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Revision as of 04:22, 22 May 2004 by ChessPlayer (talk | contribs) (Alois was born in the tiny farming village of Strones...)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Alois Hitler (June 7, 1837 - January 3, 1903), was the father of Adolf Hitler. Born "Aloys Schicklgruber," he changed his legal name by use of deception when he was 39 years old.
Alois was born in the tiny farming village of Strones, Austria, the son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber, a forty-two year old unwed peasant woman. Maria refused to reveal who Alois' father was, and when she had her baby baptised, the space for the father's name on his baptismal certificate was left blank.
As a young junior customs official Alois used his birthname, but in 1876, he took on his step-father's surname by misleading the church into declaring him the legal son of Johann Georg Hiedler. He led the church official to believe that his step-father was still alive, and had testified that Alois was his son. The church agreed to amend the records, the civil authorities rubber-stamped the church's decision, and Alois had a new name. Exactly who decided on the spelling of "Hitler" instead "Hiedler" is not known.
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 Shicklgruber 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
Historians speculate that the primary motivation that Alois had to change his name was money. Johann Nepomunk Heidler promised to leave him a legacy if he would change his name to Heidler and continue the family name. Not long after the name change, Alois made a major real estate purchase, inconsistent with the salary of a customs official.
Notes
Sometimes spelled "Schickelgruber"
References
- 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