Johanna Hiedler

Johanna Pölzl (née Hiedler;^[1] 19 January 1830 – 8 February 1906),^[2] was the maternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler.

She was born in the village of Spital (part of Weitra), in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria, where she lived for her entire life. She was baptized as a Roman Catholic.^[2] Johanna was the eldest of three children born to Johann Nepomuk Hiedler (born 19 March 1807),^[3] a prosperous farmer, and his wife Eva Maria Hiedler (née Decker) (born 16 December 1792).^[4] Her two younger siblings were Walburga Hiedler (born 11 April 1832)^[5] and Josef Hiedler (born 15 February 1834).^[6] On 15 September 1848, Johanna married Johann Baptist Pölzl (24 May 1828 – 9 January 1902),^[7] a peasant farmer and the son of Lorenz Pölzl and Juliana (Walli) Pölzl.^[7] The couple would eventually have five sons and six daughters, and only three of these children would survive to adulthood:

• Johann Pölzl (14 October 1849 – 11 November 1849) ^[8]
• Maria Pölzl (16 September 1851 – 10 October 1855) ^[9]
• Barbara Pölzl (9 November 1853 – 7 September 1855) ^[10]
• Franz Pölzl (24 July 1855-?) ^[11]
• Josef Pölzl (3 February 1857 – 21 April 1878) ^[12]
• Anton Pölzl (12 June 1858 – 20 June 1863) ^[13]
• Klara Pölzl (12 August 1860 – 21 December 1907) ^[14]
• Johanna Pölzl (31 March 1863 – 29 March 1911) ^[15]
• Karl Pölzl (19 October 1864 – 22 January 1865) ^[16]
• Theresia Pölzl (5 September 1868 – 15 August 1935) ^[17]

On 28 December 1873, Johanna's mother Eva died at the age 71 in Spital (Weitra),^[4] and her father Johann died on 17 September 1888 at the age of 81.^[3] Her seventh child and third daughter, Klara, would eventually become the third wife of Alois Hitler (formerly Schicklgruber) who was also Johanna's cousin.^[18] Alois was the illegitimate son of Maria Schicklgruber, who had married Johanna's paternal uncle, Johann Georg Hiedler on 10 May 1842. Alois would claim in his later life that Johann Georg Hiedler was not his stepfather, but in fact his biological father. Accordingly, Johanna's father Johann Nepomuk Hiedler returned to Weitra in June 1876 with Alois, and Johann had testified before a Catholic notary that Johann Georg was Alois’ real and legitimate father, who had abandoned the child as he himself was living in extreme poverty and couldn’t raise him, and had handed over his fatherhood responsibilities to Johann Nepomuk.^[19] With the help of 3 close relatives, Alois was legitimized, and officially changed his name on 6 January 1877 at the age of 39, to Alois Hitler, and the priest then changed the details on the baptismal certificate from “Catholic, Male, Illegitimate” to “Johann Georg Hitler” under his father’s name.^[20]

Klara and Alois had six children. Their first two children, Gustav and Ida, died in late-1887^[21] and early-1888^[22]

See also[]

• Hitler family

References[]

Sources[]

• Marc Vermeeren. "De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders". Soesterberg, 2007, 420 blz. Uitgeverij Aspekt. ISBN 90-5911-606-2.