We are all aware….well, those of us that are studying or have studied Hitler; that he was born in Braunau am Inn, which is a town about 1.5 hrs away (drive) from Linz and both are located in the same province of Upper Austria. 

When young Adolf moved to Linz, this is one of the apartments he lived in for a very short time, but its significance lies in the fact that this is where his old life ended and he was forced to grow up without parents.  His next chapter marked the step before he became the man we all know in our history books and pretty much changed culture and life on a global scale.   

This house (in the photo), is where, Klara, Adolf’s mother, died (on December 21, 1907). Today, after sitting dormant for years, as it was always prone to break-ins (people trying to grab copper laying about) or squatting homeless, the apartment is now rented to unknown persons and if you didn’t know any better, you could easily have walked passed a dozen times without any clue as to what was there a century ago.   

Hitler’s mother did not live long at this address and was the place where she took her last breath.  She rented a 3 room apartment on the first floor.   FYI, in Europe, 3 rooms means THREE rooms, not 3 bedrooms (North Americans handle property in this manner).  Hitler was a little older by this time and was in Vienna studying.  Because she was sick, Adolf came back for frequent visits and practically lived there day and night through October and November of 1907.  

According to the historian, Brigitte Hamann, the apartment was very nice and since it was close to the city center (just over the bridge), it was not cheap to live.  At 50 crowns a month, this was nearly half of Klara’s monthly pension, but was probably aided a bit by Hitler pitching in as he had wanted to make sure his mother was as well taken care of as possible.  

Fast forward to today…

It seems that every April 20,  Kerzerls are standing on the windowsills and  police confirm that people have abused the house where Hitler himself lived for a few years, on his birthday to the “memorial”.  This is the main reason that the rumour went around that the building should be demolished.

“Had no idea”

Reporters have enquired to the owner as to the future of the establishment – Christian Radlgruber, Trafikant from Schärding, bought the building around 2009. As an investment, as he says, because: “I had no idea of ​​the historical context”.

One day a neighbor knocked on my door and said, ‘Do you know who lived on the first floor?’ “

Radlgruber does not want to demolish the house, on the contrary, but on the contrary, refurbish and have one floor topped up. At the moment, the authorities are still withdrawing. A building permit is already available, what is still missing is the positive decision of a structural engineer.

“I know that my possession has no positive story, and my move to buy and develop it has no symbolism for me, and I see it solely as an investment,” says Christian Radlgruber.

So this is what is happening today to the property:

Klara Hitler had died of breast cancer, her family doctor Eduard Bloch – a Jew – treated her. After the death of his mother, Hitler had left Linz and gone to Vienna.

Please read the partial article in the Tagespost, published on March 26, 1938:

For those of you that are unaware, Eminent Domain is a governmental law which allows them to seize (usually including compensation, but NOT always) any person’s property for the benefit of the country.  For example, a new railway system needs to be put in place, so a government may pay compensation to land owners in order to get the project done.

“The property may be taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties, who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, to economic development. The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are for government buildings and other facilities, public utilities, highways and railroads, or for public safety. Some jurisdictions require that the acquirer make an offer to purchase the subject property, before resorting to the use of eminent domain.”

The house has been in the ownership of the same family for over a century and was used as a family home and for rental income until the 60’s and eventually became a home for person’s with disabilities.  Most recently, it’s been quite derelict and according to many reports, the owner not only refuses to sell it for the prices being offered, she also refuses to fix and make it liveable.

About 5 years ago the disabilities centre shut down and it has since been empty and turning into the town “eyesore”.

The good thing is that the house cannot be torn down because it is a registered historic building which is a good thing.  I don’t like it when people like to hide history.  As bad as it was, it needs to be there.

The Austrian government has been trying to obtain ownership of it for quite some time, but unsuccessful due to the refusal of the current owner.  The family has been thinking of selling it with an approximate asking price of $2.925 mil USD.  The reason is that the house is derelict now and would take up too much investment from them to fix it up.  Their last tenants, the disabled groups of people has left for newer facilities.

