Paula Hitler
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Paula Hitler (21 January 1896 - 1 June 1960) was the younger sister of Adolf Hitler and the last child of Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl. Paula was born in Hartfeld, Austria, and was the only full sibling of Adolf Hitler to survive infancy.
After their mother died, Adolf turned over his share of their orphans' pension to her. She lost contact with Adolf for many years during the First World War and its aftermath. She later said that when they met again in the 1920s, she was surprised and didn't even recognize him, but then was delighted when he took her shopping. From 1929 onwards she saw him once a year, typically at large Nazi functions and events. In 1936 he asked her to change her name to Paula Wolff (Adolf's childhood nickname, which he had also used incognito during the 1920s). Adolf provided her with steady financial support from the early 1930s until his death in 1945.
Paula worked as a secretary in a military hospital until the end of the Second World War, was arrested by US Intelligence officers in May 1945, and debriefed beginning later that year. Paula Hitler said she couldn't bring herself to believe her brother had been responsible for the Holocaust but agents ignored this as a sisterly expression of loyalty. Paula was released from US custody and returned to Vienna where she worked in an arts and crafts shop. In 1952 she moved to Berchtesgaden, Germany, reportedly living in seclusion in a two-room flat until her death on 1 June 1960. Paula never married nor had children. There is some evidence she shared her brother's strong German nationalist beliefs, but she was not politically active. She is buried in the Bergfriedhof in Berchtesgaden under the name Paula Hitler.
External links
- Paula Hitler - He was still my brother (http://www.auschwitz.dk/Paula.htm)