Born in the Austrian village of Spital, Weitra, she was the daughter of Johann Pölzl and Johanna Hiedler. Either her grandfather Johann Nepomuk Hiedler or his brother were also likely Alois' biological father. Moreover, Johann was her future husband's stepuncle. Even after they were married Klara still called her husband "Uncle". Author Bradley F. Smith describes Klara as "a fairly large girl, almost as tall as her husband, with dark brown hair and even features."[1] She first came to work for Alois at the age of 16 as a housekeeper. After the death of his second wife, Alois and Klara were married on 7 January 1885 during a brief wedding held early in the morning at Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn in Braunau, before Alois went to work for the day. Four months later their first son Gustav was born on 15 May 1885. Ida followed on 23 September 1886 but both infants died of diphtheria during the winter of 1886-1887. A third child, Otto, was born and died in 1887. Adolf was born 20 April 1889, followed by Edmund on 24 March 1894 and Paula on 21 January 1896. Edmund died of the measles on 28 February 1900, at the age of five.[2] Klara's adult life was devoted to keeping house and raising children, for which, according to Smith, Alois had limited interest.[3] Only two of Klara's children, Adolf and Paula, survived childhood.
Klara was a devout[4]Roman Catholic and went to church regularly. When her husband died in 1903 he left her a government pension along with property. As a result she was adequately provided for financially, as were her children. However, four years after the death of her husband Klara died a particularly painful death from breast cancer at the age of 47 in Linz, Austria. Her teenaged children Adolf and Paula were at her side, the death affecting a young Adolf much more deeply than that of his father.[5]
↑ Smith, Bradley F. Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth Hoover Institute, 1967, p. 41
↑ Vermeeren, Mar, De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders, Soesterberg, 2007, Uitgeverij Aspekt, ISBN = 978-90-5911-606-1 (Note: Source carried forward and only presumed reliable)
↑ "[He] had a limited understanding of children and a minimum interest in their development" Smith, p.54
↑ "[She] was completely devoted to the faith and teachings of Catholicism?" Smith, p.42
Marc Vermeeren, "De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders". Soesterberg, 2007, 420 blz. Uitgeverij Aspekt. ISBN = 978-90-5911-606-1
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