Journal reveals Hitler's dysfunctional family
(The Guardian)
Updated: 2005-08-05 05:58

Two historians on Wednesday acclaimed the discovery in Germany of a journal written by Adolf Hitler's sister, saying it offers remarkable insights into the dysfunctional nature of the Fhrer's family.

"The terro of the Third Reich was cultivated in Hitler's own home." [file photo]

Paula Hitler's journal, unearthed at an undisclosed location in Germany, reveals that her brother was a bully in his teens, and would beat her.

Recounting the earliest memories of her childhood, when she was around eight and Adolf was 15, Paula wrote: "Once again I feel my brother's loose hand across my face."

The typewritten journal is among an assortment of documents which have been disclosed by historians Timothy Ryback and Florian Beierl.

Ryback is the head of Germany's Obersalzberg Institute of Contemporary History, which is dedicated to research into Hitler, while Beierl has written several books about the Nazi party leader and Third Reich chancellor.

They said that scientific tests had verified the documents' authenticity.

Other insights include the revelation that Paula, always thought of as the innocent bystander of the Hitler family, was engaged to one of the Holocaust's most notorious euthanasia doctors.

 Ryback said: "This is the first time that we have been able to get an insight into the Hitler family from a very young age.

"Adolf was the older brother and father figure. He was very strict with Paula and slapped her around. But she justified it in a starry-eyed way, because she believed it was for the good of her education."

The two historians have also located a joint memoir by Hitler's half-brother, Alois, and half-sister, Angela.

One excerpt describes the violence exercised by Hitler's father, also called Alois, and how Adolf's mother tried to protect her son from regular beatings.

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