Nazi chief ‘had a secret disabled sibling who died of a brain disorder at just one week old’
Documents show that Otto Hitler was three years younger than the future Nazi leader
ADOLF Hitler had a disabled younger brother who died when the future Nazi leader was only three-years-old, according to a historian.
Younger brother Otto Hitler was born with hydrocephalus, a condition that causes the brain to swell to massive sizes.
The tot was born when Adolf was just three, but died when he was a week old.
Up until now, it has been thought that Otto was born two years before Adolf, in 1887.
But new records from Hitler’s hometown of Braunau am Inn, in northern Austria, show that Otto was younger than Adolf.
The documents show that Otto was born on 17 June 1892, three years after Adolf.
According to historian Florian Kotanko, he died after six days.
He told German media: “The conclusions of many Hitler biographers about the mental development of Adolf Hitler, who allegedly received special attention from his mother Klara as the only surviving child after the deaths of three siblings, are no longer tenable.”
“How was the three-year-old Adolf Hitler confronted with the birth and death of a brother?”
Kotanko is interested in exploring whether the future Nazi leader was aware of his little brother’s condition and if he had been affected by it.
Hitler’s parents, Klara and Alois, had six children; Gustav, Ida, Adolf, Otto, Edmund and Paula.
But their burgeoning brood was not to last as only two of the children survived to adulthood.
Gustav and Ida perished from diphtheria before Adolf was born.
His younger brother Edmund died from measles aged six.
The myth that Otto was older than Adolf sprang up after a 1945 interview with the Nazi leader’s sister, Paula.
She claimed that the child was born in 1887, two years before Adolf was born.
What is Hydrocephalus?
Hydrocephalus is the inflammation of the brain.
It is caused by a build up of fluid which usually protects and nourishes the brain.
Too much of this liquid causes brain damage and pressure on the brain.
Healthy people can absorb or drain this fluid, but hydrocephalus can occur when someone cannot get rid of excess fluid.
Congenital hydrocephalus means that someone is born with the condition.
Children with the condition show symptoms which include an enlarged head, poor feeding and muscle spasms.
But it can develop at any stage of someone’s life and is commonly sparked by brain damage or a stroke.
Symptoms include headaches, neck pains, incontinence and double vision.
Sufferers often find that they take longer to process information and have slower reaction times.
Hydrocephalus can be treated by putting a small tube into the brain to drain the fluid. The liquid is then drained into the stomach, where it can be absorbed safely.
Even though the condition is now treatable, it can still cause brain damage in the long term.
Historically, the condition was referred to as ‘water on the brain’.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368