Johann Nepomuk Hiedler: Farmer and Maternal Great-Grandfather of Adolf Hitler

(19 March 1807 – 17 September 1888)

His first two names are the same as the name of the Bohemian Saint Johann von Nepomuk. Some people consider this name as evidence that Nepomuk (and therefore his great-grandson Adolf Hitler) had Czech ancestry. However, Johann von Pomuk/Johann Nepomuk, was an important saint for Bohemians of both Czech and German ethnicity, and thus Nepomuk may only indicate an association with Bohemia in general, or to someone else named Johann Nepomuk, because there is no evidence that Hitler's ancestors were of Czech ancestry.

Nepomuk became a relatively prosperous farmer and married Eva Maria Decker (16 December 1792 - 28 December 1873). The couple had three children together: Johanna Hiedler (19 January 1830 – 8 February 1906), Walburga Hüttler (11 April 1832 – ?), Josefa Hüttler (15 February 1834 – 13 May 1859).

On 15 September 1848, Johanna married Johann Baptist Pölzl, a peasant farmer. The couple would eventually have five sons and six daughters, and only three of these children would survive to adulthood. Walburga married Josef Romeder (born in 1835) on 25 January 1853, but had no children. Josefa married Leopold Seiler (born 14 November 1832) on 1 March 1859, but had no children and died soon after on 13 May 1859.

Johann Nepomuk's wife, Eva Maria, died 28 December 1873, at the age 81 in Spital, Weitra. Johanna's daughter, Nepomuk's granddaughter, Klara Pölzl, would eventually become the third wife of Alois Hitler. Alois was the illegitimate son of Maria Schicklgruber, who had married Johann's older brother, Johann Georg Hiedler on 10 May 1842, who may in fact have been Alois' natural father. Alois would claim in his later life that Johann Georg Hiedler was not his stepfather, but in fact his biological father, since Johann Nepomuk informally adopted Alois during Alois' childhood. In June 1876, Johann and Alois both returned to Weitra and Johann testified before a Catholic notary that Johann Georg was Alois' biological father, who had abandoned the child and handed over his fatherhood responsibilities to Johann Nepomuk. On 6 January 1877, Alois was legitimized as 'Alois Hitler' and the priest then changed the details on the baptismal certificate from "Catholic, Male, Illegitimate" to "Johann Georg Hitler" under his father's name. However, it is also possible that Johann Nepomuk himself was, in fact, Alois' natural father but could not acknowledge this publicly due to his marriage.

Nepomuk willed Alois a considerable portion of his life savings. Nepomuk's granddaughter, Klara, had a protracted affair with Alois before marrying him on 7 January 1885 in Braunau Am Inn after Alois' second wife, Franziska Matzelsberger had died on 10 August 1884 from tuberculosis. Klara had 6 children with Alois, and gave birth to Adolf Hitler on 20 April 1889.