title: Testosterone

text: Attention, memory, and spatial ability are key cognitive functions affected by testosterone in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests that low testosterone levels may be a risk factor for cognitive decline and possibly for dementia of the Alzheimer's type, a key argument in life extension medicine for the use of testosterone in anti-aging therapies. Much of the literature, however, suggests a curvilinear or even quadratic relationship between spatial performance and circulating testosterone, where both hypo- and hypersecretion (deficient- and excessive-secretion) of circulating androgens have negative effects on cognition.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone deficiency is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and mortality, which are also sequelae of chronic inflammation. Testosterone plasma concentration inversely correlates to multiple biomarkers of inflammation including CRP, interleukin 1 beta, interleukin 6, TNF alpha and endotoxin concentration, as well as leukocyte count. As demonstrated by a meta-analysis, substitution therapy with testosterone results in a significant reduction of inflammatory markers. These effects are mediated by different mechanisms with synergistic action. In androgen-deficient men with concomitant autoimmune thyroiditis, substitution therapy with testosterone leads to a decrease in thyroid autoantibody titres and an increase in thyroid's secretory capacity (SPINA-GT).


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is used as a medication for the treatment of male hypogonadism, gender dysphoria, and certain types of breast cancer. This is known as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which maintains serum testosterone levels in the normal range. Decline of testosterone production with age has led to interest in androgen replacement therapy. It is unclear if the use of testosterone for low levels due to aging is beneficial or harmful.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is included in the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, which are the most important medications needed in a basic health system. It is available as a generic medication. It can be administered as a cream or transdermal patch that is applied to the skin, by injection into a muscle, as a tablet that is placed in the cheek, or by ingestion.


title: Testosterone

text: Common side effects from testosterone medication include acne, swelling, and breast enlargement in males. Serious side effects may include liver toxicity, heart disease, and behavioral changes. Women and children who are exposed may develop virilization. It is recommended that individuals with prostate cancer not use the medication. It can cause harm if used during pregnancy or breastfeeding.


title: Testosterone

text: 2020 guidelines from the American College of Physicians support the discussion of testosterone treatment in adult men with age-related low levels of testosterone who have sexual dysfunction. They recommend yearly evaluation regarding possible improvement and, if none, to discontinue testosterone; physicians should consider intramuscular treatments, rather than transdermal treatments, due to costs and since the effectiveness and harm of either method is similar. Testosterone treatment for reasons other than possible improvement of sexual dysfunction may not be recommended.


title: Testosterone

text: Lipophilic hormones (soluble in lipids but not in water), such as steroid hormones, including testosterone, are transported in water-based blood plasma through specific and non-specific proteins. Specific proteins include sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which binds testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estradiol, and other sex steroids. Non-specific binding proteins include albumin and lipoprotein. The part of the total hormone concentration that is not bound to its respective specific carrier protein is the free part. As a result, testosterone which is not bound to SHBG is called "free testosterone". It seems that only the free amount of testosterone can bind to an androgenic receptor, which means they have biological activity.


title: Testosterone

text: The effects of testosterone in humans and other vertebrates occur by way of multiple mechanisms: by activation of the androgen receptor (directly or as dihydrotestosterone), and by conversion to estradiol and activation of certain estrogen receptors. Androgens such as testosterone have also been found to bind to and activate membrane androgen receptors.


title: Testosterone

text: Free testosterone (T) is transported into the cytoplasm of target tissue cells, where it can bind to the androgen receptor, or can be reduced to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) by the cytoplasmic enzyme 5α-reductase. DHT binds to the same androgen receptor even more strongly than testosterone, so that its androgenic potency is about 5 times that of T. The T-receptor or DHT-receptor complex undergoes a structural change that allows it to move into the cell nucleus and bind directly to specific nucleotide sequences of the chromosomal DNA. The areas of binding are called hormone response elements (HREs), and influence transcriptional activity of certain genes, producing the androgen effects.


title: Testosterone

text: Androgen receptors occur in many different vertebrate body system tissues, and both males and females respond similarly to similar levels. Greatly differing amounts of testosterone prenatally, at puberty, and throughout life account for a share of biological differences between males and females.


title: Testosterone

text: The bones and the brain are two important tissues in humans where the primary effect of testosterone is by way of aromatization to estradiol. In the bones, estradiol accelerates ossification of cartilage into bone, leading to closure of the epiphyses and conclusion of growth. In the central nervous system, testosterone is aromatized to estradiol. Estradiol rather than testosterone serves as the most important feedback signal to the hypothalamus (especially affecting LH secretion). In many mammals, prenatal or perinatal "masculinization" of the sexually dimorphic areas of the brain by estradiol derived from testosterone programs later male sexual behavior.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone, via its active metabolite 3α-androstanediol, is a potent positive allosteric modulator of the GABA receptor.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone has been found to act as an antagonist of the TrkA and p75, receptors for the neurotrophin nerve growth factor (NGF), with high affinity (around 5 nM). In contrast to testosterone, DHEA and DHEA sulfate have been found to act as high-affinity agonists of these receptors.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is an antagonist of the sigma-1 receptor (K = 1,014 or 201 nM). However, the concentrations of testosterone required for binding the receptor are far above even total circulating concentrations of testosterone in adult males (which range between 10 and 35 nM).


title: Testosterone

text: Like other steroid hormones, testosterone is derived from cholesterol (see figure). The first step in the biosynthesis involves the oxidative cleavage of the side-chain of cholesterol by cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450scc, CYP11A1), a mitochondrial cytochrome P450 oxidase with the loss of six carbon atoms to give pregnenolone. In the next step, two additional carbon atoms are removed by the CYP17A1 (17α-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase) enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum to yield a variety of C steroids. In addition, the 3β-hydroxyl group is oxidized by 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to produce androstenedione. In the final and rate limiting step, the C17 keto group androstenedione is reduced by 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to yield testosterone.


title: Testosterone

text: The largest amounts of testosterone (>95%) are produced by the testes in men, while the adrenal glands account for most of the remainder. Testosterone is also synthesized in far smaller total quantities in women by the adrenal glands, thecal cells of the ovaries, and, during pregnancy, by the placenta. In the testes, testosterone is produced by the Leydig cells. The male generative glands also contain Sertoli cells, which require testosterone for spermatogenesis. Like most hormones, testosterone is supplied to target tissues in the blood where much of it is transported bound to a specific plasma protein, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG).


title: Testosterone

text: In males, testosterone is synthesized primarily in Leydig cells. The number of Leydig cells in turn is regulated by luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In addition, the amount of testosterone produced by existing Leydig cells is under the control of LH, which regulates the expression of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.


title: Testosterone

text: The amount of testosterone synthesized is regulated by the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis (see figure to the right). When testosterone levels are low, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is released by the hypothalamus, which in turn stimulates the pituitary gland to release FSH and LH. These latter two hormones stimulate the testis to synthesize testosterone. Finally, increasing levels of testosterone through a negative feedback loop act on the hypothalamus and pituitary to inhibit the release of GnRH and FSH/LH, respectively.


title: Testosterone

text: The plasma protein binding of testosterone is 98.0 to 98.5%, with 1.5 to 2.0% free or unbound. It is bound 65% to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and 33% bound weakly to albumin.


title: Testosterone

text: Both testosterone and 5α-DHT are metabolized mainly in the liver. Approximately 50% of testosterone is metabolized via conjugation into testosterone glucuronide and to a lesser extent testosterone sulfate by glucuronosyltransferases and sulfotransferases, respectively. An additional 40% of testosterone is metabolized in equal proportions into the 17-ketosteroids androsterone and etiocholanolone via the combined actions of 5α- and 5β-reductases, 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and 17β-HSD, in that order. Androsterone and etiocholanolone are then glucuronidated and to a lesser extent sulfated similarly to testosterone. The conjugates of testosterone and its hepatic metabolites are released from the liver into circulation and excreted in the urine and bile. Only a small fraction (2%) of testosterone is excreted unchanged in the urine.


title: Testosterone

text: In the hepatic 17-ketosteroid pathway of testosterone metabolism, testosterone is converted in the liver by 5α-reductase and 5β-reductase into 5α-DHT and the inactive 5β-DHT, respectively. Then, 5α-DHT and 5β-DHT are converted by 3α-HSD into 3α-androstanediol and 3α-etiocholanediol, respectively. Subsequently, 3α-androstanediol and 3α-etiocholanediol are converted by 17β-HSD into androsterone and etiocholanolone, which is followed by their conjugation and excretion. 3β-Androstanediol and 3β-etiocholanediol can also be formed in this pathway when 5α-DHT and 5β-DHT are acted upon by 3β-HSD instead of 3α-HSD, respectively, and they can then be transformed into epiandrosterone and epietiocholanolone, respectively. A small portion of approximately 3% of testosterone is reversibly converted in the liver into androstenedione by 17β-HSD.


title: Testosterone

text: In addition to conjugation and the 17-ketosteroid pathway, testosterone can also be hydroxylated and oxidized in the liver by cytochrome P450 enzymes, including CYP3A4, CYP3A5, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6. 6β-Hydroxylation and to a lesser extent 16β-hydroxylation are the major transformations. The 6β-hydroxylation of testosterone is catalyzed mainly by CYP3A4 and to a lesser extent CYP3A5 and is responsible for 75 to 80% of cytochrome P450-mediated testosterone metabolism. In addition to 6β- and 16β-hydroxytestosterone, 1β-, 2α/β-, 11β-, and 15β-hydroxytestosterone are also formed as minor metabolites. Certain cytochrome P450 enzymes such as CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 can also oxidize testosterone at the C17 position to form androstenedione.


