When
Hitler rose to power in Germany and Europe, he made Paula
change her name from Paula Hitler to Paula Wolff - Wolff
was Adolf Hitler's nickname.
She later told:
"The
first time that my brother suggested my changing my name
was at the Olympic Games in Garmisch. He wanted me to live
under the name of Wolff, and maintain the strictest
incognito. That was sufficient for me. From then on I kept
this name. I added the Mrs. as I thought that less
conspicuous."
Soon
Paula was dismissed from her job. Hitler decided to give
her 250 Marks a month, raising the figure to 500 Marks
after the Annexation
of Austria into the German Reich, The Anschluss, in
1938. In addition he gave her a present of 3000
Marks every Christmas and helped her buy a villa.
Occasionally she would visit him in the Obersalzberg but
rarely for more than two weeks.
Hitler committed
suicide on April 30, 1945, and early on the morning on
April 29 he hastily dictated his
last will to his secretary,
Frau Traudl Junge. He nominated Martin Bormann as his
executor and asked him to hand over to his relatives
" .. everything that has a sentimental value or is
necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple
life."
Until
the last weeks of the war, Paula Hitler lived in Vienna
where she was arrested by US Intelligence officers in May,
1945. During the interrogations, she told how her brother
had been deeply affected by his mother's death when he was
18. After breaking into tears, she said: Please
remember, he was my brother:
"The
personal fate of my brother affected me very much. He was
still my brother, no matter what happened. His end brought
unspeakable sorrow to me, as his sister .."
Paula
was released and returned to Vienna to work in an arts and
crafts shop. On December 1, 1952, she moved to a two-room
flat near Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountaintop retreat on
the German-Austrian border, where she lived in seclusion
under the last name of Wolf until her death on June 1,
1960.
Paula
Hitler, who never married or had children, is buried in
the Bergfriedhof in Berchtesgaden as the only member of
the immediate family to carry the name Hitler on her
tombstone.
[ Home ] [ Early Years ] [ Aftermath ] [ Adolf Hitler ] [ Interrogation I ] [ Interrogation II ] [ Agent Remarks ] [ Sources ] [ Photos ] [ Books ]
