The Hitler Bloodline

Uncovering the Fuhrer’s Secret Family

David Gardner

• Publisher: John Blake
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789466744
• Subtopic: History of Art
• Index: History

Adolf Hitler was one of six children born to his mother, and one of eight born to his father from two of his three marriages. Alois Hitler, né Schicklgruber, was an official of the Austrian customs service, and the combination of an imperial uniform and a severe drinking habit seems to have ensured that Hitler's father was a drunken bully given to beating his children if they were not instantly obedient.

Alois had two children, Alois junior and Angela, by his second wife, and six by his third, Hitler's mother Clara, of whom four, all boys, died at birth or in infancy. Young Adolf was therefore left with a half-brother, Alois, and half-sister, Angela, and a full sister, Paula, who died in 1960. When Hitler killed himself in April 1945, all his siblings were still living and some had children of their own. So, what happened to them?

The answer is that no one was really certain until David Gardner published this book in 2001, having patiently and steadfastly tracked down Hitler's living relations to the USA, and made contact with some of them. Now revised and updated, this is a fascinating study of a little-known side of Hitler's history, as well as a riveting account of how the author traced and contacted the survivors of a bloodline that most of the world probably hoped had become extinct.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• About the author
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword by Beryl Bainbridge
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• 1. Interview with the FBI
• 2. Starting the Search
• 3. J. Edgar Hoover’s Report
• 4. Brigid’s Manuscript
• 5. The Oss Report
• 6. History Coming Alive
• 7. Hitler’s Diary
• 8. ‘He Looks Like Hitler, But You Can’t Blame Him for That’
• 9. ‘My Name is Hess!’
• 10. A Chink of Light
• 11. Was Hitler Part-Jewish?
• 12. Meeting the Family
• 13. Blood Money
• 14. The Brothers’ Pact
• 15. Hitler’s Fake Son
• 16. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
• 17. Tragedy of the Married Hitler
• 18. Hitler Street
• 19. What’s in a Name?
• Conclusion
• Important Dates
• Acknowledgements
• Photos