title: Testosterone

text: Two of the immediate metabolites of testosterone, 5α-DHT and estradiol, are biologically important and can be formed both in the liver and in extrahepatic tissues. Approximately 5 to 7% of testosterone is converted by 5α-reductase into 5α-DHT, with circulating levels of 5α-DHT about 10% of those of testosterone, and approximately 0.3% of testosterone is converted into estradiol by aromatase. 5α-Reductase is highly expressed in the male reproductive organs (including the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, and epididymides), skin, hair follicles, and brain and aromatase is highly expressed in adipose tissue, bone, and the brain. As much as 90% of testosterone is converted into 5α-DHT in so-called androgenic tissues with high 5α-reductase expression, and due to the several-fold greater potency of 5α-DHT as an AR agonist relative to testosterone, it has been estimated that the effects of testosterone are potentiated 2- to 3-fold in such tissues.


title: Testosterone

text: Total levels of testosterone in the body have been reported as 264 to 916 ng/dL (nanograms per deciliter) in non-obese European and American men age 19 to 39 years, while mean testosterone levels in adult men have been reported as 630 ng/dL. Although commonly used as a reference range, some physicians have disputed the use of this range to determine hypogonadism. Several professional medical groups have recommended that 350 ng/dl generally be considered the minimum normal level, which is consistent with previous findings. Levels of testosterone in men decline with age. In women, mean levels of total testosterone have been reported to be 32.6 ng/dL. In women with hyperandrogenism, mean levels of total testosterone have been reported to be 62.1 ng/dL.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone's bioavailable concentration is commonly determined using the Vermeulen calculation or more precisely using the modified Vermeulen method, which considers the dimeric form of sex-hormone-binding-globulin.


title: Testosterone

text: Both methods use chemical equilibrium to derive the concentration of bioavailable testosterone: in circulation, testosterone has two major binding partners, albumin (weakly bound) and sex-hormone-binding-globulin (strongly bound). These methods are described in detail in the accompanying figure.


title: Testosterone

text: A testicular action was linked to circulating blood fractions – now understood to be a family of androgenic hormones – in the early work on castration and testicular transplantation in fowl by Arnold Adolph Berthold (1803–1861). Research on the action of testosterone received a brief boost in 1889, when the Harvard professor Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817–1894), then in Paris, self-injected subcutaneously a "rejuvenating elixir" consisting of an extract of dog and guinea pig testicle. He reported in "The Lancet" that his vigor and feeling of well-being were markedly restored but the effects were transient, and Brown-Séquard's hopes for the compound were dashed. Suffering the ridicule of his colleagues, he abandoned his work on the mechanisms and effects of androgens in human beings.


title: Testosterone

text: In 1927, the University of Chicago's Professor of Physiologic Chemistry, Fred C. Koch, established easy access to a large source of bovine testicles — the Chicago stockyards — and recruited students willing to endure the tedious work of extracting their isolates. In that year, Koch and his student, Lemuel McGee, derived 20 mg of a substance from a supply of 40 pounds of bovine testicles that, when administered to castrated roosters, pigs and rats, re-masculinized them. The group of Ernst Laqueur at the University of Amsterdam purified testosterone from bovine testicles in a similar manner in 1934, but the isolation of the hormone from animal tissues in amounts permitting serious study in humans was not feasible until three European pharmaceutical giants—Schering (Berlin, Germany), Organon (Oss, Netherlands) and Ciba (Basel, Switzerland)—began full-scale steroid research and development programs in the 1930s.


title: Testosterone

text: The Organon group in the Netherlands were the first to isolate the hormone, identified in a May 1935 paper "On Crystalline Male Hormone from Testicles (Testosterone)". They named the hormone "testosterone", from the stems of "testicle" and "sterol", and the suffix of "ketone". The structure was worked out by Schering's Adolf Butenandt, at the "Chemisches Institut" of Technical University in Gdańsk.


title: Testosterone

text: The chemical synthesis of testosterone from cholesterol was achieved in August that year by Butenandt and Hanisch. Only a week later, the Ciba group in Zurich, Leopold Ruzicka (1887–1976) and A. Wettstein, published their synthesis of testosterone. These independent partial syntheses of testosterone from a cholesterol base earned both Butenandt and Ruzicka the joint 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Testosterone was identified as 17β-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one (CHO), a solid polycyclic alcohol with a hydroxyl group at the 17th carbon atom. This also made it obvious that additional modifications on the synthesized testosterone could be made, i.e., esterification and alkylation.


title: Testosterone

text: The partial synthesis in the 1930s of abundant, potent testosterone esters permitted the characterization of the hormone's effects, so that Kochakian and Murlin (1936) were able to show that testosterone raised nitrogen retention (a mechanism central to anabolism) in the dog, after which Allan Kenyon's group was able to demonstrate both anabolic and androgenic effects of testosterone propionate in eunuchoidal men, boys, and women. The period of the early 1930s to the 1950s has been called "The Golden Age of Steroid Chemistry", and work during this period progressed quickly.


title: Testosterone

text: Testosterone is observed in most vertebrates. Testosterone and the classical nuclear androgen receptor first appeared in gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates). Agnathans (jawless vertebrates) such as lampreys do not produce testosterone but instead use androstenedione as a male sex hormone. Fish make a slightly different form called 11-ketotestosterone. Its counterpart in insects is ecdysone. The presence of these ubiquitous steroids in a wide range of animals suggest that sex hormones have an ancient evolutionary history.


title: Steven Avery

text: Steven Allan Avery (born July 9, 1962) is an American convicted murderer from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who had previously been wrongfully convicted in 1985 of sexual assault and attempted murder. After serving eighteen years of a thirty-two-year sentence (six of those years being concurrent with a kidnapping sentence), Avery was exonerated by DNA testing and released in 2003, only to be charged with murder two years later.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery's 2003 exoneration prompted widespread discussion of Wisconsin's criminal justice system; the Criminal Justice Reform Bill, enacted into law in 2005, implemented reforms aimed at preventing future wrongful convictions. Following his release, Avery filed a $36 million lawsuit against Manitowoc County, its former sheriff, and its former district attorney for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. In November 2005, with his civil suit still pending, he was arrested for the murder of Wisconsin photographer Teresa Halbach, and in 2007 was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The conviction was upheld by higher courts.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery's 2007 murder trial and its associated issues are the focus of the 2015 Netflix original documentary series "Making a Murderer", which also covered the arrest and 2007 conviction of Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey. In August 2016, a federal judge overturned Dassey's conviction on the grounds that his confession had been coerced. In June 2017, Wisconsin prosecutors appealed this decision. Eight months later, a panel of seven judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of upholding the original conviction by a vote of 4 to 3, ruling that police had properly obtained Dassey's confession. On February 20, 2018, Dassey's legal team, including former Solicitor General of the United States Seth Waxman, filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 25, 2018, certiorari was denied.


title: Steven Avery

text: Steven Avery was born in 1962 in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, to Allan and Dolores Avery. Since 1965, his family has operated a salvage yard in rural Gibson, Wisconsin, on the 40-acre (16 ha) property where they lived outside town. Avery has three siblings: Chuck, Earl, and Barb. He attended public schools in nearby Mishicot and Manitowoc, where his mother said he went to an elementary school "for slower kids". According to one of his lawyers in 1985, school records showed that his intelligence quotient was 70 and that he "barely functioned in school".


title: Steven Avery

text: On July 24, 1982, Avery married Lori Mathiesen, who was a single mother. They have four children together: Rachel, Jenny, and twins Steven and Will.


title: Steven Avery

text: In March 1981, at age 18, Avery was convicted of burglarizing a bar with a friend. After serving ten months of a two-year sentence in the Manitowoc County Jail, he was released on probation and ordered to pay restitution.


title: Steven Avery

text: In late 1982, two men admitted that, at Avery's suggestion, they threw his cat "in a bonfire and then watched it burn until it died" after Avery had poured gas and oil on it. Avery was found guilty of animal cruelty and was jailed until August 1983. "I was young and stupid, and hanging out with the wrong people", Avery said later, of his first two incarcerations.


title: Steven Avery

text: In January 1985, Avery ran his cousin's car off to the side of the road. After she pulled over, Avery pointed a gun at her. He was upset and alleged that she had been telling people he had been masturbating on the front lawn, which he stated was not true. Avery maintained that the gun was not loaded and that he was trying to stop her from spreading what he alleges are false rumors about him by threatening her with murder, and was not actually prepared to commit murder. He was sentenced to six years for "endangering safety while evincing a depraved mind" and possession of a firearm.


title: Steven Avery

text: In July 1985, a woman was brutally attacked and sexually assaulted while jogging on a Lake Michigan beach. Avery was arrested after the victim picked him from a photo lineup, and later from a live lineup. Although Avery was forty miles away in Green Bay shortly after the attack – an alibi supported by a time-stamped store receipt and sixteen eyewitnesses – he was charged and ultimately convicted of rape and attempted murder, then sentenced to thirty-two years in prison. Appeals in 1987 and 1996 were denied by higher courts.


title: Steven Avery

text: Around 1995, a Brown County police detective contacted the Manitowoc County Jail, saying that an inmate "had admitted committing an assault years ago in Manitowoc County and that someone else was in jail for it". The jail officer transferred the call to the Manitowoc County detective bureau. Deputies recalled Sheriff Thomas Kocourek telling them, "We already have the right guy. Don't concern yourself with it."


