Just before the one hundredth anniversary of Adolph Hitler’s birth in 1889, a memorial stone with the above inscription was laid on the site of Hitler’s birth in Braunau Am Inn, a small town in Austria near Bavaria on the south German border.
Adolph Hitler’s paternity is uncertain. His father, Alois, born in 1837, was the son of Marie Ann Schickelgruber and either an unknown person, or else Johann George Heidler, or the son of a wealthy Jewish man, Frankenberger for whom she worked. Thus Adolph Hitler, steeped as he was in anti-Semitism, was struck numb by the thought that his grandfather may have been a Jew. But since science had not advanced to the point of establishing paternity, the notion was ignored. Johann George Heidler eventually did marry Marie Ann Schicklegruber, becoming Adolph’s stepfather. Because of this, Hitler did change his name, and the Heidler became Adolph Hitler, a name that would go down in infamy.
CHAPTER 5
Albert, Sam, and Adolph as youngsters…Berlin 1909
The early part of the twentieth century was considered a “Golden Age” for Germany’s Jews, and the Tepper and Rosen family prospered in a peaceful environment. The friendship of Albert and Samuel grew and strengthened over time. They were inseparable and the pride of their respective families. They attended the same nearby grade school as well as the synagogue sponsored school. Both good students, they learned early in life the importance of education. They studied together often, set academic standards, and were at the top of their classes and the pride of their parents who encouraged scholarship at every turn. They had their own competition for grades, but were rarely separated by more than a few points.
Albert’s father was a former competitive swimmer, so he was anxious to instill in his son the same enthusiasm, and enrolled him as soon as he turned three years of age. Naturally, Samuel was not to be left out, and in time the two boys both became credible swimmers enhancing the appearance of their growing and lean muscular bodies.
The boys continued to prosper, and at grade school graduation they also were preparing for their Bar Mitzvahs, which would be held in the Neue Synagogue on the same day since they both shared the April twentieth birth date...
The word Bar means “son” and Mitzvah means “law or “commandment,” which literally translates to “son of the commandment.” Jewish law mandates that age thirteen is a transition point when a boy becomes a man. This is considered an important milestone, and the celebration is attended by family and friends in the synagogue and/or other special venue where prayers are said and all the youngsters and guests have a joint celebration.
In Orthodox Judaism when a boy becomes a man at age thirteen he learns about Tefillin. These are black leather boxes which contain biblical passages and leather straps attached for the purpose of binding around the upper arm and forehead in accord with the biblical passage: “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand and they should be for a reminder between your eyes.” This ritual occurs every morning during prayers for the last three thousand years and is a reminder to keep the faith, still performed by orthodox Jews to this day.
A Bar Mitzvah boy is “called up to the Torah,” stands on the “Bimah” and reads a “portion” of the Torah, which varies depending upon the date of the Bar Mitzvah. This is followed by a party usually after the ceremony where the Bar Mitzvah boy presents a prepared speech followed by a festive meal and dancing.
There are 613 Mitzvahs (commands or good deeds) in the Torah, and in more recent times a Bar Mitzvah boy is assigned one Mitzvah to carry out. This could be any one of the Mitzvahs that would impact others in a positive way.
More recently, thirteen year old girls have been included in this Bar Mitzvah ritual under the name of Bat Mitzvah (Bat meaning daughter).
In 1910, the boys headed for high school. Already instilled in their minds were future professions…
Now we will turn our attention to the childhood of Adolph Hitler. We have to do this from the perspective of knowing what a monster he evolved into as an adult, which in the opinion of many boils down to the greatest mass murderer in all of human history. Would there be any clues to such a transformation from an innocent child? I doubt there would be, but I believe it would be an interesting read and thought process if we keep this evolution in mind as we study Hitler’s childhood.
We have learned about his “Illegitimate birth,” which I believe would have nothing to do with his adult life. He was beaten by his father as a youngster on numerous occasions, or at least until he learned about the stoicism of the American Indian and decided that the next time he was beaten, he would not cry out. Apparently he was successful with this. “He never hit me again.” But do all those persecuted become persecutors? Well, Hitler did, but we cannot make generalizations.
Would the hatred he apparently felt for his father in his youth somehow promote the hatred that he transferred to Jews as a young man resulting in one of the worst genocides in human history? Such questions could never be answered with certainty, and would remain an impossible to prove conjecture. We do know that his father ruled the home with an iron fist. Could this role model have influenced Hitler’s treatments of his own subordinates in adult years?
When Hitler started grade school he was an excellent student, but he became indifferent in the upper grades. Did he lose interest? He completed schooling and then dropped out at age sixteen having met only the minimum requirements. He moved to Vienna with the idea that he would see if his artistic talents could gain him entry into Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts. It did not, but he was advised that his talents would better suit a career in architecture. This was not an option either because owing to his early exit from a secondary education he had not earned the necessary credits to attend architecture school. A very disappointed Hitler had no choice but to work as a laborer and also began to paint watercolors many of which he sold to Austrian citizens and tourists.
Vienna, at the time, was engulfed in a sea of religious, racial, and political prejudice. Anti-Semitism abounded, stirred up by Vienna’s mayor Karl Leuger. Hitler also listened to speakers espousing German nationalism, anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic thinking. How much and what portion of this rubbed off on Hitler molding his future murderous anti-Semitic thought can never be known. Three theories involved in this genesis include the possible Jewish identity of his grandfather, the anger Hitler felt over a Jewish physician who attended to his mother dying of breast cancer, or was he more influenced by the intense anti-Semitic milieu of Vienna. We will never know. The only thing we are certain of is that his anti-Semitism eventually knew no bounds.
CHAPTER 6
Albert, Sam, and Adolph as Young Men…1910-1914
The start of the twentieth century found the world coming closer together due to advances that enhanced communication (radio, telecommunications), transportation (faster ships, trains, airplanes), and warfare (armored vehicles, tanks, airplanes).
A hodge-podge of independent nations had difficulty coping with each other. Rivalries around the world increased and threatened war. Attempts at compromise were rarely successful. The absence of international bodies to resolve disputes left each country to fend for itself. This was a worldwide phenomenon and tensions around the world surfaced: Russia and Japan fought over Manchuria; Russia itself faced revolution and expanded southward to the Caucusus; Japan colonized Korea; Turkey lost control of the Balkans and independent nations rose up including Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Rumania and Serbia. European countries formed alliances for mutual protection. Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy formed the Triple Alliance, a relationship which Italy strained when they sided with the Balkan States against the Turks; in addition, Russia, France, and Great Britain formed the Triple Entente.
Some past history may be appropriate here.
Germany as a modern state originated through the efforts of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Prussia. In an effort to unite the country, Bismarck went to war, once with Austria and once with France in the latter part of the 1800’s. This was done with the idea of achieving a second