Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mrs Hitler?
Adolf Hitler’s half-brother as popped up in the 1911 census records, and his return makes for fascinating reading.
Alois Hitler apparently had a troubled childhood and is said to have had a rocky relationship with his parents. In 1910 he met a young woman called Bridget Elizabeth Dowling, at the Dublin horse show in Ireland. Alois and Bridget eloped to London and married in June 1910.
Alois’ 1911 census return shows him and Bridget living at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. This house is reported to have been destroyed in a German air-raid on Liverpool in 1942. (Nothing like a touch of irony eh?)
The form appears to include lots of different styles of handwriting, so it must be assumed that the boarders in the house each filled in their own details. It is believed therefore that Alois completed his family’s details, especially when you look at his son William’s entry. Above ‘boarder’, which has been crossed out and re-written underneath, Alois has referred to William as ‘sohn’, the German word for ‘son’:
Alois has recorded a different name on the census return, Anton. Bridget has also recorded a different name, ‘Cissie’ Hitler. The first recording of her name is crossed out on the form but the name ‘Cissie Dowling’ is still clearly visible. Having been married less than a year, it seems Bridget was still adjusting to her new married name.
What??? You have the name Bridget Hitler and you change your first name???? Bridget was clearly one of the first ever glue sniffers. Well perhaps she’d never met Adolph so didn’t see what was coming. Poor woman.
We can also gather from the census form that Alois was born in Austria. At the time of the 1911 census he was working as a ‘Chef waiter’ in a Lyons Cafe. This is particularly interesting as Lyons was a Jewish company, which may lead you to wonder if Alois’ views differed drastically to those of his infamous brother.
So there you have it.
Alois Hitler married some Irish woman and spent much of his life serving cakes and pretty much behaving himself whilst his brother didn’t marry an Irish woman, serve cakes or behave himself.
You really can’t chose your family can you?
History can be quite enlightening if you just look around in a few nooks and crannys.
Interesting story Norman. Goes to show what some will do to hide the horror behind a name. Curiously Adolf was born in 1889, and would have been 22 at the time of that census. I assume that Alois was older than his sibling.