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery continued to maintain his innocence in the Beerntsen case. In 2002, after serving eighteen years (the first six concurrently on the prior endangerment and weapons convictions), the Wisconsin Innocence Project used DNA testing – not available at the time of Avery's original trial – to exonerate him and to demonstrate that a different suspect, Gregory Allen, had in fact committed the crime. Allen, who bore a striking physical resemblance to Avery, had committed an assault in 1983 at the same beach where Beerntsen was later attacked in 1985, and was under police surveillance during the period of Beerntsen's assault due to his history of criminal behavior against women. However, Allen was never a suspect in the Beerntsen case, and he was not included in the photo or live lineups presented to Beerntsen.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery was released on September 11, 2003. By that time, his wife had divorced him, and he was estranged from his family.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery's wrongful conviction case attracted widespread attention. Rep. Mark Gundrum, the Republican chairman of the Wisconsin Assembly Judiciary Committee, impaneled a bipartisan task force to recommend improvements to the state's criminal justice system aimed at decreasing the likelihood of future wrongful convictions. Recommendations included a revamped eyewitness identification protocol and new guidelines for interrogations of suspects and witnesses, and the collection and storage of material evidence. The recommendations were ultimately drafted into legislation that became known as the Avery Bill, which was passed and signed in October 2005, then renamed the Criminal Justice Reform Bill a month later after Avery was charged in the Halbach case.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery filed a civil lawsuit against Manitowoc County; its former sheriff, Thomas Kocourek; and its former district attorney, Denis Vogel, seeking to recover $36 million in damages stemming from his wrongful conviction. The suit was settled in February 2006 for $400,000 following his murder indictment.


title: Steven Avery

text: Photographer Teresa Halbach disappeared on October 31, 2005; her last alleged appointment was a meeting with Avery, at his home near the grounds of Avery's Auto Salvage, to photograph his sister's minivan that he was offering for sale on Autotrader.com. Halbach's vehicle was found partially concealed in the salvage yard, and bloodstains recovered from its interior matched Avery's DNA. Investigators later identified charred bone fragments found in a burn pit near Avery's home.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery was arrested and charged with Halbach's murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse on November 11, 2005. He had already been charged with a weapons violation as a convicted felon. Avery maintained that the murder charge was a frameup, intended to discredit his pending civil case. Manitowoc County claimed to and did cede control of the murder investigation to the neighboring Calumet County Sheriff's Department because of Avery's suit against Manitowoc County. As part of the agreement for Calumet to use resources from Manitowoc County including personnel, Manitowoc sheriff's deputies participated in repeated searches of Avery's trailer, garage, and property, supervised by Calumet County officers. A Manitowoc deputy found the key to Halbach's vehicle in Avery's bedroom. His attorneys said there was a conflict of interest in their participation and suggested evidence tampering.


title: Steven Avery

text: Avery's attorneys also discovered that an evidence box containing a vial of Avery's blood, collected in 1996 during his appeals efforts in the Beerntsen case, had been unsealed and contained what they believed to be a new puncture hole visible in the stopper. They speculated that the blood found in Halbach's car could have been drawn from the stored vial and planted in the vehicle to incriminate Avery. To combat this claim, the prosecution presented testimony by FBI technicians who—using a novel test developed for the Avery trial—had tested the blood recovered from Halbach's car for ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a preservative used in blood vials but not present in the human body, and found none. Avery's defense team presented expert witness testimony stating that it was not possible to tell if the negative result meant that EDTA was not present, or if the newly developed test itself was inconclusive.


title: Steven Avery

text: , Avery was the only one of the Innocence Project's 174 exonerees to have been charged with a violent crime after release.


title: Steven Avery

text: In March 2006, Avery's nephew, Brendan Dassey, was charged as an accessory after he confessed under interrogation to having helped Avery kill Halbach and dispose of the body. He later recanted his confession, claiming that it had been coerced, and refused to testify to his involvement at Avery's trial. He testified at his own trial and never mentioned coercion. Dassey was convicted of murder, rape, and mutilation of the corpse in a separate trial.


title: Steven Avery

text: In pretrial hearings in January 2007, charges of kidnapping and sexual assault were dropped. Avery stood trial in Calumet County in March 2007, with Calumet District Attorney Ken Kratz leading the prosecution, and Manitowoc County Circuit Court judge Patrick Willis presiding. On March 18, Avery was found guilty of first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm, and was acquitted on the corpse-mutilation charge. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on the murder conviction, plus five years on the weapons charge, to run concurrently.


title: Steven Avery

text: After serving five years at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel, Avery was transferred in 2012 to the Waupun Correctional Institution in Waupun.


title: Steven Avery

text: In January 2016, after "Making a Murderer" had been released, "People" magazine reported that one of the Avery trial jurors was the father of a Manitowoc County sheriff's deputy, and another juror's wife was a clerk with Manitowoc County. Juror Richard Mahler, who was excused from the trial after the jury had begun deliberations because of a family emergency, later commented that early on, seven of the jurors had voted not guilty; he was mystified that the jury eventually agreed on a conviction. Mahler's account has been disputed by other jury members, who claim that no early vote had taken place and that an informal vote was taken with only three jury members voting Avery not guilty. Another juror allegedly told the "Making a Murderer" filmmakers of feeling intimidated into returning a guilty verdict, fearing for personal safety. The filmmakers' claims have also been disputed.


title: Steven Avery

text: In August 2011, a state appeals court denied Avery's petition for a new trial, and in 2013, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a motion to review the ruling. In January 2016, Chicago attorney Kathleen Zellner, in collaboration with the Midwest Innocence Project, filed a new appeal, citing violations of Avery's due process rights and accusing officials of gathering evidence from properties beyond the scope of their search warrant.


title: Steven Avery

text: In December 2015, Dassey's attorneys filed a writ of "habeas corpus" in federal district court for release or retrial, citing constitutional rights violations resulting from ineffective assistance of counsel and the coerced confession. In August 2016, Dassey's conviction was overturned by federal magistrate judge William E. Duffin, who ruled that Dassey's confession was involuntary. Duffin granted a defense petition for Dassey's release on November 14, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned his ruling on November 17, ordering that Dassey remain incarcerated pending resolution of the state's appeal of the "habeas" decision. He last filed for parole in 2021 but was denied. He is still currently trying to file for parole to this day.


title: Steven Avery

text: In June 2017, the Seventh Circuit upheld the magistrate's decision to overturn Dassey's conviction, leaving the state with the options of appealing Duffin's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, dismissing the charges, or retrying him. The state then petitioned the appellate court to hear the case "en banc". The state's petition was granted and the appellate court reversed the magistrate's ruling, finding that Dassey's confession did not violate the Constitution. Dassey's attorneys filed a petition to have the Supreme Court hear his case, but the request was denied. Dassey remains in prison.


title: Steven Avery

text: On August 26, 2016, Zellner filed a motion with the Manitowoc County circuit court for post-conviction scientific testing. Judge Angela Sutkiewicz signed a stipulation and order for the scientific testing to proceed on November 23, 2016.


title: Steven Avery

text: On June 7, 2017, Zellner filed a 1,272-page post-conviction motion citing ineffective assistance of counsel, Brady violations, and affidavits by experts allegedly debunking the manner in which Halbach was killed, including alleged new evidence and ethical violations by Kratz. Zellner said that Avery's conviction was based on planted evidence and false testimony, and was requesting a new trial "in the interests of justice." On October 3, 2017, Avery's motion for a new trial was summarily denied without the court holding an evidentiary hearing.


title: Steven Avery

text: On February 26, 2019, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals granted Avery's petition requesting that his case be remanded back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on his motion for a new trial. Zellner posted the news to her Twitter page several hours before, tweeting:“Avery Update: We Won!!!!!! Back to the circuit court. #TruthWins @llifeafterten @ZellnerLaw @TManitowoc @michellemalkin #MakingaMurderer.” Based on the bone fragments found in the county gravel pit, Zellner proffered a new theory, based on new evidence, to support Avery's upcoming case. This began in 2018 when she filed a motion to have "suspected human" bones that were being held by the Wisconsin Department of Justice be tested for DNA. The bones came from three different burn piles within the Manitowoc County-owned quarry, and among them was a pelvic-bone fragment. New technology used to identify victims in the California wildfires would allow Zellner, if she had won the appeal, to test the bones for Teresa Halbach's DNA. However, when the motion was filed, Zellner soon discovered that the state had returned the bones to Halbach's family. "By giving them [to the Halbach family] …" Zellner stated to Rolling Stone, "they have just confirmed they believe those bones are human." Zellner went on to file another motion, saying that the return of the bones to the Halbach family constituted an "Arizona v. Youngblood" violation, which meant that this potentially crucial exculpatory evidence could not be tested."It's a very sneaky way to get evidence destroyed. It seems very deliberate that the thinking was, ‘We need to get rid of those bones, but we can't just go in and cremate them ourselves." Zellner's second motion was supported by a "never-before disclosed ledger sheet" indicating that the presence of the bones was not disclosed to Avery's defense team before they were returned to the Halbach family. Zellner had fourteen days to file any "supplemental post conviction motions" before Avery's new court date would be set.


title: Steven Avery

text: On July 28, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the State of Wisconsin affirmed the Circuit Court's denial of Steven Avery's big brief filed by Zellner, pointing out many misrepresentations contained in that brief.


title: Steven Avery

text: On August 16, 2022, Zellner filed a 149-page motion and third motion for post-conviction relief for the Halbach murder. In the motion, Zellner claims to have "new witnesses" that would "provide new and undisputed evidence that directly links Bobby Dassey to the murder of Teresa Halbach." Zellner also alleges the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from Avery at trial in violation of his constitutional rights.


title: Steven Avery

text: On December 20, 2015, a petition was created at a White House petitioning site titled "Investigate and pardon the Averys in Wisconsin and punish the corrupt officials who railroaded these innocent men." In a January 2016 response to the petition, a White House spokesperson said that since Avery and Dassey "are both state prisoners, the President cannot pardon them. A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities." A spokesman for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker stated that Walker would not pardon Avery.


