do their own searching or to read more about Robert Ley.


https://catalog.archives.gov


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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#258

Post by Biber » 07 Sep 2017, 14:47

Has that painting ever been confirmed to have actually existed? It wouldn't at all surprise me it it were indeed apocryphal.

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Re: Inga Ley

#259

Post by DavidFrankenberg » 07 Sep 2017, 15:00

mm92280 wrote:So, last night I did some more searching and found it online at the National Archives Catalog site. One thing that immediately stood out is that they spell her last name "Brueninghoff" rather than "Bruninghoff" in their file, which may be part of why I was struggling to find it online. When you do an Advanced Search at the National Archives Catalog, it returns 101 pages from her file, including her affidavit.
You did a great job !
Here is the direct link to Hildegarde Bruninghoff file https://catalog.archives.gov/id/57318688

ue = ü ; oe = ö because american didnot have the accent ¨ (umlaut) on the type writer.

I give a little review of this 101 pages file.

Hildegarge Brüninghoof née Schöninger was born in Münich 4 june 1916. Her father was captain in the army. She joined the Hitler Youth the 1st july of 1932, and worked as typing girl from june 1932 to sept 1933 for the Reichspropagandaleitung. The 1st june 1933, she joined the Nazi Party, as soon as she was 18. Then she worked for the German Labor Front from october 1933 to 21 january 1934 as the secretary of Hanz Weydeman (Office for Culture and Education). She then joined the Office of Beauty of Work for 3-4 months. Then in december 1934 she became Ley's secretary, she was 19 yo. From 1934 to 1937, there was another secretary girl in the office : Mathilda Klose. Since Klose left, Bruninghoff became Ley's principal secretary (1937). In 1938 Bruninghoff had a child, a daughter. In january 1939 Hildegarde Schoeninger became Hildegarde Brueninghoff. His husband has been declared missing in Vitebsk in eastern front since the 27th june 1944. The same year 1939, in october, Hildegarde became Inga's secretary. She took care of the children, went on shopping with Inga etc. Inga was always doped since an accident during her pregnancy of Gloria (born 27th june 1941). In 1938 Paula Müller joined the office. Another was Kjadocus and another was Gerda Kruger who joined in 1936, ther was also Margarete Schroeder. Charlotte Seewald replaced Kruger because of illness in 1941. Kruger rejoined the office as bookeeper in 1943. Müller was the private secretary (mistress?) of Ley in office. In june 1942 Hildegarde quarrelled with Inga, she is moved back in the office and presented her dismissal to Ley who refused it. In december 1943 she proposed again her dismissal, again refused by Ley.
She believed Ley was not rich, despite she believed he was paid 4000 RM a month as leader of German Front, +2000 as from the Party and +750 as a deputy. That makes 70.000 RM a year. Der Angriff magazine paid him 50.000 RM a year. Indeed he earned 4000 monthly fomr the party, 500 fro prussian state and 540 from Reichstag + 150.000 a year from Eher Verlag. It was taxed at 60%.
In 1940, Hitler gave him 1 million RM.
His farm was located in Rhineland near Waldbrül. It was 500 acres wide. When the farm was blown up, he moved the family and valuable things to Allgau.

In 1940/1, in occupied France, he bought jewels for 79.000 RM. The total jewels of his was estimated between 100.000 and 250.000$ at the end of the war. He possessed a picture . He had 4 valuable pictures in his ranch in Waldbröhl, one of them represented Frederik the Great by Pesne, one Kaulbach painting, 2 Menzel sketches, and 1 Korinth. All his daily costs were paid by the state. Although he had debst of 200.000 RM at the end. He spent all his personal money and even indebted because of his constant reconstruction of his personal ranch in Waldbröhl (despite the law forbade it). He had to pay on his own his farm's employees : 1 cook, 2 maids for children, 1 chambermaid, 1 inspector, 1 dairyman and 1 farm secretary. That should cost a lot. He arranged the thing by paying 1000 RM a month to DAF which in return paid all his employees (!).

