Hitler family
The ancestors and relatives of Adolf Hitler have long been of interest to historians and genealogists because of the biological uncertainty of Hitler's paternal grandfather, as well as the family's inter-relationships and their psychological effect on Hitler during his childhood and later life.
Alois Schicklgruber changed his surname on 7 January 1877 to "Hitler", which was the only form of the last name that his son Adolf used. Before Adolf Hitler's birth, his family used many variations of the family surname "Hitler" almost interchangeably. Some of the common variants were Hiedler, Hüttler, Hytler, and Hittler.
Adolf Hitler's sister Paula, who died in 1960 and did not have children, was the last member of the family still bearing the Hitler surname on their tombstone. As of 2023, only five members of the Hitler family bloodline, all men who bore no children, were still living. Three of these descendants are sons of Adolf Hitler's nephew, William. William Hitler was not on good terms with Adolf Hitler, who even referred to William as his "loathsome nephew". William was publicly critical of his uncle, fought with the United States Navy during World War II, and after WWII ended, changed his last name from Hitler to Stuart-Houston. None of William's sons, who all bear the last name Stuart-Houston, have had children of their own.
Etymology
The name may be a spelling variation of the name Hiedler, meaning one who resides by a Hiedl, a term for a subterranean fountain or river in Austro-Bavarian German dialects. The Hitler surname may also be based on "one who lives in a hut".Family history
The family is of Austrian German ethnicity.Earliest family members
The first known beginning of the Hitler family is with Stefan Hiedler and Agnes Capeller, whose grandson Martin Hiedler married Anna Maria Göschl. This couple had at least three children: Lorenz, Johann Georg, and Johann Nepomuk. Johann Georg was the stepfather of Alois Schicklgruber, who was Adolf Hitler's father, and Johann Nepomuk was the future Führer's maternal great-grandfather. There is no additional information about Lorenz Hiedler. The Hiedlers were from Spital, a part of Weitra in Austria.Johann Georg and Johann Nepomuk
Brothers Johann Georg and Johann Nepomuk Hiedler are associated with Adolf Hitler in several ways, although the biological relationship is disputed.Johann Georg was considered the officially accepted paternal grandfather of Hitler. Whether he was actually Hitler's biological paternal grandfather remains unknown. He married his first wife in 1824, but she died in childbirth five months later. In 1842, he married Maria Anna Schicklgruber and became the legal stepfather to her illegitimate five-year-old son, Alois.
Around age 10, near the time of his mother's death, Alois went to live with Johann Nepomuk Hiedler on his farm., who became a relatively prosperous farmer and was married to Eva Maria Decker, who was fifteen years his senior. Johann Nepomuk Hiedler was named after Johann Nepomuk, a Bohemian saint for Bohemians of both German and Czech ethnicity. The Nazis issued a pamphlet during the 1932 second elections campaign titled "Facts and Lies about Hitler" which refuted the rumour spread by the Social Democrats and Centre Party that Hitler had Czech ancestors. There is no evidence that any of Hitler's ancestors were of Czech origin.
Father of Alois Hitler
The identity of the biological father of Alois is disputed. Legally, Johann Georg Hiedler, an itinerant miller, was the step-father of Alois Schicklgruber, and Johann Georg's brother Johann Nepomuk Hiedler was therefore the step-uncle of Alois. Johann Nepomuk adopted Alois informally during Alois' childhood and raised him. It is possible that he was, in fact, the natural father of Alois but could not acknowledge this publicly due to his marriage. A perhaps simpler explanation is that he pitied the ten-year-old Alois after the death of the boy's mother Maria, as it could hardly have been a suitable life for a ten-year-old child to be raised by an itinerant miller. Johann Nepomuk died on 17 September 1888 and willed Alois a considerable portion of his life savings.It was later claimed that Johann Georg had fathered Alois prior to his marriage to Maria. The claim that Johann Georg was the true father of Alois was not made during the lifetime of either Johann Georg or Maria. In 1877, 20 years after the death of Johann Georg and almost 30 years after the death of Maria, Alois was legally declared to have been Johann Georg's son. Johann Nepomuk arranged to change the surname of Alois to "Hitler" and to have Johann Georg declared the biological father of Alois in 1876. Johann Nepomuk collected three witnesses who testified before a notary in Weitra that Johann Georg had several times stated in their presence that he was the actual father of Alois and wanted to make Alois his legitimate son and heir. The parish priest in Döllersheim, where the original birth certificate of Alois was kept, added Johann Georg's name to the birth register. Alois was 39 years old at the time and was well-known in the community as Alois Schicklgruber.
