Hitler [Transcription note: Bracketed [Page] links provide access
to the individual images from which these transcriptions were
made]
Very little is known about Alois Hitler's character. It seems that
he was very proud of his achievements in the Civil Service and yet
he retired from this service at the astonishing age of fifty-six,
four years after Adolph was born. In very rapid succession the family
moved into several different villages and the father tried his hand
at farming. It is said, however, that he always wore his customs
official's uniform and insisted on being addressed as Herr
Oberoffizial Hitler. According to reports, he liked to lord it over
his neighbors whom he may have looked down upon as "mere" peasants.
In any event, it seems quite certain that he enjoyed sitting in the
tavern and relating his adventures as a customs official and also
in discussing political topics.
He died on his way to the tavern in Leonding from a stroke
of apoplexy in 1903.
He is generally described as a very domineering individual who was
a veritable tyrant in his home. William Patrick Hitler says that he has
heard from his father, Adolph's elder
[Page 99]
half-brother, that he used to best the children unmercifully. On one
occasion it is alleged he beat the older son into a state of
unconsciousness and on another occasion beat Adolph so severely
that he left him for dead. It is also alleged that he was somewhat
of a drunkard and that frequently the children would have to bring
him home from the taverns. When he reached home a grand scene would take
place during which he would beat wife, children and dog rather
indiscriminately. This story is generally accepted and yet there is
little real evidence in favor of it except what Hitler himself tells
us in MEIN KAMPF.
Heidan, who interviewed a number of the villagers in places where
the family lived, had nothing of this sort to report. They found the
old man rather amusing and claimed that his home life was very happy and
quiet except when his wife's sister came to visit with the family. Why
this should be a disturbing factor is unknown. Heiden suspects that
the legacy was a bone of contention.
There is some doubt about the complexion of Alois Hitler's political
sentiments. Hanisch reports "Hitler heard from his father only praise
of Germany and all the faults of Austria." According to Heiden, more
reliable informants claim that the father, though full of complaints
and criticisms of the government he served, was by no means a German
nationalist. They say he favored Austria against Germany and this
coincides with William Patrick Hitler's information that his
grandfather was definitely anti-German just as his own father was.
Mother Klara Poelzl, as has been said, was the foster-daughter of
her husband and twenty-three years his junior. She came from old
peasant stock, was hard-working, energetic and conscientious. Whether
it was due to her years of domestic service or to her upbringing, her
home was always spotlessly clean, everything had its place and not a
speck of dust was to be found on the furniture. She was very devoted
to her children and, according to William Patrick Hitler, a typical
step-mother to her step-children. According to Dr. Bloch who treated
her, she was a very sweet and affectionate woman whose life centered
around her children and particularly Adolph, who was her pet. She
spoke very highly of her husband and his character and the happy life
they had together. She felt it was a real deprivation for the
children to have lost their father while they were still so young.
One could question her background. Her sister is married and has
two sons, one of whom is a hunchback and has an impediment in his
speech. When we consider that Klara Poelzl may have lost one child
before her marriage to Alois Hitler, another son born in 1885 who
died in 1887, another son born in 1894 who died in 1900, and a
girl who was born in 1886 and died in 1888, one has grounds to
question the purity of the blood. There is even cause for greater
suspicion when we learn from Dr. Bloch that he is certain that
there was a
[Page 101] daughter, slightly older
than Adolph, who was an imbecile. He is absolutely certain of
this because he noticed at the time that the family always tried to
hide the child and keep her out of the way when he came to attend
the mother. It is possible that this is Ida who was born in 1886
and who is alleged to have died in 1888, except that Dr. Bloch
believes that this girl's name was Klara. He may, however, be
mistaken in this particularly since both names end in "a" and he
never had any close contact with her. There is no other record of a
Klara anywhere in the records.
The younger sister, Paula, is also said
to be a little on the stupid side, perhaps a high-grade moron. This is
certainly a poor record and one is justified in suspecting some
constitutional weakness. A syphilitic taint is not beyond the realm
of possibility. The mother died following an operation for cancer of
the breast on December 21,1907. All biographers have given the date
of her death as December 21, 1906 but Dr. Bloch's records show
clearly that she died in 1907 and John Gunther's record of the
inscription on her tombstone corroborates this. The last six months
of her life were spent in extreme pain and during the last week it was
necessary to give her injections of morphine daily.
It is often alleged that she was of Czech origin and spoke only a
broken German and that consequently Adolph may have been ashamed of her
among his playmates. This is almost certainly untrue. Dr. Bloch reports
that she did not
[Page 102] have any trace of an accent
of any kind nor did she show any Czech characteristics. Alois Hitler's
first wife was of Czech origin and later writers may have confused her
with Adolph's mother.
