Klara Hitler
| Klara Pölzl | |
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| Born | 12 August 1860 Spital, Weitra, Austria |
| Died | 21 December 1907 (aged 47) Linz, Austria |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Spouse | Alois Hitler (1885–1903; his death) |
| Children | Gustav Hitler (10 May 1885 - 8 December 1887) Ida Hitler (23 September 1886 - 2 January 1888) Otto Hitler (1887 - 1887) Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 - 30 April 1945) Edmund Hitler (24 March 1894 - 28 February 1900) Paula Hitler (21 January 1896 - 1 June 1960) |
| Parents | Johann Baptist Pölzl Johanna Hiedler |
| Relatives | Johann Nepomuk Hiedler (grandfather) |
Klara Hitler née Pölzl (12 August 1860 – 21 December 1907) was an Austrian woman, the wife of Alois Hitler and the mother of Adolf Hitler.[1]
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[edit] Family background and marriage
Born Klara Pölzl in the Austrian village of Spital, Weitra, her father was Johann Baptist Pölzl and her mother was Johanna Hiedler. Either Hiedler's father Johann Nepomuk Hiedler or the latter's brother, Johann Georg Hiedler, was most likely the biological father of her later husband Alois. Moreover, Klara's grandfather Johann Nepomuk Hiedler was her future husband's step-uncle.
Klara came from old peasant stock, was hard-working, energetic, pious, and conscientious. According to Dr. Bloch, who treated her, she was a very quiet, sweet, and affectionate woman.[2]
In 1876, three years after Alois Hitler's first married Anna Glasl-Hörer, her uncle Alois had hired Klara Pölzl, 16-year-old, as a household servant. After the death of his second wife, Franziska Matzelsberger, in 1884, Alois and Klara were married on 7 January 1885 in a brief wedding held early that morning at Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn in Braunau. Alois then went to work for the day at his job as a customs official. Klara carried on calling Alois "uncle" following the marriage. Their first son Gustav was born four months later, on 15 May 1885. Ida followed on 23 September 1886. Both infants died of diphtheria during the winter of 1886-1887. A third child, Otto, was born and died in 1887.
Adolf was born 20 April 1889, followed by Edmund on 24 March 1894 and Paula on 21 January 1896. Edmund died of measles on 28 February 1900, at the age of five.[3] Klara's adult life was spent keeping house and raising children, for which, according to Smith, Alois had little understanding or interest.[4] Historian Alice Miller later wrote, "The family structure could well be characterized as the prototype of a totalitarian regime. Its sole, undisputed, often brutal ruler is the father. The wife and children are totally subservient to his will, his moods, and his whims; they must accept humiliation and injustice unquestioningly and gratefully. Obedience is their primary rule of conduct."[5]
Klara was very devoted to her children and, according to William Patrick Hitler, was a typical stepmother to her stepchildren, Alois Jr. and Angela.[6]
Klara was a devout Roman Catholic and attended church regularly with her children.[7] Of her six children with Alois, only Adolf and Paula survived childhood.
Alois and Klara's children were:
- Gustav Hitler (born 10 May 1885, died of diphtheria on 8 December 1887 in Braunau am Inn)
- Ida Hitler (born 23 September 1886, died of diphtheria 2 January 1888 in Braunau am Inn)
- Otto Hitler (born and died 1887 in Vienna, lived only 3 days)[8]
- Adolf Hitler (born 20 April 1889, committed suicide 30 April 1945), German dictator
- Edmund Hitler (born 24 March 1894, Passau, died of measles, 28 February 1900, Leonding)
- Paula Hitler (born 21 January 1896, died 1 June 1960), the last surviving member of Hitler's immediate family.
[edit] Later life and death
When Alois died in 1903 he left her a government pension. She sold the house in Leonding and moved with young Adolf and Paula to an apartment in Linz, where they lived frugally. Three or four years later a tumor was diagnosed in her breast. Following a long series of painful iodoform treatments given by her doctor Eduard Bloch, Klara died at home in Linz from the toxic medical side-effects on 21 December 1907.[9] Adolf and Paula were at her side.[10] Owing to their mother's pension and money from her modest estate, the two siblings were left with some financial support. Klara was buried in Leonding near Linz.
Adolf Hitler had a close relationship with his mother, was crushed by her death and carried the grief for the rest of his life. Speaking of Hitler, Bloch later recalled that after Klara's death he had seen in "one young man never so much pain and suffering broken fulfilled". Decades later in 1940 Hitler showed gratitude to Bloch (who was Jewish) by allowing him to emigrate with his wife from Austria to the United States.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ahitler.html
- ^ "The Mind of Adolf Hitler",Walter C. Langer, New York 1972 p.116
- ^ Vermeeren, Mar, De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders, Soesterberg, 2007, Uitgeverij Aspekt, ISBN 978-90-5911-606-1 (Note: Source carried forward and only presumed reliable)
- ^ "[He] had a limited understanding of children and a minimum interest in their development" Smith, p.54
- ^ Miller, Alice "For Your Own Good" http://www.nospank.net/fyog13.htm#introduction
- ^ "The Mind of Adolf Hitler",Walter C. Langer, New York 1972 p.116
- ^ "[She] was completely devoted to the faith and teachings of Catholicism…" Smith, p. 42
- ^ Binion, Rudolph (1976). Hitler among the Germans. New York: Elsevier. pp. 144. ISBN 0-444-99033-X.
- ^ http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/mother.htm
- ^ Biography of Klara Hitler Spartacus Educational. Retrieved on 17 August 2007.
- ^ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler.html
[edit] Sources
- Bullock, Alan. Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1953) ISBN 0-06-092020-3
- 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
- Langer, Walter C. The Mind of Adolf Hitler. Basic Books Inc., New York, (1972) ISBN 0-465-04620-7 ASIN: B000CRPF1K
- Marc Vermeeren, "De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders"; Soesterberg (2007), 420 blz. Uitgeverij Aspekt. ISBN 978-90-5911-606-1
- Maser, Weiner. 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 Institute (1967; reprinted in 1979), ISBN 0-8179-1622-9
[edit] See also
- Alois Hitler
- Adolf Hitler
- Paula Hitler
- Angela Hitler
- Alois Hitler, Jr.
- William Patrick Hitler
- Leopold Frankenberger, Jr.
- Hitler family
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