While the repercussions of his actions still live on silently, Adolf Hitler has been dead for years. The only known family of the German dictator were his wife, siblings and parents, all long gone. But now, a wild theory claims that one of Hitler's closest relatives, his love child might be living in Britain.
As far as public knowledge goes, Hitler was married to Eva Braun who died in 1945 after cyanide poisoning. However, one theory has put in the limelight the Nazi leader's relationship with a British aristocrat, who was a known fascist and very close to him and his circle.
Who was Hitler's mystery woman?
The woman in question was none other than Unity Mitford, one of the six aristocratic Mitford sisters. The daughters of Lord Redesdales, have since become known for their extreme differences in political views. These ranged from Jessica Mitford, a dedicated communist who renounced her aristocratic background to Unity, who grew up to support Hitler and Nazism. So much so that she travelled to Germany and actively stalked Hitler.
During her time in Germany, she was able to succeed in her approach to Hitler, even being seated in his personal box at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, where Hitler paid for her accommodation in Munich.
When the Nazi leader announced that Germany would annex Austria on March 15, 1938, Unity was by his side on the balcony.
While not much was thought of the relationship between the two earlier, new books have questioned if there was something romantic between them. A relationship that resulted in a child. Siobhan Pat Mulcahy, historian and author of The Peculiar Sex Life of Adolf Hitler told The Sun, that Unity deeply admired Hitler. “It started out as a girlish crush but over time it became an obsession. She moved to Germany so she could stalk him. She even learned German so she could impress him.”
Hitler's love child
When World War II broke out in 1939, Unity tried to kill herself by shooting herself in the head. But she survived the attempt and was brought back to Britain, where people demanded that she be tried as a traitor. Even after her return to the UK, she openly stated her loyalty to the Nazi Party, telling the press: “I’m very glad to be in England, even if I’m not on your side.” She later died in 1948 from complications from her suicide attempt.
Journalist Martin Bright, examined the theory and even made a short film titled 'Hitler's Girl' which examined how Unity disappeared from public life post her return to the UK. He spoke to a person called Val Hann who claimed that her aunt Betty Norton had worked at a maternity home in Oxfordshire and that Unity had visited the place in the early 1940s and given birth to a baby boy.
“She [Betty] always said it was Hitler’s,” said Hann. While Bright added that there was no definitive proof, he told the outlet that it seemed odd someone would go to a maternity hospital to convalesce for a bullet wound.
“I think circumstantially, it’s likely that she [Unity] did spend some time in a secret home for women of the aristocracy who had babies that maybe their families didn’t want people to know about," he said.
“What was she doing there? Was she recuperating from her injuries? It is a strange place to recuperate from if you’ve had a bullet in the head," he added.
Hitler's family
Adolf Hitler's father Alois Schickelgruber, had two wives before he married Adolf's mother. His first marriage was to Anna Glassl-Hörer in October 1873. Anna became disabled soon after marriage and filed for separation in 1880. She died three years later and the couple had no kids.
Alois' second marriage was to Franziska "Fanni" Matzelsberger, who married him at 19 and gave birth to two children, Alois Jr., and Angela Hitler. She died of tuberculosis at 24.
Soon, Alois married for the third time, this time to Klara Pölzl, his housekeeper whom he had hired during his first marriage. The couple had six children together. Half of whom died before the age of 2. Klara died of breast cancer in 1908 when Adolf was 19.
Three of Adolf's elder siblings and one younger brother died in infancy. Only he and his youngest sister, Paula were able to survive into adulthood. While Hitler committed suicide in 1945, Paula died of a stroke in 1960.
The Hitler clan was succeeded by children from Alois's second marriage. Both Alois Jr. and Angela Hitler went on to marry and have children and grandchildren.
Adolf himself married 23-year-old Eva Braun on April 29, 1945, before the two died together in a joint suicide. Braun was a photography assistant, 17 when she met the 40-year-old Nazi leader and ended up becoming his mistress for many years to follow. It was years later, in a hidden bunker in Berlin that Hitler finally committed himself to Braun only for them to die together.
As far as the world knows, Adolf Hitler did not have children of his own. But with this theory, it could be that his bloodline did not truly end with him.