You are 30 years old, life in order and suddenly you hear:"You are the son of Adolf Hitler." Who, how who, but a natural mother should believe in such matters. Especially when he talks about it almost on his deathbed. Jean-Marie Loret had such a story. Very difficult for a French patriot.
Our hero was born in 1918. His mother, Frenchwoman Charlotte Lobjoie, was twenty at the time and was unmarried. The father was an unknown German soldier who during World War I was in occupied France. Jean-Marie was named Loret after the man who married Charlotte a few years later.
Like other children from French-German fleeting relationships, his childhood was not an easy one. He was bullied at school, and in the early 1930s his mother gave him up for adoption, although she was still in contact with him.
And suddenly this bomb: Your father is Adolf Hitler .
That Loret would still be fascinated by Nazism! In 1939 he defended the Maginot line (okay, we know what this French defense looked like), later was active in the French resistance . Charlotte's family referred to as "crazy" but her story was probably.
When Adolf met Charlotte
Once upon a time in occupied France ... It was 1917, sometimes the date 1914 appears, at least the summer of the First World War. During the haymaking, Charlotte Lobjoie saw a German soldier with a sketchbook across the street . Curious, she went to see what she was drawing - and so began the short, but intense relationship.
French soldiers forming the crew of the Maginot Line. In 1940, Jean-Marie Loret (source:public domain) was also among them.
The young people did not talk much because Charlotte did not know German, and her chosen one did not know French. Anyway, it might be better, because the German had a tendency to get into strange moods and deliver long monologues.
That German was to be Adolf Hitler, and the fruit of a short romance Jean-Marie Loret. For the latter, it was overwhelming news. For three decades he lived unaware of who his father was, and here it turned out that he was one of the most famous criminals in the history of mankind. Uninteresting prospect that must have had an impact on his psyche.
Loret was in terrible shock. He threw himself into work, did not take holidays, did not even visit the cinema in 20 years. Finally, in 1979, he appeared before the famous Parisian lawyer François Gibault and declared: Sir, I am Hitler's son! Tell me what to do .
Gibault, an experienced lawyer, had seen many things, but he hadn't expected such a client. Loret was a normal man, spoke impeccable French without a foreign accent, and claimed to be a child of the Führer of the Third Reich! The lawyer must have felt rather the role of a psychologist, because the coincidence was unusual.
Pictures in the attic
One woman's account is still no evidence, it was necessary to verify Loret's statements somehow. He himself was most interested in finding out who his father really was. The historians split up. Werner Maser, regarded as the best Hitler specialist, was convinced of the truth of the French's story.
Adolf Hitler (first from right) in the photo from the period of military service (source:Bundesarchiv; lic. CC ASA 3.0).
No, he was not a researcher focused on cheap, sensational journalism just a serious, honest scientist. He showed, for example, that the memoirs allegedly written by Hitler published in 1983 were a forgery. Other authorities, such as Ian Kershaw and Anton Joachimsthaler, rejected the account of the found son of the German dictator.
Meanwhile, further details spoke for its truthfulness. After his mother died, Loret found a painting in the attic (or, as some would like:paintings) signed ... Adolf Hitler . In addition, the blood type matched, and the signatures of the French and the German dictator were similar. On top of all this comes the history of the Second World War.
In October 1940, Jean-Marie Loret, a French sergeant, one of many, was summoned to the Lutetia Hotel in Paris, where he was questioned by high-ranking German officers. His blood type was checked, he was carefully measured (including his skull) and a lot of questions were asked . They all revolved around his father. The only thing the French sergeant knew at the time was that it was a German soldier.
Hotel Lutetia in Paris. It was there that the Germans summoned Jean-Marie Loret (source:public domain).
Mulders on the trail of a mystery
Jean-Marie Loret was convinced until the end of his life that he was the son of Hitler. In the house, on the walls he hung a lot of photos of his (alleged?) Father, he even grew a characteristic mustache , he published the book "Ton père s'appelait Hitler" ("Your father's name was Hitler"). He died in 1985, leaving nine children.
In 2008, Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders decided to verify this story. Based on the DNA test results, he stated that Loret could not have been the son of Adolf Hitler. Only that the method of collecting genetic material left a lot to be desired in this case. In fact, the Belgian has only shown that the relatives of the Führer from the United States and relatives living in Austria are in fact related.
Who knows if the journalist's article was not written in line with a predetermined thesis. First, because of the copyrights to "Mein Kampf" which in such a situation would be entitled to Loreto's children. Second, the French introduces a slight breeze of normalcy into the degenerate's life. A young soldier meets a French girl, they go on dates, they have a son ...
Could it be that Hitler had a son? We will probably have to wait for the final answer to this question (source:public domain).
About this whole story, the headlines usually screamed, "Hitler had a son!" The tragedy of Loret, who was disrupted by this news, was forgotten . Perhaps in the future, diligently conducted research will allow us to definitively verify the relationship of Charlotte Lobjoie, who, as a teenager, was to experience an affair with the future chancellor of the Third Reich.
If this story is confirmed, the Hitler family tree will be enriched with a French branch. If not, it would mean that Jean-Marie Loret spent half his life worrying unnecessarily that he was a criminal's child.
Sources:
- Allen Peter, Hitler had son with French teen , "The Telegraph", February 17, 2012 [accessed October 27, 2015].
- Liebe in Flandern , "Der Spiegel", November 7, 1977 [accessed October 27, 2015].
- Lorenzi Rosella, Proof That Hitler Had An Illegitimate Son? , [in:] Discovery News , February 18, 2012 [access:October 27, 2015].
- Reiffert Stefanie, Das Hitler-Chromosom , Focus Online , February 26, 2010 [access:October 27, 2015].
- Smith Candace, Did Hitler Have a Secret Son? Evidence Supports Alleged Son’s Claims , [in:] ABC News , February 21, 2012 [access:October 27, 2015].
- Wordsworth Araminta, Is Jean-Marie Loret Hitler's long lost son? , "National Post", February 17, 2012 [accessed October 27, 2015].