I’ve lived in Austria, still hold residency there and I can tell you that the theoretical asking price is WAY off course.  Obviously, the family is well aware of the historical significance and supposedly, the government is afraid that it will fall into the wrong hands.  I honestly do not think it’s a big issue….I mean why not enact eminent domain if the wrong person purchases it?  Anyway, the government stepped in and will compensate (so far has not done so) the owner with fair market value.  I’ve lived in a town of similar size and I can tell you that in TOP condition, that house would go for less than $1,000,000 USD.  It makes it even harder to sell for that price since it’s protected property (historical).  I would say realistically, 300,000€.

It does make you think…is the Austrian government doing this for the right reasons or the wrong reasons?  I think it’s more of a selfish move, but are making it seem like they are doing it for the good of the country.  They say that this is to protect it from turning into a Neo-Nazi Shrine, but I can tell you that if Neo-Nazis went to Braunau am Inn, they’d be kicked out.  No one who lives there wants to talk about what happened and they sure as hell don’t want to be reminded of what happened.  The Neo-Nazis would have been physically kicked out of the town.

What do I think the real reason is?  Well, the far right lost by a near margin and if you were the winning party, what would you do to secure your future?  You’d do everything in your power to stop your competition from gaining more supporters.  It’s a total political move that kills two birds with one stone making the country more secure and shedding positive light on such a negative topic.  Lets see how this plays out.  I’ll keep everyone updated.

Are they going to seize all of the homes he lived?  I’ve seen a lot of them and even his parents and grandparents…are they going to seize those too?  Keep you posted!

Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!

Recently, I’ve noticed that Hitler comes up in the news regularly.  Once in a while his name will grace the headlines of a major newspaper which is usually the result of an Historical event or commemorating, militaria type agenda.  It won’t involve anything violent and is mostly due to public interest (ie, museum exhibit, memorial).

The other most common topics or reasons of why he still being talked about is either someone comparing themselves to him, someone comparing other individuals to the man, people who COMPLETELY mis-interpret things (like seeing the face Jesus encrusted on a slice of toast), people who adore him, people who hate him.

Recently and still now actually, there are headlines of people comparing Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.  IF you have actually studied Adolf Hitler, you would know that while there may be SOME similarities to tactics used or words said, however, those are surface similarities.  There is nothing else.  The comparisons are so weak, it’s like walking down the street and pointing to a person with the same hair colour and saying “Hey, are we related?”

Normally, I would put links up to show some examples of these comparison articles, but it’s not needed in this case because there are so many and I am sure, through one of the social media outlets, you have already been privy to such news.  It would be great to hear what others have to say.

On May 9th (really just a few days before this post), It was discovered that Proctor & Gamble created a new cover for one of their products called Ariel (clothes detergent).  The image displayed a big 88 and a smaller 18 on its liquid gel cleaner.  The 88 was actually supposed to represent the amount of loads that could be washed; 88 and 18, respectively.  What wasn’t realized was that is also represented — > “Heil Hitler” (88) and is used even today by far right extremists to spread their word in “code”.  H is the 8th letter in the alphabet (HH).  The 18 represents “AH” for Adolf Hitler.

Here are some links to different new outlets (pretty much all says the same thing):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2624936/Aryan-automatic-Detergent-giant-caught-Nazi-row-Ariel-boxes-feature-secret-far-right-code-Germany.html

Daily Mail – Huffington – ABCNews/AP

The question is; are we infatuated with this man?  Why do we always draw the most far fetched conclusions and try to connect the dots when there aren’t any to connect?  This was obviously a mistake in that P&G dd not even think to calculate this into their R&D about cultural sensitivity.  The fact that we are still doing this (seeing conclusions that don’t exist) is most likely because of the fact that we have not culturally or historically moved on.

If you are reading this, please leave your comments/opinions and feedback in the comment section below.  Please discuss this blog as it should represent what everyone is thinking, not just myself.  For me, there is a certain time and place for everything, but when trying to dig things up that aren’t there.  It has more to do with who you are as a person.  It’s difficult to tell if someone was “actually” insulted by this or they knew it was an ad, but the ad was too tempting not to use it to become a minor celebrity with it online.  I find motivation for bringing these silly things to light aren’t what you think they would be.

