Klara Hitler - Family Background and Marriage

Family Background and Marriage

Born in the Austrian village of Spital, Weitra, her father was Johann Baptist Pölzl and her mother was Johanna Hiedler. Either Hiedler's father Johann Nepomuk Hiedler or his brother Johann Georg Hiedler (who is presumed and accepted as the father) was the biological father of her later husband Alois. Moreover, Klara and Alois were first cousins once removed.

Klara came from old peasant stock, was hard-working, energetic, pious, and conscientious. According to Dr. Bloch, who treated her, she was a very quiet, sweet, and affectionate woman.

In 1876, three years after Alois Hitler's first married Anna Glasl-Hörer, her uncle Alois had hired Klara Pölzl, 16-year-old, as a household servant. After the death of his second wife, Franziska Matzelsberger, in 1884, Alois and Klara were married on 7 January 1885 in a brief wedding held early that morning at Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn in Braunau. Alois then went to work for the day at his job as a customs official. Klara carried on calling Alois "uncle" following the marriage. Their first son Gustav was born four months later, on 15 May 1885. Ida followed on 23 September 1886. Both infants died of diphtheria during the winter of 1886-1887. A third child, Otto, was born and died in 1887.

Adolf was born 20 April 1889, followed by Edmund on 24 March 1894 and Paula on 21 January 1896. Edmund died of measles on 28 February 1900, at the age of five. Klara's adult life was spent keeping house and raising children, for which, according to Smith, Alois had little understanding or interest. Historian Alice Miller later wrote, "The family structure could well be characterized as the prototype of a totalitarian regime. Its sole, undisputed, often brutal ruler is the father. The wife and children are totally subservient to his will, his moods, and his whims; they must accept humiliation and injustice unquestioningly and gratefully. Obedience is their primary rule of conduct."

Klara was very devoted to her children and, according to William Patrick Hitler, was a typical stepmother to her stepchildren, Alois Jr. and Angela.

Klara was a devout Roman Catholic and attended church regularly with her children. Of her six children with Alois, only Adolf and Paula survived childhood.

Alois's and Klara's children were:

• Gustav Hitler (born 10 May 1885, died of diphtheria on 8 December 1887 in Braunau am Inn)
• Ida Hitler (born 23 September 1886, died of diphtheria 2 January 1888 in Braunau am Inn)
• Otto Hitler (born and died 1887 in Vienna, lived only 3 days)
• Adolf Hitler (born 20 April 1889, committed suicide 30 April 1945), German dictator
• Edmund Hitler (born 24 March 1894, Passau, died of measles, 28 February 1900, Leonding)
• Paula Hitler (born 21 January 1896, died 1 June 1960), the last surviving member of Hitler's immediate family.