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Alois Hitler
Alois Hitler, born Aloys Schicklgruber (June 7, 1837 - January 3, 1903) was the father of Adolf Hitler.
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Birth
Alois was born in the tiny farming village of Strones, Austria. Strones was in the Waldviertel, a hilly forested area in the northwest part of lower Austria, just north of Vienna.
It was in this rustic area that a forty-two year old unwed Catholic peasant woman named Maria Anna Schicklgruber,1, whose family had lived for generations in the area, gave birth to an illegitimate boy whom she named Alois. The identity of Alois' father was and still is a mystery. Maria either refused to reveal who her baby's father was, or simply didn’t know. On the day of his birth, when Alois was baptized in the nearby village of Döllersheim, on his baptismal certificate the space for his father's name was left blank, and the priest entered "illegitimate" into his certificate. Alois was then taken by his mother and raised as an infant in a house in Strones she shared with Alois' grandfather, Maria's elderly father Johannes Schicklgruber.
Youth
Sometime in the first five years of Alois' life, Johann Georg Hiedler moved in with the Schicklgrubers. Maria eventually married Georg, five years after Alois was born. Sometime after the marriage, again, it is unclear if it was soon after or up to five years after, Alois was sent to live with Georg's brother Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, who owned a farm in the nearby village of Spital. Alois was therefore somewhere between five and ten years old when he left his mother and went off to stay with his step-uncle’s family in Spital.
Alois spent his late childhood growing up on his step-uncle's farm. He attended elementary school, and took lessons in shoe-making from a local cobbler. When he was 13, he left Spital and went to Vienna, at first to be an apprentice cobbler, which he worked at for about five years. He then took advantage of a recruitment drive by the Austrian government, which sought to give those from rural areas employment in the civil service. Alois joined the frontier guards of the Austrian Finance Ministry in 1855, at the age 18.
Early career
Alois made steady progress in the semi-military profession of customs guard. His profession involved frequent re-assignments, so he served in a variety of places all across Austria. By 1860, after five years service, he had reached the rank of Finanzwach Oberaufseher, or basic non-commissioned officer, serving in the town of Wels, Austria. By 1864, after completing special training and examinations, he had advanced still further, now serving in Linz, Austria. By 1875, he had been promoted to inspector of customs, and posted at Braunau.
His personal life contrasted with the orderliness of his professional life. His profession involved strict attention and application to set rules; his personal life was a continual flaunting of society's rules, at least in regards to women and offspring. Smith(67) notes that in the late 1860s, his "romantic" adventures ended up in the birth of an illegitimate child, and no marriage to the woman he impregnated, whose first name was Thelka, and whose last name is lost to history. It was not until 1873, when Alois was 36, that he married, and it apparently was for money. He married 50 year-old Anna Glassl, a well-to-do daughter of an official. Anna was already sick when Alois married her, and was either an invalid, or became one shortly after the marriage.
Name changed to Alois Hitler
Historian Ian Kershaw remarks: "The first of many strokes of good fortune for Adolf Hitler took place thirteen years before he was born. In 1876, the man who was to become his father changed his name from Alois Schicklgruber to Alois Hitler. Adolf can be believed when he said that nothing his father had done had pleased him so much as to drop the coarsely rustic name of Schicklgruber. Certainly, 'Heil Schicklgruber' would have sounded an unlikely salutation to a national hero." - Kershaw, p.3
As a rising young junior customs official Alois used his birth name, but in the summer of 1876, forty years old and well established in his career, he asked to take on his dead step-father's family name. He appeared before the parish priest in Döllersheim and asserted that his father was Johann Georg Hiedler, who had married his mother, and now had the desire to legitimize him. Alois gave the priest the impression that his father was still alive and wished to testify he was the birth father now. Along with Alois appeared three witnesses, all relatives, one of whom was Johann Nepomuk Hiedler's son-in-law. The priest agreed to amend the records, the civil authorities rubber-stamped the church's decision, and Alois had a new name. The official change, registered at the government office in Mistelbach on January 6, 1877 made "Aloys Schicklgruber" now "Alois Hitler." Exactly who decided on the spelling of "Hitler" instead "Hiedler" is not known, possibly it was the clerk in Mistelbach.
Who was Alois' real father?
Historians have discussed three candidates:
- Johann Georg Hiedler, the legal father, who in his lifetime was only the step-father, but who long after he was dead was legally declared the birth father
- Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, Georg's brother, Alois' supposed step-uncle, who raised Alois during his late childhood years and later willed him a considerable portion of his life savings, but who, if he was the real father, never found it expedient to let it be publicly known.
