Hitler's father Alois Hitler (June 7,1837-January 3,1903) was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schickl'Gruber (42 years old and unmarried), whose family had lived in the area for generations.
By 1837, Alois was born in the hamlet of Strones, parish of Dollers'Heim, in the Waldviertel, an area in NorthWest Lower Austria. She refused to reveal who the child's father was, so he was named Alois Schickl'Gruber and he word "illegitimate"was entered in place of the father's name. She cared for Alois in the house that she shared with her elderly father. The 3 Schickl'Gruber were joined after a while by Johann Georg Hiedler.
Maria Anna (April 15, 1795-January7, 1847), also, was born in the village of Strones, region of Arch'Duchy of Austria. She was the daughter of Theresia Pfeisinger (September7, 1769-November11, 1821), and farmer Johannes Schickl'Gruber. They were Catholics, and she was one of the couple's 11 children, only 6 of whom survived infancy. Maria Anna's early life was that of a poor peasant child in a rural forested area, in the NorthWest part of Lower Austria, NorthWest of Vienna.
Maria Anna's mother died when she was 26, and, she received an inheritance of 75 gulden, which she left invested in the Orphans' Fund until 1838. By that time it had more than doubled to 165 gulden in 15 years. At that time, a breeding pig cost 4 gulden, a cow 10-12 gulden and an entire Inn 500 gulden.
The village was very small and did not even have a church with a baptismal registry. Accordingly, Maria went to Doller'Sheim parish to record the birth. The same registry was altered some 39 years later when, in 1876, Alois legitimized Johann Georg Hiedler as his father and his surname was changed to Hitler.
Illigetitimacy was common in Lower Austria; in some areas it reached up to 40% and as late as 1903 the figure was 24%, with the children normally legitimized at a later day.
On May10, 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Maria Anna, in the village of Doller'Sheim, 5 years after Alois was born. Maria was 47 at the time of her marriage and her husband 50.
The village of Doller'Sheim, situated in the March of Austria, was a SouthEastern frontier of the Roman Empire created in 976CE out of the territory on the border with the Kingdom of Hungary. Originally under the over-lord-ship of the Dukes of Bavaria, it was ruled by the Franconian Baben'Berg dynasty.
Adolf Hitler ordered in 1938, after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany, that Doller'Sheim, Zwettl. Allent'Steig, and several other smaller neighboring villages to be evacuated in favor of a large military training area. The reason of the area's selection was its relatively sparse population, poor soils and consequently low agricultural yields, lack of industry, and from a military point of view, its very severe winter weather conditions.
Maria Anna's nature is described by some writers as being a "thrifty (avoiding wasteful or avoidable expenditure), reserved, and exceptionally shrewd (intelligent and worldly wise, clever and truthful) peasant woman.
Maria Anna died of tuberculosis during the 6th year (1847) of her marriage, at the age of 51 in Klein-Motten where she was living with her husband. She was buried at the parish church in Doller'Sheim. After the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germani in 1938, a search failed to find her grave so she was given an "honor grave" next to the church wall. In 1942, this area became part of the artillery training area and the local inhabitants were moved out. Military training continued under the Soviets after 1945, and also under the Austrian Army until about 1985, by which time most of the towns and villages were in ruins. The church at Doller'Sheim is now preserved and undergoing reconstruction. The cemetery is being tended, but there is no grave marker there now for Maria Anna Schickl'Gruber.
Johann Georg Hiedler (baptized February28, 1792-February9, 1857) was from Spital (part of Weitra), Austria, and made his living as an itinerant journeyman miller. A journeyman was a skilled worker who had successfully completed an official apprenticeship in a building trade or craft. Johann became the legal stepfather of Alois and his name was added to Alois's birth certificate later in his life and was officially accepted as the father of Alois to any legal matters. Whether he was in fact Alois' father is disputed by modern historians.
The first castle at Weitra, Austria, from where Alois's stepfather came, was established in 1201 by the Austrian noble Hadmar II of Kuenring, holder of Durn'Stein castle, where King Richard the Lion'Heart had been imprisoned in winter 1192-93.
The Kuering family of 'ministerialis' (raised up from peasants level to be placed in positions of power and responsibility) fell from grace after the extinction of the ruling House of Baben'Berg in 1246, as they had sided with King Ottokar II of Bohemia against the rising Habs'Burg dynasty.
When Maria Anna died, Alois, her only son, was 10. At that specific moment in his short period of life, he was sent to live with his step father brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, who owned a farm in Spital. Alois attended school there and took lessons in shoe-making from a local cobbler.
At the age of 13 he left the farm and went to Vienna as an apprentice cobbler, working there for about 5 years. In response to a recruitment drive by the Austrian government offering employment in the civil service to people from rural areas, Alois joined the frontier guards (custom service) of the Austrian Finance Ministry in 1855 at the age of 18. The work involved frequent reassigments and he served in a variety of places across Austria.
By 1860, he reached the rank of 'Revenue guard superintendent.' He later became an inspector of customs posted at Braunau in 1875. He eventually rose to full inspector of customs and could go no higher because he lacked the necessary school degrees.
As a rising young junior custom official, he used his birth name of Schickl'Gruber, but in mid-1876, thirty nine years old and well established in his career, he asked permission to use his stepfather's family name. His birth certificate was amended and the civil authorities automatically processed the decision. The official change was registered at the government office in Mistel'Bach in 1877 and transformed him into "Alois Hitler." It is not known who decided on the spelling of "Hitler" instead of "Hiedler."
In early 1869 Alois had an affair with Thekla Penz (born September 24, 1844) of Leopold'Stein, Arbe'Bach in the district of Zwettel, Lower Austria. This led to the birth of Theresia Penz on October 31, 1869. Thekla later married a man by the name of Horner, while Theresia married Johan Ramer and produced at least 6 children while living in the Town of Schwert'Berg.
