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). He was considered the officially accepted grandfather of Adolf Hitler by the Third Reich. Whether he was in fact Hitler's biological paternal grandfather is considered unknown by modern historians.

He made his living as a wandering journeyman miller. He married his first wife in 1824 but she died in childbirth five months later. In 1842, he married Maria Anna Schicklgruber and became the stepfather to her five year old son, Alois, an illegitimate child who was later claimed to have been Johann's natural son. In 1876, almost twenty years after his death, Alois was legally declared to have been Johann Georg's son.

Accordingly, Johann Georg Hiedler is one of three people most cited by modern historians as having possibly been the actual grandfather of Adolf Hitler. The other two are Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, the younger brother of Johann Georg, and a Graz Jew by the name of Frankenberger. In the 1950s, this third possibility was popular among historians, but modern historians now think it highly unlikely as the Jews were expelled from Graz in the fifteenth century and were not permitted to return until the 1860s, several decades after Alois' birth.

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 Instituted, 1967 ISBN 66-25727

External link

• A pedigree of him