In the end of march 1945, Ley gave H. Brüninghoff 50.000 RM and 2 letters (one for Madeleine Wanderer and the other for Rose Spileker, mother of Inga) and ordered her to bring it to the children (Lore born in late december 1938, Wolf born 14th may 1940, Gloria born 27th june 1941 and Rolf [baby of Madeleine] born in 1944), Madeleine Wanderer and the grandmother of the children (Mrs Spileker) who were in Ordensburg. He moved those pictures to Ordensburg before he burned the house. Hildegarde then moved to Münich and Innsbrück.
She took care the children of Ley, of Wanderer, of the grand mother, and of her own child. She was arrested the 11th june 1945.
The 4 children of Ley were from 3 different women : Renate born 29th july 1922 from his first spouse (name?) ; Lore, Wolf, Gloria born from Inga ; Rolf-Robert (born end of july 1944) from Madeleine Wanderer.

In autumn 1943, a fire happened in Bruninghoff's house. She lived near the Reichpalast. The dancers of the Reichpalast came to help her stopping the fire. Ley lived not far and he came too ; he invited the dancers in his house. This is how he met Madeleine Wanderer who was a dancer at the Reichspalast. Madeleine was 17 yo. She became his mistress few weeks after that. Wanderer had a boy with Ley, born 28/29 july 1944.
Inga's mother was sad of this betrayal. She fed up with Ley. She took care of the 4 children of Ley, even the one born from Wanderer (!). Ing'as mother was christian and raised children in a christian way. Ley was not christian.
Ley married Inga Hansen-Spileker in 1938. Hitler liked Inga very much, in 1940 he came to their house once or twice a week. In Brüninghoff's opinion, Ley knew many women before his marriage with Inga, but while engaged with Inga then Madeleine, he was a fidel husband she said. :roll:

My personal thoughts after the reading of those 101 pages file :
Brüninghoff had one child, a daughter. The father is officially her husband. She didnt seem to like him much, she didnt speak about him (she didnt even say his name!). Wasnt Ley the father ? Ley aprreciated women, especially very young women. She got pregnant while being Ley's private secretary, and she married after giving birth... was it an arranged marriage ? He must be the father in my opinion. After she gave birth, she stopped working in the office and became Inga's secretary, that meant she was Ing'as partner in shopping etc... that was a kind of promotion. In my opinion Paula Müller became also his mistress, but she didnt get pregnant ; he must have focused on Wanderer since autumn 1943.
H. Brüninghoff seems nasty to me : she didnt say the truth, she presents Ley as a good guy with bad behavior, his way of life was expensive but he was supposed to be rich etc... she is ont supposed to have been his mistress, but he had a lot of affairs... and while she was not his private secretary for a while, he chose her to take care of his children at the end of the war. All this lead me to think she was a confident and the mistress of Ley. She preserved herself by not saying it to the Americans.

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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#260

Post by Annelie » 07 Sep 2017, 18:34

How interesting.

thanks for making this thread a great read.

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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#261

Post by ghostsoldier » 08 Sep 2017, 00:46

Biber wrote:Has that painting ever been confirmed to have actually existed? It wouldn't at all surprise me it it were indeed apocryphal.
Considering how efficient the Germans were at cataloging and inventorying everything, I'm surprised some photos of it haven't surfaced, if indeed it ever existed.

Rob
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-Agathon (448 BC - 400 BC)

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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#262

Post by Jeff Clark » 03 Aug 2018, 05:00

There is so little information available in English about Robert and Inga Ley. Ronald Smelser’s book (in English) hardly mentions Inga. Ley’s daughter from his first marriage (Renate Wald) wrote a book in German called “Mein Vater: Robert Ley”. (She is shown in a picture in this thread at the Eagles Nest, seated on the low wall right behind standing Inga.)
Karl Schröder had input from the daughter when he wrote his book in 2008 called “Aufstieg und Fall des Robert Ley”, also in German. This book provides the most information about Inga and Robert Ley’s relationship.
The allies started calling Ley a drunk early in the war: The “Reich Drunk Leader”, probably due to the lisp he spoke with, which was a result of a head injury he sustained when his plane was shot down during WWI. He was a very accomplished and persuasive speaker; right up there with Hitler and Goebbels.
All the information I have read to include period & post war interrogations of him and his employee’s gives proof to the lie that he was not a drunk. Inga was not a drunk either, she had health issues and her addiction to pain medication was not a result of a carriage accident, as reported in this thread.