title: Steven Avery

text: A second petition, titled "Initiate a Federal Investigation of the Sheriff's Offices of Manitowoc County and Calumet County, Wisconsin," was submitted to the White House petitioning site on January 7, 2016. The petition was archived because it did not meet the minimum signature requirements.


title: Steven Avery

text: On March 26, 2013, the public radio program "Radiolab" aired an episode titled "Are You Sure?" that featured a 24-minute segment titled "Reasonable Doubt." It explored Avery's story from the perspective of Penny Beerntsen, the woman of whom he was wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting in 1985.


title: Steven Avery

text: On December 18, 2015, Netflix released "Making a Murderer", a ten-episode original documentary series that explores Avery's and Dassey's investigations and trials. The documentary "examines allegations of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering and witness coercion." The series was widely reviewed and discussed in the media, and generated numerous follow-up interviews and articles with parties shown in the documentary, including family members and some reporters who covered the trials. A second season of the documentary was released via Netflix on October 19, 2018. In December 2018, Netflix and series producers were sued for defamation by Andrew Colborn, a former Manitowoc County police officer who had testified at Avery's murder trial. The suit alleges that the series omitted and distorted material in order to portray Colborn as a corrupt officer who had planted evidence.


title: Steven Avery

text: The second episode of Season 18 of the series "", titled "Making a Rapist", is inspired by the Avery case. Sean Roberts, who was found guilty of rape in 2000, is exonerated by new DNA evidence but soon becomes the suspect in a rape and murder case.


title: Steven Avery

text: Jodi Stachowski, an ex-fiancee of Steven Avery, reported in 2016 in an interview with Nancy Grace on HLN that her support for Avery in the documentary was "all an act". She further reported that she personally believes he is "not innocent" because "he threatened to kill [her] and [her] family and a friend of [hers]" in the past. The allegations she makes about his death threats against her and her family can be considered separately from her belief this indicates his guilt in the murder of Teresa Halbach. She also alleges that Avery had written her threatening letters from prison. She also alleged: "He told me once, excuse my language, all bitches owe him, because the one that sent him to prison the first time. [...] We all owed him and he could do whatever he wanted. Steven's the one person I can't trust … he's a monster."


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- or two-day delivery of goods and streaming music, video, e-books, gaming and grocery shopping services. In April 2021, Amazon reported that Prime had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In 2005, Amazon announced Amazon Prime as a membership service offering free two-day shipping within the contiguous United States on all eligible purchases for an annual fee of $79 () and discounted one-day shipping rates. Amazon launched the program in Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom in 2007; in France (as "Amazon Premium") in 2008, in Italy in 2011, in Canada in 2013, in India in July 2016, in Mexico in March 2017, in Turkey in September 2020, in Sweden in September 2021, and in Poland in October 2021. Amazon Prime is also available in Ireland, with plans for a major expansion in 2022. As of October 2021, there are Prime members in 22 countries in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon Prime membership in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, India, and the United States includes Amazon Video, the instant streaming of selected films and TV programs at no additional cost. In November 2011, it was announced that Prime members had access to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, which allows users to borrow up to one a month of specified popular Kindle e-books.


title: Amazon Prime

text: People with an email address at an academic domain such as .edu or .ac.uk, typically students, are eligible for Prime Student privileges, including discounts on Prime membership.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In March 2014, Amazon increased the annual US membership fee for Amazon Prime from $79 to $99. Shortly after this change, Amazon announced Prime Music, providing unlimited, ad-free music streaming. In November 2014, Amazon added Prime Photos, adding unlimited storage of files deemed to be photographs in the users' Amazon Drive. Amazon began offering free same-day delivery to Prime members in 14 United States metropolitan areas in May 2015. In April 2015, Amazon started a trial partnership with Audi and DHL in order to deliver directly into the trunks of Audi cars, available in the Munich, Germany area to some Audi-connected car users.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In December 2015, Amazon stated that "tens of millions" of people were Amazon Prime members. Amazon Prime added 3 million members during the third week of December 2015. That month Amazon announced the creation of the Streaming Partners Program, a subscription service that provides Amazon Prime subscribers with additional streaming video services. Among the programming providers involved in the program are Showtime, Starz. Lifetime Movie Club (containing recent original movie titles from Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network), Smithsonian Earth, and Qello Concerts.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In January 2016, Amazon Prime reached 54 million members according to a report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Several reports in January 2016 said that nearly half of all U.S. households were members of Amazon Prime at that time. In April 2016, Amazon announced same-day delivery would be expanded to include the areas of Charlotte, Cincinnati, Fresno, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Central New Jersey, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, Stockton, and Tucson, bringing total coverage to 27 metro areas. In September 2016, Amazon launched a restaurant delivery service for Prime members in London, England, with free delivery on all orders over £15.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In September 2016, Amazon subsidiary Twitch announced features available to users with an Amazon Prime subscription ("Twitch Prime"), including monthly offers of video games and add-on content, and the ability to purchase a free subscription to a user's channel once per-month. Amazon then partnered with different game developers offering in-game loots as rewards to subscribers. Games included with the loot rewards were Apex Legends, Legends of Runeterra, FIFA Ultimate Team, Teamfight Tactics, , Doom Eternal, and more. In December 2016, Amazon began offering Prime membership for an alternative monthly, instead of yearly fee, of $10.99 per month, increased to $12.99 in February 2018. Amazon also announced Wickedly Prime, an own-brand line of food and beverages available to Prime members.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon announced Prime Wardrobe, a service that lets customers try on clothes before they pay, in June 2017. Also in 2017, Amazon announced the Prime Exclusive Phone program, which offers some smartphones displaying Amazon ads on the lock screen from companies including LG, Motorola and Nokia at a discount.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In May 2018, Amazon increased the annual US Prime membership fee from $99 to $119. In June 2019, Amazon expanded its one-day delivery with Amazon Prime, stating that Prime Free One Day was available to U.S. members on more than 10 million products with no minimum purchase.


title: Amazon Prime

text: On March 3, 2020, Amazon announced it installed "mini-fulfillment centers" in select U.S. cities, including Dallas, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Phoenix to reduce same-day delivery times. Later the same month, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime express delivery dates for various in-stock items reached delays of up to a month in the US instead of the usual 1–2 days, as Amazon struggled to meet exceptional demand and announced it would prioritize the most essential items. By the end of 2020, Amazon Prime Pantry had been discontinued in all locations.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In February 2022, Amazon announced its first increase in almost four years for the annual US Prime membership fee from $119 to $139. The increase was due to higher labor and shipping costs.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In April 2022, Amazon launched "Buy with Prime", a new service for Prime members that allows them to purchase goods from partnered merchants and take advantage of Amazon's logistics, return and exchange services.


title: Amazon Prime

text: On August 1, 2022, Amazon Prime was available for the first time in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Its presence aims to develop local and international content for users in Indonesia, the most considerable economic in Southeast Asia. Later, users can access Prime Video through the official website through various platforms, such as mobile devices, tablets, and laptops.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Prime Music is an ad-free music streaming service that is included in the cost of the standard Amazon Prime membership. It began in 2007. In November 2022, the music catalog was significantly expanded, and the style was changed to be similar to Pandora or listening to a radio station. This means that when users choose a song, Prime Music plays something similar, rather than the specific song that was selected. When users dislike the song substituted by Prime Music, they can skip a limited number of songs per hour. This change was introduced as part of an effort to bolster Amazon against rival offerings from Walmart.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon offers a separate subscription service called Amazon Music Unlimited, which costs $8.99 per month for Prime members and $9.99 per month for others. Subscribers to Music Unlimited can choose which songs they want to listen to without being redirected to similar songs or similar artists.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon's music streaming services represent 10% of the market, making it less popular than Spotify and Apple Music.


title: Amazon Prime

text: The service debuted on September 7, 2006, as Amazon Unbox in the United States. On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed Amazon Video on Demand. The Unbox name still refers to the local program, which is no longer available for downloading purchased instant videos. On February 22, 2011, the service rebranded as Amazon Instant Video.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon re-branded its Twitch Prime to Amazon Prime Gaming in 2020. Amazon Prime or Prime Video subscribers also get Prime Gaming at no additional cost. The main difference is that "to access Prime Gaming, customers don't need to have a Twitch account (as they did for Twitch Prime)". Prime gaming subscribers can redeem various rewards in external video games such as digital loot, currency or cosmetics that would typically cost money or are exclusive. Additionally, Prime Gaming allows for a free paid subscription to one Twitch partner per month.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Beginning in October 2016, Prime members in the U.S. receive access to a rotating set of Kindle e-books through Prime Reading. Some magazines and travel guides are also available through the service. Prime Reading is unrelated to Kindle Unlimited and Kindle First, both of which continue to be available or the Kindle Owners Lending Library, which was discontinued in January 2021.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Amazon Prime Pantry was a service of Amazon.com available only to Prime members that packaged everyday (non-bulk) non-perishable grocery store items into a single box for delivery for a flat fee. The service was available in the United States, Austria, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Amazon discontinued the program in different locations on different dates, making the items formerly found exclusively in Prime Pantry available for purchase in the main store. An ever-changing but limited variety of products was offered, but the range actually decreased from when the service was first launched. While selecting items within the Prime Pantry program, each item listed the percentage of space it will take up inside the delivery box. A running total showed how full this box is. The delivery fee remained the same regardless of the filling percentage. By the end of 2020 the service had been discontinued in all locations.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In December 2014, Amazon announced that as a benefit to Prime members located in parts of Manhattan and New York City the capability to get products delivered to them within one hour for a fee of $7.99, or within two hours for no additional fee. As of 2014, 25,000 daily essential products were available with this delivery service. In February 2015, the service was extended to include all of Manhattan. By mid-2016, it had been expanded in the United States to include parts of Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, Portland, San Antonio, and Tampa. Outside of the United States, it has expanded to parts of the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, and Singapore. To meet the on-demand needs of Prime Now, Amazon further launched Amazon Flex, a platform for independent contractors to provide delivery services.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In-HomeIn October 2017, Amazon.com added an option for Prime members to get in-home deliveries by its Amazon Flex contractors, who gain entry using a one-time code. The service, Amazon Key, became available for customers residing in 37 United States metro areas in April 2018. the service required a Kwikset or Yale smart lock and a special version of Amazon's Cloud Cam security camera.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Customers are given a time window of four hours for the package to be delivered. Once the courier opens the door, the Cloud Cam records a clip until the door is locked, which is sent to the customer's smartphone. Participants in the service can also use the Amazon Key companion app for iOS and Android to lock and unlock the door, monitor the camera, and issue virtual keys.


