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(dramatic music)
(crowd chanting)
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(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
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- [Narrator] Adolf Hitler
liked to paint a rosy picture
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of his childhood.
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- If you look at the
household Hitler grew up in,
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it's really a classic model
of a dysfunctional house.
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- [Narrator] But detailed
historical research
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reveals that these were lies,
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designed to hide a much darker truth.
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(Adolf yelling)
(crowd yelling)
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- There was incest,
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there was family
intergenerational breeding
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and very loose boundaries.
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Sex cruises through all
Hitler's dysfunctional behavior.
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- [Narrator] With a family
torn apart by infidelity,
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abuse and violence,
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this was a childhood that
would spawn a monster.
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- [Robert] Power was critical
to everything Hitler did.
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(dramatic music)
(crowd chanting)
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(gentle piano music)
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- [Narrator] In 2017, Austrian officials
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seized an historic three story building
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in the center of the picturesque
town of Braunau am Inn.
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They plan to turn it
into a police station.
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It's hoped that will be enough to deter
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the crazed neo-Nazis who
flock to this site...
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because it was here on
the 20th of April, 1889,
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that Adolf Hitler was born.
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What form of nest could
hatch such an abomination?
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(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
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Was Adolf Hitler the product
of nurture or nature?
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Even asking the question
treads a very dangerous path.
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Many people fiercely oppose attempts
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to understand Hitler's genesis.
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Their deepest fear is that
finding the root of his evil
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might give others a reason
to excuse the inexcusable.
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(dramatic music)
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Others believe understanding
Hitler's psyche
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is of the utmost importance.
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- We cannot guarantee that
another Hitler will not arise,
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but when you look at what is
the greatest crime in history,
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namely the Holocaust,
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you need to do everything you can
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to understand the perpetrator.
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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] As an adult,
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Adolf Hitler would lie and possibly kill
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to hide the truth of what
happened within the walls
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of the Hitler family home.
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But what he experienced here
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under the sway of his
clingy dotting mother
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and savage father would
corrupt his view of the world
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and skew his sexual urges
for his entire life.
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(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
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Hitler fought hard to keep
these grim secrets under wraps
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and to perpetuate a heavily burnish myth
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about his upbringing, his daily life
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and his sexual appetites.
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In 1938, with Europe
teetering on the brink of war,
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Hitler turned his attention
to the tiny village
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of Dollershiem in Austria.
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This was the birthplace
of Hitler's father Alois
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and home to many of his relatives.
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With the Fuhrer's knowledge,
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the German army commandeered the village
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to use as a training site,
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displacing the residents
and destroying the town
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along with all traces of
Hitler's family history.
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What dark secret exactly was Adolf Hitler
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so desperate to hide?
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- Hitler was insistent
on keeping a huge control
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over his personal message
and his personal image.
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There wasn't gonna be a situation
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in which any other message got out.
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Hitler's obsession about his origins
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was an instance of him saying,
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"I will control the message."
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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] Hints of Hitler's
sorted personal history
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remain in archives, first-hand accounts
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and wartime reports.
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But as with all the loathes
and chapters of his life,
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it's not always easy to sort the truth
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from the lies and misinformation.
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(crowd cheering)
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Some facts are beyond dispute.
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Hitler's family came
from a region in Austria
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known as the Waldviertel.
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Just after Hitler became chancellor,
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a journalist visited the
area to research an article
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about the new leader of Germany.
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In it, he described the Waldviertel
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as so heavily inbred that
populations of whole villages
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are first and second cousins.
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And the Hitler family was no exception.
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By any definition, Hitler was inbred.
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His mother Klara and father
Alois were so closely related
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that the local Roman Catholic Bishop
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decided their blood relationship
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was too close for them to marry.
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Before they could wed,
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Hitlers parents had to apply
for a paper dispensation.
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Although no one knows exactly
how they were related,
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the official Nazi story
was that Alois's father
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and Klara's great uncle
were the same person.
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After they began life
together as man and wife,
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48-year-old Alois called
24-year-old Klara, niece,
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she called him uncle.
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Sexual contact between close relatives
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was the norm in the Hitler household.
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As an adult, Adolf Hitler
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would keep the family tradition alive.
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It's impossible to know
exactly how Klara Polzl
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was related to Alois Hitler
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because Alois's own
paternity is uncertain.
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Alois's mother, Maria Schicklgruber
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gave birth to him in 1837.
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She was unmarried and no father's name
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was listed in the birth records.
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When her son was five years old,
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Maria married Johann Georg Hiedler.
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After his stepfather's death,
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Alois Schicklgruber adopted Hiedler's name
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and changed the spelling to Hitler.
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- People forget it's only by an accident
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that his name was Hitler.
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It should have been Schicklgruber.
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Now can you imagine
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the masked SS troops
gang Herr Schicklgruber?
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It just doesn't work.
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- [Narrator] Although
public records were amended
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to list Johann Georg as Alois's father,
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many historians believe
that was just a cover story.
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It's possible that Johann
Georg agreed to marry Maria
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to protect the reputation
of his married brother
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and Alois's actual father,
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Johann Nepomuk Hiedler,
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and Johann Nepomuk was
Klara Polzl's grandfather.
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That meant that Hitler's mother and father
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were either uncle and niece
or first cousins once removed.
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But there's another possibility,
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it was one that would torment the Fuhrer
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for the rest of his life.
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Once he took power, Adolf Hitler
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used the fire reaching
powers of the Gestapo
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to pick over his family history.
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There's no question what was at stake.
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(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
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(crowd shouting)
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Without clearing up the irregularities
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in his paternal bloodline,
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the Fuhrer couldn't lay claim
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to the very thing he
demanded of all good Germans,
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a pure Aryan heritage.
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There may have been one skeleton
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lurking in Hitler's family closet
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that terrified him more
than anything else.
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Rumors persisted that Alois Schicklgruber
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wasn't the son of either
of the Hiedler brothers.
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After Maria gave birth to her child,
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it was said that she
was sent child support
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by the family she had worked
for in the town of Graz.
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That family was Jewish.
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And if the story is true,
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the father of Maria's child, Alois
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could well have been
their 19-year-old son.
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That would've made Adolf
Hitler one-quarter Jewish.
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Was this what he was so desperate to hide?
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The suggestion that Hitler
may have had Jewish ancestry
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is one of the most controversial
claims about his pedigree.
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- There are different arguments
about whether it's possible
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that he could have had a Jewish ancestor.
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I think the weight is
leaning towards the fact
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that he didn't.
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The reason he tried to obliterate
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all traces of his background
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was according to the Nazi
ideology he promoted,
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it was appalling.
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There was incest,
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there was family
intergenerational breeding.
