Bridget Elizabeth Hitler, née Dowling (alternative Brigid Elisabeth, or Cissie) (3 July 1891 – 18 November 1969), was

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's sister-in-law via her marriage to Alois Hitler, Jr. She was the mother of Alois Hitler's son

William Patrick Hitler William Patrick Stuart-Houston (born William Patrick Hitler; 12 March 1911 – 14 July 1987) was an English-born officer and militant which was the half-nephew of Adolf Hitler. Born and raised in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to Adolf's hal ...

. She was born and raised in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, Ireland.

Marriage

Engagement

In 1909, Bridget and her father, William Dowling, attended the

Dublin Horse Show The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

where they met Alois Hitler junior, who claimed to be a wealthy hotelier touring Europe when, in fact, he was a poor kitchen porter at Dublin's

Shelbourne Hotel The Shelbourne Hotel is a historic hotel in Dublin, Ireland, situated in a landmark building on the north side of St Stephen's Green. Currently owned by Kennedy Wilson and operated by Marriott International, the hotel has 265 rooms in total an ...

. Alois courted Bridget at various Dublin locales and soon they were discussing marriage. On 3 June 1910, the couple eloped to London, living in

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction ...

for a while. Her father threatened to charge Alois with kidnapping but accepted the marriage after Bridget pleaded with him.

Early married life

The couple settled at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, a boarding house kept by the John family, in

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area w ...

, Liverpool and, in 1911 they had their only child,

. The house was destroyed in the last German air raid of the

Liverpool Blitz The Liverpool Blitz was the The Blitz, heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the Nazi Germany, German ''Luftwaffe''. Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of ...

on 10 January 1942.

Split

Alois went to Germany in 1914 to establish himself in business but these plans were interrupted by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Bridget refused to go with him, as he had become violent and started beating their son. Alois decided to abandon his family. He returned to Germany, remarried bigamously, and sent word after the war that he was dead. His deception was later discovered, and he was charged with bigamy by the German authorities in 1924. He escaped conviction due to Bridget's intervention. Bridget raised her son alone with no support from her husband from whom she was eventually divorced (although as a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

she was religiously opposed to divorce). She set up a home in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organis ...

, North London, and took in lodgers to make ends meet.

Emigration and claims

In 1939, Bridget joined her son on a tour of the United States where he was invited to lecture on his infamous uncle. They decided to stay and Bridget wrote a manuscript, ''My Brother-in-Law Adolf'', in which she claimed that her famous brother-in-law had moved to Liverpool to live with Bridget and Alois from November 1912 to April 1913 to dodge conscription in his native Austria. She claims that she introduced Adolf to

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

and that she advised him to trim off the edges of his moustache. Adolf Hitler's stay in Liverpool has corroboration from the biographer and friend of British Intelligence chief, Sir William Stephenson, in his book ''A Man Called Intrepid''. Sir William was chief of British Security Coordination (BSC). Biographer William Stevenson states: "Hitler's little-known sojourn in England between November 1912 and April 1913 is authenticated by BSC documents.” 1912 to mid-1913 has been described as Hitler's 'missing year'. During that period he had been living in homeless men's hostels in Vienna. In his book ''Hitler, A Life'', the historian Peter Longerich confirms that "Indeed, there is hardly any reliable evidence about Hitler's life for the period 1910 to 1913." The opening sentence of Chapter 4 of Adolf Hitler's book ''Mein Kampf'' states: "In the spring of 1912 I came at last to Munich". ("Im Frühjahr 1912 kam ich endgültig nach München.") But Hitler's statement is proven to be false. A Munich police record shows that Hitler moved from Vienna to Munich, aged twenty-four, arriving on Sunday, 25 May 1913. The question of whether Hitler visited his British relatives in Liverpool is unresolved. Some historians dismiss Bridget's manuscript as being a fabrication written in an attempt to cash in on her famous relationship. However, in his book ''The Hitlers Of Liverpool'', Michael Unger quotes the Canadian historian, Professor Alan Cassels, who wrote "The Merseyside details are certainly circumstantially credible"... "I'm inclined to believe his sister-in-law".