Alois was 36 years old when he married for the 1st time. Anna Glasl-Horer was a wealthy 50-year-old daughter of a custom official. She was sick when they married and was either an invalid or became one shortly afterwards.
Not long after the marriage, Alois hired Klara Polzl as a household servant. She was the 16-year-old granddaughter of his stepfather, Nepomuk.
At the same time Alois began an affair with Franziska "Fanni" Matzels'Berger, one of the young female servants employed at the Pommer Inn, in the city of Braunau Inn, a town in Upper Austria on the border with Germany, where he was renting the top floor as a lodging. Alois had numerous affairs in the 1870s, resulting in his wife initiating legal action. On November 7, 1880, Alois and Anna became separated by mutual agreement. The 19-year-old Matzels'Berger became the girlfriend of the 43-year-old Alois. She demanded him that the servant girl, Klara Polzl find another job, and Alois sent Polzl away.
On January 13, 1882, Matzels'Berger gave birth to Alois's illegitimate son. Since they were not married, the child's name was Alois Matzels'Berger. Alois kept Matzels'Berger as his girlfriend while his lawful wife, Anna, grew sicker and died on April 6, 1883. A month after the funeral, on May 22 Alois married Matzels'Berg at a ceremony in Braunau with fellow custom officials as witnesses. Alois was 45 and Franzisca 22. He then legitimized his son as Alois Hitler, Jr. His 2nd child, Angela, was born on July 28, 1883.
Alois was secure in his profession and no longer an ambitious climber. He was hard, unsympathetic, and short-tempered guy. Franziska, still only 23, acquired a lung disorder and became too ill to function. She was moved to Ranshofen, a small village near Braunau. During the last months of her life, Klara Polzl returned to Alois' home to look after the invalid and the 2 children (Alois Jr and Angela). Franziska died in Ranshofen on August 10, 1884, at the age of 23. After the death of his 2nd wife, Polzl remained in his home as housekeeper.
Klara Polzl was soon to be pregnant by Alois. Assuming that his step-uncle was the real brother of his biological father, Klara was Hitler's half-niece. If his biological father was Johann Georg, she was then his first-cousin. Because of the affidavit, Alois couldn't marry her until his position as a cousin had to be legally removed. He submitted an appeal to the church for a humanitarian waiver. Permission came, and on January 7, 1885 a wedding was held at Alois rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn.
A meal was served for the few guests and witnesses. Alois then went to work for the rest of the day. Even Klara found the wedding to be a short ceremony.
On May 17, 1885, five months after the wedding, Klara gave birth to her 1st child, Gustav. A year later, on September 25, 1886, she gave birth to a daughter, Ida.
In 1887 diphtheria struck Alois household, resulting in the death of both Gustav, and Ida. Klara had been Alois' wife for 3 years and both of her children were death. Alois still had Alois Jr. and Angela from his previous relationship with Franziska Matzels'Berger.
On April 20, 1889, she gave birth to another son, Adolf. He was a sickly child, and his mother fretted over him. Alois was 51 when he was born. Alois had little interest in child rearing and left it all to his wife. When not at work he was either in a tavern or busy with his hobby, keeping bees.
In June 1892, Otto was born but died days later. Alois was transferred from Braunau to Passau. He was 55, Klara 32, Alois 10, Angela 9, and Adolf 3 years old.
On August 1, the family was living at Theresienstr. One month after Alois accepted a better paying position in Linz. On April 1st, 1893, his wife and children moved to a 2nd floor room on Kapuzinerstr.
Klara had just given birth to Edmund, so it was decided that she and the children stay in Passau for the time being.
On January 21, 1896, Paula, Adolf's younger sister, was born. Now Alois was more often at home with his family. He had 5 children ranging in age from infancy to 14. Edmund died of measles on February 2nd, 1900. Alois wanted Adolf to seek a career in the civil service. Adolf became so alienated from his father that he was repulsed by whatever Alois wanted. Adolf sneered at the thought of a lifetime spent enforcing petty rules. Alois tried to browbeat Adolf into obedience while his son did his best to be the opposite of whatever Alois wanted. One of the closest friends of the family noted that Alois was rough with his wife, Klara, and hardly ever spoke a word to her at home. If he was in a bad mood, he picked on the older children or Klara herself, in front of them, and used to beat them. After Alois and his oldest son Alois Jr had a climatic and violent argument, Alois Jr left home, and his father swore he would never give the boy a penny of inheritance beyond what the law required.
In February 1895, Alois purchased a house on a 9 acre (36,000 m2) plot in Hafeld near Lam'Bach, 30 mi/48 km SouthWest of Linz. He moved his family to the farm and retired on June 25, 1895 at the age of 58 after 40 years in the customs service. He found farming difficult; he lost money, and the value of the property declined.
On the morning of January 3rd 1903, Alois went to Gasthaus Wiesinger as usual to drink his morning glass of wine. He was offered the newspaper and promptly collapsed. He was taken to an adjoining room and a doctor was summoned, but Alois died at the Inn from pleural hemorrhage.
Adolf was 13 when his father died. When he saw the body of his dead father he burst out into an uncontrollable weeping.
Hitler's ancestry came into question when his opponents began spreading rumors that his paternal tree was Jewish since one of Nazism's major principles was that to be considered a pure "Aryan" and one had to have a documented ancestry certificate.
Adolf, following the rumors, in 1931 ordered the SS (Schutzstaffel) to investigate the alleged rumors regarding his ancestry; they found no evidence of any Jewish ancestors.
Although Johann Georg Hiedler was considered the official paternal grandfather of Adolf by the Third Reich, the question of who his grandfather was has caused much speculation and has remained unknown.
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