Much of the life and death of Adolf Hitler today remains untold and up to debate.
We know that he married Eva Braun in a rather morbid ceremony inside the Fuhrerbunker in
the final days of his life, but the dictator of Germany did not have any recognised children.
Any descendants of Hitler seemingly live in the world in secrecy and quiet, ashamed of
their links to one of the history’s most evil men.
However there was a relative of Hitler who did serve Nazi Germany during the war.
His nephew Heinz Hitler was also a member f the Nazi Party, but was arrested on the
Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa by the Soviets.
Arresting the nephew of Hitler was seen as a big coup by Stalin, but ultimately he was
brutally killed inside of a Moscow prison.
Join us today as we look at ‘The BRUTAL Execution of Heinz Hitler, Adolf Hitler’s
nephew.’
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Heinrich Heinz Hitler was born on the 14th March 1920, and was the son of Alois Hitler
Junior and his second wife Hedwig Heidemann.
His father was named after Adolf Hitler’s father, Alois, and he was first married to
an Irish woman named Bridget Bowling.
Together Alois Junior and Bridget had a son named William Patrick Hitler, as the couple
settled in Liverpool.
This child was the half brother of Heinz, and he would later live in American and would
serve in the US Navy against his own uncles forces during World War 2.
But Heinz would take a different path.
It was reported that Heinz was the favourite nephew of his uncle Adolf, and he would grow
up as a teenager living under the regime of his uncle.
Heinz would be different than his half brother and would be linked to Nazism and he did dedicate
his life to his uncles cause.
At school he boasted about his uncle and who he was, the most powerful man in Germany,
and he was sent to an elite boarding school, the National Political Institutes of Education
known as the Napola.
This was found at Ballenstedt in Saxony-Anhalt, and these were schools with the focus of indoctrinating
children into the Nazi ideology and way of life.
The students who would attend schools like these were intended to become the future leaders
of Germany, both in a military sense and politically showing how well Heinz Hitler was thought
of.
They were comparable to schools such as Eton in their running, but with the strong focus
on Nazism and ideology.
For boys there was a highly militaristic education offered by the schools, and only boys considered
racially flawless were accepted into the school.
The schools were so strict that students who had poor eyesight were rejected, and it shows
that Hitler would have had big plans for his nephew.
Only those considered the strongest aryans were allowed to attend, as well as those in
excellent physical health.
Whilst he was at the school, Heinz Hitler would have been involved strongly in Hitler
Youth meetings and during the school holidays, would most probably have been involved in
the Reich Labour Service, doing work on local projects.
It was said that whilst at school and growing up, Heinz could have been considered arrogant
as he rode on the coat-tails of his famous uncle with his famous surname.
One of his class mates commented on Heinz saying along with his friends, they drove
through Magdeburg crazy without a license, and when stopped by the police, Heinz showed
his identity documents, and because of who he was the police saluted him and let him
continue.
But Heinz Hitler dreamed of a career in the Wehrmacht and the military.
He wished to become an officer, and a senior ranking member of the war effort.
He trained inside of the army to become a signals sub officer with the 23rd Potsdamer
Artillery Regiment in 1941 at the age of around 20 or 21.
But following his training, because of the launch of Operation Barbarossa, he was sent
to the Eastern Front with his unit.
Hitler had crossed Stalin and ripped up their previous agreements, and because of this he
invaded the Soviet Union.
His military objective was to smash Communism and take as much land as possible in the Union
to create more living space for ethnic Germans.
With this, he launched a huge offensive against the Soviets, which initially had a number
of successes with the Germans taking large amounts of land.
It’s believed that Heinz Hitler was a willing and excited soldier on the eastern front,
as he had been indoctrinated by the NAzis for the need for the men to go and fight,
especially against enemies such as the Communist Soviets.
He would have believed it was his job to be on the front lines defending what his uncle
was fighting for also.
It is considered that Hitler may not have liked his nephew fighting and risking his
life, he expected civilians to fight for his cause but may not have been keen on his own
family risking their lives for it.
Heinz Hitler fought for a number of months, and but on the 10th January 1942 he was given
a mission to go and collect some radio equipment from an army post.
But during this mission, he was captured and intercepted by Soviet Red Army Forces who
then obtained his name and realised who he was.
Capturing Hitler’s nephew was seen as a major coup for Stalin and Hitler, and the
dictator of Germany was very concerned about his well being, and even offered an exchange
of prisoners.
He offered up Yakov Dzhugashvili, Stalin’s son in exchange for Heinz Hitler’s safe
return, and this would have been facilitated by the Swedish Red Cross.
However Stalin outraged by the fact his own son surrendered to his enemy, he rejected
this outright, practically condemning his own son to death.
However Heinz Hitler was kept inside of the Butyrka military prison, inside of Moscow.
He would have been taken into Moscow as a prized prisoner, but inside of here he would
be executed.
The Butyrka prison as notorious for rather terrible conditions and it was very overcrowded
with the enemies of the Soviets during the war, and it was known for brutality.
Whilst inside the prison, guards would beat and hit prisoners badly if they tried to rise
up or refuse to adhere to the prison rules.
It’s claimed that there were dozens of people in cells that were meant for ten cells, and
there was disease rife across the prison.
Inside the prison, Heinz Hitler was tortured and it’s believed beaten for information
regarding his uncle.
He may have been tortured a number of times, so the Soviets could use any intel they could
get against their enemy the dictator of Germany.
Heinz had inside information that no-one else had, about the family life of the dictator,
but he refused to give over any information.
He was brutalised by the Soviet guards, and was tortured so badly that he succumbed to
his ordeal and died inside of the Soviet prison.
Heinz Hitler decided to take any information with him to the grave, and gave his life for
the Nazi cause.
He would have been beaten, and it can be interpreted that his death may have been a mistake.
For centuries, keeping high value prisoners was a key thing for armies, as they could
later do deals and offer prisoners up for high ranking captives of their own army.
It’s possible that Heinz’ death was a mistake, or on the other hand may have been
ordered by Stalin in reprisal for the anger caused by his own son’s surrender.
The death of Heinz Hitler occurred on the 21st February 1942 roughly a month after he
was initially captured.
Throughout his life he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class, and was held inside a VIP
prison following his capture.
But for Heinz, this prison would be the site of his brutal killing, and he’s remembered
today for the Nephew of Hitler who served in his Nazi Regime.
It’s likely that Hitler was very upset after the death of his favourite nephew.
The demise of Heinz Hitler also touches on the brutality of Stalin and his regime, as
Stalin would even reject the freedom of his own son and refuse the prison swap.
Heinz Hitler was the nephew of Adolf Hitler, who was tortured to death by his enemies.
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