Helene Bechstein

Helene Bechstein née Capito (; 26 May 1876 – 20 April 1951) was a German socialite and businesswoman. She was an etiquette tutor for Adolf Hitler Helene married Edwin Bechstein, the son of Carl Bechstein, the owner of the C. Bechstein piano factory.

In 1923, following C. Bechstein becoming a limited company, 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 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 through his capacity as Minister President of Prussia. and when he was imprisoned after the failed Beer Hall Putsch, she would regularly visit him in prison. She 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 and Winifred Wagner, she helped to teach Hitler table manners and helped reform his public image. Bechstein also bought him neat shoes and respectable evening dress.

Both Bechstein and Hitler grew close to each other, with Bechstein giving Hitler gifts including a Daimler built Mercedes, which cost RM26,000. She called him "mein Wölfchen" ("my 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. The Bechsteins both publicly funded Hitler, giving him the funds to continue publishing the newspaper Völkischer Beobachter. Bechstein herself did not join the Nazi Party until 1944. Bechstein had hoped that Hitler would marry her daughter. She died in 1951.