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Hitler the Boy

Klara Hitler’s life was blighted with tragedy. Her first three children had all died as infants, and when she fell pregnant for a fourth time, the omens were not good. However, this child, born Easter Saturday, 20 April 1889, although sickly, survived. She named him Adolf.

Hitler as a baby, c.1889

Adolf Hitler was born in the village of Braunau am Inn, on the Austrian-German border, which Hitler, in the very first sentence of Mein Kampf, deemed ‘providential’ as he was to unite the two countries.

The Hitler family moved several times, always depending on his father Alois’ job. Alois’ final posting was to a village on the outskirts of Linz where he retired and spent his final years. Adolf, who was five, was to retain a lifelong affection for Linz, which he always regarded as his home town.

Another boy, Edmund, was born in 1894 but lived for less than six years – a devastating blow for the eleven-year-old Hitler. In January 1896 came a daughter, Paula, who survived and lived into adulthood. Klara had had six children but only two survived beyond infancy. But as well as her own two children, Klara looked after her two stepchildren, both from Alois’ second marriage. Alois, now in his final years, had no time for his children and preferred to wile away his time in the local tavern or looking after his bees. Often drunk, he repeatedly beat Adolf. Klara, who for many years still called her husband ‘Uncle’, smothered her son but was unable to prevent the thrashings.

Hitler as a schoolboy

Young Hitler (pictured above in the centre) did well at primary school but, following the death of his younger brother, less so at secondary where he was frequently criticized for his laziness and arrogance. But he was good at art and harboured ambitions to become an artist, a prospect that alarmed his father who wanted his son to follow him into the customs service. Hitler had no intention of holding down a dreary day job as his father had done all his working life and informed Alois of his artistic ambitions. According to Mein Kampf, Hitler Senior reacted with the words, ‘Artist? No, never as long as I live.’

But, on 3 January 1903, while enjoying his early morning glass of wine at the tavern, Alois collapsed and died. Cause of death was either a heart attack or stroke. He was sixty-five; his son thirteen.