Paula Hitler (Wolff) | |
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| Born | 21 January 1896 |
| Died | 1 June 1960 (aged 64) Schönau, West Germany [2] |
| Resting place | Bergfriedhof in Berchtesgaden/Schönau |
| Nationality |
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| Other names | Paula Wolff Paula Hitler-Wolff |
| Known for | Sister of German dictator Adolf Hitler |
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Paula Hitler, also known as Paula Wolff and Paula Hitler-Wolff, [3] [2] (21 January 1896 – 1 June 1960) was the younger sister of Adolf Hitler and the last child of Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl.
Paula Hitler was born in Hafeld, Fischlham, Upper Austria on 21 January 1896 to Alois Hitler and Klara Hitler née Pölzl. She was Adolf Hitler's only full sister and only full sibling who would survive to adulthood. [2] She was six years old when her father, a retired customs official, died, and eleven when she lost her mother Klara, after which the Austrian government provided a small pension to Paula and Adolf. However, the amount was relatively meager and Adolf, who was by then old enough to support himself, agreed to sign his share over to her.[ citation needed ]
Paula later moved to Vienna. In the early 1920s, she was hired as a housekeeper at a dormitory for Jewish university students. In 1921, while she worked at the dormitory, she was visited by her brother who she said appeared as if he had "fallen from heaven". [4] For the most part, she had no other contact with her brother during his struggling years as a painter in Vienna and later Munich, his military service during World War I and his early political activities. She was delighted to meet him again in Vienna during the early 1930s. [5]
Paula used the surname Hiedler, the original spelling of Hitler. [6] By her own account, after losing a job with the Austrian State Insurance Company on 2 August 1930 when her employers found out who she was, Paula received financial support of 250 schillings a month from her brother, and lived under the assumed surname of Wolff at Hitler's request. "Wolf" was a childhood nickname of his which he had also used during the 1920s for security purposes.[ citation needed ]
Hitler appears to have had a low opinion of Paula's intelligence, referring to both Paula and their half-sister Angela as "dumme Gans” (stupid goose). [7]
Paula later claimed to have seen her brother about once a year during the 1930s and early 1940s. She worked as a secretary in a military field hospital for much of World War II. [2]
On 14 April 1945, during the closing days of the war, at the age of 49, she was driven by two SS men to Berchtesgaden, Germany – the location of Hitler's summer home, the Berghof – apparently on the orders of Martin Bormann. She and her half-sister, Angela were each given 100,000 marks on Hitler's orders. [2] There is some evidence Paula shared her brother's strong German nationalist beliefs, but she was not politically active and never joined the Nazi Party. [3]
Paula was arrested by US counter-intelligence officers on 26 May 1945 and interviewed on 12 July. [3]
She characterized her childhood relationship with her brother as one of both constant bickering and strong affection. Paula said that she could not bring herself to believe that her brother had been responsible for the Holocaust. She had also told them that she had met Eva Braun only once. After her debriefing, Paula was released from American custody and returned to Vienna, where she lived on her savings for a time, then worked in an arts and crafts shop. [2] [3]
She returned to Berchtesgaden on 1 December 1952 and took up full-time residence there under the name "Paula Wolff" or "Paula Hitler-Wolff", in connection with a claim she had filed under Hitler's will, which had been denied by a court. [2] During this time, she was looked after by former members of the SS and survivors of her brother's inner circle. [3]
In February 1959, she agreed to be interviewed by Peter Morley, a British documentary producer for Associated-Rediffusion, an ITV channel. The conversation was the only filmed interview she ever gave and was broadcast as part of a programme called Tyranny: The Years of Adolf Hitler. She talked mostly about Hitler's childhood and refused to answer any political questions. Footage from this and a contemporary interview with Morley was included in the 2005 television documentary The Hitler Family (original German title Familie Hitler: Im Schatten des Diktators), directed by Oliver Halmburger and Thomas Staehler.[ citation needed ]
Paula died on 1 June 1960 in Schönau near Berchtesgaden, at the age of 64, [8] the last surviving member of Hitler's immediate family. She was buried in the Bergfriedhof in Berchtesgaden/Schönau under the name Paula Hitler. In June 2005, the wooden grave marker and remains were reportedly removed when another burial took place at the same spot, a common practice in German cemeteries after two or more decades have elapsed. In May 2006, however, the grave marker was returned to Paula's grave with a hinged panel, covering her name, that displays the names of the more recent burials. [9]
Five months after her death, the Federal Court in Berchtesgaden issued a certificate of inheritance in which Paula Hitler was awarded two-thirds of Hitler's estate. [2]
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, 30 km (19 mi) south of Salzburg and 180 km (110 mi) southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps. South of the town, the Berchtesgaden National Park stretches along three parallel valleys.
