Maria Anna Schicklgruber (15 April 1795 – 7 January 1847) was Adolf Hitler's paternal grandmother.
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Maria was born in the village of Strones in the Waldviertel area. She was the daughter of Theresia Pfeisinger (7 September 1769 – 11 November 1821), and farmer Johannes Schicklgruber (29 May 1764 – 12 November 1847). Maria was a Catholic; what is known about her is based on church and other public records.
Maria was one of 11 children, only six of whom survived infancy. Her early life was that of a poor peasant child in a rural forested area, in the northwest part of Lower Austria, northwest of Vienna.
Maria's mother died in 1821 when Maria was 26. She received an inheritance of 74.25 gulden, which she left invested in the Orphans' Fund until 1838. By that time it had more than doubled to 165 gulden. At that time, a breeding pig cost 4 gulden, a cow 10-12 gulden and an entire inn 500 gulden. Werner Maser [1] wrote she was a "thrifty, reserved, and exceptionally shrewd peasantwoman."
Other than saving her inheritance, which indicates she was not destitute during that period of her life, little is known about Maria's life until she was over 40.
In 1837 she was 42 years old, and still single, when her first and only child was born. She named the boy Alois. Maser notes that she refused to reveal who the child's father was, so the priest baptized him Alois Schicklgruber and entered "illegitimate" in place of the father's name on the baptismal register. Historians have discussed three candidates for the father of Alois:
At the time of his birth, she was living with a Strones village family by the name of Trummelschlager. Herr and Frau Trummelschlager were listed as godparents to Alois.
Maria soon took up residence with her father at house #22 in Strones. After an unknown period, the three Schicklgrubers were joined by Johann Georg Hiedler, an itinerant journeyman miller. On 10 May 1842, five years after Alois was born, Maria Anna Schicklgruber married Johann Georg Hiedler in the nearby village of Döllersheim. Maria was 47, her new husband was 50.
Whether or not Johann Georg Hiedler was actually the biological paternal grandfather of Hitler will remain unknown as he was not put as the father on Alois's birth certificate. This came into question when Hitler began to rise in power as one of Nazism's principles was that to be considered a pure "Aryan" one had to have a documented ancestry certificate (Ahnenpass), as Johann Georg Hielder was officially declared the paternal grandfather by the Third Reich, Hitler was considered an Aryan.
Some time after Maria was married (but no more than five years later) Alois was sent to live with Johann Georg's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, who had a modest but prosperous farm in the village of Spital. Maria and Johann Georg then moved to Klein-Motten. The reason why Alois was sent away is not known. There is some speculation that Johann Nepomuk may have been Alois' biological father.
Maria died during the sixth year of her marriage, at the age of 52 in Klein-Motten where she was living with her husband in the home of kin, the Sillip family. She died of "consumption resulting from pectoral (thoracic) dropsy" in 1847.[2] She was buried at the parish church in Döllersheim.
After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, a search failed to find her grave so she was given an "Honor Grave" next to the church wall. This grave was tended by local Hitler Youth groups. In 1942, this area became part of an artillery training area and the local inhabitants were moved out. Military training continued under the Soviets after 1945, and also under the Austrian Army until about 1985, by which time most of the towns and villages were in ruins. The church at Döllersheim is now preserved and undergoing reconstruction. The cemetery is being tended, but there is no grave marker there now for Maria Schicklgruber.
Some Schicklgrubers remain in Waldviertel. One of this extended clan, "Aloisia V" aged 49, died in 1940, in a Nazi gas chamber in Austria.[3]
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