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All of this was totally
antithetical to the image
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Hitler promoted for Germany
and of course himself,
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it would've been highly embarrassing.
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Hitler knew in a family with
a lot of congenital problems
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and several relatives who
were born mentally retarded,
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that no one was allowed to know this.
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- [Narrator] In 2010,
investigative journalist,
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Jean-Paul Mulder and
historian Marc Vermeeren
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gathered DNA from
Hitler's living relatives
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in order to resolve this
explosive theory once and for all.
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Tests showed that Hitler carried
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what's known as Haplopgroup E1b1b
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common amongst Ashkenazi
and Sephardic Jews.
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According to the pair,
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it didn't necessarily
confirm Hitler's grandfather
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was a Jew, only that he
was not the pure Aryan
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he so desperately wanted to be.
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- All the Nazis are obsessed with origins.
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This was very, very important for them.
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They were the master race.
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So you're dealing with a regime
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that has very, very deep fixations
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with personal origins
and with blood purity.
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And that is why Hitler
would have cared very much
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about the origins of his own family,
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and also felt insecure
about those origins.
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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] Hitler's
draconian, antisemitic,
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Nuremberg race laws of 1935
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meant millions of people who
couldn't prove Aryan ancestry
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were sent to concentration
camps and killed.
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Hitler was desperate to
prove his own purity.
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(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
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In 1937, a year before the German army
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destroyed his father's
village, Dollersheim,
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Hitler appointed a genealogist
to trace his family tree.
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It showed that Hitler's forebears
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had lived in the same corner of Austria
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since the 15th century,
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because marrying outside the district
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wasn't the done thing, there
was plenty of inbreeding.
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Unsurprisingly, he didn't
find a single Jewish relative.
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(crowd cheering)
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This now became Adolf
Hitler's official pedigree.
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And with all parish records
from Dollersheim destroyed,
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there was no way to
challenge any questions
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about his father's paternity.
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Alois Hitler was a womanizing alcoholic,
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Austrian civil servant.
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He married three times.
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He sired as many as nine children,
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four of those were
conceived out of wedlock.
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00:14:03,210 --> 00:14:06,898
Alois's first marriage
was to a much older woman,
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00:14:06,898 --> 00:14:10,410
Anna Glasl-Horer, who offered him
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a healthy dowry and
improved social standing.
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While they were still married,
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he impregnated a 19-year-old kitchen hand,
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Franziska Matzelberger who
gave birth to his first son,
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Alois Junior.
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At the same time,
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he was sleeping with his niece,
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16-year-old Klara Polzl
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who was nursing his dying wife.
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After his first wife Anna died in 1883,
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Alois wed the by now
heavily pregnant Franziska.
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00:14:49,170 --> 00:14:53,493
Hitler's half sister Angela
was born three months later.
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When Franziska died in August, 1884,
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it cleared the way for him
to marry his niece, Klara,
249
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which he did the following year.
250
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Studies have shown that inbreeding
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can lead to an abnormally high incidence
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of infant mortality.
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Of Alois and Klara Hitler's six children,
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only two would survive to adulthood.
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During their first
three years of marriage,
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Klara bore three children,
Gustav, Ida, and Otto.
257
00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:36,273
All three died.
258
00:15:39,210 --> 00:15:41,670
When a fourth child was conceived,
259
00:15:41,670 --> 00:15:44,013
Klara must have been terrified.
260
00:15:45,808 --> 00:15:50,808
The son she gave birth to
on the 20th of April 1889
261
00:15:51,330 --> 00:15:53,760
was feeble and sickly.
262
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,490
Certain that he would
follow her other children
263
00:15:56,490 --> 00:16:00,630
to the grave, Klara doted on baby Adolf.
264
00:16:00,630 --> 00:16:04,500
- She suffered the tragic
death of three of her children,
265
00:16:04,500 --> 00:16:07,050
the previous children in one year.
266
00:16:07,050 --> 00:16:10,538
And this meant, I think
the sort of overbearing,
267
00:16:10,538 --> 00:16:12,600
not so much possessiveness,
268
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,420
but concern for the son who'd survived.
269
00:16:15,420 --> 00:16:19,350
And I think that led to a
terrific closeness to his mother,
270
00:16:19,350 --> 00:16:22,233
which was possibly even
at the time suffocating.
271
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,720
- [Narrator] Young Adolf
shared his parents' bedroom,
272
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:29,820
so that even when he slept,
273
00:16:29,820 --> 00:16:32,823
he could be under his
mother's vigilant gaze.
274
00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:37,380
It has been suggested
that Hitler was breast fed
275
00:16:37,380 --> 00:16:38,583
until he was four,
276
00:16:39,750 --> 00:16:44,583
a highly unusual thing to do
in late 19th century Austria.
277
00:16:47,490 --> 00:16:51,180
What developed was an
unnaturally close bond
278
00:16:51,180 --> 00:16:53,040
between mother and son.
279
00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,680
Some historians and psychoanalysts
280
00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:57,832
believe this laid the foundations
281
00:16:57,832 --> 00:16:59,670
for what has been described
282
00:16:59,670 --> 00:17:02,073
as a textbook Oedipal relationship.
283
00:17:04,349 --> 00:17:06,817
This was one of the
most sensational claims
284
00:17:06,817 --> 00:17:11,579
made in a secret classified
US government report in 1943,
285
00:17:13,140 --> 00:17:17,163
prepared by respected
psychoanalyst Walter Langer.
286
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,130
The report was exhaustive.
287
00:17:23,130 --> 00:17:26,160
Based on over a thousand
pages of interviews
288
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,090
with some of Hitlers closest
confidants and associates,
289
00:17:30,090 --> 00:17:32,643
it offered a dire prognosis.
290
00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:35,623
Contained within its pages,
291
00:17:35,623 --> 00:17:38,520
are frank and graphic descriptions
292
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:41,340
of the Fuhrers alleged sexual perversions
293
00:17:41,340 --> 00:17:42,993
and deviant behavior.
294
00:17:44,220 --> 00:17:46,264
And psychoanalyst Walter Langer
295
00:17:46,264 --> 00:17:49,500
believed he knew why Hitler mutated
296
00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:52,143
into the monstrosity he had become.
297
00:17:53,790 --> 00:17:56,790
He believed it all began at home,
298
00:17:56,790 --> 00:17:59,875
and the dysfunctional
relationship with his suffocating
299
00:17:59,875 --> 00:18:03,333
over-attentive mother and abusive father.
300
00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:06,570
Many have challenged the approach
301
00:18:06,570 --> 00:18:09,210
because his diagnosis was formed
302
00:18:09,210 --> 00:18:11,883
without any direct
contact with the subject.
