Very little is known about Alois Hitler's character. It seems that 
he was very proud of his achievements in the Civil Service and yet 
he retired from this service at the astonishing age of fifty-six, 
four years after Adolph was born. In very rapid succession the family 
moved into several different villages and the father tried his hand 
at farming. It is said, however, that he always wore his customs 
official's uniform and insisted on being addressed as Herr 
Oberoffizial Hitler. According to reports, he liked to lord it over 
his neighbors whom he may have looked down upon as "mere" peasants. 
In any event, it seems quite certain that he enjoyed sitting in the 
tavern and relating his adventures as a customs official and also 
in discussing political topics. 

He died on his way to the tavern in Leonding from a stroke 
of apoplexy in 1903. 

He is generally described as a very domineering individual who was 
a veritable tyrant in his home. William Patrick Hitler says that he has 
heard from his father, Adolph's elder [00010105.GIF Page 99]
half-brother, that he used to best the children unmercifully. On one 
occasion it is alleged he beat the older son into a state of 
unconsciousness and on another occasion beat Adolph so severely 
that he left him for dead. It is also alleged that he was somewhat 
of a drunkard and that frequently the children would have to bring 
him home from the taverns. When he reached home a grand scene would take 
place during which he would beat wife, children and dog rather 
indiscriminately. This story is generally accepted and yet there is 
little real evidence in favor of it except what Hitler himself tells 
us in MEIN KAMPF. 

Heidan, who interviewed a number of the villagers in places where 
the family lived, had nothing of this sort to report. They found the 
old man rather amusing and claimed that his home life was very happy and 
quiet except when his wife's sister came to visit with the family. Why 
this should be a disturbing factor is unknown. Heiden suspects that 
the legacy was a bone of contention. 

There is some doubt about the complexion of Alois Hitler's political 
sentiments. Hanisch reports "Hitler heard from his father only praise 
of Germany and all the faults of Austria." According to Heiden, more 
reliable informants claim that the father, though full of complaints 
and criticisms of the government he served, was by no means a German 
nationalist. They say he favored Austria against Germany and this 
coincides with William Patrick Hitler's information that his 
grandfather was definitely anti-German just as his own father was. 

[00010106.GIF  Page 100]

Mother Klara Poelzl, as has been said, was the foster-daughter of 
her husband and twenty-three years his junior. She came from old 
peasant stock, was hard-working, energetic and conscientious. Whether 
it was due to her years of domestic service or to her upbringing, her 
home was always spotlessly clean, everything had its place and not a 
speck of dust was to be found on the furniture. She was very devoted 
to her children and, according to William Patrick Hitler, a typical 
step-mother to her step-children. According to Dr. Bloch who treated 
her, she was a very sweet and affectionate woman whose life centered 
around her children and particularly Adolph, who was her pet. She 
spoke very highly of her husband and his character and the happy life 
they had together. She felt it was a real deprivation for the 
children to have lost their father while they were still so young. 

One could question her background. Her sister is married and has 
two sons, one of whom is a hunchback and has an impediment in his 
speech. When we consider that Klara Poelzl may have lost one child 
before her marriage to Alois Hitler, another son born in 1885 who 
died in 1887, another son born in 1894 who died in 1900, and a 
girl who was born in 1886 and died in 1888, one has grounds to 
question the purity of the blood. There is even cause for greater 
suspicion when we learn from Dr. Bloch that he is certain that 
there was a [00010107.GIF  Page 101] daughter, slightly older 
than Adolph, who was an imbecile. He is absolutely certain of 
this because he noticed at the time that the family always tried to 
hide the child and keep her out of the way when he came to attend 
the mother. It is possible that this is Ida who was born in 1886 
and who is alleged to have died in 1888, except that Dr. Bloch 
believes that this girl's name was Klara. He may, however, be 
mistaken in this particularly since both names end in "a" and he 
never had any close contact with her. There is no other record of a 
Klara anywhere in the records. The younger sister, Paula, is also said 
to be a little on the stupid side, perhaps a high-grade moron. This is 
certainly a poor record and one is justified in suspecting some 
constitutional weakness. A syphilitic taint is not beyond the realm 
of possibility. The mother died following an operation for cancer of 
the breast on December 21,1907. All biographers have given the date 
of her death as December 21, 1906  but Dr. Bloch's records show 
clearly that she died in 1907 and John Gunther's record of the 
inscription on her tombstone corroborates this. The last six months 
of her life were spent in extreme pain and during the last week it was 
necessary to give her injections of morphine daily. 

It is often alleged that she was of Czech origin and spoke only a 
broken German and that consequently Adolph may have been ashamed of her 
among his playmates. This is almost certainly untrue. Dr. Bloch reports 
that she did not [00010108.GIF  page 102] have any trace of an accent 
of any kind nor did she show any Czech characteristics. Alois Hitler's 
first wife was of Czech origin and later writers may have confused her 
with Adolph's mother.

