A DNA test has proven that a 46-year-old Austrian farmer is a direct descendent to Adolf Hitler. In Austria's remote Waldviertel region, there are now believed to be some 39 additional Hitler relatives, with the news of the DNA results.
Unsurprisingly, the farmer told reporters he wished he had never taken the test, and hated knowing he had the blood of the world's "greatest criminal" flowing through his veins. Can't exactly blame the guy.
For years, historians believed Adolf Hitler had no living relatives. Since he never married or had kids, and any Hitler would have changed their name after Germany's surrender in World War II, it was believed the bloodline had ended in the 20th century.
That was until a few years ago, when David Gardner, author of "The Last of the Hitlers," tracked down the family of the late William Stuart-Houston. Born William Patrick Hitler, he was the son of Adolf's half-brother Alois and a British woman.
Like his famous uncle, his life would take quite a few twists and turns.
After growing up in Liverpool, England, William desperately tried connecting with his uncle, who by 1929 had become famous. After becoming Chancellor in 1933, Adolf later demanded that William denounce his British citizenship and join the German army.
Although William was enjoying the perks of being a Hitler throughout the 1930's, the forthcoming Nazi invasions scared the piss out of him. In 1939 he sailed for America, after writing an article entitled "Why I Hate My Uncle."
In 1942 he was allowed to join the United States Navy—after being vetted by the FBI and God knows how many government agencies.
After the war, William curiously changed his last name to Stuart-Houston. Although he had denounced his uncle and fought for the allied forces in World War II, he named himself after anti-semitic author Houston Stewart-Chamberlain. Until his death in 1987, Stewart-Chamberlain lived the average American life. Got married, produced four sons – three of whom are still alive – and did all that was uneventful. Again, historians believed the bloodline died with William and his sons.
To match DNA between Adolf and the Austrian farmer – who refused to be named because, perhaps fittingly, he was worried it would damage his upcoming campaign for town council – a Belgian journalist followed William's eldest son, Alexander, for seven days. When Alexander eventually dropped a piece of litter in public, the journalist was legally allowed to use DNA on the litter in the comparison test.
I guess that if you are a distant relative of Adolf, there are more problems than perks. None of the Stewart-Chamberlains look enough like Hitler to get paid cameos on television, and they don't have Hitler stuff to sell on ebay. But at the same time, people assume you are a hate-monger when you are related to Fuhrer.
Posts
i like it