303
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,570
And there's good reason
to question the motives
304
00:18:15,570 --> 00:18:19,410
of the disaffected informers
whose vitriolic accounts
305
00:18:19,410 --> 00:18:21,153
colored the lengthy report.
306
00:18:23,850 --> 00:18:26,700
And one of the points Langer highlighted
307
00:18:26,700 --> 00:18:30,840
was the abnormal attachment
Hitler had to his mother.
308
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,180
- First of all, you've
gotta look at his mother.
309
00:18:33,180 --> 00:18:35,640
She'd lost a number of children.
310
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,820
So you could understand when
she got a child who survived,
311
00:18:38,820 --> 00:18:42,120
that she would pour
her affections onto it.
312
00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,030
And quite understandably so.
313
00:18:45,030 --> 00:18:46,830
What you see from Hitler's side
314
00:18:46,830 --> 00:18:50,040
is the other part of the story,
315
00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:51,560
because first of all,
316
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,540
he had a doting mother and secondly,
317
00:18:54,540 --> 00:18:59,540
he had a distant, rigid
and punitive father.
318
00:19:00,540 --> 00:19:04,368
And this almost sets off
the contrast you make up
319
00:19:04,368 --> 00:19:07,680
what you're missing from
the father with the mother
320
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:08,820
and Hitler did that.
321
00:19:08,820 --> 00:19:12,060
You've got the same kind of scenario there
322
00:19:12,060 --> 00:19:15,000
that you have with many serial killers.
323
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,690
They have an over bonded
relationship with their mother
324
00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:22,653
and a much more distant
relationship with their father.
325
00:19:26,070 --> 00:19:30,180
- [Narrator] The Hitler's genial
family doctor, Eduard Bloch
326
00:19:30,180 --> 00:19:32,670
said that many of their neighbors gossiped
327
00:19:32,670 --> 00:19:34,593
about Klara and her son.
328
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,910
They described Hitler's
devotion to his mother
329
00:19:38,910 --> 00:19:42,120
as verging on the pathological.
330
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:44,610
As an adult, Adolf was outspoken
331
00:19:44,610 --> 00:19:46,833
about his fond memories of his mother.
332
00:19:49,950 --> 00:19:52,950
One evening, he was
reminiscing with his friend
333
00:19:52,950 --> 00:19:54,570
and foreign press chief,
334
00:19:54,570 --> 00:19:57,273
Ernst Hanfstaengl about his childhood.
335
00:19:58,500 --> 00:20:01,680
He recalled that his
most pleasant memories
336
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,270
were the times he was permitted
337
00:20:03,270 --> 00:20:07,983
to sleep alone with his
mother in his parents big bed.
338
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,610
- If you're virtually an only child
339
00:20:11,610 --> 00:20:15,060
with a completely devoted mother,
340
00:20:15,060 --> 00:20:18,630
you really do believe you're
the center of the universe.
341
00:20:18,630 --> 00:20:21,390
It would lead to intense narcissism.
342
00:20:21,390 --> 00:20:23,970
And of course, that would
apply in any relationship.
343
00:20:23,970 --> 00:20:27,240
So any woman coming into the picture
344
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,590
would be competing with
the image of his mother
345
00:20:31,590 --> 00:20:35,223
and never be allowed to get
close enough to threaten it.
346
00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:41,640
- [Narrator] Hitler's mother
fixation stayed with him.
347
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:43,620
When he grew to adulthood,
348
00:20:43,620 --> 00:20:48,390
Hitler always hung Klara's
portrait over his bedhead.
349
00:20:48,390 --> 00:20:50,254
And as a young man,
350
00:20:50,254 --> 00:20:53,343
he carried his mother's
likeness in a locket.
351
00:20:54,630 --> 00:20:57,960
- Nobody can overestimate the importance
352
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:00,421
of Hitler's mother to his life.
353
00:21:00,421 --> 00:21:03,480
He had her picture everywhere.
354
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:08,480
He was her particular favorite
and very special to her.
355
00:21:08,790 --> 00:21:11,370
And that unquestioning devotion
356
00:21:11,370 --> 00:21:14,760
definitely nursed his
view that he was special
357
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:16,023
and he would go far.
358
00:21:19,050 --> 00:21:20,790
- [Narrator] If Klara Hitler,
359
00:21:20,790 --> 00:21:23,490
pampered and suffocated her son
360
00:21:23,490 --> 00:21:26,100
under a blanket of maternal affection,
361
00:21:26,100 --> 00:21:29,493
the exact opposite was
true of Adolf's father.
362
00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:34,623
Alois Hitler was a violent
and sadistic tyrant.
363
00:21:36,090 --> 00:21:39,783
Just the sound of his voice
made young Adolf cringe.
364
00:21:41,190 --> 00:21:46,190
- Adolf Hitler was physically
abused very frequently,
365
00:21:46,860 --> 00:21:51,860
if not daily by his father
reportedly at a young age.
366
00:21:53,490 --> 00:21:57,774
He and his brother were both
physically beaten with a whip
367
00:21:57,774 --> 00:21:59,670
of some kind.
368
00:21:59,670 --> 00:22:04,670
Hitler, the way he dealt with it as a boy
369
00:22:05,100 --> 00:22:09,213
was he sealed himself and
he refused to even cry.
370
00:22:10,350 --> 00:22:13,440
- [Narrator] Adolf's half
brother, Alois Junior
371
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,160
would later reveal the dark
truth about what had gone on
372
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,543
in the Hitler household.
373
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,290
His family had lived under a pool
374
00:22:22,290 --> 00:22:26,703
cast by the threat of Alois's
explosive fits of rage.
375
00:22:28,740 --> 00:22:31,923
He would beat his children to
the point of unconsciousness.
376
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,300
When gripped by the foulest moods,
377
00:22:36,300 --> 00:22:38,193
he would also strike Klara.
378
00:22:40,110 --> 00:22:42,660
And when Alois called for his son,
379
00:22:42,660 --> 00:22:44,610
he didn't use his name,
380
00:22:44,610 --> 00:22:46,374
but put two fingers in his mouth
381
00:22:46,374 --> 00:22:49,353
and whistled for him as he did his dog.
382
00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:56,610
His mother was afraid
of what Alois might do
383
00:22:56,610 --> 00:22:57,963
to her precious son.
384
00:23:00,270 --> 00:23:04,680
In conversations with his
secretary, Christa Schroeder,
385
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,233
Adolf would recall his violent childhood.
386
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,110
He told her he had never loved his father
387
00:23:13,110 --> 00:23:17,460
because he had a terrible
temper and often whipped him.
388
00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:20,730
His mother was afraid
of what Alois might do
389
00:23:20,730 --> 00:23:22,323
to her precious son.