The following excerpts are from the Schröder book with some paraphrasing as needed (to make sense and shorten):

Even before the seizure of power there were hardly any marital relationship between Robert Ley and his first wife Elisabeth. It had become increasingly clear that they were too different in their worldview and way of life. What particularly disturbed the deeply religious Protestant, was the departure of her husband from their shared beliefs and his affairs, which he did not even try to hide.

Perhaps Robert Ley, who was gradually gaining influence and attraction, also believed that his stout wife could not impress his prominent party members and that she was no longer fit in.
We know from Goebbel's diary that he was disrespectful of Elisabeth.

According to his secretary Hildegard Brüninghoff, Ley's bad reputation as a womanizer must have really come about in the years 1933-1935. During this time, he had frequently changing girlfriends, and there had been so many of them that she could no longer remember all the names.

In 1934, Ley was so out of control that Hess, Bormann and Buch cited him before the Party Court. Ley sought refuge and support from Hitler, who sided with him. Ley said , "I had done weekends and danced a bit and loved and amused myself. I am not chaste and not abstinent. I'm too old to change. I'm from the Rhine, and people are happy there".

On November 27, 1933 Robert Ley founded the Nazi community "Kraft durch Freude" (KdF), a sub-organization of the DAF. This recreational organization also included those created by Ley ....
This is how the singer Inga Spilcker came into his life.

Inga Ursula Spilcker was born in Breslau on March 8, 1916. She was the daughter of the opera singer Max Spilcker (born Oct 6, 1891 in Hamburg) and the Lory Franziska (born Kotz).
Inga's mother Lory had appeared as an opera extra before her marriage. Inga and her younger sister Gitly grew up in this musical-artistic family, which included the two grandmothers after their husbands' deaths. Lory and Max Spilcker ran a house frequented by artists. The two girls attended the theater from childhood on every Sunday and received singing lessons from the father. Inga had a "subtle and touching mezzo-soprano". "Gitly was a "coloratura soprano". Both girls later appeared in theaters, but Inga was undoubtedly the more gifted. After completing a general education in Berlin, she received a commitment in 1933/34 at “Theater of the People”, at the old Friedrich State palace.
Robert Ley met her there in 1935.

The young woman, who had grown up to extraordinary beauty, was courted by him, presented with flowers after the performances, and finally invited by him to receptions and travels. At such a reception in 1936 Inga was introduced to Hitler, who was also impressed by the beautiful singer. In 1936 she took part in a trip to Italy with Robert Ley, in 1937 on a Baltic Sea voyage with one of the KdF ships, and " word spread around" about Inga and Robert Ley afterwards.
Inga, a rather restrained young woman, returned the love of this 26-year older and powerful man in the party hierarchy, and apparently both began planning for a common future at least since 1937.

But Robert Ley was not yet divorced: although the marriage relationship was broken. Mrs. Elisabeth Ley and daughter Renate continued to live in their rented homr in Munich.
Robert Ley knew that Hitler by no means approved divorces of his closest associates; so he urged his wife to file the divorce on her own. Finally, Elisabeth agreed.

On August 8, 1938, the divorce proceedings took place before the 15th Civil Division of the Regional Court of Cologne. Robert Ley was represented by his close friend and asset manager, Hugo Simon. Elisabeth Ley, in agreement with the witness Hugo Simon, stated that the marriage had been over for some years and that it was deeply and irreparably broken.
The divorce was granted and Robert Ley was ordered to bear the costs.
Since Inga was already pregnant, their marriage took place on August 20, 1938 in Berlin. On October 25, 1938, their first daughter Lore Ley was born (in Berlin).

