HITLER'S BOYHOOD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22960, 11 February 1938, Page 8

HITLER'S BOYHOOD

FELLOW-PUPILS BOOK EARLY TALENT FOR DRAWING ■— . . GOOD SWIMMER AND GYMNAST ■ - ■ V' [7BOM A SPECIAL CORRESPOXDEJTT] J LONF/ON, Jan. 21 AU Germany is reading "Adolf Hit-' ler's Youth," by Hugo Babitsch, a'recently published biography of the Germau leader when he was a boy, at Linz, Upper Austria, between the ages of 10 and 18 <1899-1907b The author is a native % of Linz and also a fellow-pupil of Hekjr Hitler's and he has taken great pains to question local people about the impression the young Adolf made on &»em. He also gives an excellent picture pi the various teachers through whose Vuds Herr Hitler passed. ' > Before his father died in 1903, the Hitler family lived at Leonding, some distance from Lin?.. Thqse years seem to have been the happiest of his youth. People say that the young Adolf full of life and up to all sorts of pranb during the days at Leonding. The author quotes Karl Earning,, who lived in a neighbouring village:— His only game, which ho played allhost with passion, was the Boer War. Enjoying great respect among the boys, Adolf became their leader and was always the leader of the Boers. The. Boere were always recruited froin the Leonding lads, while the hated Kuglisb wore represented by the boys from the' neighbouring village. In those days the Boer War was-tjfe major political topic among the adults, and local sympathy was on the side of the Boers. In ilie window of Linz's only toyshop there were Boers and British "soldiers. Later, they gave way to Russian and Japanese warriors. During these years he displayed his talent for drawing. Often, at night, when others were asleep, he would light a candle and draw landscapes, animals, people. For the Easter festival he painted Easter eggs with his own special designs. One gets the impression from this book that the young Adolf did not stand out among the boys at the Linz school. Describing him, Professor -Gissinger, his natural history teacher, writes: "His figure was slender and upright. His face generally pale and very thin, almost that of a consumptive. His eyes shone and he had an open look." Although he did not look very strong, our author tells us, the young Adolf was both a good swimmer and gymnast. He swam with, other boys in the River Danube, and* lie certainly was not mollycoddled. Until he was 11 he went barefoot in summer. His dress, up to the age of 16,- when he began to wear trousers, was a short Austrian jacket, shorts revealing hare knees, and stockings knitted .by ids mother. He rarely wore a hat. The Hitler family were never well off. Meals, thereforefwere simple. Meat was rarely eaten. They ate many vegetables, fruit and drank much milt. White bread was scarce, but the family , never lacked butter, eggs or honey The father kept chickens and bees. '