The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's holiday home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. Other than the Wolfsschanze, his headquarters in East Prussia for the invasion of the Soviet Union, he spent more time here than anywhere else during his time as the Führer of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the most widely known of his headquarters, which were located throughout Europe.
Alois Hitler was an Austrian civil servant in the customs service, and the father of Adolf Hitler.
Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal was an Austrian woman who was the half-niece of Adolf Hitler. Born in Linz, Austria-Hungary, she was the second child and eldest daughter of Leo Raubal Sr. and Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal. Raubal lived in close contact with her half-uncle Adolf from 1925 until her presumed suicide in 1931.
Paula Anna Maria Wessely was an Austrian theatre and film actress. Die Wessely, as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress.
Maria Anna Schicklgruber was the mother of Alois Hitler, and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler.
Klara Hitler was the mother of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. According to the family physician, Eduard Bloch, she was a quiet, sweet, and affectionate person. In 1934, Adolf Hitler honored his mother by naming a street in Passau after her.
William Patrick Stuart-Houston was a British-American entrepreneur and the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler. Born and raised in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to Adolf's half-brother Alois Hitler Jr. and his Irish wife Bridget Dowling, he later relocated to Germany to work for his half-uncle before returning back to London and later emigrating to the United States, where he received American citizenship and ended up serving in the United States Navy against his half-uncle and Nazi Germany during World War II, changing his surname after the war.
Bridget Elizabeth Hitler, née Dowling, was Adolf Hitler's half sister-in-law via her marriage to Alois Hitler Jr. She was the mother of Alois Hitler's son William Patrick Hitler. She was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland.
Angela Franziska Johanna Hammitzsch was the elder half-sister of Adolf Hitler. She was the mother of Geli Raubal by her first husband, Leo Raubal Sr.
Johann Nepomuk Hiedler was the maternal great-grandfather and possibly also the paternal grandfather of Adolf Hitler.
Döllersheim is an abandoned village in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, located in the rural Waldviertel region about 110 km (68 mi) northwest of Vienna. It was evacuated in 1938 to make way for a Wehrmacht training ground. Since 1 January 1964 it has been a Katastralgemeinde of the Pölla municipality in the Zwettl District.
Brigitte Hamann was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna.
The Castle in the Forest is the last novel by writer Norman Mailer, published in the year of his death, 2007. It is the story of Adolf Hitler's childhood as seen through the eyes of Dieter, a demon sent to put him on his destructive path. The novel explores the idea that Hitler was the product of incest. It forms a thematic contrast with the writer's immediately previous novel The Gospel According to the Son (1999), which deals with the early life of Jesus. It received a good deal of praise, including a glowing review from Lee Siegel of The New York Times Book Review, and was the New York Times Bestseller for 2007.
Weitra is a small town in the district of Gmünd in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
The Hitler family comprises the relatives and ancestors of Adolf Hitler, an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party, who was the dictator of Germany, holding the title Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler from 1934 to 1945. Adolf Hitler had a central role in the rise of Nazism in Germany, provoking the start of World War II, and holding ultimate responsibility for the deaths of many millions of people during the Holocaust.
Leo Rudolf Raubal Jr. was an Austrian half-nephew of Adolf Hitler who served in the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
Stefanie Rabatsch 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.
Heinrich Knirr was an Austrian Empire-born German painter, known for his genre scenes and portraits, although he also did landscapes and still-lifes. He is best known for creating the official portrait of Adolf Hitler for 1937 and is the only artist known to have painted Hitler in person.
Hitler is a German surname. It is strongly associated with the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. After World War II, many people born with the surname legally changed their surname. Adolf's family used several varieties of the surname. The spelling 'Hitler' was relatively new.
Berchtesgaden, Germany (AP) Paula Hitler, sister of Adolph [sic] Hitler, died Wednesday, according to police
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