Siblings
Alois, Jr
Alois Hitler, Jr. was born January 13, 1882, the illegitimate son
of the father's second wife born during the lifetime of the first
wife. He is the father of William Patrick Hitler, one of our informants.
He seems to have taken very much after his father in some respects. He
left the parental home before the death of his father because, according
to his son, he could tolerate it no longer. His step-mother, according
to the story, made life very difficult for him and continually
antagonized her husband against him. It seems that Alois, Jr. had
considerable talent for mechanical pursuits and his father had planned
on sending him to a technical school for training as an engineer. Until
his third marriage the father was very fond of his oldest boy and all
his ambitions were wrapped up in him. But the step-mother
systematically undermined this relationship and finally persuaded
the father that Alois, Jr. was unworthy and that he should save his
money for the education of her son, Adolph. She was finally successful
and Alois, Jr. was sent away from home as an apprentice waiter.
Evidently the profession of waiter did not intrigue him, for in 19OO
he received a five-months' sentence for
[Page 103] thievery
and in 1902 he was sentenced to eight months in jail for the same reason.
He then went to London where he obtained a position as a waiter and,
in 1909, married Bridget Dowling, an Irish girl. In 1911 William Patrick
Hitler was born and in 1915 his father deserted the family and returned
to Germany. The family was not a happy one and broke up several times
in the course of these four years. It is alleged that the father drinks
quite frequently and would then come home and create tremendous scenes
during which he frequently beat his wife and tried to beat the small
infant. During these four years when his mother and father had separated
for a time, his father did go to Vienna. This would agree with
Hanfstangl's conviction that Alois, Jr. was in Vienna at the same time
that Adolph was there.
In 1924 Alois, Jr. was brought before the court of Hamburg charged with
bigamy. He was sentenced to six months in prison but since his first wife
did not prosecute the sentence was suspended. He has an illegitimate
child by the second wife who lives in Germany. During all these years
he has never sent any money for the support of his first wife or child.
Up until the time of the inflation it is alleged that he had a very
successful business in Germany. The business failed and he has had
various jobs up until 1934 when he opened a restaurant in Berlin which
became a popular meeting-place for S.A. men.
According to the son, Alois, Jr. heartily disliked Adolph as a boy.
He always felt that Adolph was spoiled by
[Page 104]
his mother and that he was forced to do many of the chores that
Adolph should have done. Furthermore, it seems that Adolph occasionally
got into mischief which his mother would blame on Alois and Alois would
have to take the punishment from his father. He used to say as a boy
he would have liked to have wrung Adolph's neck on more than one
occasion and considering the circumstances this is probably not far
from the truth. Since Hitler came to power, the two brothers have
practically no contact with each other. They have come
together a few times but the meeting is usually unpleasant, with Adolph
taking a very high-handed attitude and laying down the law to the rest of
the family. Alois, Jr. is not mentioned in MEIN KAMPF and only a few people
in Germany know of his relationship to Hitler.
William Patrick Hitler
He is a young man of thirty-two, the son of Alois, Jr., who has not
amounted to much. Before his uncle came to power he worked as a
bookkeeper in London. When his uncle became famous he obviously
expected that something would be done for his family. He gave up his
job in London and went to Germany where he had some contact with
Adolph Hitler. The latter, however, was chiefly interested in keeping
him under cover and provided him with a minor job in the Opal Automobile
Company. It is my impression that William Patrick was quite ready to
blackmail both his father and his uncle but that things did not work
out as planned. He returned to England and, as a British subject,
came to this country where he is a professional speaker. He is also
engaged in writing a book about his associations and experiences in
Hitler Germany.
Angela
She is an elder half-sister of Adolph. She seems to be the most
normal one in the family and from all reports is rather a decent and
industrious person. During her childhood she became very fond of
Adolph despite the fact that she had the feeling that his mother was
spoiling him. She is the only one of the family with whom Adolph has
had any contact in later years and the only living relative Hitler ever
mentioned. When his mother died in 1907 there was a small inheritance
which was to be divided among the children. Since the two girls had
no immediate means of earning a livelihood the brothers turned over
their share to help the girls along. Adolph turned his share over to
Angela while Alois turned his over to a younger sister, Paula. Angela
later married an official named Raubal in Linz who died not long
afterwards. She then went to Vienna where, after the war, she was
manager of the Mensa Academica Judaica. Some of our informants knew
her during this time and report that in the student riots Angela
defended the Jewish students from attack, and on several occasions
beat the Aryan students off the steps of the dining hall with a club.
She is a rather large, strong peasant type of person who is well able
to take an active part.
[ Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
As He Knows Himself
The
original plaintext version of this file is available via ftp.