Childhood

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Adolf Hitler was born at the Gasthof zum Pommer, an inn in Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary, the fourth of Alois and Klara Hitler's six children.

Hitler was close to his mother, but had a troubled relationship with his father, an authoritarian who frequently beat him.

Years later, he told his secretary: "I then resolved never again to cry when my father whipped me.

A few days later I had the opportunity of putting my will to the test. My mother, frightened, took refuge in front of the door. As for me, I counted silently the blows of the stick which lashed my rear end."

He was a poor student, which he later attributed to rebellion against his father, who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as a customs official