Accordingly, Johann Georg Hiedler is often cited as having possibly been the biological grandfather of Adolf Hitler. Although Alois was legitimized and Johann Georg Hiedler was considered the officially accepted paternal grandfather of Hitler by the Third Reich, whether he was Hitler's biological grandfather remains unknown, which has caused speculation. However, his case is considered the most plausible and widely accepted. Other speculations include Johann Nepomuk, and a Graz Jew by the name of Leopold Frankenberger, as rumored by the head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland, Hans Frank, during the Nuremberg Trials. Historians have concluded that Frank's speculation has no factual support. Frank said that Maria came from "Leonding near Linz", when in fact she came from the hamlet of Strone's, near the village of Döllersheim. No evidence has been found that a "Frankenberger" lived in the area; the Jews were expelled from Styria during the 15th century and were not permitted to return until the 1860s, several decades after the birth of Alois.
Pölzl family
, the daughter of Johann Nepomuk and Eva Hiedler was born on 19 January 1830 in Spital in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria. She lived her entire life there and was married to Johann Baptist Pölzl, a farmer and son of Johann Pölzl and Juliana Pölzl. Johanna and Johann had five sons and six daughters, of whom two sons and three daughters survived into adulthood, the daughters being Klara, Johanna, and Theresia. Klara's brothers' identities are unknown.1870s
At the age of 36, Alois Hitler was married for the first time, to Anna Glasl-Hörer, who was a wealthy, 50-year-old daughter of a customs official. She was sick when Alois married her and was either an invalid or became one soon afterwards. Not long after the wedding, Alois Hitler began an affair with 19-year-old Franziska "Fanni" Matzelsberger, one of the young female servants employed at the Pommer Inn, house no. 219, in the town of Braunau am Inn, where he was renting the top floor as a lodging. Bradley Smith states that Alois had numerous affairs during the 1870s, resulting in his wife initiating legal action. On 7 November 1880, Alois and Anna separated by mutual agreement. Franziska Matzelsberger became the 43-year-old Hitler's girlfriend, but the two could not marry since by Roman Catholic canon law divorce is not permitted.1880s
On 13 January 1882, Franziska Matzelsberger gave birth to Alois Hitler's illegitimate son, also named Alois. As his parents were not married, the boy was named Alois Matzelsberger. Alois Hitler remained with Franziska while his wife, Anna, grew sicker and died on 6 April 1883. The next month, on 22 May, in a ceremony in Braunau with fellow customs officials as witnesses, Alois Hitler, 45, married Franziska Matzelsberger, 21. Alois then legitimized his son with Franziska, renaming him Alois Hitler Jr., who later became a Berlin restaurateur. Matzelsberger went to Vienna to give birth to Angela Hitler. When Franziska was only 23 years old, she acquired a lung disorder and became too ill to function. She was relocated to Ranshofen, a small village near Braunau.In 1876, three years after Alois' marriage to Anna Glasl-Hörer, he had hired Klara Pölzl as a household servant. Klara was the 16-year-old granddaughter of Alois' step-uncle, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler. After Franziska demanded that the "servant girl" find another job, Alois sent Klara away. However, Klara returned to Alois and Franziska's home during the last months of Franziska's life, to care for her and her two children, as she was an invalid. Franziska Matzelsberger died in Ranshofen on 10 August 1884 at the age of 23. After Franziska's death, Klara Pölzl stayed on as housekeeper.
Klara Pölzl soon became pregnant. Her family relationship with Alois was ambiguous. If Johann Georg Hiedler were Alois Hitler's biological father, Klara would be Alois' first cousin once removed; if Johann Nepomuk were Alois Hitler's biological father, Klara would be Alois' half-niece. Bradley Smith writes that if he had been free to do as he wished, Alois would have married Klara immediately, but because of the affidavit regarding his paternity, Alois was now legally Klara's first cousin once removed, and so too close to marry. Alois submitted an appeal to the church for a humanitarian waiver. Permission was granted, and on 7 January 1885 the wedding took place in Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn. A meal was served to the few guests and witnesses. Alois then went to work for the rest of the day. Even Klara found the wedding to be a brief ceremony. Throughout the marriage, she continued to call him uncle.
On 17 May 1885, five months after the wedding, the new Frau Klara Hitler gave birth to Gustav, her first child with Alois Hitler. One year later, on 25 September 1886, she gave birth to a daughter, Ida. The third child, Otto, was born not long after Ida, in 1887, but died days later. In the winter of 1887/88, both Gustav and Ida died of diphtheria, 8 December and 2 January, respectively. By then, Klara and Alois had been married for three years, and all their children were dead, but his children with Franziska Matzelsberger – Alois Jr. and Angela – survived. On 20 April 1889, Klara gave birth to Adolf Hitler.