title: Amazon Prime

text: A month after the service was launched, a security expert found a flaw, since patched, in the system which would freeze the camera and stop image transmission.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In-CarAmazon Key In-Car is a service allowing owners of vehicles with OnStar (that are 2015+ models) or Volvo on Call, to get packages delivered in their vehicle's trunk. The service is available in the same areas as Amazon Key's In-Home delivery, but requires no additional hardware. Customers are provided with a four-hour delivery window. During that time, their vehicle must be located in a publicly accessible area.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In-GarageAt CES 2019, Amazon announced a partnership with the Chamberlain Group, allowing packages to be placed in customers garages with myQ-enabled openers, as part of the Key service.


title: Amazon Prime

text: "60 Minutes" reported on December 1, 2013, that Amazon Prime Air was a possible future delivery service expected to be in development for several more years. In concept, the process would use drones to deliver small packages (less than five pounds) within 30 minutes by flying short distances (10–20 km) from local Amazon Fulfillment Centers. In the United States, the project will require the Federal Aviation Administration to approve commercial use of unmanned drones.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In July 2014, it was revealed the company was developing its 8th and 9th drone prototypes, some that could fly 50 miles an hour and carry 5-pound packages, and had applied to the FAA to test them. The project is not yet in flight as of January 2021, though Amazon did receive FAA approval in the US in August 2020.


title: Amazon Prime

text: On June 13, 2022, Amazon announced that they will be delivering products using Prime Air drones to customers residing in the small town of Lockeford, California. At the time of announcement, there is no exact launch date other than "later this year", as Amazon awaits permission from the FAA and Lockeford officials.


title: Amazon Prime

text: On July 15, 2015, to commemorate the website's 20th anniversary, Amazon held its first Prime Day. The event is characterized by a number of sales and promotions exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers, with Amazon initially promoting that it would feature "more deals than Black Friday". The inaugural Prime Day faced criticism over the quality of the discounts offered, with many of them being tied to items not in high demand. Some users jokingly described the event as a "yard sale", and Walmart also countered the event with a promotional blog post arguing that customers "shouldn't have to pay $100 to find great deals". Amazon defended criticism of the event, noting that order volume on the website had "surpassed" Black Friday sales in 2014. That same month, Amazon Prime announced that it had signed Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May, formerly of BBC's "Top Gear", to begin working on "The Grand Tour" for Amazon Prime Video, which was released in 2016.


title: Amazon Prime

text: On July 13, 2016, Amazon Prime said customers placed 60 percent more orders worldwide on "Prime Day". The 2018 edition was preceded by a concert event headlined by Ariana Grande, and streamed on Amazon Video and Twitch. The 2019 concert was held on July 10 ahead of Prime Day starting on July 15, and streamed exclusively for Prime subscribers, featuring Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Becky G, and SZA.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In 2018, Prime Day first became tied to protests of Amazon and employee strikes due to the treatment of workers at its fulfillment centers. Supporters of these actions have urged boycotts of Amazon during Prime Day as solidarity, covering all services provided by the company and its subsidiaries.


title: Amazon Prime

text: In 2020, Prime Day was postponed in the US and Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was held from October 13–14. Prime Day was held in India on August 6–7.


title: Amazon Prime

text: Prime memberships are available in 23 countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the US.


title: Hitler family

text: The Hitler family comprises the relatives and ancestors of Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945), an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. He was the dictator of Germany, holding the title Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and was also head of state as "Führer und Reichskanzler" from 1934 to 1945. He is noted for his central role in the rise of Nazism in Germany, provoking the start of World War II, and holding ultimate responsibility for the deaths of many millions of people during the Holocaust.


title: Hitler family

text: The family has long been of interest to historians and genealogists because of the biological uncertainty of Hitler's paternal grandfather, as well as the family's inter-relationships and their psychological effect on Hitler during his childhood and later life.


title: Hitler family

text: Before Adolf Hitler's birth, his family used many variations of the family surname "Hitler" almost interchangeably. Some of the common variants were Hitler, Hiedler, Hüttler, Hytler, and Hittler. The name may be a spelling variation of the name "Hiedler", meaning one who resides by a "Hiedl", a term for a subterranean fountain or river in Austro-Bavarian German dialects. Or the "Hitler" surname may be based on "one who lives in a hut" (German "Hütte" for "hut"). Alois Schicklgruber (Adolf's father) changed his surname on 7 January 1877 to "Hitler", which was the only form of the last name that his son Adolf used.


title: Hitler family

text: The first known beginning of the Hitler family is with Stefan Hiedler (born 1672) and Agnes Capeller, whose grandson Martin Hiedler (17 November 1762 – 10 January 1829) married Anna Maria Göschl (23 August 1760 – 7 December 1854). This couple had at least three children: Lorenz (1800–1861), Johann Georg (baptised 28 February 1792 – 9 February 1857), and Johann Nepomuk (19 March 1807 – 17 September 1888). Johann Georg was the stepfather of Alois Schicklgruber (later Hitler), who was Adolf Hitler's father, and Johann Nepomuk was the future Führer's maternal great-grandfather. There is no additional information about Lorenz Hiedler. The Hiedlers were from Spital, part of Weitra in Austria.


title: Hitler family

text: Brothers Johann Georg and Johann Nepomuk Hiedler are associated with Adolf Hitler in several ways, although the biological relationship is disputed.


title: Hitler family

text: Johann Georg was legitimized and considered the officially accepted paternal grandfather of Hitler by Nazi Germany. Whether he was actually Hitler's biological paternal grandfather remains unknown. He married his first wife in 1824, but she died in childbirth five months later. In 1842, he married Maria Anna Schicklgruber (15 April 1795 – 7 January 1847) and became the legal stepfather to her illegitimate five-year-old son, Alois.


title: Hitler family

text: Around age 10, near the time of his mother's death, Alois went to live with Johann Nepomuk on his farm. Johann Nepomuk Hiedler (also known as Johann Nepomuk Hüttler) was named after a Bohemian saint, Johann von Nepomuk, an important saint for Bohemians of both German and Czech ethnicity. Johann Nepomuk became a relatively prosperous farmer and was married to Eva Maria Decker (1792–1873), who was fifteen years his senior.


title: Hitler family

text: The Nazis issued a pamphlet during the 1932 second elections campaign titled "Facts and Lies about Hitler" which refuted the rumour spread by the S.P.D. and Centre Party that Hitler had Czech ancestors. There is no evidence that any of Hitler's ancestors were of Czech origin.


title: Hitler family

text: The identity of the biological father of Alois is disputed. Legally, Johann Georg Hiedler, an itinerant miller, was the step-father of Alois Schicklgruber (later Alois Hitler), and Johann Georg's brother Johann Nepomuk Hiedler was therefore the step-uncle of Alois. Johann Nepomuk adopted Alois informally during Alois' childhood and raised him. It is possible that he was, in fact, the natural father of Alois but could not acknowledge this publicly due to his marriage. A perhaps simpler explanation is that he pitied the ten-year-old Alois after the death of the boy's mother Maria, as it could hardly have been a suitable life for a ten-year-old child to be raised by an itinerant miller. Johann Nepomuk died on 17 September 1888 and willed Alois a considerable portion of his life savings.


title: Hitler family

text: It was later claimed that Johann Georg had fathered Alois prior to his marriage to Maria, although Alois had been declared illegitimate on his birth certificate and baptism papers. The claim that Johann Georg was the true father of Alois was not made during the lifetime of either Johann Georg or Maria. In 1877, 20 years after the death of Johann Georg and almost 30 years after the death of Maria, Alois was legally declared to have been Johann Georg's son. Johann Nepomuk arranged to change the surname of Alois to "Hitler" and to have Johann Georg declared the biological father of Alois in 1876. Johann Nepomuk collected three witnesses (his son-in-law and two others) who testified before a notary in Weitra that Johann Georg had several times stated in their presence that he was the actual father of Alois and wanted to make Alois his legitimate son and heir. The parish priest in Döllersheim, where the original birth certificate of Alois resided, altered the birth register. Alois was 39 years old at the time and was well-known in the community as Alois Schicklgruber.


title: Hitler family

text: Accordingly, Johann Georg Hiedler is often cited as having possibly been the biological grandfather of Adolf Hitler. Although Alois was legitimized and Johann Georg Hiedler was considered the officially accepted paternal grandfather of Hitler by the Third Reich, whether he was Hitler's biological grandfather remains unknown, which has caused speculation. However, his case is considered the most plausible and widely accepted. Speculations have been made, particularly regarding Johann Nepomuk and a Graz Jew by the name of Leopold Frankenberger, rumored by the head of the General Government in Nazi-occupied Poland, Hans Frank during the Nuremberg Trials. Historians have concluded that Frank's speculation has no factual support. Frank said that Maria came from "Leonding near Linz", when in fact she came from the hamlet of Strones, near the village of Döllersheim. No evidence has been found that a "Frankenberger" lived in the area; the Jews were expelled from Styria (which includes Graz) during the 15th century and were not permitted to return until the 1860s, several decades after the birth of Alois.


