Jean-Marie Loret (25 March 1918 – 14 February 1985) was a French railway worker and allegedly

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

's illegitimate son. According to Loret, his mother revealed to him shortly before her death in 1948 that the "unknown German soldier" with whom she had an affair during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

was Adolf Hitler.

Heinz Linge Heinz Linge (23 March 1913 – 9 March 1980) was a German SS officer who served as a valet for the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, and became known for his close personal proximity to historical events. Linge was present in the ''Füh ...

, who served as valet for Adolf Hitler, claimed in his memoirs ''With Hitler to the End'' that on 24 June 1940 Hitler secretly tasked

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

with finding Loret and his mother. Loret's claim was backed by German historian

Werner Maser Werner Maser (12 July 1922 – 5 April 2007) was a German historian, journalist and professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. Maser was the first historian to claim that the Hitler Diaries were forgeries.'Your father was called Hitler''in 1981. However, the dominant view represented by historians such as Anton Joachimsthaler, Timothy Ryback, Sir

Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...

, and Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders, is that Hitler's paternity of Loret is unlikely or impossible to prove.

Biography

Jean-Marie Loret was born illegitimately in 1918 in

Seboncourt Seboncourt () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The co ...

as Jean-Marie Lobjoie. His mother was Charlotte Eudoxie Alida Lobjoie (1898–1951), daughter of Louis Joseph Alfred Lobjoie, a butcher, and his wife Marie Flore Philomène (Colpin) Lobjoie. According to the

birth registry Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

of his home town, Loret's father was an unidentified German soldier during

. Adolf Hitler had stayed in the localities of

Seclin Seclin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Notable residents * Andre Ayew, Ghana national football team footballer *Victor Mollet, architect *Jonathan Rouss ...

Fournes-en-Weppes Fournes-en-Weppes () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Hitler spent half of his war time service in World War I here. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department ...

Wavrin Wavrin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It was established around the year . It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry Population People * Jean de Waurin See also *Communes of the Nord department ...

, and

Ardooie Ardooie (; vls, Ardôoie) is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Ardooie proper and Koolskamp. In 2006 Ardooie had a total population of 9,147. The local inhabitants are called Ardoo ...

during the years 1916 and 1917, and, according to eyewitnesses, he supposedly had a relationship with Charlotte Lobjoie. As a result, the idea that Hitler could be Loret's father was a perennial topic of discussion. Charlotte Lobjoie was a dancer, although she apparently only took up the profession after she moved to Paris, months after the birth of Jean-Marie and the end of the war. Jean-Marie spent his first seven years with his grandparents, with whom Charlotte had no contact after moving to Paris. On 22 May 1922, Charlotte married Clément Loret, a lithographer, who declared he would support his wife's illegitimate son and would allow him to bear his own last name. According to Jean-Marie, his grandparents had "treated him badly." After their deaths in the mid-1920s, his aunt, Alice Lobjoie, worked to have her nephew adopted by the family of the wealthy construction magnate Frizon from Saint Quentin. From then on, Jean-Marie attended consecutively Catholic boarding schools in Cambrai and Saint Quentin. In 1936, Jean-Marie entered the French army and was promoted over the years to staff sergeant. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he was a businessman, but had to give that up in 1948 because of insolvency. Loret said he always knew that his father had been a German soldier, but he had no idea of his identity. He claimed that his mother told him in 1948, shortly before her death, that the soldier was Adolf Hitler. During

Loret worked as ''chargé de mission'' with the French police in

Saint-Quentin, Aisne Saint-Quentin (; pcd, Saint-Kintin; nl, label=older Dutch, Sint-Kwintens ) is a city in the Aisne department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint ...

. He claimed he got the job by Hitler's order, though there is nothing concrete to support this. Charges that he had collaborated with

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

units in France are also unproven. There were no charges of collaboration against him after the war. Loret has said that Hitler ordered all material on Loret to be destroyed. However, Loret was considered only an average individual and not overly diligent. It would have been unusual for him to have gained such a high post on his own merit when still in his early twenties. Loret was married and had three children. Some sources claim his wife separated from him in 1948 when she learned he claimed to be Hitler's son. Some newspaper articles mention his wife as Muguette, who was still living with him at the time. It is unclear whether she was his first wife or a new one. On 8 June 1978, during a public discussion, historian

Werner Maser Werner Maser (12 July 1922 – 5 April 2007) was a German historian, journalist and professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. Maser was the first historian to claim that the Hitler Diaries were forgeries.Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lie ...

, Germany, to seclude him from the intense scrutiny by the press of Loret's home in Saint-Quentin. Maser and Loret visited several places, including the former concentration camp at

Dachau Dachau () was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is lo ...

