Hitler In Germany And Austria: Any Namesakes?

Hitler is not a particularly common German surname. In fact, Hitler himself was originally called Schicklgruber, and his father took the name Hitler when he was 40, well before Adolf was born. It is believed that most people named Hitler would have changed their names after 1945, and there are no known descendants of Hitler. However, there are some people with the surname Hitler in other parts of the world, such as in the United States and South Africa.

Hitler's original surname was Schicklgruber

Hitler's original surname was indeed Schicklgruber.

Hitler's father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was born out of wedlock to Maria Schicklgruber. The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, and Alois initially bore his mother's surname, Schicklgruber. In 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Alois's mother. Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedler's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler.

In 1876, Alois was made legitimate and his baptismal record was annotated by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Alois's father (recorded as "Georg Hitler"). Alois then assumed the surname "Hitler", also spelled "Hiedler", "Hüttler", or "Huettler". The name is probably based on the German word "Hütte" (lit. 'hut'), and has the meaning "one who lives in a hut".

The Austrian local authorities misspelled the surname as "Hitler" for unknown reasons.

Hitler was Austrian, not German

Although Adolf Hitler is known for his leadership of Nazi Germany, he was, in fact, Austrian by birth. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-Hungary, on 20 April 1889. He was raised near Linz and lived in Vienna in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913.

Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, was born in Austria and was the illegitimate child of Maria Schicklgruber. Alois initially bore his mother's surname, "Schicklgruber", but later assumed the surname "Hitler", which is probably based on the German word "Hütte", meaning "one who lives in a hut".

Hitler considered himself ethnically German, and his fascination with German nationalism began in his youth. His favourite teacher often espoused German nationalist ideas, and Hitler himself expressed loyalty only to Germany, despising the rule of the declining Habsburg monarchy over an ethnically diverse empire.

Hitler's obsession with German nationalism was further fuelled during his early adult years in Vienna, where he consumed countless books on the topic. He also developed fervent anti-Semitic and anti-Slavic sentiments during this time.

Hitler's nationalism was not limited to Germany and Austria. Racially, his view of perfection was closer to the average Dane than the average German, but he considered all Germanic peoples, including Danes, to be ethnically German.

Despite his Austrian origins, Hitler's rise to power and leadership of Nazi Germany led to a strong sense of Austrian nationalism developing in the country, with most Austrians eager to distance themselves from Germany after World War II.

Hitler's father changed his surname from Schicklgruber to Hiedler/Hitler

Hitler's father, Alois Hitler (né Schicklgruber), was born to an unmarried peasant, Maria Schicklgruber, in 1837. At his baptism, the space for his father's name was left blank and the priest recorded him as illegitimate. When Alois was five, Johann Georg Hiedler moved in with the Schicklgrubers and married Maria. However, Maria died when Alois was nine, and he was sent to live with Johann Georg's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, who owned a farm in the nearby village of Spital.

In 1876, Alois, now a rising junior customs official, sought to change his surname to that of his stepfather, Hiedler. He appeared before a priest in Döllersheim and asserted that his father was Johann Georg Hiedler, who had married his mother and now wished to legitimize him. The priest agreed to amend the birth certificate, and the civil authorities automatically processed the church's decision. However, the authorities misspelled the last name as "Hitler" for unknown reasons. Thus, Alois Schicklgruber became "Alois Hitler".

Hitler's surname was derived from "Hiedler", which may have been based on the German word "Hütte", meaning "one who lives in a hut". The name may also be a spelling variation of "Hiedler", meaning one who resides by a "Hiedl", a term for a subterranean fountain or river in Austro-Bavarian German dialects.

Hitler's family has long been of interest to historians and genealogists due to the biological uncertainty of his paternal grandfather, as well as the family's inter-relationships and their psychological effect on Hitler.

Hitler's sister, Paula, changed her surname to Wolf

Paula Hitler, Adolf Hitler's younger sister, was born in Hafeld, Fischlham, Upper Austria, on 21 January 1896. She was the last child of Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Hitler (née Pölzl). Paula was Adolf's only full sibling and the only one to survive into adulthood.

Paula Hitler was just six years old when her father, a retired customs official, died, and eleven when she lost her mother, Klara. After their mother's death, Adolf, who was old enough to support himself, agreed to sign his share of their government pension over to her.

Paula later moved to Vienna, where she worked as a housekeeper for several wealthy families and, in the early 1920s, at a dormitory for Jewish university students. It was during this time that she was visited by her brother, who she said appeared as if he had "fallen from heaven". Despite this visit, Paula had no other contact with her brother during his struggling years as a painter in Vienna and Munich, his military service during World War I, and his early political activities.

In 1930, Paula, who had been using the surname Hiedler, the original spelling of Hitler, lost her job with the Austrian State Insurance Company when her employers found out who she was. She then began using the assumed surname of Wolff, at her brother's request. "Wolf" was a childhood nickname of his, which he also used as a codename during the 1920s for security purposes.

Hitler appears to have had a low opinion of Paula's intelligence, referring to her and their half-sister Angela as "dumme Gans" (stupid goose). However, he did financially support her, sending her 250 schillings a month. Paula later claimed to have seen her brother about once a year during the 1930s and early 1940s.

During World War II, Paula worked as a secretary in a military field hospital. On 14 April 1945, towards the end of the war, she was driven by two SS men to Berchtesgaden, Germany, the location of Hitler's summer home, apparently on the orders of Martin Bormann. She and her half-sister, Angela, were each given 100,000 marks on Hitler's orders.

There is some evidence that Paula shared her brother's strong German nationalist beliefs, but she was not politically active and never joined the Nazi Party. After the war, she was arrested by US counter-intelligence officers and interviewed. She characterised her childhood relationship with her brother as one of both constant bickering and strong affection. Paula said that she could not bring herself to believe that her brother had been responsible for the Holocaust. She also told them that she had met Eva Braun only once.

After her debriefing, Paula was released from American custody and returned to Vienna, where she lived on her savings and then worked in an arts and crafts shop. In 1952, she moved back to Berchtesgaden and took up full-time residence there under the name "Paula Wolff" or "Paula Hitler-Wolff". During this time, she was looked after by former members of her brother's SS guard and survivors of his inner circle.

In 1959, Paula agreed to be interviewed by Peter Morley, a British documentary producer. The conversation was the only filmed interview she ever gave and was broadcast as part of a programme called Tyranny: The Years of Adolf Hitler. She talked mostly about Hitler's childhood and refused to answer any political questions.

Paula Hitler died on 1 June 1960, at the age of 64. She was the last surviving member of Hitler's immediate family.

Hitler's nephew, William Patrick Hitler, changed his surname and moved to the USA

William Patrick Hitler, the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler, was born in Liverpool, England, on March 12, 1911, to Alois Hitler Jr., Adolf's half-brother, and his Irish wife, Bridget Dowling. In the 1930s, William travelled to Germany to take advantage of his uncle's growing power. However, he had a tumultuous relationship with his uncle, who referred to him as his "loathsome nephew". William even tried to blackmail his uncle with threats of exposing his alleged Jewish ancestry.

Suspecting a trap when his uncle asked him to give up his British citizenship in exchange for a high-ranking job, William fled Nazi Germany and returned to London, where he wrote an article titled "Why I Hate My Uncle" for Look magazine. In 1939, William and his mother emigrated to the United States, where he joined the US Navy and fought against his uncle and Nazi Germany during World War II. After the war, William changed his surname to "Stuart-Houston" and lived a life of anonymity with his family on Long Island, New York.

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