“Secrets of the Fuhrer’s Family: What Hitler’s Relatives Were Really Doing During WWII”
His paper trail has him re-emerging in October of 1945, after the war had ended, when a resident named Alois Hitler sent a letter to the Drehbahn Police Department, asking for his surname to be changed to ‘Hiller’. In his letter, Alois admitted to being the half-brother of the former Fuehrer, but claimed to have no affiliation to the Nazi Party whatsoever. The Hamburg Police believed him, and allowed for the name change.
However, in 1947, just like any other German, Herr ‘Hiller’ was subjected to a ‘denazification’ procedure, initiated by the Allied occupation authorities to purge the country of the vestiges of the old regime. It was at this time that the local police received a testimony from one Walter Herzog, who had known ‘Hiller’ since the late 1930s. Thanks to Herzog, authorities found that Alois had indeed been a member of the Party, had favoured meetings of Nazi officials and had unjustly profited from racial laws. The ensuing investigation even dug up letters sent by Alois to Reich authorities, which had caused the deportation of three individuals to a concentration camp!
Occupation authorities therefore filed Alois Hiller as a ‘Category III’ former Nazi. This category indicated lesser offenders, to be placed on probation for 2 or 3 years, but not to be interned. By the end of 1949, Alois was exonerated from all charges. This coincided with a general period of leniency towards most ‘lesser offenders’, as German society wanted to move on.
Thus, Alois Jr Hitler, now officially known as Herr Alois Hiller, lived peacefully his last years, dying on May 20, 1954, in Hamburg.