390
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,940
- When children are abused in that way,
391
00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:29,640
physically or emotionally,
392
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,750
they suffer from what we
call a narcissistic injury.
393
00:23:33,750 --> 00:23:38,750
And so the child is extremely hurt,
394
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,390
but at the same time is
also extremely angry.
395
00:23:42,390 --> 00:23:47,390
And so there develops this
kind of narcissistic rage,
396
00:23:48,030 --> 00:23:52,170
and that rage consists of this anger,
397
00:23:52,170 --> 00:23:55,290
this feeling of wanting to lash out,
398
00:23:55,290 --> 00:23:57,510
of needing retribution,
399
00:23:57,510 --> 00:24:01,680
of needing some kind of revenge,
400
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,323
and it's quite unrelenting.
401
00:24:06,330 --> 00:24:08,580
- [Narrator] But is it rarely possible
402
00:24:08,580 --> 00:24:12,000
that the root causes for some
of the most barbarous crimes
403
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,150
in human history can be laid at the door
404
00:24:15,150 --> 00:24:17,463
of an unhappy and abusive childhood?
405
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,050
Yes, Hitler was beaten by his father,
406
00:24:22,050 --> 00:24:24,720
but in Germany at the turn of the century,
407
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,940
physical punishment was the rule
408
00:24:26,940 --> 00:24:30,333
rather than the exception when
it came to raising children.
409
00:24:32,820 --> 00:24:37,383
Yet only one of those
children became Adolf Hitler.
410
00:24:40,350 --> 00:24:43,514
In the battlefield,
that was Hitler's home,
411
00:24:43,514 --> 00:24:47,133
Adolf's closest ally
was his smitten mother.
412
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:50,340
When Hitler's father beat him,
413
00:24:50,340 --> 00:24:53,733
he would run to his mother
and she would protect him.
414
00:24:55,112 --> 00:24:58,110
- Adolf was a specially protected child
415
00:24:58,110 --> 00:25:01,980
by this rather modest mother,
416
00:25:01,980 --> 00:25:03,777
his father would regularly beat him.
417
00:25:03,777 --> 00:25:04,812
And when that happened,
418
00:25:04,812 --> 00:25:07,140
the mother and his elder sister
419
00:25:07,140 --> 00:25:09,900
would stand in front of their father
420
00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:13,350
and prevent him beating his son Adolf,
421
00:25:13,350 --> 00:25:18,120
which meant that Adolf
saw women as protectors
422
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:19,623
from quite early on.
423
00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:22,770
- [Narrator] But that
feeling of protection
424
00:25:22,770 --> 00:25:25,080
was indelibly associated
425
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,663
with the unceasing threat of violence.
426
00:25:29,820 --> 00:25:33,404
There are some who believe
a family dynamic like this
427
00:25:33,404 --> 00:25:36,630
is likely to spawn a
person with deep-seated
428
00:25:36,630 --> 00:25:39,600
sado-masochistic tendencies.
429
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,177
Could this dynamic have been a root cause
430
00:25:42,177 --> 00:25:45,843
for making Adolf Hitler the
monster he would become?
431
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,430
- If you look at the
household Hitler grew up in,
432
00:25:50,430 --> 00:25:54,120
it's really a classic model
of a dysfunctional house,
433
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:56,760
and this must have imprinted on him.
434
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,900
Connection between sexuality
and violence is not uncommon
435
00:26:00,900 --> 00:26:02,820
because it's really,
436
00:26:02,820 --> 00:26:05,250
if you look at the
basis of sado-masochism,
437
00:26:05,250 --> 00:26:07,800
the two are so totally entwined,
438
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,450
not just what you do sexually,
439
00:26:09,450 --> 00:26:10,980
but how you carry it out.
440
00:26:10,980 --> 00:26:15,150
Power was critical to
everything Hitler did.
441
00:26:15,150 --> 00:26:18,667
You know, in any relationship it was,
442
00:26:18,667 --> 00:26:20,107
"I've gotta get power first,
443
00:26:20,107 --> 00:26:22,410
"the rest can follow."
444
00:26:22,410 --> 00:26:27,410
So there's an expression
of superiority of power,
445
00:26:28,980 --> 00:26:31,440
seems to course through him
446
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,413
like big stones in a very small stream.
447
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,340
(dramatic music)
448
00:26:38,340 --> 00:26:40,260
- [Narrator] By young adulthood,
449
00:26:40,260 --> 00:26:43,773
violence was a language
Hitler was well versed in.
450
00:26:44,850 --> 00:26:47,280
Assault and brutal oppression
451
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,293
were the norm in the Hitler family.
452
00:26:50,220 --> 00:26:53,103
And Adolf grew up knowing nothing else.
453
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,980
But some suggest an even darker
moment would imprint itself
454
00:26:58,980 --> 00:27:00,753
on young Hitler's psyche.
455
00:27:02,430 --> 00:27:06,480
- You go to the famous
Freudian primal scene
456
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:11,190
that every child is in a way traumatized
457
00:27:11,190 --> 00:27:16,190
or changed by witnessing
their parents having sex.
458
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,930
Whether this affects them drastically
459
00:27:18,930 --> 00:27:21,210
is a source of much argument,
460
00:27:21,210 --> 00:27:22,860
but living in an environment,
461
00:27:22,860 --> 00:27:25,200
not so much where you see
your parents having sex,
462
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,890
but you see violence does
have an effect on you.
463
00:27:28,890 --> 00:27:30,547
It imprints on you.
464
00:27:30,547 --> 00:27:33,570
(dramatic music)
465
00:27:33,570 --> 00:27:36,086
- [Narrator] Hitler was just 13 years old
466
00:27:36,086 --> 00:27:39,813
when his father died
over his morning pint.
467
00:27:41,550 --> 00:27:45,090
- So there's no indication
that Hitler grieved
468
00:27:45,090 --> 00:27:46,770
the death of his father.
469
00:27:46,770 --> 00:27:49,770
What we do know is that having,
470
00:27:49,770 --> 00:27:53,040
if you want to look at it as
a triangular relationship,
471
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,290
him, his mother and father,
472
00:27:55,290 --> 00:27:58,800
suddenly it became a binary relationship
473
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,530
and his mother had no restraint then
474
00:28:01,530 --> 00:28:03,690
in expressing affection,
475
00:28:03,690 --> 00:28:07,170
but which came out as she could spoil him
476
00:28:07,170 --> 00:28:09,030
to her heart's content.
477
00:28:09,030 --> 00:28:11,100
And as the recipient of this,
478
00:28:11,100 --> 00:28:12,963
he of course was perfectly happy.
479
00:28:14,730 --> 00:28:18,213
- [Narrator] Hitler was free
to do whatever he wanted.
