Hitler's 'secret' brother: Nazi leader had a disabled younger sibling who died aged just one week

  • Adolf Hitler's 'older brother' Otto has been found to have been younger
  • Otto was born when Adolf was three years old, in 1892, but soon died
  • Otto had hydrocephalus - swelling of the brain - and died after six days

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 06:08 EST, 6 June 2016 | Updated: 11:26 EST, 6 June 2016

Adolf Hitler had a disabled younger brother who died when he was three years old, a German historian claims

It has long been reported that Hitler was the fourth of six siblings, but new documents prove that he was, in fact, the third.

Otto Hitler was born three years after Adolf, but died from hydrocephalus, a swelling of the brain, after just one week.

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Adolf Hitler's younger brother Otto was born three years after him, but he suffered from hydrocephalus and died just six days later

Adolf Hitler's younger brother Otto was born three years after him, but he suffered from hydrocephalus and died just six days later

The Nazi leader's parents Klara and Alois had six children, Gustav, Ida, Adolf, Otto, Edmund and Paula, but only two would survive to adulthood.

Gustav and Ida died of diphtheria as toddlers before Adolf was born, and Edmund died of measles at the age of six.

Until now, it was thought that Otto had been born and died in 1887, two years before Adolf's birth on 20th April 1889.

This was based on a debrief interview with the youngest Hitler sibling, Paula, conducted after the Second World War in 1945. 

However, newly uncovered records from Braunau am Inn, the northern Austrian town where Hitler was born, show that he was in fact the third sibling.

Family history: Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, pictured as a baby, was born in Austria on April 20, 1889

Family history: Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, pictured as a baby, was born in Austria on April 20, 1889

Number three: Records from Braunau am Inn, the northern Austrian town where Adolf Hitler was born, show that he was in fact the third sibling

Number three: Records from Braunau am Inn, the northern Austrian town where Adolf Hitler was born, show that he was in fact the third sibling

Otto was actually born three years after, on June 17, 1892, and died six days later of hydrocephalus, according to the report by German historian Florian Kotanko.

'The conclusions of many Hitler biographers about the mental development of Adolf Hitler, who allegedly received special attention from his mother Klara as the only surviving child after the deaths of three siblings, are no longer tenable,' Kotanko was quoted as saying in German media

'How was the three-year-old Adolf Hitler confronted with the birth and death of a brother?' Kotanko said. 

Among other open questions, he said, is whether Hitler had been aware of his brother's condition and how it might have affected him.

WHAT IS HYDROCEPHALUS? 

Hydrocephalus is a build-up of fluid in the brain - which leads to increased pressure which can cause damage to the tissue. Emon, who has hydrocephalus, is pictured with his father

Hydrocephalus is a build-up of fluid in the brain - which leads to increased pressure which can cause damage to the tissue. Emon, who has hydrocephalus, is pictured with his father

Hydrocephalus is a build-up of fluid in the brain. 

The excess fluid leads to increased pressure on the brain which can cause damage to the brain tissue.

In the past, hydrocephalus was sometimes referred to as ‘water on the brain’ (the word hydrocephalus comes from the Greek words for water and head). 

However, the excess fluid is cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), not water. 

The main symptoms of hydrocephalus are: headache, nausea, vomiting, confusion and problems with vision (for example, blurred or double vision).

Congenital hydrocephalus, present in babies when they're born, can be caused by birth defects, such as spina bifida - where an infant's spine doesn't develop properly.

It can also occur as a result of an infection the mother develops during pregnancy, such as mumps or rubella (German measles).

If left untreated, it carries the risk of long-term mental and physical disabilities as a result of permanent brain damage.

The key treatment for hydrocephalus is a shunt.

This is a thin tube implanted in the brain to drain away the excess CSF to another part of the body (often the abdominal cavity, the space around the bowel) where it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. 

Source: NHS Choices 

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