Brigitte Hamann Brigitte Hamann (; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna. Biography Born in Essen, Germany, Hamann studied history in Münster and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in her native Essen for s ...

and

Hans Mommsen Hans Mommsen (5 November 1930 – 5 November 2015) was a German historian, known for his studies in German social history, and for his functionalist interpretation of the Third Reich, especially for arguing that Adolf Hitler was a weak dictator. ...

say that the few sources from Vienna during this period are "questionable throughout". Professor

Robert Waite Robert George Leeson Waite (February 18, 1919 – October 4, 1999) was a Canadian historian, psychohistorian, and the Brown Professor of History (1949–1988) at Williams College who specialized in the Nazi movement, particularly Adolf Hitle ...

disputes her claim that

stayed with her as well as some other claims in her book in the appendix to his book '' The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler''. According to David Gardner, Bridget's daughter-in-law has said Bridget admitted to her that the book was fanciful. The story of Adolf Hitler's visit to Liverpool has remained popular, however, and was the subject of

Beryl Bainbridge Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge (21 November 1932 – 2 July 2010) was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. Bainbridge won the ...

's 1978 novel ''

Young Adolf ''Young Adolf'' is a novel written by author Beryl Bainbridge, and first published in 1978 by Duckworth. Presented as biographical fiction, the book's main character is 23-year-old Adolf Hitler. Hitler visits relatives in Liverpool, where he get ...

'' and

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for the ...

and

Steve Yeowell Steve Yeowell () is a British comics artist, well known for his work on the long-running science fiction and fantasy weekly comic '' 2000 AD''. Biography Having trained in 3D design (specialising in silversmithing and jewellery), Yeowell bega ...

's notorious 1989 comic ''

The New Adventures of Hitler "The New Adventures of Hitler" is a creator-owned British comic story. It was initially partially published in the magazine ''Cut'' in 1989, and then in its entirety in the adult-orientated comic ''Crisis''. Written by Grant Morrison and drawn b ...

''.

Post-war

After the war, Bridget and her son settled in Long Island,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

under the assumed name of Stuart-Houston. She died there on 18 November 1969 and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in

Coram Coram may refer to: Places * Coram's Fields, an area of open space in London * Coram, New York, a hamlet in Suffolk County * Coram, Montana, a place in Flathead County * Coram Experimental Forest, within the Flathead National Forest, near Kalispe ...

, Long Island alongside her son, who died on 14 July 1987. The family of Bridget Dowling remained a mystery until the Irish censuses for 1901 and 1911 were digitised and released online. The names of the family members, including Bridget, are given in the 1901 census under the name William Dowling of Flemings Place, near Mespil Road, Dublin. The family later moved to Denzille Street, Dublin, now named Fenian Street. Bridget's name is not included with the Dowling family on the 1911 census. Instead, she appears as "Cissie Hitler" on the 1911 England and Wales Census, shown with husband "Anton Hitler" and son "William Hitler" at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, Liverpool.

References

;Footnotes ;Notes

Sources

* Vermeeren, Marc (2007). ''De jeugd van Adolf Hitler, 1889-1907: en zijn familie en voorouders'' 'The youth of Adolf Hitler, 1889–1907: and his family and ancestors''(in Dutch). Soesterberg: Uitgeverij Aspekt.

External links

*
Hitler's Irish Relatives
by Tony McCarthy
Getting to know the Hitlers
from the Daily Telegraph
Author talks about 'the Last of the Hitlers'
CNN interview
Irish census record of Bridget Dowling from 1901

Record of Dowling Family from 1901

Adolf Hitler living in Liverpool
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Bridget 1891 births 1969 deaths Hitler family People from Dublin (city) People from Hornsey People from Long Island 20th-century Irish writers 20th-century Irish women writers Irish emigrants to the United States