Siblings

Alois, Jr

Alois Hitler, Jr. was born January 13, 1882, the illegitimate son 
of the father's second wife born during the lifetime of the first 
wife. He is the father of William Patrick Hitler, one of our informants. 
He seems to have taken very much after his father in some respects. He 
left the parental home before the death of his father because, according 
to his son, he could tolerate it no longer. His step-mother, according 
to the story, made life very difficult for him and continually 
antagonized her husband against him. It seems that Alois, Jr. had 
considerable talent for mechanical pursuits and his father had planned 
on sending him to a technical school for training as an engineer. Until 
his third marriage the father was very fond of his oldest boy and all 
his ambitions were wrapped up in him. But the step-mother 
systematically undermined this relationship and finally persuaded 
the father that Alois, Jr. was unworthy and that he should save his 
money for the education of her son, Adolph. She was finally successful 
and Alois, Jr. was sent away from home as an apprentice waiter. 

Evidently the profession of waiter did not intrigue him, for in 19OO 
he received a five-months' sentence for [00010109.GIF  Page 103] thievery 
and in 1902 he was sentenced to eight months in jail for the same reason. 
He then went to London where he obtained a position as a waiter and, 
in 1909, married Bridget Dowling, an Irish girl. In 1911 William Patrick 
Hitler was born and in 1915 his father deserted the family and returned 
to Germany. The family was not a happy one and broke up several times 
in the course of these four years. It is alleged that the father drinks 
quite frequently and would then come home and create tremendous scenes 
during which he frequently beat his wife and tried to beat the small 
infant. During these four years when his mother and father had separated 
for a time, his father did go to Vienna. This would agree with 
Hanfstangl's conviction that Alois, Jr. was in Vienna at the same time 
that Adolph was there. 

In 1924 Alois, Jr. was brought before the court of Hamburg charged with 
bigamy. He was sentenced to six months in prison but since his first wife 
did not prosecute the sentence was suspended. He has an illegitimate 
child by the second wife who lives in Germany. During all these years 
he has never sent any money for the support of his first wife or child. 
Up until the time of the inflation it is alleged that he had a very 
successful business in Germany. The business failed and he has had 
various jobs up until 1934 when he opened a restaurant in Berlin which 
became a popular meeting-place for S.A. men. 

According to the son, Alois, Jr. heartily disliked Adolph as a boy. 
He always felt that Adolph was spoiled by [00010110.GIF  Page 104]
his mother and that he was forced to do many of the chores that 
Adolph should have done. Furthermore, it seems that Adolph occasionally 
got into mischief which his mother would blame on Alois and Alois would 
have to take the punishment from his father. He used to say as a boy 
he would have liked to have wrung Adolph's neck on more than one 
occasion and considering the circumstances this is probably not far 
from the truth. Since Hitler came to power, the two brothers have 
practically no contact with each other. They have come
together a few times but the meeting is usually unpleasant, with Adolph
taking a very high-handed attitude and laying down the law to the rest of
the family. Alois, Jr. is not mentioned in MEIN KAMPF and only a few people
in Germany know of his relationship to Hitler. 

William Patrick Hitler 

He is a young man of thirty-two, the son of Alois, Jr., who has not 
amounted to much. Before his uncle came to power he worked as a 
bookkeeper in London. When his uncle became famous he obviously 
expected that something would be done for his family. He gave up his 
job in London and went to Germany where he had some contact with 
Adolph Hitler. The latter, however, was chiefly interested in keeping 
him under cover and provided him with a minor job in the Opal Automobile 
Company. It is my impression that William Patrick was quite ready to 
blackmail both his father and his uncle but that things did not work 
out as planned. He returned to England and, as a British subject, 
came to this country where he is a professional speaker. He is also 
engaged in writing a book about his associations and experiences in 
Hitler Germany.

[00010111.GIF  Page 105]

Angela

She is an elder half-sister of Adolph. She seems to be the most 
normal one in the family and from all reports is rather a decent and 
industrious person. During her childhood she became very fond of 
Adolph despite the fact that she had the feeling that his mother was 
spoiling him. She is the only one of the family with whom Adolph has 
had any contact in later years and the only living relative Hitler ever 
mentioned. When his mother died in 1907 there was a small inheritance 
which was to be divided among the children. Since the two girls had 
no immediate means of earning a livelihood the brothers turned over 
their share to help the girls along. Adolph turned his share over to 
Angela while Alois turned his over to a younger sister, Paula. Angela 
later married an official named Raubal in Linz who died not long 
afterwards. She then went to Vienna where, after the  war, she was 
manager of the Mensa Academica Judaica. Some of our informants knew 
her during this time and report that in the student riots Angela 
defended the Jewish students from attack, and on several occasions 
beat the Aryan students off the steps of the dining hall with a club. 
She is a rather large, strong peasant type of person who is well able 
to take an active part. 

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