imported>Str1977: his name isn't merely "Nepomuk", the name doesn't even suggest a relationship with Bohemia at all

2025-10-21T12:15:09Z

his name isn't merely "Nepomuk", the name doesn't even suggest a relationship with Bohemia at all

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{{short description|Ancestor of Adolf Hitler}}
{{more footnotes|date=May 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Johann Nepomuk Hiedler
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1807|3|19|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Weitra]], [[Austrian Empire]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1888|9|17|1807|3|19|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Weitra]], [[Austria Hungary]]
| nationality = Austrian
| other_names = Johann Nepomuk Hüttler
| occupation = [[Farmer]]
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Eva Maria Hiedler
| children = [[Johanna Hiedler]], Walburga Hüttler, Josefa Hüttler
| relatives = [[Adolf Hitler]] (great-grandson and grandnephew)
}}
'''Johann Nepomuk Hiedler''' (19 March 1807 – 17 September 1888) was the maternal great-grandfather<ref>Adolf Hitler's mother was Klara, and Klara's mother was Johanna. Johanna and her sister Walburga were the children of Johann Nepomuk and his wife, Eva Maria Decker Hiedler.</ref> and possibly also the paternal grandfather of [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>Marc Vermeeren. ''De jeugd van Adolf Hitler 1889-1907 en zijn familie en voorouders''. Soesterberg, 2007, 420 blz. Uitgeverij Aspekt. {{ISBN|90-5911-606-2}}.</ref><ref>See the Hitler family trees (online and others) shown and cited in article on [[Johann Georg Hiedler]].</ref>

His first two names are the same as the name of the [[Bohemia]]n [[Saint]] [[John of Nepomuk|Johann Nepomuk]]. Some people consider this name as evidence that Nepomuk (and therefore his great-grandson Adolf Hitler) had Czech ancestry. However, Johann Nepomuk, was an important saint for Bohemians of both Czech and German ethnicity, and also popular way beyond Bohemia. The name may also indicate only an association with someone else named Johann Nepomuk. Thus, there is no evidence that Hitler's ancestors were of Czech ancestry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hamann|first=Brigitte|title=Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2010|isbn=978-1848852778|pages=42}}</ref>

Johann Nepomuk became a relatively prosperous farmer and married Eva Maria Decker (16 December 1792 – 28 December 1873). The couple had three children together: [[Johanna Hiedler]] (19 January 1830 – 8 February 1906), Walburga Hüttler (11 April 1832 – 30 November 1900<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sterbebuch Spital 03/04 |url=https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/st-poelten/spital/03%252F04/?pg=26 |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=data.matricula-online.eu |page=8 |language=de}}</ref>), Josefa Hüttler (15 February 1834 – 13 May 1859).

On 15 September 1848, Johanna married Johann Baptist Pölzl, a peasant farmer. The couple would eventually have five sons and six daughters, and only three of these children would survive to adulthood. Walburga married Josef Romeder (born in 1835) on 25 January 1853, but had no children.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Robert|title=The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler|publisher=Dorset Press|year=1990|isbn=0880294027|location=New York|pages=15}}</ref> Josefa married Leopold Seiler (born 14 November 1832) on 1 March 1859, but had no children and died soon after on 13 May 1859.

Johann Nepomuk's wife, Eva Maria, died 28 December 1873, at the age 81 in Spital, [[Weitra]]. Johanna's daughter, Johann Nepomuk's granddaughter, [[Klara Polzl|Klara Pölzl]], would eventually become the third wife of [[Alois Hitler]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kershaw|first=Ian|title=Hitler|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2013|location=London|pages=43}}</ref> Alois was the [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate]] son of [[Maria Schicklgruber]], who had married Johann's older brother, [[Johann Georg Hiedler]] on 10 May 1842, who may in fact have been Alois' natural father. Alois would claim in his later life that Johann Georg Hiedler was not his stepfather, but in fact his biological father, since Johann Nepomuk informally adopted Alois during Alois' childhood. In June 1876, Johann and Alois both returned to Weitra and Johann testified before a Catholic notary that Johann Georg was Alois' biological father, who had abandoned the child and handed over his fatherhood responsibilities to Johann Nepomuk.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Robert|title=The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler|publisher=Brick Tower Press|year=1990|isbn=0880294027|location=New York|pages=15}}</ref> On 6 January 1877, Alois was legitimized as 'Alois Hitler' and the priest then changed the details on the baptismal certificate from ''"Catholic, Male, Illegitimate"'' to ''"Johann Georg Hitler"'' under his father's name.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Toland|first=John|title=Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography|publisher=Anchor Books|year=1992|isbn=1101872772|location=New York|pages=21}}</ref> However, it is also possible that Johann Nepomuk himself was, in fact, Alois' natural father but could not acknowledge this publicly due to his marriage.<ref name=":5" />

Johann Nepomuk willed Alois a considerable portion of his life savings. Johann Nepomuk's granddaughter, [[Klara Hitler|Klara]], had a protracted affair with Alois before marrying him on 7 January 1885 in Braunau Am Inn after Alois' second wife, Franziska Matzelsberger had died on 10 August 1884 from tuberculosis.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Kershaw |first=Ian|title=Hitler|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2013|isbn=978-0141909592|location=London|pages=43}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book|last=Payne|first=Robert |title=The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler|publisher=Dorset Press|year=1990|isbn=0880294027|location=New York|pages=17}}</ref> Klara had six children with Alois, and gave birth to [[Adolf Hitler]] on 20 April 1889.

==See also==
* [[Hitler family]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Adolf Hitler}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiedler, Johann Nepomuk}}
[[Category:1807 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:Hitler family|Johann Nepomuk]]
[[Category:People from the Austrian Empire]]
[[Category:Austrian farmers]]
[[Category:19th-century farmers]]
[[Category:Austrian Roman Catholics]]

Johann Nepomuk Hiedler - Revision history

imported>Str1977: his name isn't merely "Nepomuk", the name doesn't even suggest a relationship with Bohemia at all