- Leopold Frankenberger's son, who Hans Frank claimed impregnated Alois' mother Maria while she worked in the Frankenberger house as a maid in the city of Graz, Austria.
Johann Georg Hiedler?
It is possible that the official version is the true version, and Alois' father really was Johann Georg Hiedler. In this case, an explanation for Alois being sent to live on his uncle's farm as a child is that Georg and Maria simply were too poor to raise Alois, or could not raise him as well as his uncle. Unexplained though, is why Georg and Maria did not officially declare Alois their legitimate son once they were legally married, nor why Georg got old and died, never having first made sure to carry on his family name by legitimizing his son and giving him his rightful name. Did Alois outright lie to the priest, or did he simply "stretch the truth a bit" by saying what his father had perhaps intended to do, but never "got around to" doing?
Johann Nepomuk Hiedler?
Maser argues that Alois's father may well have been Georg's brother Johann Nepomuk, a married farmer who had an affair, then supposedly arranged to have his single brother Georg marry Alois's mother Maria to provide a cover for Nepomuk's desire to assist and care for Alois without upsetting his wife. This would also explain, Maser argues, why Alois was brought up on the farm at Spital instead of with his mother and step-father, as in this scenario, Georg was willing to marry Maria, but not willing to raise his brother's child. Under this theory, Nepomuk was able to see his son grow up while appearing to his wife to simply be doing his family duty by helping to raise his step-nephew. Hitler biographer J. Fest does not accept Maser's view, thinking it too contrived to be true.
Frankenberger's son?
Soon after Adolf Hitler became politically active in the 1920s, rumors were spread that his ancestry was Jewish. His opponents found out his father was not originally named Hitler, and that there was a mystery as to who his paternal grandfather had been. What Hitler thought about these rumors, as opposed to his public statements about them, is unknown. Himmler had the Gestapo investigate in 1942, and reputedly they discovered nothing. In Mein Kampf, Hitler states that his paternal grandfather was "a poor cottager" and of course says nothing to suggest he was anything but German. (Note: Hitler considered his family as Germans, the fact that they were Austrians was a matter of political borders, not nationality to him.) For historians, the matter of Jewish descent became centered around the claims made after the war by Hans Frank. Frank, in a death-row confession, told his priest about how he had been asked by Hitler to investigate, and he had discovered that Hitler's grandmother Maria had been a servant in Graz, working for a wealthy Jew named Leopold Frankenberger. Frank asserted that Maria got pregnant, then returned to her native village of Strones where she had her baby. Frank's testimony was widely believed in the 1950s, but thought to be full of holes by historians today. Ian Kershaw dismisses the Frankenberger theory entirely as having been concocted by Hitler's enemies and being entirely without merit. Kershaw points to the fact that all Jews had been expelled from Graz in the 15th century and were not allowed to return until the 1860s. There is also no evidence that Maria Schicklgruber ever lived in Graz.
Summary - who was Alois' father?
Of the three possibilities, only the third is historically important. The difference between Alois' father being one of two brothers, has little historical consequence, outside of making Adolf Hitler's ancestry more incestuous if his grandfather was Nepomuk, who also was his mother Klara Pölzl's grandfather. The third possibility, however, if true, is historically earthshaking, as anti-Semitism was fundamental to Hitler's beliefs, life, and politics.
In all scenarios, historians speculate that one motivation that Alois had to change his name may have been money. Johann Nepomuk Hiedler may have promised to leave him a legacy if he would change his name to Hiedler and continue the family name. Six months after Nepomuk died, Alois made a major real estate purchase, inconsistent with the salary of a customs official, and with a wife who was about to have a baby.
Maser reports that in 1876, Franz Schicklgruber, the administrator of Alois' mother's estate, transferred to Alois the substantial sum of 230 gulden. Maser asserts that this transfer was connected to a family decision involving changing Alois' last name from Schicklgruber to Hitler in accordance with his mother's wishes when she died in 1847.
A motivation that did not play a part was shame. Smith states that Alois expressed little or no shame over his illegitimacy. He openly admitted it, before and after the name change. He certainly had done well by local standards and was not being hampered in any way by his name. The limiting factor in his rise at this point was education, not family origin. Alois eventually rose to full inspector of customs, and could go no higher because he lacked the necessary school degrees.