480
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:24,440
He spent his days drawing,
painting, and writing poetry
481
00:28:24,810 --> 00:28:28,740
and later described them
as the happiest days,
482
00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:30,483
like a beautiful dream.
483
00:28:32,250 --> 00:28:34,800
But life for the women
in the Hitler household
484
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,273
was less dreamlike.
485
00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:40,320
His youngest sister,
Paula was press-ganged
486
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,743
into helping Klara serve
the slothful teenager.
487
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,800
In her journal, Paula
described 15-year-old Adolf
488
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,783
slapping her across the face.
489
00:28:53,580 --> 00:28:55,590
The cruelty Adolf Hitler had learned
490
00:28:55,590 --> 00:28:58,863
at his father's knee had taken hold.
491
00:28:59,970 --> 00:29:02,250
- When we think of someone like Hitler,
492
00:29:02,250 --> 00:29:07,250
we have someone who feels
this need for power,
493
00:29:07,829 --> 00:29:12,829
for control over other people.
494
00:29:13,620 --> 00:29:18,543
It's a compensation for what
was not there in childhood.
495
00:29:19,410 --> 00:29:24,410
And we have someone who also
harbors this tremendous hatred,
496
00:29:26,010 --> 00:29:29,013
this tremendous rage,
497
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,970
this tremendous hostility toward others
498
00:29:32,970 --> 00:29:34,980
and toward the world.
499
00:29:34,980 --> 00:29:37,154
- [Narrator] But for
the time being at least,
500
00:29:37,154 --> 00:29:40,440
Hitler reveled in being the sole focus
501
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,203
of his devoted mother's
undivided attention,
502
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,680
which would prove every bit
as damaging to his psyche
503
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:56,190
as the abuse he suffered
at his father's hand.
504
00:29:56,190 --> 00:29:59,850
- A narcissist is somebody
totally self-obsessed.
505
00:29:59,850 --> 00:30:02,580
They are the center of the universe.
506
00:30:02,580 --> 00:30:06,180
Everybody around them either
has to make them feel better
507
00:30:06,180 --> 00:30:09,720
or be punished for not doing that.
508
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,720
Another way of putting it is simply
509
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,510
that a narcissist is a psychopath
510
00:30:15,510 --> 00:30:17,670
who hasn't been caught yet
511
00:30:17,670 --> 00:30:21,684
because narcissism, as people
generally conceive of it
512
00:30:21,684 --> 00:30:26,493
means you can rationalize
and justify any behavior.
513
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,570
- [Narrator] And the catalyst
for that transformation
514
00:30:30,570 --> 00:30:35,463
from narcissism into raging
psychopathy was about to strike.
515
00:30:36,300 --> 00:30:39,990
In 1907, just four years after the death
516
00:30:39,990 --> 00:30:43,350
of her abusive husband and with Hitler,
517
00:30:43,350 --> 00:30:45,483
an impressionable 18-year-old,
518
00:30:46,410 --> 00:30:50,523
Klara Hitler was diagnosed
with terminal breast cancer.
519
00:30:51,390 --> 00:30:54,060
When Hitler learned that Klara was dying,
520
00:30:54,060 --> 00:30:57,000
he rushed home to Linz from Vienna,
521
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,610
where he'd been living
with his boyhood friend,
522
00:30:59,610 --> 00:31:00,993
August Kubizek.
523
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:09,320
Klara died on the 21st of
December, 1907 at the age of 47.
524
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,770
On the night before she passed away,
525
00:31:13,770 --> 00:31:16,890
she appealed to Adolf's companion August
526
00:31:16,890 --> 00:31:20,910
with a stark message to
be a good friend to Hitler
527
00:31:20,910 --> 00:31:22,893
because he has no one else.
528
00:31:24,270 --> 00:31:27,570
- He was certainly shattered
when his mother died.
529
00:31:27,570 --> 00:31:32,250
The Jewish family doctor
said he'd never seen anyone
530
00:31:32,250 --> 00:31:34,500
as devastated at a funeral
531
00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:37,410
as he saw Hitler there
when his mother died.
532
00:31:37,410 --> 00:31:38,940
- And then when she died,
533
00:31:38,940 --> 00:31:42,210
he stayed in the room.
534
00:31:42,210 --> 00:31:43,560
He wouldn't let her go.
535
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:45,400
He stayed in the room sketching her
536
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,330
because by that time he'd begun to believe
537
00:31:48,330 --> 00:31:50,580
that he was the genius artist,
538
00:31:50,580 --> 00:31:52,180
just simply wouldn't let her go.
539
00:31:53,850 --> 00:31:56,040
- [Narrator] Hitler would
describe his mother's passing
540
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,893
as the greatest loss he ever had.
541
00:31:59,850 --> 00:32:04,680
- Hitler was distraught by
his mother Klara's death.
542
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:06,120
Watching somebody,
543
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,358
probably the only person
really loves you die terribly
544
00:32:09,358 --> 00:32:12,180
is a traumatic thing.
545
00:32:12,180 --> 00:32:16,830
He would always recollect the
extreme grief that caused him.
546
00:32:16,830 --> 00:32:20,640
It was a huge rupture
psychologically for him
547
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,143
in his early life.
548
00:32:23,550 --> 00:32:26,400
- [Narrator] But what
would Adolf Hitler's mother
549
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,550
have thought of the
inexorable rise to power
550
00:32:29,550 --> 00:32:33,212
of the weak little boy she
had brought into the world.
551
00:32:33,212 --> 00:32:35,400
(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
552
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,530
When he was appointed chancellor,
553
00:32:37,530 --> 00:32:39,570
Hitler's aunt told a journalist
554
00:32:39,570 --> 00:32:43,620
that his mother had
wanted him to be ambitious
555
00:32:43,620 --> 00:32:46,650
and lift himself from his surroundings.
556
00:32:46,650 --> 00:32:49,260
He had certainly done that,
557
00:32:49,260 --> 00:32:53,460
but the violence and misery
he would unleash on millions
558
00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:56,880
would've made it hard,
even for a loving Klara
559
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,283
to admire what he became.
560
00:33:01,230 --> 00:33:03,570
Both his parents were dead,
561
00:33:03,570 --> 00:33:07,380
but many believe the
psychic scars they inflicted
562
00:33:07,380 --> 00:33:08,940
would impede Adolf Hitler's
563
00:33:08,940 --> 00:33:11,520
sexual and psychological development
564
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,353
as he grew into adulthood.
565
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,660
American psychoanalyst, Walter Langer
566
00:33:18,660 --> 00:33:21,330
believed it went further than that.
