References from David Gardner's "The Last of the Hitlers", BMM (Worcester) 2001, ISBN 0-9541544-0-1
On this pact between the brothers not to marry, Gardner draws no clear conclusion. One chapter of the book is entitled "The Brother's Pact". In this chapter he cites certain 'facts' without saying precisely who told him, especially since he makes a big deal that the family were very reluctant to talk and friends and neighbours did not know of the family's relationship to Hitler.
Gardner speaks of a "...firm understanding among the last generation that the Hitler bloodline should end with them. None of the three brothers were married and they had decided there would be no children." However he doesn't say who told him this. (p.165)
Gardner tells of a relationship one of the sons had - with a Jewish girl, Gardner says pointedly - who annouced she wanted to start a family. The "relationship crumbled shortly afterwards." Another brother's "serious relationship" ended when the girl "was told she would effectively be the next Mrs Hitler." (p.165)
Gardner says that Howard, the only brother to work and live further afield than Long Island was also the only one to get married. (p.172) Howard, if you recall from my previous post, was killed in a car crash (while working as a agent for the Inland Revenue Service - hence he is named on the National Memorial for Law Enforcement Officers killed in the line of duty). Gardner gives no further details of Howard's marriage, i.e. how long he was married, and makes no mention of children.
Finally, in the last chapter, Gardner recounts a conversation with the eldest brother, Alex 'Hitler':
...he played down the story told to me by another family member that the brothers had a blood pact not to have children. "That's just the way life was," he said. "We never made a pact or a plan or anything like that. All of us have dated people and have had long-term relationships with people. it is just something that hasn't ccome about."
Then he added: "Maybe my other two brothers did, but I never did.
(p.190)
So, take it or leave it. They are an understandably secretive family, and a pact like that is very hard to hold to for normal human beings, which these brothers seem to be. Personally, and without having met any of the people concerned, I suspect the failure to produce another generation may be more to do with the difficulties of broaching or simply dealing with the subject of the family's infamous uncle than any deliberate abstainance.
K.