title: Hitler family

text: Johanna Hiedler, the daughter of Johann Nepomuk and Eva Hiedler ("née" Decker) was born on 19 January 1830 in Spital (part of Weitra) in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria. She lived her entire life there and was married to Johann Baptist Pölzl (1825–1901), a farmer and son of Johann Pölzl and Juliana (Walli) Pölzl. Johanna and Johann had 5 sons and 6 daughters, of whom 2 sons and 3 daughters survived into adulthood, the daughters being Klara, Johanna, and Theresia. Klara's brothers' identities are unknown.


title: Hitler family

text: At the age of 36, Alois Hitler was married for the first time, to Anna Glasl-Hörer, who was a wealthy, 50-year-old daughter of a customs official. She was sick when Alois married her and was either an invalid or became one soon afterwards. Not long after the wedding, Alois Hitler began an affair with 19-year-old Franziska "Fanni" Matzelsberger, one of the young female servants employed at the Pommer Inn, house no. 219, in the city of Braunau am Inn, where he was renting the top floor as a lodging. Bradley Smith states that Alois had numerous affairs during the 1870s, resulting in his wife initiating legal action. On 7 November 1880 Alois and Anna separated by mutual agreement. Franziska Matzelsberger became the 43-year-old Hitler's girlfriend, but the two could not marry since by Roman Catholic canon law divorce is not permitted.


title: Hitler family

text: On 13 January 1882, Franziska Matzelsberger gave birth to Alois Hitler's illegitimate son, also named Alois. As his parents were not married, the boy was named Alois Matzelsberger. Alois Hitler remained with Franziska while his wife, Anna, grew sicker and died on 6 April 1883. The next month, on 22 May, in a ceremony in Braunau with fellow customs officials as witnesses, Alois Hitler, 45, married Franziska Matzelsberger, 21. Alois then legitimized his son with Franziska, renaming him Alois Hitler Jr., who later became a Berlin restaurateur. Matzelsberger went to Vienna to give birth to Angela Hitler. When Franziska was only 23 years old, she acquired a lung disorder and became too ill to function. She was relocated to Ranshofen, a small village near Braunau.


title: Hitler family

text: In 1876, three years after Alois' marriage to Anna Glasl-Hörer, he had hired Klara Pölzl as a household servant. Klara was the 16-year-old granddaughter of Alois' step-uncle (and possible biological uncle or father), Johann Nepomuk Hiedler. After Franziska demanded that the "servant girl" find another job, Alois sent Klara away. However, Klara returned to Alois and Franziska's home during the last months of Franziska's life, to care for her and her two children, as she was an invalid. Franziska Matzelsberger died in Ranshofen on 10 August 1884 at the age of 23. After Franziska's death, Klara Pölzl stayed on as housekeeper.


title: Hitler family

text: Klara Pölzl soon became pregnant. Her family relationship with Alois was ambiguous. If Johann Georg Hiedler were Alois Hitler's biological father, Klara would be Alois' first cousin once removed; if Johann Nepomuk were Alois Hitler's biological father, Klara would be Alois' half-niece. Bradley Smith writes that if he had been free to do as he wished, Alois would have married Klara immediately, but because of the affidavit regarding his paternity, Alois was now legally Klara's first cousin once removed, and so too close to marry. Alois submitted an appeal to the church for a humanitarian waiver. Permission was granted, and on 7 January 1885 the wedding took place in Hitler's rented rooms on the top floor of the Pommer Inn. A meal was served to the few guests and witnesses. Alois then went to work for the rest of the day. Even Klara found the wedding to be a brief ceremony. Throughout the marriage, she continued to call him "uncle".


title: Hitler family

text: On 17 May 1885, five months after the wedding, the new Frau Klara Hitler gave birth to Gustav, her first child with Alois Hitler. One year later, on 25 September 1886, she gave birth to a daughter, Ida. The third child, Otto, was born not long after Ida, in 1887, but died days later. In the winter of 1887–88, both Gustav and Ida died of diphtheria, 8 December and 2 January, respectively. By then, Klara and Alois had been married for three years, and all their children were dead, but his children with Franziska Matzelsberger — Alois Jr. and Angela — survived. On 20 April 1889, Klara gave birth to Adolf Hitler.


title: Hitler family

text: Adolf was a sickly child, and his mother fretted over him. Alois, who was 51 years old when Adolf was born, had little interest in child rearing and left it to his wife. When not at work he was typically either in a tavern or busy with his hobby, beekeeping.


title: Hitler family

text: In 1892, Alois was transferred from Braunau to Passau. He was 55, Klara 32, Alois Jr. 10, Angela 9, and Adolf 3 years old. In 1894, Alois Hitler was reassigned to Linz. Klara gave birth to their fifth child, Edmund, on 24 March 1894, and it was decided that she and the children would stay in Passau for the time being.


title: Hitler family

text: In February 1895, Alois Hitler purchased a house on a plot in Hafeld near Lambach, approximately southwest of Linz. The farm was called the Rauscher Gut. He relocated his family to the farm and retired on 25 June 1895 at the age of 58 after 40 years in the customs service. He found farming difficult; he lost money, and the value of the property decreased. On 21 January 1896, his daughter Paula was born. Alois was often home with his family. He had five children ranging in age from infancy to 14; Bradley Smith suggests he yelled at the children frequently and made long visits to the local tavern. Robert G. L. Waite noted, "Even one of his closest friends admitted that Alois was 'awfully rough' with his wife Klara and hardly ever spoke a word to her at home. If Hitler was in a bad mood, he picked on the older children or Klara herself, in front of the rest."


title: Hitler family

text: After Alois and Alois Jr had a violent argument, Alois Jr left home at 14, and the elder Alois swore he would never give the boy any inheritance more than what the law required. Apparently Alois Jr's relations with his stepmother Klara were also difficult. After working as an apprentice waiter in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Ireland, Alois Jr was arrested for theft and served a five-month sentence in 1900, followed by a nine-month sentence in 1902.


title: Hitler family

text: Edmund, the youngest Hitler boy, died of measles on 2 February 1900. Alois wanted his son Adolf to seek a career with the civil service. According to various interpretations, Adolf disliked the thought of a career spent enforcing petty rules, and was perhaps so alienated from his father that he was repulsed by whatever Alois wanted. Alois tried to intimidate his son into obedience, but Adolf refused.


title: Hitler family

text: Alois Hitler died in 1903, leaving Klara a government pension. She sold the house in Leonding and relocated with young Adolf and Paula to an apartment in Linz, where they lived frugally. By 1907, Klara had become very ill due to breast cancer. Despite continued medical treatment by her doctor, Eduard Bloch, Klara's condition did not improve, and in October Bloch told Adolf her condition was hopeless. Adolf wept when told that his mother "had little chance of surviving". Klara died at home in Linz on 21 December 1907. Adolf and Paula were left with some financial assistance from their mother's pension and her modest estate of about 2,000 Kronen, after the medical and funeral costs were paid. Klara was buried in Leonding. Hitler had a good relationship with his mother during her lifetime. He was distraught by her death and possibly grieved for the rest of his life. Speaking of Hitler, Bloch later recalled that after Klara's death he had never seen "anyone so prostrate with grief". Hitler wrote years later that his mother's death was a "dreadful blow".


title: Hitler family

text: On 14 September 1903 Angela Hitler, Adolf's half-sister, married Leo Raubal (11 June 1879 – 10 August 1910), a junior tax inspector, and on 12 October 1906 she gave birth to a son, Leo. On 4 June 1908 Angela gave birth to a daughter Geli and in 1910 to a second daughter, Elfriede (Elfriede Maria Hochegger, 10 January 1910 – 24 September 1993).


title: Hitler family

text: In 1909, Alois Hitler Jr. met an Irish woman by the name of Bridget Dowling at the Dublin Horse Show. They eloped to London and married on 3 June 1910. William Dowling, Bridget's father, threatened to have Alois arrested for kidnapping, but Bridget dissuaded him. The couple settled in Liverpool, where their son William Patrick Hitler was born in 1911. The family lived in a flat at 102 Upper Stanhope Street. The house was destroyed in the last German air-raid on Liverpool on 10 January 1942. Nothing remains of the house or those that surrounded it, and the area was eventually cleared and grassed over. In her memoirs, Bridget Dowling claims that Adolf Hitler lived with them in Liverpool from 1912 to 1913 while he was on the run to avoid being conscripted in his native Austria-Hungary, but historians dismiss this story as a fiction invented to make the book more appealing to publishers. Alois attempted to make money by managing a small restaurant in Dale Street, a boarding house on Parliament Street and a hotel on Mount Pleasant, all of which failed. Alois Jr. left his family in May 1914 and he returned alone to the German Empire to establish himself in the safety razor business.


title: Hitler family

text: Paula had relocated to Vienna, where she worked as a secretary. She did not communicate with Adolf Hitler during the period comprising his difficult years as a painter in Vienna and later Munich, military service during the First World War and early political activities back in Munich. She was delighted to meet him again in Vienna during the early 1920s, though she later claimed to have been privately distraught at his subsequent increasing fame.


title: Hitler family

text: When the First World War began, Alois Jr. was in Germany and it was impossible for his wife and son to join him. He married another woman, Hedwig Heidemann, in 1916. After the war, a third party mistakenly informed Bridget that he was dead.