Inga was probably the only woman in the life of Robert Ley, whom he truly and deeply loved.
At least since 1937 Inga had given up her career as a singer. After her marriage, she devoted herself entirely to her husband and daughter and tried to introduce her family into the social life of the Reich Capital Berlin. The couple moved into the villa at Herthastrasse 13/15 in Berlin-Grunewald. The staff was expanded to include a nanny and a nurse. Like her parents, Inga had a hospitable house; Artists and political celebrities came to visit. Adolf Hitler was one of the regular guests of the Leys, sometimes he came twice a week.
Between 1938 and 1942, we often found the Leys to be welcome guests at various receptions and events, and it was always Inga Ley who drew admiring glances from the participants.
Her husband enjoyed the brilliance that Inga spread, all the more as some rays fell back on him. The luck would have been perfect if Inga had not suffered from a health handicap.

Every since Inga graduated from the High School, she had been plagued with recurring bile colic (gallbladder attacks). Her condition was further affected by the fact that she had to undergo an appendectomy during her pregnancy with Lore. As Robert Ley reported in his Nuremberg Interviews: the bile colic, began then and continued from then on even more often. To combat the pain, the doctors used morphine, of which Inga became dependent over the years.

In October 1939, Dr. Ley’s chief secretary Hildegard Brüninghoff became the constant companion of his wife. Her job was to go shopping with Inga, buy clothes for her children, get ration cards, and accompany them to events that Robert Ley could not attend.

Hildegard provides detailed information on the length of her work for Ms. Ley in Nuremberg: Oct 39 to June 40, Jan 41 to Sept 41, April 42 to May 42. At that time, she was also a housekeeper at Gut Rottland. In June 1942, there was a dispute with Inga. Hildegard announced she quit. However, this dismissal was refused by Ley and he continued to employ her as chief secretary.
From July 40 to Dec 40 and from Oct 41 to March 42 Hildegard was on leave for illness. During this time and also afterwards, Leys second secretary Paula Müller took over the duties of housekeeper and constant companion of Inga and alternated these jobs with Anni Balette, the wife of Ley's chauffer.
Already in Oct. 39 Hildegard got the impression that Inga was dependent on narcotics-and if she did not get it, it was extremely difficult to get along with her. That was probably the reason why there was a rift between the two women in June 1942.

Robert Ley moved his family from Berlin to Rottland by 1942 because he felt they were safer there from the allied bombing, Inga missed her friends and their social life, and Ley was gone more often due to his work. She became more and more depressed. She was in a care home in the spring of 42 trying to cure her addiction. Her mother watched the children for her during this time.
Robert Ley, who had been on official duty until November 1942, came and stayed in Rottland until the holidays were over.
Both the dreary winter and heavy fighting in the Stalingrad depressed Inga's mood and made Robert Ley nervous and irritable. There were quarrels between him and his wife - basically irrelevant things, which, however, were of the utmost importance to Inga in her addicted state of mind.
Inga also had on ongoing feud with Robert Ley’s Estate manager whom she despised.

At the end of the year Robert Ley had been summoned to the Führer's headquarters, he wanted to go there on the 29th Dec 1942 with Otto Marrenbach and his staff.
On this day, around 6 pm, Inga asked the secretary Paula Müller. to drive a guest by car to Waldbröl. This was to be done quickly, since Ley needed the automobile for a ride to the main train station in Cologne. Robert and Inga Ley, Otto Marrenbach, Anni Balette, Hedwig Schöler had taken dinner together and waited now on the ground floor near the cloakroom for the return of the Müller. They only exchanged a few words as Inga and Dr. Ley seemed tense.

Years later, Schöler affirmed in the affidavit: "I was standing next to the gentlemen ... when Inga said to her husband that he should transfer the farm to her, so that she could better stand up to the estate manager (Heinen)", to which Robert Ley replied, "As long as I am there, I will remain the owner."
Inga Ley immediately went to the bedroom on the first floor and shot herself.
Of course, there is the question of how desperate, lonely and overburdened a woman must feel who demands such a serious decision ... at the last minute from her husband when he is ready to leave for work.

After the shot was fired, Robert Ley and Otto Marrenbach ran to the first floor to gain access to the locked bedroom.
When Paula Müller returned at about 6:30 pm, one of the housemaids excitedly told her to go upstairs to the first floor; something happened there. Upstairs she found Ley, who was trying in vain to get into the locked bedroom.
About how he finally got into the bedroom, the testimonies differ. While Paula claimed that Ley had entered the room through the door of another bedrooms side balcony, Inge Just (nanny) said the janitor had broken the bedroom door open.