See also: Ancestry of Adolf Hitler - Who was Adolf's grandfather? http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa070197.htm and The Straight Dope: Was Hitler part Jewish? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_325b.html
Mid-career and early married life
In 1873 Alois married his first wife, the well-to-do Anna Glassl. In 1876 Alois hired Klara Pölzl as a household servant, the sixteen-year-old granddaughter of Alois' step-uncle (or possibly father) Nepomuk. After Alois' name change, Klara was officially a second cousin; if Nepomuk actually was Alois' father, then Klara was Alois' half-niece. At the same time, or not long after, he had an affair with teenager Franziska "Franni" Matzelberger, one of the young female servants employed at the Braunau inn (the Pommer Inn, house #219) where he was renting the top floor as lodging.
Smith states that Alois had numerous affairs in the 1870s, resulting in his sick wife Anna initiating legal action to seek separation. On November 7, 1880, Alois and Anna legally separated by mutual agreement. Franziska, 19, now became 43 year old Alois' open girlfriend, but the two could not marry, as under Catholic church law Alois could not marry again while Anna lived since divorce was not permitted by the church. Franziska however demanded that at least Alois's "servant girl" Klara find other employment, and Alois complied, sending cousin Klara away.
It seems Franziska succeeded in achieving the status of de-facto wife. She needed it, because in January 1882 she bore Alois an illegitimate son, named Alois after him, but as they were not married, the child's last name had to be Franziska's, making her son "Alois Matzelberger." Franziska was luckier, or perhaps prettier, than Alois' previous paramour who had born him a child; or maybe the other child had been a girl. For whatever reason, Alois kept Franziska essentially as his wife, while his other wife grew sicker and finally, more than a year after the birth of Franziska's child, passed away. The next month, Alois Hitler, 45, married Franziska Matzelberger, 21, bulging and fat with a second child due soon, at a ceremony in Braunau with fellow custom officials as witnesses. He then legitimized his son Alois Hitler, Jr.
Late career and final marriage
Alois was secure in his profession and no longer the ambitious climber. Still, all was not domestic bliss. Alan Bullock described Alois as a "hard, unsympathetic, and short-tempered" man. Franziska, for a reason unknown to history, went to Vienna to give birth to her second child, Angela Hitler. Then tragedy struck; Franni, still only 23, acquired a lung disorder and became too ill to function. She was moved to Ranshofen, a small village near Braunau. With no one to take care of the house or the children, Alois brought back Klara Pölzl, Franni's rival. Franziska died in Ranshofen on August 10, 1884 at the age of 23.
Her death did not affect Alois at all. He simply replaced her with Klara who was already pregnant at the time of Franziska's death, or shortly after. Smith writes that if Alois had been free to do what he wished, he would have married Klara immediately, however, he had a problem. Thanks to having changed his name, Alois was now legally related to Klara, as she was the granddaughter of his uncle (possibly father) Johann Nepomuk Heidler. Officially, they were second cousins, and too close to marry. Nevertheless, Alois wanted to marry her, and he submitted an appeal to the church for a waiver for humanitarian reasons though omitting to tell them that one reason was that Klara was already pregnant with his child.
Alois probably didn't worry much about what the Church's decision would be. He himself had been born illegitimate, he was secure in his career, and immune to what the local people thought of him as his salary came from the Finance Ministry. He would prefer being legally married, but no doubt was ready to keep Klara as his "housekeeper" if permission was refused. Finally, permission came, and on January 7, 1885 a wedding was held early in the morning at Alois' rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn. A meal was afterwards served for the few guests and witnessess, and then with his customary insensitivity and lack of romantic feeling, he went to work as if it just was another day. Klara was hurt by it, later telling someone in exaggeration that the whole thing was done in under an hour.
On May 17, 1885, five months after the wedding, Klara gave birth to her first child, and presented Alois with another son, which they named Gustav. A year later, September 25, 1886, she bore him a daughter, Ida. In 1887 a son Otto followed Ida, but died shortly after birth. Then a tragic sickness struck the Hitler household in late 1887, resulting in the deaths of both Gustav and Ida. Klara had been Alois' wife now for three years, and all the children she had bore him were now dead, but Alois still had the children Franziska had given him, Alois Jr and Angela.
