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The Context Behind Hitler's WWI Lovechild
By Julian T. Saltman
2-23-11
Julian T. Saltman is a PhD student at UC Berkeley. His dissertation is entitled "For King and Country? 'Imperial Legions' and Britain's War for Palestine, 1916-1919." Follow him on Twitter at @Hist103.
Newspapers are abuzz over the news that Adolf Hitler may have fathered a son with a French teenager while serving in the German Army during the First World War. According to the initial story in the French magazine, Le Point, Hitler, while serving in a Bavarian infantry unit near Seboncourt, met a sixteen-year-old French girl named Charlotte Lobjoie. After meeting and becoming friendly, a night of drinking in 1917 led to the conception of a boy, Jean-Marie Loret, who later died in 1985.
Whether or not this particular story is true is unclear; there is certainly a tremendous amount of anecdotal and circumstantial evidence to support the possibility, but the picture is still murky. What is perfectly clear, however, is that such incidents happened frequently during the First World War, and are an important part of the war’s lasting resonance.
When Germany invaded France in August 1914, its armies entered into France’s Northeastern départements by crossing in through Belgium. Despite an initially rapid advance, they were finally halted at the Marne River in September 1914, just miles from Paris. Referred to as the “Miracle of the Marne”, the French victory (made possible in part by the famous “Taxis of the Marne,” Parisian cabs which desperately transported French soldiers to the front lines) marked the beginning of the war as it is popularly known—a relatively stagnant affair of opposing trenches. Critically, these new battle lines left ten départements either partially or totally occupied by Germany, a significant portion of French territory containing over 2 million French citizens. For roughly four years, the German forces occupied these areas, prompting a wave of fears about relationships between German soldiers and French women.
More: http://hnn.us/articles/context-behind-hitlers-wwi-lovechild
2-23-11
Julian T. Saltman is a PhD student at UC Berkeley. His dissertation is entitled "For King and Country? 'Imperial Legions' and Britain's War for Palestine, 1916-1919." Follow him on Twitter at @Hist103.
Newspapers are abuzz over the news that Adolf Hitler may have fathered a son with a French teenager while serving in the German Army during the First World War. According to the initial story in the French magazine, Le Point, Hitler, while serving in a Bavarian infantry unit near Seboncourt, met a sixteen-year-old French girl named Charlotte Lobjoie. After meeting and becoming friendly, a night of drinking in 1917 led to the conception of a boy, Jean-Marie Loret, who later died in 1985.
Whether or not this particular story is true is unclear; there is certainly a tremendous amount of anecdotal and circumstantial evidence to support the possibility, but the picture is still murky. What is perfectly clear, however, is that such incidents happened frequently during the First World War, and are an important part of the war’s lasting resonance.
When Germany invaded France in August 1914, its armies entered into France’s Northeastern départements by crossing in through Belgium. Despite an initially rapid advance, they were finally halted at the Marne River in September 1914, just miles from Paris. Referred to as the “Miracle of the Marne”, the French victory (made possible in part by the famous “Taxis of the Marne,” Parisian cabs which desperately transported French soldiers to the front lines) marked the beginning of the war as it is popularly known—a relatively stagnant affair of opposing trenches. Critically, these new battle lines left ten départements either partially or totally occupied by Germany, a significant portion of French territory containing over 2 million French citizens. For roughly four years, the German forces occupied these areas, prompting a wave of fears about relationships between German soldiers and French women.
More: http://hnn.us/articles/context-behind-hitlers-wwi-lovechild
Check out the American History Group and the World History Group for more great history news, analysis, and discussion.
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm old enough to remember the old Police Gazette which would run a Hitler story every other edition, it seemed, many of them involving his having father a child. The interesting thing about this version is the phrase: "a night of drinking in 1917 led to the conception of a boy." Most historians are agreed that Hitler was a teetotaler and vegetarian. I remember reading somewhere awhile ago that Hitler as a teenager once got falling-down drunk, woke up in a gutter, and swore off alcohol from that moment. Anyway, interesting post. 