Adolf Hitler, the notorious Nazi dictator and leader of the Third Reich, has long been subject to allegations that his ancestry contains Jewish roots. Despite being at the helm of a regime that inflicted violence and persecution on people perceived as racially and ethnically different, there has long been speculation and debate surrounding the true nature of his lineage, and intense scrutiny and research has been poured into the question.
It is believed that both Hitler’s paternal and maternal ancestors were living in villages in the area of Amstetten, Austria in the early 1800s, a region known for its thriving Jewish population. Adolf, born in 1889, was thought to be the son of Alois Hitler, and grandson of Johann Georg Hiedler. However, no proof of Johann’s legitimacy was been found, leading to speculation that he may have fathered Alois illegitimately, and his mother Marie Anna Schicklgruber had a relationship with a Jewish man prior to her marriage to Alois, who resided in Graz, a thriving Jewish city at the time.
The comprehensive review of his supposed ancestry by historians has shown a number of irregularities which suggest that Alois may have not been a biological son of Johann Georg, and if so then Adolf may have been partly of Jewish descent. For example, Alois adopted the surname ‘Hitler’ 3 decades after his birth in 1876, which is without precedence for the rural Amstetten area at the time. Furthermore, the earliest evidence of Alois’ parentage is from 1876, 2 decades after his birth and when he was 37 years old, raising questions about its origins.
In an attempt to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy and the possibility of Jewish descent, historians suggest that Maria Schicklgruber’s brother Johann Nepomuk had the child adopted, which resulted in the child taking his name and the surname Hitler, likely chosen for its non-Jewish connotations. Claims of Jewish ancestry were vehemently denied by Hitler himself throughout his life, and he was known to have referred to anyone who suggested such possibilities as ‘defamers of his honour.’
Hitler’s opinions on race and cultural identity is not thought to have been affected by any suggestion of Jewish descent, and can instead be attributed to the anti-Semitism expressed during his upbringing and the time of the later 19th century, when the concept of scientific racism had taken root.
Many prominent figures, such as Simon Wiesenthal and Ian Kershaw, have expressed their opinion that Hitler had no knowledge of possibly having Jewish ancestry and that it would not have resulted in any change to his beliefs of race, despite the additional hostility this would have caused him. Richard Evans, a respected historian of Nazi Germany, expressed his belief that Hitler’s vicious anti-Semitic views were ‘unlikely to be rooted in his own potential descent from Jewish ancestry.’
Given the lack of evidence found thus far, it seems unwise to come to any conclusive assertions regarding Hitler’s ancestry. His family tree holds many secrets yet to be uncovered and could spin conventional historical understanding on its head. Despite a lack of evidence definitively proving any connection to Jewish ancestry, speculation surrounding the true origins of Hitler’s heritage will undoubtedly remain.
Early Family Tensions
Although no conclusive evidence to suggest Jewish ancestry has been found, tension within Adolf Hitler’s immediate family may suggest the possibility of illegitimate birth or perhaps adoption by his father’s brother. Both Hitler’s father Alois Hitler and his mother Klara Polzl had first been married prior to their marriage to each other, and both of Alois Hitler’s earlier marriages saw the couple separate and endure turbulent relationships. This was repeated with Klara, who had a daughter from an extramarital affair.
Although Alois and Klara’s marriage seems to have been one of convenience given the depleted family line needing repopulation, the idea of marital discord could be an indication of a much deeper problem. Alois Hitler’s first two wives may not have been willing to marry him due to circumstances of illegitimacy or secret Jewish roots, or perhaps even the potential for scandal due to pregnancy out of wedlock.
This could be used as an explanation for Hitler’s father’s well-known distaste and lack of affection for his own son, in addition to his increasing commitment and devotion to the Catholic church, which begun with his marriage to Klara Polzl in 1885. Alois turned to the church in order to repent and disassociate himself from the issues of a possibly illegitimate family line, as indicated by historian Oliver Janz when he noted that “the father tried to put this past behind him in keeping with the prevailing morality and religiosity of that day”.
The Anschluss
At the time when Hitler first rose to power, Austria was already known to have a flourishing Jewish population and a crucial hub for Europe’s Jewish economic and educational life. Therefore the anschluss, or union between the German Nazi regime and Austria in 1938, acted as a fundamental facet of the Nazi persecution of Jews, not only within Germany but throughout Europe.
Hitler’s own education saw him spend 7 years in school in Austria, where he was exposed to the teachings of anti-Semitism which first published by Richard Wagner amongst others. Therefore this sudden union and the widespread adoption of these perspectives by Austrian citizens could be espoused to be indicative of Hitler’s own personal fear of his Jewish ancestry coming to light. If Hitler’s ancestry had been revealed to the public, the increase of violence and propaganda seen in Austria may have been unbearable for its citizens and so the anschluss might be seen as both an act of oppression as well as an act of self-preservation for the Nazis.
The massive Jew hunts which characterised the period of the anschluss and the public displays of violence such as book burnings, is likely to have been beneficial to the reign of Hitler and would have deterred those curious of his heritage from rese
