"Bill" Hitler?

[Tom2]

This is an old glossy photo I have, out of newspaper files. I reduced the scan to fit here. The old yellow text attached to the back of the photo reads thus: "(2-6-46) Nephew of Hitler gets honorable discharge from U.S. Navy Boston, Mass.....Seaman First Class William Patrick Hitler, 34, a nephew of the late Adolph Hitler, is receiving his honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy from Commander Louis A. Fey, senior chaplain in Boston seperation center. Bill Hitler came from England in 1938 to live in New York, when the war came he was one of the efficient cogs in our gigantic Navy machine." So there is an unusual topic of conversation for you to bring up on a slow day! I did not know about this before aquiring the photo, but you can search his name on Wikipedia and find out more.

[MarcM]

Reminds me of the episode of "Hill Street Blues" where a comedian called "Vic Hitler" could not understand why he was not having a successful career in showbiz.

[OKW]

As Bill came from England, Liverpool i believe, can anyone confirm or update the rumour that Adolf visited his relative in 1911?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi OKW, that is an urban myth. Hitler never came to Great Britain.

Cheers, Ade.

[Steven M]

As Bill came from England, Liverpool i believe, can anyone confirm or update the rumour that Adolf visited his relative in 1911?

Yes,

This is confirmed in the book 'The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler' (published 1973) by Robert Payne on pages 94-97. Bridgette Hitler wrote about his visit in her 1930's memoirs.

[OKW]

Well thats cleared the matter up then

[Steven M]

Well thats cleared the matter up then

I should reinforce that the source for the book was Bridgette Elizabeth Hitler's memoirs as previously stated. From my understanding, they have been thoroughly scrutinized by the author and others as well. She had an unpublished manuscript found in the New York Library entitled 'My Brother in Law, Adolf'.

In May of 1911, he was forced to surrender his orphan's pension by a court in Linz, and went to Liverpool in November of 1912 where he stayed for 6 months as he (once again) was down on his luck.

[OKW]

It does make you wonder if there any little Adolfs, well they'd be old and crusty now, running around talking with a scouse accent?

[RH1941]

I have seen a documentary on the History Channel about one of Hitlers nephew's that used Hitler for all he could in Germany then when the war started to turn fled to the states. As a PR move joined the service and talked about how bad his uncle was. After the war he changed his name and disappeared from public view. Gary

[schnellmann]

To change the subject I know a guy (US citizen) whose last name is HIMMLER. He says the kids used to pick on him when he was small. Imagine that!