Adolf Hitler changed the course of history.
There were many deciding factors that determined the kind of person Hitler .
finally became. .
Adolf's father was Alois, an illegitimate child, his mother was Marie .
Schickulgruber. Alois took his fathers name Hitler before Adolf was born. Alois was .
already a successful border guard when he was 18, and later became an Austrian customs .
official. He retired in 1849 after 40 years of service. He was 58 and retired early because .
of bad health. .
After he retired he bought a nine acre farm near the small town of Hafeld. His .
dream was to live a country life, but the farm took much more work than he expected. .
Since his health was poor, he had a very hard time making a living on the farm. He had .
always found that spending time with his children was irritating, but on the farm they were .
forced to work side by side. This was difficult for Alois, who was very hard on the .
children. He often beat them when they didn't mind. Adolf's father's main hobby was bee .
keeping, often the mother had to remove 30 or more bee stingers at the end of a day. .
Alois married his former house keeper, Klara Poelzl, in 1885 she was already .
pregnant. Klara had three children who died when they were very young, before she had .
Adolf. Five years late she had a daughter, Paula. Even though Klara was kind to her step .
children she showed favoritism to her own children. Adolf was fond of his sisters but .
never got along with Alois Jr., A step child from a previous marriage. .
Alois Jr. especially disliked Adolf because their mother always loved Adolf more. .
Alois Jr. resented his father, who often beat him with a whip for disobedience, and ran .
away at the age of fifteen and never came home. He was jailed twice for theft and led an .
unhappy adult life. He lived in Paris for a while and then moved all the way to Ireland, .
but when Adolf became famous he moved to Berlin and opened a cafe hoping to take .
advantage of his brother's popularity.