Inga lay half-reclined and wrapped in her fur coat on the bed and had shot herself with a gun through the temple. The wall beside the bed was full of blood. It was probably Otto Marrenbach who took the gun.
At the same time, the nanny Inge Just sat with the children of the Leys at dinner in the common room on the 2nd floor. This room had no door, but was open to the stairwell, so that she could hear the shot and then Ley's loud shouting and knocking on the bedroom door. She stayed with the children and provided for them during the night.
Inga had left a farewell letter to her husband, which had certainly been written hours before, and began with the words: "For my Bobsy, please forgive me, I can not anymore."
The letter was a response to premeditated contentions and reflects Inga's deep desperation. At the heart of the marital conflict was their leadership of the estate and Inga’s inability to stand up against the Heinen. Deeply hurt, Inga writes, "I feel very well now that what I say has no value, I run the farm as best I can, I've given up everything for the farm, but when it matters, I'm nothing ".
In addition, there was a rather insignificant dispute over the children’s education in which Ley had loudly reproached her. But above all, the young woman suffered from what she believed was "disrespect" from her husband and her surroundings, a "disrespect" that, as she put it, had long since hurt and frustrated her. Her letter closed, she with the words:
“My mother will be better able to raise the children than I am. I.L. "

Robert Ley was outraged with pain and desperation. That same evening, he phoned the Wolfsschanze, canceled his visit and informed Hitler of the terrible event. He blamed himself for Inga's death. It had become clear to him how little he had cared for Inga and her hardships. Hitler tried to console him and implored him not to give up because the "Third Reich" needed him. This conversation could be overheard by others and also the telephone operator. Ley's self-incriminations was probably passed on, so that very early on came the rumor that he had murdered his wife.

At around 8:00 pm, nanny Inge Just and maid Mia were called into the bedroom to make Inga ready for the burial. They washed her blood off her head, straightened her hair, and covered her temples with the blue headband she had always worn on trips and outings with the children. Then she was laid out in the open coffin in the library, (according to other statements in the winter room).
The police were notified and a doctor had been called to confirm the death. On December 30, 1942, Inga's death was announced in writing at the registry office of Waldbröl.

On December 30, 1942, Ley's oldest daughter Renate, arrived at Ley-Hof from her place of study in Tübingen. She found her father standing at the top of the stairs and he summarized everything that moved him in the words: "A farmer marries a princess".
Also Inga's mother, Lore Spilcker, said after the death of her daughter: "This was never going to go well". Both probably meant the difference in origin, education and talent.

Inga's mother continued to stand by her son-in-law Robert Ley. To the grieving and weeping domestic workers, who took leave of Inga's open coffin and for whom she had always been the fairytale princess, she said:
“Do not moan; she did not want it otherwise. "
On New Year's Day 1943 Inga was buried in the grove above Rottland. Present was a mourning community of relatives, friends and Ley’s close National Socialists Leaders.

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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#263

Post by Jeff Clark » 03 Aug 2018, 05:12

Letter to Ley from Hitler after the death of Inga
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#264

Post by Jeff Clark » 03 Aug 2018, 05:13

second page
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#265

Post by Helge » 05 Apr 2019, 19:28

Renate Martha Emilie Wald (* 29. Juli 1922 in Leverkusen; † 2004 in Wiehl) The first daughter of Robert Ley (born from his first marriage)

Source photo: https://www.frauenmuseum.de/
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#266

Post by GabyModa » 25 Aug 2019, 15:20

Here is another picture of Inga Ley.Image
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#267

Post by Sarge3525 » 15 Sep 2019, 19:17

She seems like the typical trophy wife of the period (whether in Germany or elsewhere in the West).
Beautiful, ridiculously younger than her husband. And there was a class/education difference between them as she was a pretty artist and he was a drunken politician.

