Why Adolf Hitler is NOT Jose Rizal’s son

The claim that Adolf Hitler is Jose Rizal’s son has been around for years. What are the supposed pieces of evidence for this? Let us study.

Jose Rizal and Adolf Hitler were of virtually the same height and, no doubt, both intelligent and charismatic. But these, of course, do not necessarily make them father and son.

But you will be surprised that “conspiracy theorists,” i.e., those who suspect that Hitler is Rizal’s biological son, have interesting “history-based” circumstantial pieces of evidence for their claim. So let us discern them.

‘Adolf Hitler is Jose Rizal’s son’: The arguments

I will simplify the supposed bases of those who claim, seriously or otherwise, that Jose Rizal is Adolf Hitler’s father:

(1) The name of Adolf Hitler’s mother is Klara Polzl. Rizal named his female lead character in his novels (the Noli Me Tangere and El Fili) as “Maria Clara.”

(2) Jose Rizal stayed at a lodge managed by Klara Polzl in Brunn. Jose lost a diamond stickpin in Brunn and it was found by a chambermaid, who they say, was Klara. From Brunn, the town of Linz, said to be Rizal’s favorite place in Austria, was just kilometers away. Hitler considered this town of Linz as his hometown, calling it (in one document) “my hometown of Linz on the Danube.”

(3) Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. Klara Polzl became a chambermaid (some say, “prostitute”) in Vienna, Austria. Jose Rizal visited Austria “in the years 1887-1888.”

(4) Rizal went to Japan and had an affair with Seiko Usui. Seiko later had a child named Yuriko, who they say, is in fact Rizal’s daughter. During WWII, Hitler formed an alliance with Japan, knowing that he had a half-sister there. Japan then invaded the Philippines, the homeland of Adolf and Yoriko’s father.

Let us see then if Hitler is Jose Rizal’s son

Let us discuss, then, one by one, the above-mentioned “proofs” for the “Hitler-is-Rizal’s-son” theory. (Related: Jose Rizal children)

On “Maria Clara” and Klara Polzl

Common histories state that Maria Clara’s character in Rizal’s novels was patterned after Leonor Rivera, Rizal’s ‘true love,’ not after Klara Polzl.

References also declare that “Maria Clara” also personifies an ideal Filipina—loving and unwavering in their loyalty to their respective spouses—not any Austrian, or any European lady, for that matter. (Related: The Synopsis and Spirit of Noli Me Tangere)

I am yet to find any reference declaring that Jose personally had known Klara Polzl, Hitler’s mother. In fact, that name never appeared in the voluminous “manuscripts” (diary, letters, etc.) related to Jose Rizal.

On Rizal losing a diamond stickpin and Linz as his ‘favorite’ in Austria

Rizal did lose a diamond stickpin in Brunn, later found by a “maid,” gave it to Ferdinand Blumentritt (Rizal’s friend) who then forwarded it to Rizal in Vienna.

However, neither Rizal nor Blumentritt (or even Maximo Viola, Rizal’s friend who was his partner in their ‘Europe Tour’) specified the “maid,” much less named her Klara Polzl.

I know nothing of reliable sources (you may help me with this if you know there are) saying that Jose Rizal stayed at a lodge specifically “managed by Klara Polzl in Brunn.” In fact, other claims state that Klara Polzl became a chambermaid in Vienna, not in Brunn.

It may be true that Hitler considered Linz as his hometown, but I know no declaration from Rizal or his friends (again, you may help me with this) that it (Linz) was Rizal’s “favorite town” in Austria.

Rizal visiting Austria “in the years 1887-1888”

It may be true that Klara Polzl became a chambermaid (or “prostitute”) in Vienna, but to say that Jose Rizal visited Austria “in the years 1887-1888” is very much misleading!

Hitler was indeed born in 1889, so if Rizal were in a place where Hitler’s mother was in the year (take note) 1888, then, indeed, there might have been the probability that Rizal is Hitler’s father. But the big problem is—Rizal was in Austria in 1887, but never in 1888!

Let me outline for you Rizal’s itinerary after his visit to Austria in 1887:

After Rizal’s ‘Grand Tour in Europe’ in 1887, he had his ‘first homecoming’ to the Philippines. He reached Manila near midnight of August 5 and returned to Calamba on August 8, 1887. He stayed in our country until February 3, 1888, when he sailed to Hong Kong (onboard ‘Zafiro’) on his way to London.

He had short stop at Amoy, stayed for some days in Hongkong, visited the nearby city Macao, reached Yokohama, Japan on February 28, 1888, and proceeded to Tokyo the next day. He stayed in Japan until April 13, 1888 when he boarded the ‘Belgic’ which arrived in San Francisco USA on April 28, 1888.

On May 6, Rizal went to Oakland. Onboard a train, he took his evening meal at Sacramento and woke up at Reno, Nevada. He had visited also the states of Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, and finally reached New York on May 13, 1888.

Onboard the ship ‘City of Rome,’ Rizal sailed for Liverpool on May 16 and arrived there on May 24, 1888. A day after, he reached London. In his 10-month stay in London, he had short visits in Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona—never in Austria.

Notice that for the whole year of 1888, not even the shadow of Rizal has reached Austria. In fact, I know no instance of him going back to Austria, be it in Vienna, Linz, or Brunn. (Again, I’m willing to accommodate the counterclaims if there are proofs).

On Rizal’s being Yuriko’s father

If only Jose Rizal had no patriotic mission and no political will, yes, he would have married the Japanese Seiko Usui (whom he fondly called O-Sei-San) and settled in Japan for good.  

It was during Rizal’s second trip abroad when he met Seiko Usui. From Hong Kong, he arrived in Japan in February 1888. The two fell in love with each other, but their more than a month happy relationship had to end, as the man with a mission Rizal had to leave Japan.

So the records state that onboard the steamer ‘Belgic’, Rizal left Japan on April 13, 1888 never to see Seiko again. Nine years after (in 1897), Seiko married Alfred Charlton, British chemistry teacher of the Peer’s School in Tokyo. Mr. Charlton died on November 2, 1915, survived by Seiko and their child Yuriko. (Read also: Seiko Usui: Jose Rizal’s Japanese Girlfriend)

Notice that Seiko had Yuriko as her child only after her marriage to Charlton—which happened some nine years after Seiko’s last meeting with Rizal. Clearly therefore, Hitler’s forging an alliance with Japan and the latter invading the Philippines in WWII had nothing to do with Yuriko and Rizal. (On Rizal’s true son, read: Jose Rizal Family Tree: The Ancestry of the Hero)

Conclusion

As a conclusion, allow me to use Occam’s razor (or the principle of parsimony), “the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct” (britannica.com).

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889. If Rizal were his biological father, then Rizal should have been in Austria (with Klara Polzl) around June to August the previous year (1888). But as Rizal’s diaries, correspondences, and other pertinent records suggest, he was never in Austria in the whole year of 1888.

The inevitable conclusion that Rizal could have not been Hitler’s father can only be contradicted by a clear proof that Hitler was born way earlier than April 1889, or that a fetus can stay inside one’s womb (or did stay in Klara’s womb) for around two years.

With little knowledge of basic biology, do the math.

© 2013-present by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Jensen DG. Mañebog, the contributor, is an author of textbooks and professorial lecturer emeritus in the graduate school of a state university in Metro Manila. His unique e-books on Rizal (available online) comprehensively tackle, among others, the respective life of Rizal’s parents, siblings, co-heroes, and girlfriends. (e-mail: [email protected])

Read Also:
The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Read Also:
The Interesting Tales of the Jose Rizal Family by Jensen DG. Mañebog