, where Loret supposedly said: "I didn't choose my father." Maser took Loret with him as he travelled to lecture on his parentage, even bringing him to Tokyo. However, the Frenchman was reluctant to give interviews. In 1979, Loret and Maser had a falling-out and parted company. Subsequently, Loret, in collaboration with René Mathot, published his autobiography, ''Ton père s'appelait Hitler'' 'Your father was called Hitler''(Paris, 1981).

The Loret–Hitler connection

The story of "Hitler's son" was first revealed to the public in the 1970s, most prominently in various illustrated magazines such as ''

Bunte ''Bunte'' (company's preferred spelling in capital letters) is a German-language weekly celebrity gossip magazine published by Hubert Burda Media. The first edition was published in 1948 under the name ''Das Ufer''. Under the leadership of Hube ...

'', but also in more reputable publications, such as the historical journal ''Zeitgeschichte'' and the news magazine ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''. The latter published the most influential story on Loret to date under the title "Love in Flanders". The ultimate origin of the story of Hitler's son, at first spread only by word of mouth, was until then not determined, although written accounts maintaining that the illegitimate son of a French woman and a German soldier was Hitler's son had already been around for a fairly long time in Loret's hometown when Loret became known to German historian Werner Maser. Whether the rumors had been put out into the world by Loret himself or by others has never been determined. Hitler himself admitted he fathered a child. In his book ''With Hitler to the End: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Valet'' (1980), Heinz Linge states that Hitler had stated to a number of people "his belief that he had a son, born in 1918 as the result of a relationship Hitler had had with a French girl as a soldier in 1916–1917 in northern France and Belgium...." Maser maintained that he had heard of a reputed son of Hitler for the first time in 1965 while doing research in

and surrounding cities. He followed up on these reports, met Loret in the process, and was able to convince him to let the story be published. Maser exerted great effort to gather evidence; however, historians including Anton Joachimsthaler have criticised this, alleging that Maser was subordinating the scholarly pursuit of truth in order to pursue commercial motives such as sensationalism and enjoyment of scandal. According to Maser's portrayal, the Loret–Hitler connection occurred as follows: Hitler had met Charlotte Lobjoie in 1916 in the city of Wavrin, in the German-occupied part of France, while stationed there as a soldier, and had begun a romantic relationship with her. Loret had been conceived in the summer of 1917 in

or, according to other sources, in the fall of 1917 in Le Ceteau. The latter scenario is the less likely variant since it would require a premature birth. Maser wrote in his Hitler biography on the relationship of Hitler and Lobjoie:

At the beginning of 1916 the young woman had met the German soldier Adolf Hitler for the first time. She stayed first in Premont, allowed herself to fall into a sexual relationship with him, and followed him until autumn 1917 to, among other places,
Seboncourt Seboncourt () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The co ...
, Forunes, Wavrin and
Noyelles-lès-Seclin Noyelles-lès-Seclin (, literally ''Noyelles near Seclin'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list ...
in Northern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
– and, in May, June and July 1917, also to
Ardooie Ardooie (; vls, Ardôoie) is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Ardooie proper and Koolskamp. In 2006 Ardooie had a total population of 9,147. The local inhabitants are called Ardoo ...
in
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
(p. 528).

The critics of this account pointed out that Maser had no evidence of this beyond Loret's own claims, which were secondhand at best. A genetic certification of his biological inheritance, done at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, resulted in the findings that "at best, Loret ''could'' be Hitler's son", but that he need not be such. Maser claimed that evidence for Hitler's paternity included Charlotte Lobjoie's commitment to a French sanatorium (allegedly at Hitler's instruction) after the German invasion of France, and a protracted interrogation of Loret by the Gestapo in the

Hotel Lutetia A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

, the Gestapo headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, as well as Loret's alleged collaboration with the Gestapo as a policeman. Maser's questioning of Alice Lobjoie, Loret's aunt and Charlotte's sister, whom he had wanted to bring into play as "crown witness" for his claim, rendered, instead, a negative result: Alice Lobjoie stated that her sister had indeed entertained a love relationship with a German soldier, but she disputed vehemently that this soldier had been Adolf Hitler. She stated that she could remember the man's face quite well and knew that this face had no resemblance to Hitler. In addition, she stated for the record: "Jean is a nutcase. Only the Germans talked up that Hitler story to him." In addition to Alice Lobjoie's assertion, critics of Maser's thesis, such as historian Joachimsthaler, among others, introduced into the debate testimonials from Hitler's war comrades, who, in their recollections of Hitler in the First World War, unanimously noted that he was absolutely against any relationships between German soldiers and French women. Balthasar Brandmayer for example, in his 1932 memoir ''Two Dispatch-Runners'', reported that Hitler had reacted in the most violent terms against the intent of his regiment-mates to get involved with French women and had reproached them for having "no German sense of honour". In addition, the critics asserted logical inconsistencies in Maser's story: that it is highly improbable that any soldier in the war, let alone a private ranking low in the military hierarchy, would have been able to take a lover with him through all the relocations of his regiment, as Hitler had done with Lobjoie, according to Maser's account. Free movement would scarcely have been possible in the occupied areas, and having Charlotte travel along with the regiment is very doubtful. During the course of the 1979 Aschaffenburger Historians'