Must have been immensely hellish for her, to not only get boned by her ugly husband, but also essentially be a worthless trophy wife, who also was refused any asset of her own by her husband. She was essentially in a golden cage, and defined only as "the pretty wife of the Reich Labour minister".

I also think that Hitler boned her in secret, something he did with the wives of other Nazi leaders (which they weirdly tolerated as they were obedient to their powerful Fuehrer), but that's just conjecture. That probably added to her anguish.

There is also the anecdote I read somewhere of Ley's perverse macho behavior, like showing a nude painting of her to his friends, and apparently ripping her clothes off and showing her nudity to guests, but I'm not sure how much of this is true.

Robert Ley seemed to be a kind of beta male who genuinely loved his wife. She was just extremely unhappy to be with a fat ugly loser, despite him being in such a powerful position.

I think the story of Inga Ley is a good analogy for any trophy Woman today...Is it worth it?
To marry a powerful ugly person instead of a "normal" pretty man of one's own age?

But Inga Ley is not the perfect woman either. She seemed incredibly flawed.
Typical perfect beautiful woman, who can sink in bouts of depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, and completely lacking control in her emotions.

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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#268

Post by lartiste » 15 Sep 2019, 22:28

Sarge3525 wrote:
15 Sep 2019, 19:17

I also think that Hitler boned her in secret, something he did with the wives of other Nazi leaders (which they weirdly tolerated as they were obedient to their powerful Fuehrer), but that's just conjecture. That probably added to her anguish.


To marry a powerful ugly person instead of a "normal" pretty man of one's own age?
Do you have any proof concerning the first statement?

Concerning the second statement - in that time it was normal, that age difference between husband and wife was greater than now, usually the husband had first to build kind of existence (earn some money) before marriage. Just look into personal files of SS officers and you will see.

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Doppelgänger
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#269

Post by Doppelgänger » 11 Jan 2020, 21:21

ghostsoldier wrote:
08 Sep 2017, 00:46
Biber wrote:Has that painting ever been confirmed to have actually existed? It wouldn't at all surprise me it it were indeed apocryphal.
Considering how efficient the Germans were at cataloging and inventorying everything, I'm surprised some photos of it haven't surfaced, if indeed it ever existed.

Rob
Has anyone considered the possibility that the "nude painting of Inga" has been hiding in plain sight and was actually posted on this forum by Helge already in December 2011?

We know for certain that there was a huge painting of a nude woman that nobody visiting the manor house of Dr. Robert Ley could have missed - dubbed "a Nazi goddess" by the Allies who found a set photographs depicting it and other features of the house as it was in its prime time.

A photograph showing it was published, as Helge already has posted, in the Llfe magazine, August 6, 1945.

https://books.google.fi/books?id=0EkEAA ... &q&f=false (through Google Books)

Now, several possibilities exist:

1. It was painted to display Inga Ley, top to toe. This is the least likely scenario; it would be highly unorthodox and distasteful. Moreover, the torso in the painting is neither realistic nor notably artistic.

2. It was pained to display the face of Inga Ley on an largely abstract, generic torso. Possible, but still somewhat unlikely, for the same reasons.

3. It was pained to resemble Inga Ley by its facial features, not as a true portrait, but caricatured similar enough for some of the guests to think it might be Inga. Dr. Ley may or may not have contributed, actively or passively, toward making them believe in such an idea. The most likely scenario.

In any case, the blonde nude "goddess" has enough facial resemblance with Inga to suggests it might have been interpreted at the time as above.

Because this was a mural and thus destroyed when Dr. Ley had his manor house incinerated, the painting could not have resurfaced afterwards.

mansion.png
"This was the mansion of the Nazi labor boss" from "Life" August 6, 1945
mansion.png (437.14 KiB) Viewed 8561 times
mural_inga.png
Compare: "Nazi Goddess" vs. Inga Ley (inset is per previous post in this thread from a photo from Harry von Gebarhadt)

Biber
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Re: Pictures of Inga Ley

#270

Post by Biber » 13 Jan 2020, 20:58

I'm sorry but I just don't see the resemblance. Actually I'll be so bold as to submit that it is merely the result of the power of suggestion. The horses seem more artfully rendered in my opinion.

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