Alois Hitler

Alois Schicklgruber was born out of wedlock on 7 June 1837; his mother was Maria Schicklgruber, but his biological father remains unknown. In 1876, he persuaded Austrian authorities to acknowledge his deceased stepfather Johann Georg Hiedler as his father, then changed his surname accordingly - the officials misspelled it "Hitler." That same year, still married to his first wife Anna, he hired a relative named Klara as a servant and began an affair with her. After his second wife Franziska died and Klara became pregnant, he married Klara in 1885, despite the murky possibility she was his first cousin once removed or half-niece. A close friend recalled Alois as "awfully rough" with Klara, barely speaking to her, and he beat his children with similar contempt. He died on 3 January 1903, an unremarkable civil servant in the customs service.