Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

HE IS BOTH TERRIBLE AND BANAL 49Is any other hereditary taint discernible? Certainly neither Georg norAlois Hitler was mentally balanced; both clearly bordered on theabnormal. A sister of Adolf Hitler's mother is characterized by aneighbor as 'lazy and not quite normal.' A son from AloisSchicklgruber-Hitler's second marriage turned out to be a black sheep.Eccentricities enough for one family; yet they suffice only to cast asomewhat sharper light on the picture of Adolf Hitler as we alreadyknow it.With the death of Alois Hitler the family begins to disintegrate.Brother Alois already has his prison terms behind him, and perhaps hisfather in dying feared that Adolf had his ahead of him. And Adolf forthe moment did little to dispel such a concern. He was now free fromthe paternal discipline, and his mother offered no resistance. He spentfive more years with her in 'downy softness' and 'in the hollowness ofcomfortable life' — in his own story there is a note of smugness in hisself-reproaches. He changed his school, attended a secondary school inthe near-by city of Steyr; his laziness remained unchanged. His lastschool report for the fourth class of the Staatsrealschule in Steyr, issuedon September 16, 1905, may give an approximate picture of AdolfHitler, the scholar:First Semester Second SemesterMoral conduct satisfactory satisfactoryDiligence unequal adequateReligion adequate satisfactoryGerman language inadequate adequateGeography and history adequate satisfactoryMathematics inadequate satisfactoryChemistry adequate adequatePhysics satisfactory adequateGeometry and geometricalinadequate*drawing adequate adequate**Free-hand drawing laudable excellentGymnastics excellent excellentStenographySingingExternal form of written work*Repetitive examination permitted.inadequatedispleasingsatisfactorydispleasing**In consequence of repetitive examination.