567
00:33:21,330 --> 00:33:23,993
He claimed that Hitler's
dysfunctional relationship
568
00:33:23,993 --> 00:33:27,844
with his parents shaped
his warped political views
569
00:33:27,844 --> 00:33:31,683
and his feelings of
abandonment and betrayal.
570
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,150
As a soldier in the First World War,
571
00:33:36,150 --> 00:33:38,010
Hitler was devastated
572
00:33:38,010 --> 00:33:40,413
when the Triple Alliance
forces surrendered.
573
00:33:42,030 --> 00:33:45,963
He blamed the defeat on the
Austria-Hungarian empire.
574
00:33:47,010 --> 00:33:49,680
As far as Adolf was concerned,
575
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:51,196
Germany had been betrayed
576
00:33:51,196 --> 00:33:54,873
by the decaying Austrian
Hapsburg monarchy.
577
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,590
To Hitler, Germany was not the fatherland,
578
00:34:01,590 --> 00:34:04,920
which was the term used
by most to describe it.
579
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,647
To Adolf, it was the motherland.
580
00:34:07,647 --> 00:34:10,397
(crowd cheering)
581
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:18,300
Austria, old, exhausted and corrupt,
582
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:21,810
embodied Hitler's loathed Austrian father.
583
00:34:21,810 --> 00:34:25,722
Germany, noble, but abused and neglected.
584
00:34:25,722 --> 00:34:28,020
And which unlike Austria,
585
00:34:28,020 --> 00:34:31,447
had accepted the young Adolf
into their military ranks
586
00:34:31,447 --> 00:34:33,483
was the motherland.
587
00:34:34,739 --> 00:34:38,340
When asked why he insisted
on remaining single,
588
00:34:38,340 --> 00:34:41,520
when rumors were flying
about his sexuality,
589
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,513
he replied that his only
bride was his motherland.
590
00:34:47,489 --> 00:34:49,503
It was a revealing response.
591
00:34:50,460 --> 00:34:53,580
- I think there was a lot
of nationalist mythology
592
00:34:53,580 --> 00:34:56,969
that played a part, but
I also think it was part
593
00:34:56,969 --> 00:35:01,970
of Hitler's massive delusionary narcissism
594
00:35:02,060 --> 00:35:06,030
that most people marry a single partner.
595
00:35:06,030 --> 00:35:08,400
He marries a country,
596
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:13,400
and that was very much a
political step as well,
597
00:35:13,830 --> 00:35:17,163
was it just left him free
to do what he wanted.
598
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,142
- [Narrator] With his beloved mother dead
599
00:35:20,142 --> 00:35:24,753
and his adopted country
defeated, Hitler floundered.
600
00:35:27,270 --> 00:35:29,460
It was only a matter of time
601
00:35:29,460 --> 00:35:32,253
before he filled the void
she left in his life.
602
00:35:33,630 --> 00:35:37,020
Walter Langer identified
a string of older women
603
00:35:37,020 --> 00:35:40,470
Hitler gravitated to for maternal support,
604
00:35:40,470 --> 00:35:43,293
an emotional sucker early in his career.
605
00:35:45,090 --> 00:35:48,078
It didn't hurt that his substitute mothers
606
00:35:48,078 --> 00:35:51,003
were also wealthy and well connected.
607
00:35:52,170 --> 00:35:57,170
- So Hitler had a couple
of patronesses effectively,
608
00:35:58,470 --> 00:36:03,470
elder, rich women with
salons who took him up
609
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:09,330
and must have seen in him a
young, charismatic character.
610
00:36:09,330 --> 00:36:10,980
And they got on with him very well.
611
00:36:10,980 --> 00:36:13,650
We know, perhaps because he
had a very close relationship
612
00:36:13,650 --> 00:36:16,920
with his mother that he
was good with older women.
613
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:18,750
- [Narrator] Most prominent amongst them
614
00:36:18,750 --> 00:36:20,910
was Helene Bechstein,
615
00:36:20,910 --> 00:36:23,583
whose husband owned the
Bechstein Piano Company.
616
00:36:25,950 --> 00:36:28,950
She outfitted him with a new wardrobe,
617
00:36:28,950 --> 00:36:31,033
trained him in the social graces
618
00:36:31,033 --> 00:36:35,550
and introduced him to
Bavaria's high society.
619
00:36:35,550 --> 00:36:37,020
- They took him under their wing.
620
00:36:37,020 --> 00:36:38,640
They were charmed by him.
621
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:39,870
So he had this ability...
622
00:36:39,870 --> 00:36:41,400
And you can imagine basically,
623
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,069
he's a man who's spent such a long time
624
00:36:44,069 --> 00:36:46,290
in close connection with his mother.
625
00:36:46,290 --> 00:36:48,393
And so when these women come along,
626
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,713
people did want him to
be their adopted son.
627
00:36:54,090 --> 00:36:56,100
- [Narrator] Given their age difference,
628
00:36:56,100 --> 00:36:59,190
most believed their
relationship was platonic.
629
00:36:59,190 --> 00:37:01,230
But as Otto Strasser,
630
00:37:01,230 --> 00:37:04,890
a prominent Nazi who had
an acrimonious falling out
631
00:37:04,890 --> 00:37:06,750
with Hitler, described it,
632
00:37:06,750 --> 00:37:10,230
their interaction was abnormally intimate.
633
00:37:10,230 --> 00:37:13,290
Hitler would sit at her
feet and close his eyes
634
00:37:13,290 --> 00:37:15,273
while she stroked his hair,
635
00:37:17,070 --> 00:37:20,610
calling him by his pet name, Little Wolf,
636
00:37:20,610 --> 00:37:24,783
Bechstein told friends that
she wished Adolf were her son.
637
00:37:25,830 --> 00:37:28,620
- So we can see a pattern in his life
638
00:37:28,620 --> 00:37:31,920
as he was advancing
towards his leadership.
639
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,890
He developed strong
relationships with older women
640
00:37:34,890 --> 00:37:37,440
like Bechstein and Wagner.
641
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,980
And I think that fitted in
with the underlying pathology
642
00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:44,640
of never being able to
let go of his mother
643
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,660
and needing maternal figures
who weren't threatening,
644
00:37:48,660 --> 00:37:51,513
but were cosseting and supporting him.
645
00:37:53,910 --> 00:37:56,910
- [Narrator] As he became
more politically powerful,
646
00:37:56,910 --> 00:37:59,190
Hitlers sorted family history
647
00:37:59,190 --> 00:38:02,193
would start to manifest
in more disturbing ways.
648
00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:07,380
And he would switch his
attention to much younger women
649
00:38:07,380 --> 00:38:10,823
in particular, his
17-year-old niece, Geli.
