# How many Hitlers live in Germany??
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 18, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067 "2003-05-18T16:47:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zombie\_dude13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombie_dude13)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/1 "2003-05-18T16:47:26Z")
I’ve been wondering lately just how many Hitlers remained in Germany after Adolf went down in flames. Generally, I think most people would change their name after a genocidal maniac ran said name through the mud.
So, are there many Hitlers left in Germany?
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/2 "2003-05-18T16:53:15Z")
Well, I dunno, but I’ll just say you might be looking in the wrong country as Hitler came from Austria not Germany. Also I believe he head family in Liverpool, England who might of shared the same last name.
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### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/3 "2003-05-18T16:54:35Z")
Hussains aren’t changing their names, why should Hitlers?
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### Author:  [@zombie\_dude13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombie_dude13)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/4 "2003-05-18T17:00:37Z")
Yeah, but technically, only European/American types think that Hussain is a bad guy, most of the muslim world still think he’s tops.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/5 "2003-05-18T17:04:23Z")
Well, zombie dude most Muslims hate Hussein too, however Hussein is just about the most common surname in the Muslim world, abit like ‘Smith’ and ‘Jones’ combined. Also for all his sins Saddam Hussein wasn’t quite as bad as Hitler.
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### Author:  [@zombie\_dude13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombie_dude13)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/6 "2003-05-18T17:10:27Z")
OK, I get the Saddam stuff, I am just curious as to how many Hitlers are out there, doesn’t really matter if they are in Austria, Germany, South Africa, or England. . . .
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/7 "2003-05-18T17:19:23Z")
I was told(perhaps wrongly) that there are no longer Hitlers in Germany or Austria.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/8 "2003-05-18T17:23:52Z")
Hitler is quite a rare name here’s alittle bit about it:
[http://smoter.com/hitlerna.htm](http://smoter.com/hitlerna.htm) (I have briefly checked this website and it appears to be historical and non-revisionist).
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/9 "2003-05-18T17:24:17Z")
It is also possible that there are not many Hitlers running around, to begin with. Adolf’s Grandfather spelled the name _Hiedler_ while the grandfather’s brother, Adolf’s great uncle, spelled his name _Huetler_ (or _Hütler_). (Depending on regional accent, those spellings may not be pronounced all that differently, but it seems to indicate that the name was being “created” by a newly literate class.) “Hitler” was the name entered on the baptismal registry for Adolf’s father, Alois, when it was amended in his adult life, but I am not sure where it came from. The name is certainly not as common as Schmidt.
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### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/10 "2003-05-18T17:24:37Z")
[This guy hasn’t](http://phone.people.yahoo.com/py/psPhoneSearch.py?srch=bas&D=1&FirstName=&LastName=hitler&City=milwaukee&State=wi&searchFor=Telephone&Search=Search)
I check all the major cities in Yahoo!, and that’s the only guy. He must’ve got picked on in school.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/11 "2003-05-18T18:35:43Z")
Adolf Hitler’s closest surviving relatives live on Long Island, N.Y. They are the grandsons of Hitler’s older half-brother, Alois Hitler. Alois had gone to England looking for work, and was sent to Dublin by an employment agency. While there, Alois met and married an Irishwoman, Bridget Dowling, in 1910.
Their son, William Patrick Hitler, was born in 1911. After spending most of the 1930s in Germany, William immigrated to the United States in 1939, disavowing his uncle’s politics and the Third Reich. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, keeping his surname for propaganda purposes. But not surprisingly, William changed his surname after the war, to Stewart-Houston. He married and had three sons, two of whom are still living. By mutual decision, none of the sons had any children.
William died in 1987.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/12 "2003-05-18T19:02:44Z")
Correction to my previous post: William Patrick Hitler had four sons, three of whom are living.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/13 "2003-05-18T21:35:11Z")
There is (or was, about two years ago) a Hitler going to school at the University of Toronto. First name Adolf, interestingly enough. I kid you not. I had friends who taught him personally. He was the regular subject of complaints to the undergraduate computer lab’s sysadmins, not because of anything he did, but because fellow students who weren’t acquainted with him presumed the system had been hacked when the Unix finger command revealed an “Adolf Hitler” logged in. I doubt he’s very closely related to the historical personage, however, since this fellow is south Asian in ethnicity.
So, this doesn’t really answer your question, but now you know that there’s at least one Hitler in Toronto, and, if he didn’t change his name himself, perhaps a few more running around the Indian subcontinent.
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### Author:  [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/14 "2003-05-18T21:49:18Z")
FWIW, in Circleville, Ohio, there’s two roads named “Hitler Road”. Probably named after a town official named Hitler long before WWII.
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### Author:  [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/15 "2003-05-18T21:56:06Z")
Along the same lines, Tim McVeigh’s sister changed her last name so people would not know she was related to him. But someone found out anyway.
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### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/16 "2003-05-18T22:04:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Man With The Golden Gun \*
> \*\*FWIW, in Circleville, Ohio, there’s two roads named “Hitler Road”. Probably named after a town official named Hitler long before WWII. \*\*
This Car and Driver article mentions [Huber Hitler Road and Martha Hitler Park](http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=3891). I don’t know if Matt Groening was aware of Martha when he (or one of the writers for _The Simpsons_) used the name in one [episode](http://themethodman.freeyellow.com/page39.html) of the show.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/17 "2003-05-18T22:06:44Z")
Of course their’s Edward Hitler from the extremely violent sit-com _Bottom_, but being a fictional character I don’t think he counts.
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### Author:  [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/18 "2003-05-19T01:00:03Z")
How about [an Austrian bus driver named Adolf **Hittler**](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/wolffiles36.html)?
F\_X
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### Author:  [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/19 "2003-05-19T01:12:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ParentalAdvisory \*
> \*\*Hussains aren’t changing their names, why should Hitlers? \*\*
IMO, Hitler is more infamous. Under his command, up to 6,000,000 people were exterminated. As evil as Saddam is, I don’t think he got any where near this figure. Also, Hitler’s army invaded and attempted to capture many other countries, resulting in a world war. Saddam is a poor imitation, having only attempted an invasion of Kuwait. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hitlers-live-in-germany/176067/20 "2003-05-19T01:18:36Z")
An estimated 12,000,000 civilians, actually, including 6,000,000 Jews.
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