Adolf Hitler and Stefanie Rabatsch

Stefanie Rabatsch ('' née'' Isak; born 26 December 1887Marriage record Vienna-Währing, vol. 34, p. 148
/ref> – died 22 December 1975Grave research Vienna, Kalksburg, gr. 7, nr. 43
/ref>) was an Austrian woman who was allegedly an unrequited love of then-teenage Adolf Hitler, a claim made by Hitler's childhood friend August Kubizek. Her Jewish-sounding maiden name, Isak, has been subject to speculation in this context. However, there is no evidence apart from Kubizek that Hitler ever had such an attachment.

Kubizek, a childhood friend and later biographer of his childhood experience with Hitler, wrote about Stefanie in his book, '' Adolf Hitler, My Childhood Friend''. He alleges that Hitler fell in love with her after she passed by him during her daily daughter-mother stroll in Linz, glancing at him. In Kubizek's account, although in love with her to the point of suicide, Hitler never once spoke with her, and she later married an Austrian army officer. Stefanie stated in interviews that she was unaware of Hitler's feelings towards her, and little is known about her life.

The one-sided relationship has been discussed in many books. Some question the accuracy of Kubizek's memoir, the only source for the story. Others accept that there is some basis of fact, but downplay the significance of the youthful infatuation, while yet others consider that it gives valuable insight into the development of Hitler's personality.

Background

August Kubizek, a music student from Linz, first met Hitler when the two were competing for a place to stand during an opera performance.
According to him, Hitler's passion for Stefanie began in spring 1905, when he was 16 and attending school in Linz, and she was 17; and lasted until 1909, when he was 20.
Kubizek describes the first time he heard about Hitler's obsession as follows: "One evening in the spring of 1905, as we were taking our usual stroll, Adolf gripped my arm and asked me excitedly what I thought of that slim blonde girl walking along the Landstrasse arm-in-arm with her mother. 'You must know, I'm in love with her,' he added resolutely."

Stefanie Maria Beata Isak was born on 26 December 1887 in Niemes, Kingdom of Bohemia.
She came from a family of higher social class than Hitler's and was more than a year older than him. Stefanie had returned to Linz after professional training in Munich and Geneva.
She had a brother, Karl Richard Isak, who was studying law in Vienna.
In the 1950s, Dr. Franz Jetzinger had two pictures of Stefanie in her youth, one from 1904 and one in ball dress from 1907.
Kubizek describes her as "a distinguished-looking girl, tall and slim. She had thick fair hair, which she mostly wore swept back in a bun. Her eyes were very beautiful".

Alleged interaction with Hitler

According to Kubizek, Hitler never spoke to Stefanie, always saying he would do so "tomorrow".
Kubizek wrote that Hitler loathed those who flirted with her, especially the military officers, whom he called "conceited blockheads"; he came to feel an "uncompromising enmity towards the officer class as a whole, and everything military in general. It annoyed him that Stefanie mixed with such idlers who, he insisted, wore corsets and used scent".
Hitler insisted that Kubizek stalk Stefanie and delivered daily reports on her activity while he was away visiting his mother or family. In one report, Kubizek wrote that Stefanie loved to dance and had taken lessons. Hitler disliked dancing and reportedly replied, "Stefanie only dances because she is forced to by society on which she unfortunately depends. Once Stefanie is my wife, she won't have the slightest desire to dance!" In June 1906, Stefanie allegedly gave Hitler a smile and a flower from her bouquet as she was passing him in her carriage. Kubizek later described the scene:

"Never again did I see Adolf as happy as he was at that moment. When the carriage had passed he dragged me aside and with emotion he gazed at the flower, this visible pledge of her love. I can still hear his voice, trembling with excitement, 'She loves me!' "

After Hitler's mother died of breast cancer in 1907, the funeral procession went through Urfahr to Leonding. Kubizek remarks that Hitler said he had seen Stefanie at the funeral procession, which gave him some consolation. Kubizek claims that "Stefanie had no idea how deeply Adolf was in love with her; she regarded him as a somewhat shy, but nevertheless remarkably tenacious and faithful, admirer. When she responded with a smile to his inquiring glance, he was happy and his mood became unlike anything I had ever observed in him. But when Stefanie, as happened just as often, coldly ignored his gaze, he was crushed and ready to destroy himself and the whole world."
Kubizek claims that Hitler finally stated he planned to kidnap Stefanie and kill both her and himself by jumping off a bridge into the Danube.
Instead he moved to Vienna, where, according to Kubizek, an idealised image of Stefanie became his moral touchstone.
Stefanie stated in later interviews that she was unaware of Hitler at the time, but that she had received an anonymous love letter asking her to wait for him to graduate and then to marry him, which she only realised after being questioned about him, must have been from Hitler. She recalled: "I once received a letter from someone who said they were to attend the Academy of Arts, and that I should wait for him; he could come back and marry me! I had no idea who the letter might have been from or who I should have send it to."

At Christmas in 1913, when he was living in Munich, Hitler was said to have placed an anonymous personal ad in the Linz newspaper with his best wishes to her, but she was already married and in Vienna by then.

Later years

Little is known about Stefanie's overall life.
She became engaged in 1908 to an officer in the Hessian regiment stationed in Linz.
On 24 October 1910, Stefanie married Maximilian Rabatsch (* 1872 in Vienna) in Vienna in St. Gertrud, Gertrudplatz 5, in the parish of Währing.
Maximilian was appointed captain on 1 November 1909.
He was promoted to major on 1 October 1917 and to colonel on 1 August 1918.
According to Kubizek, her husband became a high-ranking officer, she was widowed on 15 July 1942, and after the end of World War II (1939–45) she lived in Vienna.

Stefanie was interviewed and Hitler's alleged love for her dramatised in a 1973 Austro-German television film called ''A Young Man From the Innviertel''.
She could not understand why Hitler, if he felt so strongly, had not given her any indication of his attachment, saying, "Hitler would hardly have suffered from too much shyness".

Stefanie was buried on 9 January 1976 in Kalksburg, Vienna.

Maiden name

Stefanie's maiden name, ''Isak'', sounds Jewish, although she was not Jewish. Kubizek spelled it ''Isaak''. The correct spelling was identified by German historian Anton Joachimsthaler in his 2003 work ''Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen'' (Munich, 2003, pp. 46–52). Some historians opine that Hitler would have assumed Stefanie was of Jewish origin. American historian Graeme Donald believes Hitler would have inferred that she was Jewish, but saw no problems with this at the time. This view is supported by Joachimsthaler, who stated in a BBC
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