Moot Moot may refer to: * Mootness, in American law: a point where further proceedings have lost practical significance; whereas in British law: the issue remains debatable * Moot court, an activity in many law schools where participants take part in s ...

, Maser at first kept quiet on the matter. Finally, in his own contribution to the discussion, he abruptly declared a possible illegitimate son of Hitler to be a marginal matter. Joachimsthaler designated this Maser's "own private end goal". ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' claimed, in an article dated 15 February 1985, that a portrait of Loret's mother had been found, after Hitler's death, among the latter's possessions, but had no evidence for this claim. In point of fact, a portrait done by Adolf Hitler in the year 1916 that purportedly depicted Charlotte Lobjoie with head-scarf and with fork in hand was tracked to a Belgian entrepreneur in the 1960s and was published in an issue of the journal ''Panorama'' at the beginning of the 1970s. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that this same portrait was found among Hitler's possessions in 1945. One should in this case trace the origin of the claim to a misunderstanding. Following the 2005 publication of his book ''Fälschung, Dichtung und Wahrheit über Hitler und Stalin'' (''Forgery, Fiction and Truth about Hitler and Stalin''), Maser reaffirmed in an interview with the extreme right-wing-oriented ''

National-Zeitung The ''National-Zeitung'' (NZ, ''National Newspaper'') was a weekly, extreme right newspaper, published by Gerhard Frey, who also founded the far right Deutsche Volksunion (German People's Union) as an association in 1971, turning it into a politi ...

'' that he stood by his thesis, just as before, and maintained that Loret "was unambiguously Hitler's son", and that this had been "acknowledged in France on the part of officials". The 12th edition of Maser's book ''Adolf Hitler: Legend, Myth, Reality'', contains an appendix on this subject.

Later media coverage

In 2008 the Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders travelled to Germany, Austria, France and the United States to collect DNA of the last living relatives of Hitler in Austria and on Long Island. He also obtained DNA from postcard stamps sent by Jean-Marie Loret. By comparing DNA from the stamps with that of Hitler's relatives, Mulders claimed proof that Jean-Marie Loret was not the son of Adolf Hitler. The results of his research were published in ''

Het Laatste Nieuws ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' (; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders an ...

'', Belgium's largest newspaper. In February 2009 a book on this subject was published by Herbig Verlag in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

: ''Auf der Suche nach Hitlers Sohn – Eine Beweisaufnahme''. On 17 February 2012, the French magazine ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'' wrote a news article, reporting that studies from the 1970s by the University of Heidelberg showed Hitler and Loret were of the same

blood group A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates ...

and that another study showed they had similar handwriting. The article also stated that official German Army paperwork proves officers brought envelopes of cash to Miss Lobjoie during the World War II occupation. The magazine also described a suggestion by the family's lawyer that they may be able to claim royalties from Hitler's ''

Mein Kampf (; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Ge ...

''. The article was repeated the same day by other international newspapers such as ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and the ''National Post'', who both misinterpreted the original article by claiming the French based their article on new studies. According to these newspapers a revised edition of Loret's book would be published containing the 'new' findings. The French article, however, did not mention a revised edition. In 2018, Russian state-owned TV channel NTV interviewed a man named Philippe Loret who is supposedly a son of Jean-Marie Loret. The documentary is filmed at Loret's home, which is decorated with Nazi relics. In the documentary Loret speaks of a Rothschild family conspiracy. It was reported in 2018 that Loret's son Philippe would undergo a DNA test to determine if he is Hitler's grandson, but the results are unknown as of 2023.

Sources

External links

* Werner Maser
Adolf Hitler: Vater eines Sohnes ("Adolf Hitler: Father of a Son")
– full German text of pp. 178–202 is on the ANNO (AustriaN Newspapers Online) – web pages of the Austrian National Library
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Loret, Jean Hitler family 1918 births 1985 deaths French people of Austrian descent French Army personnel of World War II French Army soldiers

Biography

The Loret–Hitler connection

Later media coverage

Sources

Further reading

External links