650
00:38:13,950 --> 00:38:18,120
Her mother, Angela Hitler
was six years older
651
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,010
than her half brother.
652
00:38:20,010 --> 00:38:22,080
She was the youngest of the two children
653
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,173
Alois Hitler conceived
with his second wife.
654
00:38:26,820 --> 00:38:29,850
Her young daughter, Geli, Adolf's niece
655
00:38:29,850 --> 00:38:32,700
was the one woman other than his mother
656
00:38:32,700 --> 00:38:34,623
that Hitler is said to have loved.
657
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,720
And disturbingly, it's
unlikely to have been
658
00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:42,030
a platonic affection.
659
00:38:42,030 --> 00:38:43,890
- Hitler's relationship with Geli
660
00:38:43,890 --> 00:38:48,890
was definitely the most important
relationship of his life.
661
00:38:48,930 --> 00:38:51,990
And when you look at it,
you're a bit taken aback.
662
00:38:51,990 --> 00:38:54,180
It was semi-incestuous.
663
00:38:54,180 --> 00:38:56,760
It was his half sister's daughter.
664
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,850
There was a very big age difference.
665
00:38:59,850 --> 00:39:02,610
- She had known Hitler all her life.
666
00:39:02,610 --> 00:39:07,530
And she came to Munich at the
age of 17 to lodge with him.
667
00:39:07,530 --> 00:39:11,160
But she wanted to make
a name for her herself.
668
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:15,057
And Hitler obviously felt
that she would be safer
669
00:39:15,057 --> 00:39:17,910
living with him in his apartment.
670
00:39:17,910 --> 00:39:22,770
So he took her in and
we know that he became
671
00:39:22,770 --> 00:39:24,663
infatuated with her.
672
00:39:26,430 --> 00:39:27,540
She was much younger than him,
673
00:39:27,540 --> 00:39:29,520
significantly younger than him.
674
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:34,080
- [Narrator] She was 17. Hitler was 36.
675
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:38,850
And as far as he was concerned,
she was the perfect age.
676
00:39:38,850 --> 00:39:40,410
- You choose very young women.
677
00:39:40,410 --> 00:39:43,110
Well, they're no threat
to you and they're pliant
678
00:39:43,110 --> 00:39:44,820
and they can be molded.
679
00:39:44,820 --> 00:39:46,710
And Hitler often spoke that,
680
00:39:46,710 --> 00:39:48,510
you know, a perfect wife is somebody
681
00:39:48,510 --> 00:39:52,863
who should be young and molded
into shape by her partner.
682
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,630
- [Narrator] Very quickly,
Hitler became smitten with Geli
683
00:39:57,630 --> 00:39:59,583
and he didn't mind people knowing.
684
00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:03,633
Hitler's Nazi comrades were irate.
685
00:40:05,730 --> 00:40:08,340
Apart from the concerning optics,
686
00:40:08,340 --> 00:40:10,740
they believed he was using party funds
687
00:40:10,740 --> 00:40:12,810
to court and clothe his niece.
688
00:40:12,810 --> 00:40:17,610
- He showed her off, which at
that stage early in his power
689
00:40:17,610 --> 00:40:20,580
was extremely unusual because
he took her everywhere.
690
00:40:20,580 --> 00:40:22,200
He took her to the cafe.
691
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:23,940
He took her to meetings.
692
00:40:23,940 --> 00:40:25,800
He took her to the opera and so on.
693
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,960
So he didn't mind being seen with her.
694
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,240
- [Narrator] Ernst
Hanfstaengl thought Geli
695
00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,280
was dull and provincial,
696
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:34,833
but said Hitler was besotted by her.
697
00:40:37,425 --> 00:40:39,988
And he believed it was absolutely certain
698
00:40:39,988 --> 00:40:42,723
Hitler was having sex with his niece.
699
00:40:43,890 --> 00:40:47,340
- She was a rather attractive woman,
700
00:40:47,340 --> 00:40:49,099
had a very outward personality.
701
00:40:49,099 --> 00:40:51,720
Somebody described her as having a sort of
702
00:40:51,720 --> 00:40:53,250
full of animal spirit,
703
00:40:53,250 --> 00:40:55,470
an animal excitement about life
704
00:40:55,470 --> 00:40:57,213
and very positive about life.
705
00:40:59,130 --> 00:41:00,990
- [Narrator] According
to the Langer report
706
00:41:00,990 --> 00:41:02,670
for the US government,
707
00:41:02,670 --> 00:41:05,238
there were even more
distressing allegations
708
00:41:05,238 --> 00:41:07,773
about the nature of their relationship.
709
00:41:09,060 --> 00:41:11,370
The informant, Otto Strasser,
710
00:41:11,370 --> 00:41:14,880
claimed that Geli had told him
that Hitler wasn't interested
711
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,763
in conventional forms of sexual contact.
712
00:41:19,230 --> 00:41:23,553
What he rarely wanted Geli
to do was to urinate on him.
713
00:41:25,884 --> 00:41:28,710
It pays to remember
that Strasser had it in
714
00:41:28,710 --> 00:41:30,810
for his former comrade.
715
00:41:30,810 --> 00:41:34,293
Many experts questioned the
credibility of his testimony.
716
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,233
But in his report for the OSS,
717
00:41:38,130 --> 00:41:41,100
Walter Langer refers to
other unnamed sources
718
00:41:41,100 --> 00:41:42,603
who said the same thing.
719
00:41:44,820 --> 00:41:46,800
- Hitler's relationship with Geli
720
00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,490
brought out every aspect of himself
721
00:41:50,490 --> 00:41:52,740
that he normally tried to hide.
722
00:41:52,740 --> 00:41:56,606
So it's no surprise that if
the rumors have any basis,
723
00:41:56,606 --> 00:42:00,630
that what you can call a
basic S and M practice,
724
00:42:00,630 --> 00:42:05,630
being humiliated in the most personal way
725
00:42:06,270 --> 00:42:08,370
with body fluids of the worst kind
726
00:42:08,370 --> 00:42:11,673
are fitted into the scheme.
727
00:42:12,630 --> 00:42:16,983
Inside the masochist, outside the sadist.
728
00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:20,490
- [Narrator] The gossip
about the true nature
729
00:42:20,490 --> 00:42:23,643
of the relationship between
uncle and niece spread.
730
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:28,980
Rumors of a folio of pornographic drawings
731
00:42:28,980 --> 00:42:32,880
Hitler made of his niece
and an explicit letter
732
00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,150
he wrote to Geli detail
the depraved things
733
00:42:36,150 --> 00:42:38,220
he wanted to do to her are thought
734
00:42:38,220 --> 00:42:41,373
to have exposed Hitler
to blackmail threats.
