17. Hitler Was Awarded The Iron Cross First Class
It was during the Great War that Hitler really discovered his love for all things German, even if those concepts had already been formulating in his head for some time. What’s more, Hitler was originally awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for military service – but he was then upgraded to receive the First Class in August 1918 on the recommendation of Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann, his Jewish superior.
Hitler was awarded the First Class medal despite being a member of the lowly Gefreiter rank – the second lowest in the German Army – in which it was extremely rare to be commended.
16. Shicklgruber Was His Original Family Name
Adolf Hitler is the name that has come to be synonymous with the murder of six million Jewish people – yet it could so easily have been Adolf Shicklgruber instead. The name “Hitler” was only taken by Adolf’s father, Alois, in 1876 so that he could become legitimised. In fact, the name “Hitler” could also be spelled as “Hüttler”, “Huettler”, or even “Hiedler”.
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