Johann Georg Hiedler
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In German history, Johann Georg Hiedler (28 September 1792–1857) was born to Martin Hiedler (17 November 1762–10 January 1829) and Anna Maria Goschl (August 23, 1760–7 December 1854). He was considered the officially accepted grandfather of Adolf Hitler by the Third Reich. Whether he was in fact Hitler's biological paternal grandfather is considered unknown by modern historians.
He made his living as a wandering journeyman miller. He married his first wife in 1824 but she died in childbirth five months later. In 1842, he married Maria Anna Schicklgruber and became the legal stepfather to her five year old son, Alois, an illegitimate child who it was later claimed Johann had fathered prior to his marriage to Schicklgruber, although Alois had been declared illegitimate on his birth certificate and baptism papers, and the claim that Johann Hiedler was the true father was never made, even after their marriage. In 1876, almost twenty years after his death, Alois was legally declared to have been Johann Georg's son.
Accordingly, Johann Georg Hiedler is one of three people most cited by modern historians as having possibly been the actual grandfather of Adolf Hitler. The other two are Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, the younger brother of Johann Georg, and a Graz Jew by the name of Frankenberger.
In the 1950s, this third possibility was popular among historians, but modern historians now think it highly unlikely as the Jews were expelled from Graz in the fifteenth century and were not permitted to return until the 1860s, several decades after Alois' birth.
[edit] References
- Bullock, Alan Hitler: A Study in Tyranny 1953 ISBN 0-06-092020-3
- Fest, Joachim C. Hitler Verlag Ullstein, 1973 ISBN 0-15-141650-8
- Kershaw, Ian Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris W W Norton, 1999 ISBN 0-393-04671-0
- Maser, Werner Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality Penguin Books Ltd 1973 ISBN 0-06-012831-3
- Smith, Bradley F. Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth Hoover Instituted, 1967 ISBN 0817916229
