Heinz Hitler

Heinrich Hitler (14 March 1920 – 21 February 1942) was the son of Alois Hitler Jr. and his second wife Hedwig Heidemann whom he had married bigamously.

He was the younger half-brother of William Stuart-Houston.

He was also a half-nephew of Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler, who reportedly called Heinz his favorite nephew.

Heinz was a strong supporter of the Nazis.

He attended an elite boarding school, the National Political Institutes of Education (Napola) at Ballenstedt in Saxony-Anhalt.

When World War II began, he joined the Wehrmacht.

Aspiring to become an officer, Heinz became a signals subofficer with the 23rd Potsdamer Artillery Regiment in 1941.

He was sent to serve on the Eastern Front, participating in the invasion of the Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa.

On 10 January 1942, he was ordered to collect radio equipment from an army post.

He was captured by Soviet forces and died at the Butyrka military prison in Moscow in February 1942, at the age of 21.

Adolf Hitler approved of an offer for Heinz and Yakov Dzhugashvili, the son of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, to return to their respective home countries under the supervision of the Swedish Red Cross, but Stalin, still enraged that Yakov surrendered, rejected it.

Notes

Bibliography