Dictator blood. The forgotten history of the Hitler family

Before becoming a forbidden name, ‘Hitler’ was just another nickname within Austria. Alois Hitler was a custom of the alcohol and known to be violent. He married three times and had eight children, but four died at birth. Those who survived went through a difficult childhood, with regular beating by their father. Still, nothing predicted that one of the children would become one of the deadliest dictators in history.

Born in 1889 in Braunan AM Inn, in the former Austro-Hungarian empire, Adolf Hitler was the result of Alois’s third marriage, with Klara Pölzl. Unlike Alois, Klara was affectionate with her children and idolized Adolf, giving her all the emotional support her father never gave her. The young Adolf still grew up with two brothers, Alois Jr. and Angela (from the second marriage), and a sister, Paula. Adolf never got along well with his half brother when they were children, nor did they maintain communication after Aloir Jr. escaped home at 14 due to their tense relationship with their father and stepmother. Already Angela has always been the closest sister to the future dictator and is the only one mentioned in the controversial book Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler.

A dysfunctional and violent family

It is also at Mein Kampf (my fight, in Portuguese) that Adolf describes a peaceful and quiet life with their parents, who took care of them and their siblings with love and affection, but other evidence, such as his sister Paula’s diary, point to a dysfunctional and violent family. In describing the first memories of her childhood, when she was about eight years old and Adolf 15, Paula wrote: « Once again I feel my brother’s loose hands on my face. »

According to a historian quoted by The Guardian, Adolf « was the older brother and the father figure, was very rigid with his sister and beat him, but she justified it optimisticly because she believed it was for the sake of her education. »

Already the joint memories book of Hitler’s half brother, Alois Jr., and half sister, Angela, describes the violence exerted by Hitler’s father and how his mother, Klara, tried to protect him from regular beating: “By fearing that the father cannot control himself in his unbridled fury, she (Adolf’s mother) tries to end the aggression. Adolf, who is lying on the floor, but cannot avoid his father’s final blow. ”

The environment of violence described in family documents led one of the investigators to conclude that “Third Reich’s terror was cultivated at Hitler’s own home.”

The same investigation that discovered these diaries also found Russian interrogation documents, which exposed that Paula Hitler was engaged to Erwin Jokelius, responsible for killing about 4,000 people on the gaps during the war. The wedding was not happened, because Adolf did not allow it.

Paula Hitler was the only one of the dictator’s brothers and sisters who survived to adulthood. In 1936, he changed his name to Paula Wolf (Hitler’s Nickname), allegedly at his request. It is known that he lived his entire life in total isolation, without husband and without children until the date of his death in 1960.

Hitler’s descendants

Adolf Hitler had never had children and was married for only about a day with Eva Braun, before committing suicide on April 30, 1945. But the Hitler family lineage survived through the descendants of his half brother, Alois Hitler Jr. British journalist David Gardner was one of the few to investigate this theme, raising the veil about the existence of dictator Nazi. In his book The Hitler family (Ed. Casa das Letras) reveals that Führer’s male lineage survived, not in Germany, but in the United States.

Alois Jr. had a son, William Patrick Hitler, who emigrated to the US in the 1930s and even served at the American Navy during World War II against his uncle himself. After the war, William moved the nickname to Stuart-Houston, married and had four children. Unlike William, who when he arrived in the US in the 1930s even gave lectures on his uncle, the remaining family avoids giving interviews and refusing any association with the Nazi past. Gardner states that according to nearby sources, the Stuart-Houston brothers would have made an informal pact of having no children, ending Hitler’s biological legacy by his own choice.

Geli, Hitler’s niece and her “true love”

Known as Geli, Angela Raubal was the daughter of Angela Hitler and a half-shadow of Adolf Hitler. According to Joachim Fest, respected German biographer from Nazi leader, she was « her great love, a taboo love. »

Introduced into the intimate circle of his uncle at the age of 17, Geli became a constant presence in social events and travel. Hitler demonstrated an intense affection for her, which many considered possessive. According to reports, Adolf controlled his friendships and restricted it especially with regard to love relationships.

On September 19, 1931, Geli was found dead in the uncle’s apartment in Munich. At 23, the young woman had a bullet injury to her chest next to Hitler’s pistol. The case was rapidly classified as suicide, without autopsy or in -depth investigation, feeding speculation that has lasted to this day.

On the eve of his death, Geli and Hitler would have discussed intensely about Geli’s trip to Vienna. The Münchner Post newspaper reported that the body had a fractured nose and other injuries that suggested physical violence. Other rumors also pointed out that Geli would be pregnant, possibly from Hitler, which would have motivated the fatal discussion.

It is certain that Geli’s death had a deep impact on Hitler. Witnesses report that dictator Nazi went into depression and even contemplated suicide. The room where Geli died was then transformed into a sanctuary and kept untouched for years.