Klara continued to produce children. On April 20, 1889 she presented Alois with yet another son, whom they named Adolf. Adolf was a sickly child, and poor Klara fretted over him. Alois, Smith remarks, had little interest in child rearing, leaving it all to Klara. He did not even like being around his family, minimizing it as much as possible. When not working, he liked to be at a tavern, or engaging in his hobby of maintaining bees. In short, as much as he could manage it, he was an absentee father, not a doting one. The hours he did spend at home, he spent as a self-important tyrant. If he was in a bad mood, he picked on the older children, or even Klara herself, abusing her in front of them. Mostly, he used his voice to lash out and hurt and humiliate, but he was not above using physical blows when he felt like it.
Final career moves
In 1892 Alois was re-assigned from Braunau to Passau. Alois was now 55, Klara 32, Alois Jr. 10, Angela 9, and little Adolf was 3 years old.
In 1894, Alois was re-assigned to Linz. Klara had just given birth to Edmund, so it was decided that she and the children would stay in Passau for the time being.
Retirement years
In February 1895, Alois purchased a house on a nine acre (36,000 m²) plot in Hafeld near Lambach approximately thirty miles southwest of Linz. The farm was called the Rauscher Gut. Alois fantasized he would spend his retirement as a "gentleman farmer," indulging in his hobby of beekeeping, and living a nice easy rural life. He moved his family to the farm, and retired on June 25, 1895 at the age of 58, after forty years in the customs service.
A lifetime as a civil servant had made Alois forget what farm life was like. Alois found taking care of nine acres (36,000 m²) to be more work that he had thought it would be. He hadn’t been expecting it and didn't want it. Consequently, the land went uncultivated, and the value of the property began to decline. Far from being his dream retirement home, the Rauscher Gut turned into a money-losing nightmare.
His family meanwhile, was still growing. On January 21, 1896, Paula Hitler was born, Klara and Alois' last child. With no workplace to go to, Alois now for the first time was home often with his family, and didn't like it at all. He had five children, ranging in ages from 14 to infancy, and being involved with their daily life annoyed him. Smith suggests that he yelled at the children continually, then finally when he couldn't stand them anymore, he would leave and visit the local tavern, where he began to drink more than he used to.
Alois took his unhappiness out on his children, and they returned it. His oldest son Alois Jr. and he got into a climactic violent argument, resulting in Alois Jr. leaving home for good, and the elder Alois swearing he would never give the boy a penny of inheritance beyond what the law required. With the oldest son gone, Adolf was the next to be the focus of his father's tyrannical impulses.
Edmund, the youngest of the boys, had died of measles on February 2, 1900. Since Alois Jr. had been disowned by his father, this left Adolf as the focus of his father's attention insofar as Alois had any thoughts of carrying on a family legacy. Alois wanted Adolf to follow in his footsteps, and seek a career in the civil service; in fact, he all but ordered the boy to do so, in his typical fashion, but there was no chance of it happening. Adolf was so alienated from his father that he found whatever his father wanted repulsive. His father glorified the role of the civil servant, but Adolf sneered at the thought of a life of enforcing petty rules; to Adolf, that was no life. Instead, he would be an artist, he told himself. Alois tried to browbeat his son into obedience, and Adolf did his best to be the opposite of whatever his father valued. His father wanted him to be practical, non-religious, non-political, sensible, realistic, stable, industrious, and to become a civil servant. Adolf therefore became lazy, romantic, idealistic, fantasy-oriented, politically minded, and dreamt of first being a priest, then later an artist.
Death
On the morning of January 3, 1903, Alois went to the Gasthaus Stiefler as usual, to drink his morning glass of wine. He had just been offered the newspaper, when suddenly, he collapsed. He was taken to an adjoining room, and a doctor was summoned, but it was too late. Alois Hitler died at the inn at the age of 65.
Quotes
"Even one of his closest friends admitted that Alois was "awfully rough" with his wife (Klara) and "hardly ever spoke a word to her at home" - Robert G. L. Waite
Notes
1Sometimes spelled "Schickelgruber"
References
- Bullock, Alan Hitler: A Study in Tyranny 1953 ISBN 0060920203
- Fest, Joachim C. Hitler Verlag Ullstein, 1973 ISBN 0-15-141650-8
- Kershaw, Ian Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris W W Norton, 1999 ISBN 0-393-04671-0
- Maser, Werner Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality Penguin Books Ltd 1973 ISBN 0-06-012831-3
- Smith, Bradley F. Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth Hoover Instituted, 1967 ISBN 66-25727
- Waite, Robert G. L. The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler Basic Books 1977 ISBN 0-465-06743-3