How Hitler’s relatives stood on opposite sides in World War 2
Apal tells me that Hitler’s cousin was an American and fought against the Nazis in the Second World War, but is he kidding me? – P.
He’s not kidding you, but he is not quite correct.
I think he means Hitler’s nephew, who was indeed an American and fought in the Second World War.
William Stuart-houston was the son of Hitler’s half-brother, Alois Hitler, Jr. and his Irish wife, Bridget Dowling. He was born in Liverpool in 1911, and the family lived in a flat at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, which was destroyed in the last German air raid of the Liverpool Blitz on January 10, 1942.
By that time, William had emigrated to the States. He joined the US Navy in 1944, and served as a Hospital Corpsman until his honourable discharge in 1947. Only then did he change his name from Hitler to Stewart-houston.
The Nazi leader had two other nephews, Leo and Heinz.
Heinz was a son of Alois and his second wife, Hedwig. Reportedly Hitler’s “favourite nephew” he was a supporter of the Nazis and fought on the Eastern Front. He was captured by Soviet troops and died in 1942.
The third nephew, Leo, was the son of Angela, Hitler’s half-sister.
He was a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe and was also captured by the Soviets, at the Battle of Stalingrad, in 1943.
Hitler gave orders to examine the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Soviets for Stalin’s son, Yakov, who had been captured by the Germans in 1941.
Stalin refused, saying: “War is war.”