29. Hitler’s Nephew Tried to Blackmail the Fuhrer
Hitler’s half-brother, Alois Hitler, married an Irishwoman in London in 1910, and settled in Liverpool, where a son, William Patrick Hitler, was born a year later. Alois abandoned the family in 1914 and returned to Germany. William Patrick joined him in 1933, hoping to benefit from his uncle’s rise to power. Disappointed, he threatened to reveal embarrassing family secrets, unless his “personal circumstances” improved. Luckily for the oblivious William, the Fuhrer did not have him killed. Frustrated, he returned to Britain, where he wrote scathing magazine articles such as Why I Hate My Uncle. He was stranded in the US when WWII broke out, and joined the US Navy in 1944.