735
00:42:42,270 --> 00:42:44,190
Whatever the truth was,
736
00:42:44,190 --> 00:42:46,200
it was clear to the people around them
737
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,293
that Geli was deeply unhappy.
738
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:54,360
- People said she became
increasingly more inward
739
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,300
and more introverted and
lost this sort of gaiety
740
00:42:57,300 --> 00:42:58,590
that she'd had.
741
00:42:58,590 --> 00:43:00,090
Hitler was controlling her
742
00:43:00,090 --> 00:43:02,957
with an obsessive possessiveness actually.
743
00:43:02,957 --> 00:43:05,163
And it was suffocating in the end.
744
00:43:07,350 --> 00:43:10,440
- And ultimately she must
have found the trauma
745
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,310
that Hitler must have inflicted
on her too much to bear.
746
00:43:14,310 --> 00:43:16,387
He wasn't just somebody who said,
747
00:43:16,387 --> 00:43:17,730
"I'm gonna stop your allowance."
748
00:43:17,730 --> 00:43:19,028
There was something much deeper
749
00:43:19,028 --> 00:43:22,740
that actually became so traumatic for her,
750
00:43:22,740 --> 00:43:24,813
that she killed herself.
751
00:43:29,670 --> 00:43:33,300
- [Narrator] On the
18th of September, 1931,
752
00:43:33,300 --> 00:43:36,990
Geli shot herself in Hitler's
apartment with his gun.
753
00:43:36,990 --> 00:43:39,690
She was just 23 years old.
754
00:43:39,690 --> 00:43:41,670
He was devastated.
755
00:43:41,670 --> 00:43:44,250
- Hitler was known to have been thrown
756
00:43:44,250 --> 00:43:49,020
into a very profound clinical depression
757
00:43:49,020 --> 00:43:50,610
after Geli's death.
758
00:43:50,610 --> 00:43:54,003
The shock sunk him into depression,
759
00:43:54,930 --> 00:43:57,330
people say for two years.
760
00:43:57,330 --> 00:44:01,470
I mean, he really was
very, very affected by it.
761
00:44:01,470 --> 00:44:03,510
- After she killed herself,
762
00:44:03,510 --> 00:44:06,120
he had her room locked up,
763
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:07,680
nobody was allowed to enter.
764
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,650
And he was reputed to
go in there once a year
765
00:44:10,650 --> 00:44:12,240
on the date of her death.
766
00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:14,820
- Nothing was to be moved in the room.
767
00:44:14,820 --> 00:44:17,940
Everything was to remain
exactly as it had been.
768
00:44:17,940 --> 00:44:20,560
It was like this Egyptian tomb
769
00:44:21,540 --> 00:44:23,310
with the faded roses locked up.
770
00:44:23,310 --> 00:44:24,570
Nobody had a key,
771
00:44:24,570 --> 00:44:27,090
only he could go there and
he would sit there for hours
772
00:44:27,090 --> 00:44:30,183
just as he sat there for
hours when his mother died.
773
00:44:31,086 --> 00:44:34,620
(Adolf speaking in foreign language)
774
00:44:34,620 --> 00:44:36,120
- [Narrator] In years to come,
775
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:39,424
Hitler would make every
effort to cover up the sorted
776
00:44:39,424 --> 00:44:43,983
and ultimately tragic details
of his love affair with Geli.
777
00:44:46,050 --> 00:44:48,273
But the stains of suspicion remained.
778
00:44:51,060 --> 00:44:53,730
In the summary report
Walter Langer prepared
779
00:44:53,730 --> 00:44:55,770
for US President Roosevelt,
780
00:44:55,770 --> 00:44:59,160
he concluded that Hitler's
sexual preferences
781
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,800
were perverse in the extreme.
782
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,660
- I think Langer hit it right
783
00:45:03,660 --> 00:45:05,790
when he said Hitler was isolated
784
00:45:05,790 --> 00:45:08,400
from the love of normal human beings.
785
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:10,500
And it refers to this theme
786
00:45:10,500 --> 00:45:14,100
that we've been pursuing
of Hitler's existential,
787
00:45:14,100 --> 00:45:15,960
inner emptiness.
788
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:20,133
Hitler couldn't form a bond with anybody.
789
00:45:24,510 --> 00:45:26,460
- [Narrator] We'll never
know how much blame
790
00:45:26,460 --> 00:45:29,587
we can place at the feet of
Hitler's mother and father,
791
00:45:29,587 --> 00:45:33,570
for the aberrant human being he became,
792
00:45:33,570 --> 00:45:36,960
but an account of a
peculiar event that occurred
793
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,130
later in his life hints
at how conflicted he was
794
00:45:41,130 --> 00:45:43,500
with his feelings for
his mother and father
795
00:45:43,500 --> 00:45:45,153
for the rest of his life.
796
00:45:46,590 --> 00:45:48,529
Even after Adolf rose to power
797
00:45:48,529 --> 00:45:51,421
and accumulated great wealth,
798
00:45:51,421 --> 00:45:55,350
his parents graves in the
Austrian town of Leonding
799
00:45:55,350 --> 00:45:58,113
remains neglected and unmarked.
800
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,670
It was only after local
Nazi party functionaries
801
00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:05,940
decided to honor their
Fuhrer's mother and father
802
00:46:05,940 --> 00:46:09,573
that a headstone was erected
on the otherwise bear earth.
803
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:13,470
When he heard of what had been done,
804
00:46:13,470 --> 00:46:15,578
Hitler visited the cemetery.
805
00:46:15,578 --> 00:46:20,578
According to witnesses, he
glanced at the memorial,
806
00:46:20,580 --> 00:46:22,323
then left without comment.
807
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,583
He never visited their graves again.
808
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,520
Hitler's childhood may
have been diabolical
809
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:35,040
and his family history might well
810
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:37,620
have been twisted and tainted.
811
00:46:37,620 --> 00:46:40,200
Some of this may explain his irrational
812
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:41,733
and violent mood swings,
813
00:46:42,570 --> 00:46:44,880
it might have fueled his paranoia
814
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,673
and meant he never
developed a moral compass.
815
00:46:48,750 --> 00:46:51,750
And there's a good chance
it found expression
816
00:46:51,750 --> 00:46:53,973
in deviant sexual practices,
817
00:46:57,870 --> 00:46:59,760
but despite all that,
818
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,573
there is no evidence to
suggest he was mentally ill.
819
00:47:04,530 --> 00:47:08,220
He knew exactly what he was doing.
820
00:47:08,220 --> 00:47:11,580
There's only one way to explain him.
821
00:47:11,580 --> 00:47:13,803
He was pure evil.
822
00:47:18,114 --> 00:47:20,697
(gentle music)
61497
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