title: Hitler family

text: At the beginning of the First World War, Adolf Hitler was a resident of Munich and volunteered to serve in the Bavarian Army as an Austrian citizen. He was posted to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment). Hitler's case was not exceptional as he was not the only Austrian soldier in the List Regiment. Hitler may have been accepted into the Bavarian army because nobody had asked him whether he was a German citizen when he volunteered, or because the recruiting authorities were happy to accept any volunteer and did not care what Hitler's nationality was, or because he might have told the Bavarian authorities that he intended to become a German citizen.


title: Hitler family

text: He served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium, spending nearly half his time well behind the front lines. He was present at the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele, and was wounded at the Somme.


title: Hitler family

text: He was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914. Recommended by Hugo Gutmann, he received the Iron Cross, First Class, on 4 August 1918, a decoration rarely awarded to one of Hitler's rank (). Hitler's post at regimental headquarters, providing frequent interactions with senior officers, may have helped him receive this decoration. Though his rewarded actions may have been courageous, they were probably not very exceptional. He also received the Black Wound Badge on 18 May 1918.


title: Hitler family

text: During his service at the headquarters, Hitler pursued his artwork, drawing cartoons, and instructions for an army newspaper. During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, he was wounded either in the groin area or the left thigh by a shell that had exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler spent almost two months in the Red Cross hospital at Beelitz, returning to his regiment on 5 March 1917. On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack and was hospitalised in Pasewalk. While there, Hitler learnt of Germany's defeat, and—by his own account—on receiving this news, he suffered a second bout of blindness.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler became embittered about Germany's defeat, and his ideological development began. He described the war as "the greatest of all experiences", and was praised by his commanding officers for his bravery. The experience reinforced his German nationalist beliefs and he was shocked by Germany's capitulation in November 1918. Like other German nationalists, he believed in the "Dolchstoßlegende" (stab-in-the-back legend), which claimed that the German army, "undefeated in the field", had been "stabbed in the back" on the home front by civilian politicians and Marxists, later dubbed the "November criminals".


title: Hitler family

text: The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany was to relinquish several of its territories and demilitarise the Rhineland. The treaty imposed economic sanctions and levied large reparations on the country. Many Germans perceived the treaty—especially Article 231, which declared Germany responsible for the war—as a humiliation. The Versailles Treaty and the conditions in Germany after the war were later exploited by Hitler for political gains.


title: Hitler family

text: On 14 March 1920, Heinrich "Heinz" Hitler was born to Alois Jr. and his second wife, Hedwig Heidemann. In 1924, Alois Jr. was prosecuted for bigamy, but acquitted due to Bridget's intervention on his behalf. His older son, William Patrick, stayed with Alois and his new family during his early trips to Weimar Republic Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s.


title: Hitler family

text: When Adolf was confined in Landsberg, Angela travelled from Vienna to visit him. Angela's daughters, Geli and Elfriede, accompanied their mother when she became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925; Geli Raubal was 17 at the time and would spend the next six years in close contact with her half-uncle. Her mother was given a job as housekeeper at the Berghof villa near Berchtesgaden in 1928. Geli relocated into Hitler's Munich apartment in 1929 when she enrolled in the Ludwig Maximilian University to study medicine. She did not complete her medical studies.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler behaved in a domineering and possessive manner with Geli. When he discovered she was having a relationship with his chauffeur, Emil Maurice, he forced an end to the affair and dismissed Maurice from his personal service. After that he did not allow her to associate freely with friends, and attempted to have himself or someone he trusted near her at all times, accompanying her while she shopped or attended movies or opera.


title: Hitler family

text: Adolf met Eva Braun, 23 years his junior, at Heinrich Hoffmann's photography studio in Munich in October 1929. He occasionally dated other women as well, including Hoffmann's daughter, Henrietta, and Maria Reiter.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler's half-niece Geli Raubal committed suicide in 1931. Rumours immediately began in the media about a possible sexual relationship, and even murder. Historian Ian Kershaw contends that stories which circulated at the time alleging "sexual deviant practices ought to be viewed as anti-Hitler propaganda".


title: Hitler family

text: After having little communication with her brother Adolf, Paula was delighted to meet him again in Vienna during the early 1930s.


title: Hitler family

text: When the NSDAP won 107 seats in the Reich parliament in 1930, the "Times Union" in Albany, New York, published a statement of Alois, Jr.


title: Hitler family

text: As Hitler prepared for war, he became distant from his family. Angela and Adolf became estranged after she disapproved of Adolf's relationship with Eva Braun, but eventually re-established communication during the war. Angela was his intermediary to the rest of the family, because Adolf did not want communication with them. In 1941, she sold her memoirs of her years with Hitler to the Eher Verlag, which brought her 20,000 Reichsmark. Meanwhile, Alois Jr. continued to manage his restaurant throughout the duration of the war. He was arrested later by the British, but released when it became evident he had no role in his brother's regime.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler's second cousin, once removed, Aloisa Veit (named as Alois V), was gassed as part of the Nazi programme Aktion T4 which was a campaign to kill people who were deemed to be mentally ill. It is not known if Hitler knew of her fate.


title: Hitler family

text: A couple of Adolf's relatives served in Nazi Germany during the war. Adolf's nephew Heinz was a member of the Nazi Party. He attended an elite military academy, the National Political Institutes of Education (Napola) in Ballenstedt, Anhalt. Aspiring to be an officer, Heinz joined the army as a signals NCO with the 23rd Potsdamer Artillery Regiment in 1941, and he participated with the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. On 10 January 1942, he was captured by Soviet forces and sent to the Moscow military prison Butyrka, where he died, aged 21, after interrogation and torture. He never married nor had children.


title: Hitler family

text: Adolf's other nephew, Leo Rudolf Raubal, was conscripted into the Luftwaffe. He was wounded in January 1943 during the Battle of Stalingrad, and Friedrich Paulus asked Hitler for an airplane to evacuate Raubal to Germany. Hitler refused and Raubal was captured by the Soviets on 31 January 1943. Hitler gave orders to check the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Soviets for Stalin's son Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was in German captivity since 16 July 1941. Stalin refused to exchange him either for Raubal or for Friedrich Paulus, and said "war is war".


title: Hitler family

text: During the spring of 1945, after the destruction of Dresden in the massive bomb attack of 13/14 February, Adolf relocated Angela to Berchtesgaden to avoid her being captured by the Soviets. Also, he let her and his younger sister Paula have more than 100,000 Reichsmark. Paula barely saw her brother during the war. There is some evidence Paula shared her brother's strong German nationalist beliefs, but she was not politically active and never joined the Nazi Party. During the ending days of the war, at the age of 49, she was driven to Berchtesgaden, Germany, apparently on the orders of Martin Bormann.


title: Hitler family

text: After midnight on the night of 28–29 April 1945, Adolf and Eva Braun were married in a small civil ceremony within the "Führerbunker" in Berlin. At the same location, on the following day of 30 April, the couple committed suicide.


title: Hitler family

text: In Hitler's last will and testament, he guaranteed Angela a pension of 1,000 Reichsmark monthly. It is uncertain if she ever received any of this amount. Nevertheless, she spoke very well of him even after the war, and claimed that neither her brother nor she herself had known anything about the Holocaust. She declared that if Hitler had known what was going on in the concentration camps, he would have stopped them.


title: Hitler family

text: Adolf's sister Paula was arrested by US intelligence officers in May 1945 and debriefed later that year. A transcript shows one of the agents remarking she bore a physical resemblance to her sibling. She told them the Soviets had confiscated her house in Austria, the Americans had expropriated her Vienna apartment and that she was taking English lessons. She characterized her childhood relationship with her brother as one of both frequent bickering and strong affection. Paula said she could not believe her brother had been responsible for the Holocaust. She also told them she had met Eva Braun only once. Paula was released from American custody and returned to Vienna, where she lived on her savings for a time, then worked in an arts and crafts shop.


title: Hitler family

text: Other relatives of Hitler were appropriated by the Soviets. In May 1945, five of Hitler's relatives were arrested, his first cousins, Maria, Johann and Eduard Schmidt, along with Maria's husband Ignaz Koppensteiner, their son Adolf, and Johann Schmidt Jr., son of Maria and Eduard's deceased brother Johann. Koppensteiner was arrested by the Soviets on the basis that he "approved of [Hitler's] criminal plans against the USSR". He died in a Moscow prison in 1949. Both Eduard and Maria died in Soviet custody in 1951 and 1953, respectively. Johann Jr. was released in 1955. These relatives were pardoned posthumously by Russia in 1997.


title: Hitler family

text: In 1952, Paula Hitler relocated to Berchtesgaden, reportedly living "in seclusion" in a two-room flat as Paula Wolff. ("Wolf" was Adolf Hitler's self-adopted nickname.) During this time, she was cared for by former members of the SS and survivors of her brother's inner circle. In February 1959, she agreed to be interviewed by Peter Morley, a documentary producer for British television station Associated-Rediffusion. The resulting conversation was the only filmed interview she ever gave and was broadcast as part of a programme named "Tyranny: The Years of Adolf Hitler". She talked mostly about Hitler's childhood.


title: Hitler family

text: Angela died of a stroke on 30 October 1949. Her brother, Alois Jr., died on 20 May 1956 in Hamburg. At that time, his name was Alois Hiller. Paula, Adolf's last surviving sibling, died on 1 June 1960, at the age of 64.


title: Hitler family

text: Angela married Leo Raubal Sr. (1879–1910). They had three children: Leo Rudolf Raubal Jr had one son, Peter Raubal, in 1931; Geli Raubal committed suicide without having ever had a child in 1931; and Elfriede Raubal married Ernst Hochegger in 1937 and had a son, Heiner Hochegger, in 1945 and a daughter.


title: Hitler family

text: Heinz Hitler, who was the son of Alois from his second marriage, died in a Soviet military prison in 1942 without children.


