Maria Anna Schicklgruber (April 15, 1795 – January 7, 1847) was Adolf Hitler's paternal grandmother. April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Hitler redirects here. ...

Born in the tiny village of Strones, Austria, she was the daughter of Theresia Pfeisinger (? - November 11, 1821), and farmer Johannes Schicklgruber (May 29, 1764 - November 12, 1847). Like most people throughout the region during that period, Maria was Catholic, and what little historians know about her is based on church and other public records. November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ... 1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

She was one of eleven children, but only six of her brothers and sisters survived infancy. Her early life was that of a poor peasant child in a rural German backwater of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The area she lived in is known as the Waldviertel, a hilly, forested area, picturesque but poor, in the northwest part of Lower Austria, northeast of Vienna. Official languages Latin, German, Hungarian Established church Roman Catholic Capital & Largest City Vienna pop. ... Map of Lower Austria showing districts and the four quarters (Waldviertel in green, Weinviertel in red, Mostviertel in yellow and Industrieviertel in blue) Lower Austria (de: Niederösterreich) is one of the nine states or Länder in Austria. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya; Serbian: Beč) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine states (Land Wien). ...

Maria's mother died in 1821 when Maria was 26. She received an inheritance of 74.25 gulden and left this money invested in the Orphans' Fund until 1838, by which time it had more than doubled to 165 gulden (at that time, a breeding pig cost four gulden, a cow could be purchased for ten to twelve gulden, and an entire inn could be purchased for around 500 gulden). Werner Maser (1973)¹ wrote that she was a "thrifty, reserved, and exceptionally shrewd peasantwoman." 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The gulden was the currency of Austria-Hungary between 1754 and 1892. ... 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Other than saving her inheritance, which indicates she was not destitute during that period of her life, nothing is known about her until she was over forty. Historian Bradley F. Smith of the Hoover Institution speculates that Maria may have moved to a city and taken a job as a housekeeper, or stayed in her home village of Strones and found casual employment. However, history has no record of her life until she did something that was documented: she had a child. Hoover Tower The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace is a conservative/libertarian public policy think tank and library founded by Herbert Hoover at Stanford University, his alma mater. ...

In 1837 she was 42 years old, and still single, when her first and only child was born. She named the boy Aloys. Maser notes that she refused to reveal who the child's father was, so the priest baptized him "Aloys Schicklgruber," and entered "illegitimate" in place of the father's name on the baptismal register. At the time, she was living with a Strones village family by the name of Trummelschlager. Herr and Frau Trummelschlager were listed as godparents to Aloys. 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Alois Hitler Alois Hitler, born Aloys Schicklgruber (7 June 1837 - 3 January 1903) was the father of Adolf Hitler. ...

Maria soon took up residence with her father at house #22 in Strones. After an unknown period, the three Schicklgrubers were joined by Johann Georg Hiedler, an itinerant journeyman miller. On May 10, 1842, five years after Aloys was born, Maria Anna Schicklgruber married Johann Georg Hiedler in the nearby village of Döllersheim. Maria was 47, her new husband was 50. In German history, Johann Georg Hiedler (September 28, 1792 – 1857) was born to Martin Hiedler (November 17, 1762 - January 10, 1829) and Anna Maria Goschl (August 23, 1760 - December 7, 1854). ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Döllersheim was Adolf Hitlers ancestral village in Austria. ...

Maser suggests that if Hiedler had been the biological father of Maria's son Aloys the couple would have acknowledged it when they married. There was a church procedure for such things, but Aloys remained officially born out of wedlock during their lifetimes. There is no evidence that Maria knew who Aloy's father was. Maser asserts Johann Georg Hiedler was not Aloys' biological father (hence not Adolf Hitler's grandfather) as Aloys later claimed, but there is no proof either way. The question became important when Hitler began to seek power, and one of Nazism's principles was that to be considered a German one had to have a documented ancestry (see Alois Hitler). Alois Hitler Alois Hitler, born Aloys Schicklgruber (7 June 1837 - 3 January 1903) was the father of Adolf Hitler. ...

Sometime after Maria got married (but no more than five years later) Aloys was sent to live with Johann Georg's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, who had a modest but prosperous farm in the village of Spital. Maria and Johann Georg then moved to Klein-Motten. The reason Aloys was sent away is not known. There is some speculation Johann Nepomuk may have been Aloys' biological father. Johann von Nepomuk Hiedler, also known as Johann von Nepomuk Hüttler (March 19, 1807 - September 17, 1888), was a maternal great-grandfather and possibly also the paternal grandfather of Adolf Hitler. ...

Maria died during the sixth year of her marriage, at the age of 52, in Klein-Motten, Austria, where she was living with her husband in the home of kin, the Sillip family. The Döllersheim parish record states Maria died of "consumption resulting from pectoral (thoracic) dropsy" in 1847. 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Footnotes

¹See list of references. (The Waldviertel region lies northwest of Vienna, not northeast.)

References

• Bullock, Alan Hitler: A Study in Tyranny 1953 ISBN 0060920203
• Fest, Joachim C. Hitler Verlag Ullstein, 1973 ISBN 0-15-141650-8
• Kershaw, Ian Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris W W Norton, 1999 ISBN 0-393-04671-0
• Maser, Werner Hitler: Legend, Myth and Reality Penguin Books Ltd 1973 ISBN 0-06-012831-3
• Smith, Bradley F. Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth Hoover Institution, 1967 ISBN 66-25727