Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

Chapter III'HE IS BOTH TERRIBLEAND BANAL'ADOLF HITLER CAME FROM A REGION ON THE north shore ofthe Danube, about fifty miles above Vienna, an impoverished out-ofthe-waysection. His father was the illegitimate son of a poor peasantgirl. The family relations, so restricted as to border on incest, may besomewhat clarified by the accompanying genealogical chart. It showshow the present form of the name Hitler developed comparativelyrecently from a medley of different sounds and spellings. There areJewish Hitlers, though the name is rather rare. This has led to a searchfor a Jewish strain in Adolf Hitler. There is no proof, however; all thefacts and internal evidence at our disposal argue against the idea.Adolf Hitler's maternal line is settled and stable. From its firstappearance the name remains unchanged in the form of Polzl, and downto Hitler's mother the family stayed four generations on peasant holdingNumber 37 in the village of Spital. The paternal line, however, isunsettled almost to the point of vagrancy. The spelling of the namevaries; and the residence changes three times in three generations:Walterschlag, Spital, Strones, Leonding; and the lives of the individualsshow a deep unrest.Johann Georg Hiedler, grandfather of the future chancellor, wanderedwithout steady residence through Lower Austria, in one place leasing amill, in another officially inscribed as an 'unemployed