During the WWII period and pre-WWII era, there was a wealth of art circulating within the Jewish community.  The great collections of that time were mostly confiscated and only a small percentage was returned to their rightful owner.  I haven’t been able to delve deep into this to find exact numbers, but I’d like to steer you towards an article that I came across earlier today that is an interesting read on the Wall Street Journal.  You can find the link here.  You’ll have to sign to read it though if you do not have a WSJ.com account.

There is also additional info here from CNN (It’s a video)

Nazi Art Found in Apartment in Munich

I don’t mind putting recent news up on this site, but I’m more interested in how Adolf grew up as opposed to what he did in the war.  There are too many sites our there that have that kind of info on there, but not enough about his youth.

Feel free to comment and or submit any articles you found interesting.  I don’t have the time to keep scouring the net for the type of info I am looking for as I do have a day job and other projects and personal life to contend with.

Here is another article of the return of Nazi related stolen goods during WWII

Nazi Stolen Art Returned to Poland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIvM22Uc2YI

Sometimes stolen painting and other items are hidden in plane site.  they could be passed down, sold, given away at some point in the past 70+ years.  It becomes more difficult to determine provenance after so many decade.  Heck, it’s almost a century.  Good thing we have trusty databases and lists of previously owned items.  This particular painting in Germany was in a museum for ages before it was pointed out that the artist, Francesco Guardi regarding the “Palace Stairs” painting, was in the university (Heidelberg) and even ended off at the state gallery in Baden-Wurttenberg for decades.

The question arises, is it right to give items back?  In the storied history of the human race, you don’t get things back that were pillaged in war.  At least for the most part.  One could circumvent it by attributing parameters and law, however, you will be the only one that will follow it to the tee.  No other country would abide by it.  Sure, you could flex your country’s political muscle, but how long is that going to last.

I know there will be people out there that think I am sticking up for the axis.  No, I am bringing to light that it wasn’t JUST Jewish art, items of value, keepsakes etc that were stolen.  Poland also houses hundreds of thousands of German historical artifacts dating back many centuries.

IS it right to give things back.  That’s the bottom line.  What’s right, may not necessarily be right!?  Wow, that one just popped into my head.  I just do not think there can be a clear cut debate regarding this as I know there would be major proponents on both side.  Personally, If it is historically important/significant/sentimental (Heirloom), give it back.  If it’s just monetary value, keep it.  Just an FYI, I am also part of a family that lost everything during WWII, so it wouldn’t be wise to start flaming before you read and understand everything.  Then we can embrace debate.

When Adi’s (Adolf Hitler’s nickname given to him as an infant) father got older, they moved from the family farm, which was located in Fischlham, a little south west of Leonding.  Maybe 15-20 min driving distance.  This was some time in 1898. The family found a quaint house located not very far away in a quiet neighbourhood.  Actually, it’s still pretty quiet these days and this was as of 2012 when I last visited, although I plan to make the trip again soon.

The house was originally white, but a few years ago, it was updated a bit with new fencing, paving, windows and of course, colour.  The house stand now as the admin office for the graveyard, located directly across the street.  Low and behold, it is also the same graveyard that both Adolf Hitler’s mother and father are now buried.

A short distance away down the road, Hitler’s father, Alois, died.  It was an unforeseen circumstance that happend in a Pub located at the bottom of the road.  The road goes uphill, so it’s not difficult to know which direction to go.  Essentially, the pub is on the same street as the house, but instead of 16, it’s Michaelsbergstrasse 1.

If you start heading in the other direction on the street, near the top and around the bend, you will see the Realschule that Adolf Hitler attended for 1 school year (Michaelsbergstrasse 29).  He was the type of student to always argue with the teacher and HATED to be corrected. He didn’t last long, and eventually ended up in many other schools before all was said and done.

The last stop is the Friedhof (Graveyeard) where his parents are both buried.  At one time, there was a headstone displaying homage to Alois and Klara Hitler.  Shortly after my visit, I read in the local paper that a relative of the Hitler family ordered the graveyard to remove the headstone, so I think I was the last person to actually capture this piece of history before it was removed.  I have a feeling a relative actually still lives close by because it was just too coincidental that the headstone was ordered to be removed less than maybe 3 weeks after I visited (march 2012).

NOTE:  ALL PHOTOS ARE UNDER COPYRIGHT (2012/2013).  All photos on this page were taken by myself.

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