title: Hitler family

text: William Patrick Hitler, the son of Alois from his first marriage, married Phyllis Jean-Jacques in 1947 in the US, where they had four children. Also that year, he changed his surname to Stuart-Houston; some have commented on its similarity with the name of the racialist writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Their children, Alexander Adolf Stuart-Houston (1949), Louis Stuart-Houston (1951), Howard Ronald Stuart-Houston (1957), and Brian William Stuart-Houston (1965), have not had any children. Only Howard, who died in a car crash in 1989, was ever married.


title: Hitler family

text: According to David Gardner, author of the 2001 book "The Last of the Hitlers", "They didn't sign a pact, but what they did is, they talked amongst themselves, talked about the burden they've had in the background of their lives, and decided that none of them would marry, none of them would have children. And that's a pact they've kept to this day." Though none of Stuart-Houston's sons had children, his son Alexander, a social worker as of 2002, said that contrary to this speculation, there was no intentional pact to end the Hitler bloodline.


title: Hitler family

text: It is alleged that Hitler had a son, Jean-Marie Loret, with a Frenchwoman named Charlotte Lobjoie. Jean-Marie Loret was born in March 1918 and died in 1985, aged 67. Loret married several times, and had as many as nine children. His family's lawyer has suggested that, if their descent from Hitler could be proven, they may be able to claim royalties for Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf". However, several historians, such as Anton Joachimsthaler, and Sir Ian Kershaw, say that Hitler's paternity is unlikely or impossible to prove. Nevertheless, it was noted that the two shared a strong physical resemblance.


title: Hitler family

text: Hitler has also been alleged to have had another son with Unity Mitford, a British socialite who had been within Hitler's inner circle. Following Mitford's attempted suicide and return to the United Kingdom, she spent time at Hill View Cottage, a private maternity home in Oxfordshire. The theory alleged that Hitler and Mitford had a much closer relationship than previously known, and that Mitford was in fact pregnant and had given birth to Hitler's son, who was subsequently given up for adoption, and whose identity was protected. Journalist Martin Bright, who had been contacted regarding this theory after publishing a previous article on Mitford, investigated the maternity home. Bright found that Hill View Cottage was used as a maternity home during the war and that the presence of Mitford was a consistent rumour throughout the village. A look through the birth records at the Oxfordshire register office was also consistent with what Bright's contact had claimed about the maternity home, including that it had been managed by their aunt Betty Norton, but there was no record of Mitford having been at the home. A lack of recordkeeping at the home was not uncommon, as had been claimed by the records officer. Bright contacted the sister of Unity Mitford, Deborah, who was the last of the Mitford sisters still alive at the time. Deborah dismissed the theory of Hitler's baby as "gossip of villagers", but confirmed that Unity had stayed at the maternity home to recover from a nervous breakdown. Inquiring with the National Archives, Bright also found a file on Unity sealed under the 100-year rule. He received special permission to open it and discovered that in October 1941, Unity Mitford had been consorting with a married RAF test pilot, which Bright stated "was hard evidence that Unity might not have been quite the invalid it was supposed". The theory of Mitford giving birth to Hitler's baby was popularised by the Channel 4 documentary "Hitler's British Girl", which covered Bright's investigation. It had also been revealed that MI5 wished to interrogate her after her return to Britain, and it was only on the intervention of the Home Secretary Sir John Anderson that she was not. The "Evening Standard" wrote of this theory that "Unity would have been happy to bear Hitler's child, preferably in wedlock rather than out of it. She never disguised her wish to marry the Führer." Unlike Loret, the identity of this alleged son or whether he even exists remains unknown and is near impossible to prove, for this reason many historians and those who knew Mitford personally have dismissed the allegation.


title: Hitler family

text: Note: For simplicity, the first (childless) marriage of Alois Hitler (b. 1837) to Anna Glasl-Hörer has been excluded, as have any marriages that may have occurred after 1945.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: The term "rhythm and blues" has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was frequently applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term "R&B" became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. From 1960s to 1970s, several British bands and groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Animals were referred to and promoted as being R&B bands. By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" had changed again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the late 1980s, a newer style of R&B developed, becoming known as "contemporary R&B". It combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, disco, hip hop, and electronic music.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: Although Jerry Wexler of "Billboard" magazine is credited with coining the term "rhythm and blues" as a musical term in the United States in 1948, the term was used in "Billboard" as early as 1943. It replaced the term "race music", which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world. The term "rhythm and blues" was used by "Billboard" in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, when its "Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles" chart was renamed as "Best Selling Soul Singles".


title: Rhythm and blues

text: Before the "Rhythm and Blues" name was instated, various record companies had already begun replacing the term "race music" with "sepia series". "Rhythm and blues" is often abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: In the early 1950s, the term "rhythm & blues" was frequently applied to blues records. Writer and producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as "a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans". He has used the term "R&B" as a synonym for jump blues. However, AllMusic separates it from jump blues because of R&B's stronger gospel influences. Lawrence Cohn, author of "Nothing but the Blues", writes that "rhythm and blues" was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts. Well into the 21st century, the term R&B continues in use (in some contexts) to categorize music made by black musicians, as distinct from styles of music made by other musicians.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, and saxophone. Arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, and often hypnotic textures while calling attention to no individual sound. While singers are emotionally engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they remain cool, relaxed, and in control. The bands dressed in suits, and even uniforms, a practice associated with the modern popular music that rhythm and blues performers aspired to dominate. Lyrics often seemed fatalistic, and the music typically followed predictable patterns of chords and structure. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: One publication of the Smithsonian Institution provided this summary of the origins of the genre in 2016."A distinctly African American music drawing from the deep tributaries of African American expressive culture, it is an amalgam of jump blues, big band swing, gospel, boogie, and blues that was initially developed during a thirty-year period that bridges the era of legally sanctioned racial segregation, international conflicts, and the struggle for civil rights".


title: Rhythm and blues

text: The term "rock and roll" had a strong sexual connotation in jump blues and R&B, but when DJ Alan Freed referred to rock and roll on mainstream radio in the mid-1950s, "the sexual component had been dialled down enough that it simply became an acceptable term for dancing".


title: Rhythm and blues

text: The great migration of Black Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s created a new market for jazz, blues, and related genres of music. These genres of music were often performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The precursors of rhythm and blues came from jazz and blues, which overlapped in the late-1920s and 1930s through the work of musicians such as the Harlem Hamfats, with their 1936 hit "Oh Red", as well as Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and T-Bone Walker. There was also increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: R&B originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm". In that year, Louis Jordan dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs, and two of the top five songs were based on the boogie-woogie rhythms that had come to prominence during the 1940s. Jordan's band, the Tympany Five (formed in 1938), consisted of him on saxophone and vocals, along with musicians on trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums. Lawrence Cohn described the music as "grittier than his boogie-era jazz-tinged blues". Robert Palmer described it as "urbane, rocking, jazz-based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat". Jordan's music, along with that of Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Billy Wright, and Wynonie Harris, is now also referred to as jump blues. Already Paul Gayten, Roy Brown, and others had had hits in the style now referred to as rhythm and blues. In 1948, Wynonie Harris's remake of Brown's 1947 recording "Good Rockin' Tonight" reached number two on the charts, following band leader Sonny Thompson's "Long Gone" at number one.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: In 1949, the term "Rhythm and Blues" (R&B) replaced the Billboard category "Harlem Hit Parade". Also in that year, "The Huckle-Buck", recorded by band leader and saxophonist Paul Williams, was the number one R&B tune, remaining on top of the charts for nearly the entire year. Written by musician and arranger Andy Gibson, the song was described as a "dirty boogie" because it was risque and raunchy. Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers' concerts were sweaty riotous affairs that got shut down on more than one occasion. Their lyrics, by Roy Alfred (who later co-wrote the 1955 hit "(The) Rock and Roll Waltz"), were mildly sexually suggestive, and one teenager from Philadelphia said "That Hucklebuck was a very nasty dance". Also in 1949, a new version of a 1920s blues song, "Ain't Nobody's Business" was a number four hit for Jimmy Witherspoon, and Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five once again made the top five with "Saturday Night Fish Fry". Many of these hit records were issued on new independent record labels, such as Savoy (founded 1942), King (founded 1943), Imperial (founded 1945), Specialty (founded 1946), Chess (founded 1947), and Atlantic (founded 1948).


title: Rhythm and blues

text: African American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs in the 1800s with the popularity of the Cuban contradanza (known outside of Cuba as the habanera). The "habanera rhythm" can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat.


title: Rhythm and blues

text: For the more than a quarter-century in which the cakewalk, ragtime and proto-jazz were forming and developing, the Cuban genre "habanera" exerted a constant presence in African American popular music. Jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo/habanera rhythm (which he called the Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz. There are examples of tresillo-like rhythms in some African American folk music such as the hand-clapping and foot-stomping patterns in ring shout, post-Civil War drum and fife music, and New Orleans second line music. Wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans "clave" (although technically, the pattern is only half a clave). Tresillo is the most basic duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Sub-Saharan African music traditions, and its use in African American music is one of the clearest examples of African rhythmic retention in the United States. The use of tresillo was continuously reinforced by the consecutive waves of Cuban music, which were adopted into North American popular culture. In 1940 Bob Zurke released "Rhumboogie", a boogie-woogie with a tresillo bass line, and lyrics proudly declaring the adoption of Cuban rhythm:


title: Rhythm and blues

text: Although originating in the metropolis at the mouth of the Mississippi River, New Orleans blues, with its Afro-Caribbean rhythmic traits, is distinct from the sound of the Mississippi Delta blues. In the late 1940s, New Orleans musicians were especially receptive to Cuban influences precisely at the time when R&B was first forming. The first use of tresillo in R&B occurred in New Orleans. Robert Palmer recalls: