Klara Hitler (''née'' Pölzl; 12 August 1860 – 21 December 1907) was the mother of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
,
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...
of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
Waldviertel
The (Forest Quarter; Central Bavarian: ) is the northwestern region of the northeast Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is bounded to the south by the Danube, to the southwest by Upper Austria, to the northwest and the north by the Czech Rep ...
,
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
, her father was Johann Baptist Pölzl and her mother was Johanna Hiedler.
Klara came from old peasant stock, was hard-working, energetic, pious, and conscientious. According to the family physician, Dr.
Eduard Bloch
Eduard Bloch (30 January 1872 – 1 June 1945) was an Austrian physician practicing in Linz, who, for many years until 1907, was the family doctor of Adolf Hitler and his family. When Hitler's mother, Klara, was dying of breast cancer, Bloch bil ...
, she was a very quiet, sweet, and affectionate woman."The Mind of Adolf Hitler", Walter C Langer, New York 1972 p. 116
In 1876, 16-year-old Klara was hired as a household servant by her relative
Alois Hitler
Alois Hitler (born Alois Schicklgruber; 7 June 1837 – 3 January 1903) was an Austrian civil servant in the customs service, and the father of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945.
Alois Schicklgruber was born out of we ...
, three years after his first marriage to Anna Glasl-Hörer. Although Alois' biological father is unknown, after his mother,
Maria Schicklgruber
Maria Anna Schicklgruber (15 April 1795 – 6 January 1847) was the mother of Alois Hitler, and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler.
Family
Maria was born in the village of Strones in the Waldviertel region of the Archduchy of Austria. ...
, married
Johann Georg Hiedler
Johann Georg Hiedler (28 February 1792 – 9 February 1857) was a journeyman miller who was officially considered to be the paternal grandfather of Adolf Hitler by Nazi Germany. However, whether Hiedler was in fact Hitler's biological paterna ...
, Alois was officially designated as Hiedler's son. Klara's mother was Hiedler's niece Johanna Hiedler, who married Johann Baptist Pölzl, making Klara and Alois first cousins once removed.
Following the death of Alois's second wife Franziska Matzelsberger in 1884, Klara and Alois married on 7 January 1885 in a brief ceremony held early in the morning at Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn in
Braunau am Inn
Braunau am Inn (; German for "Braunau on the Inn") is a town in Upper Austria on the border with Germany. It is known for being the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.
Geography
The town is on the lower river Inn below its confluence with the Salzach, ...
. Alois then went to work for the day at his job as a customs official.
Their first son, Gustav, was born four months later, on 17 May 1885. Ida followed on 23 September 1886. Both infants died of
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
during the winter of 1887–88. A third child, Otto, was born and died in 1887. A fourth son,
Adolf
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...
, was born 20 April 1889.
In 1892, Klara Hitler and her family took the train to Passau, where they settled down for the next two years. Edmund was born there on 24 March 1894. Paula followed on 21 January 1896. Edmund died of measles on 28 February 1900, at the age of five. Of her six children with Alois, only Adolf and Paula survived to adulthood.
Klara Hitler's adult life was spent keeping house and raising children, for whom, according to Smith, Alois had little understanding or interest. She was very devoted to her children and, according to
William Patrick Hitler
William Patrick Stuart-Houston (born William Patrick Hitler; 12 March 1911 – 14 July 1987) was an English-born officer and militant which was the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler. Born and raised in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to Adolf's hal ...
, was a typical stepmother to her stepchildren, Alois, Jr. and Angela.
She was a devout
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
and attended church regularly with her children.
Later life and death
When Alois died in 1903, he left a government pension. Klara sold the house in
Leonding
Leonding () is a city southwest of Linz in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It borders Puchenau and the river Danube in the north, Wilhering and Pasching in the west, Traun in the south and Linz in the east. With a population of more than ...
and moved with young Adolf and Paula to an apartment in
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
, where they lived frugally.
In 1906, Klara Hitler discovered a lump in her breast but initially ignored it. After experiencing chest pains that were keeping her awake at night, she finally consulted the family doctor,
Eduard Bloch
Eduard Bloch (30 January 1872 – 1 June 1945) was an Austrian physician practicing in Linz, who, for many years until 1907, was the family doctor of Adolf Hitler and his family. When Hitler's mother, Klara, was dying of breast cancer, Bloch bil ...
, in January 1907. She had been busy with her household, she said, so had neglected to seek medical aid. Bloch chose not to inform Klara that she had breast cancer and left it to her son Adolf to inform her. Bloch told Adolf that his mother had a small chance of surviving and recommended that she undergo a radical
mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
. The Hitlers were devastated by the news. According to Bloch, Klara Hitler "accepted the verdict as I was sure she would – with fortitude. Deeply religious, she assumed that her fate was God's will. It would never occur to her to complain." She underwent the mastectomy at Sisters of St. Mercy in Linz whereupon the surgeon, Karl Urban, discovered that the cancer had already
metastasized
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
to the pleural tissue in her chest. Bloch informed Klara's children that her condition was terminal. Adolf, who had been in Vienna ostensibly to study art, moved back home to tend to his mother, as did his siblings. By October, Klara Hitler's condition had rapidly declined and her son Adolf begged Bloch to try a new treatment. For the next 46 days (from November to early December), Bloch performed daily treatments of
iodoform
Iodoform (also known as triiodomethane and, inaccurately, as carbon triiodide) is the organoiodine compound with the chemical formula C H I3. A pale yellow, crystalline, volatile substance, it has a penetrating and distinctive odor (in older ch ...
, a then experimental form of
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...
. Klara Hitler's mastectomy incisions were reopened and massive doses of iodoform-soaked gauze were applied directly to the tissue to "burn" the cancer cells. The treatments were incredibly painful and caused Klara's throat to paralyze, leaving her unable to swallow.
The treatments proved to be futile and Klara Hitler died at home in Linz from the toxic medical side-effects of iodoform on 21 December 1907. Klara was buried in
Leonding
Leonding () is a city southwest of Linz in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It borders Puchenau and the river Danube in the north, Wilhering and Pasching in the west, Traun in the south and Linz in the east. With a population of more than ...
near Linz.
Adolf Hitler, who had a close relationship with his mother, was devastated by her death and carried the grief for the rest of his life. Bloch later recalled that, "In all my career, I have never seen anyone so prostrate with grief as Adolf Hitler." In his autobiography '' Mein Kampf'', Hitler wrote that he had "honoured my father but loved my mother" and said that his mother's death was a "dreadful blow". Decades later, in 1940, Hitler showed gratitude to Bloch, who was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, for treating his mother, by allowing him to emigrate with his wife from Austria to the United States, a privilege allowed to few other Jews in Austria.
In 1941 and 1943, Bloch was interviewed by the Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
) to gain information about Hitler's childhood. He said that Hitler's most striking feature was his love for his mother:
While Hitler was not a mother's boy in the usual sense, I never witnessed a closer attachment. Their love had been mutual. Klara Hitler adored her son. She allowed him his own way whenever possible. For example, she admired his watercolor paintings and drawings and supported his artistic ambitions in opposition to his father at what cost to herself one may guess.
Bloch expressly denied the claim that Hitler's love for his mother was pathological.
Bloch remembered Hitler as the "saddest man I had ever seen" when he was informed about his mother's imminent death, while Klara was viewed as a very "pious and kind" woman who "would turn in her grave if she knew what became of him."
In 1934, Hitler honored Klara by naming a street in Passau after her.
Removal of tombstone
On 28 March 2012, the tombstone marking Alois Hitler's grave and that of his wife Klara in Town Cemetery in
Leonding
Leonding () is a city southwest of Linz in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It borders Puchenau and the river Danube in the north, Wilhering and Pasching in the west, Traun in the south and Linz in the east. With a population of more than ...
was removed, without ceremony, by a descendant, according to Kurt Pittertschatscher, the pastor of the parish. The descendant is said to be an elderly female relative of Alois Hitler's first wife, Anna, who has also given up any rights to the rented burial plot. It is not known what happened to the remains in the grave.
See also
*
Hitler family
The Hitler family comprises the relatives and ancestors of Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945), an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. He was the dictator of Germany, holding the title Chancellor of ...
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
.
* Fest, Joachim C. (1973) ''Hitler''. New York: Random House.
* Kershaw, Ian (1999) ''Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris''. New York:
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
* Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
The Mind of Adolf Hitler
''The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report'', published in 1972 by Basic Books, is based on a World War II report by psychoanalyst Walter C. Langer which probed the psychology of Adolf Hitler from the available information. The origin ...
''. New York: Basic Books. ASIN: B000CRPF1K
* Maser, Werner (1973) ''Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality''. New York:
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Rosmus, Anna (2015) ''Hitlers Nibelungen''. Samples Grafenau
* Smith, Bradley F. (1967, reprint: 1979) ''Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth'', Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press
* Vermeeren, Marc {2007) ''De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889–1907 en zijn familie en voorouders''. Soesterberg: Uitgeverij Aspekt.