# Quote — William L. Shirer, Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich

> Adolf Hitler was the third son and the fourth of six children of Alois Hitler (born Schicklgruber) (1837–1903), a minor customs official, and Klara Pölzl (1860-1907), his second cousin, and third wife. Alois was born illegitimate and for the first thirty-nine years of his life bore his mother's name, Schicklgruber. The name Hitler appears in the maternal and paternal line. Both Hitler's grandmother on his mother's side and his grandfather on his father's side were named Hitler, or rather variants of it, for the family name was variously written as Hiedler, Huetler, Huettler and Hitler. Because Adolf's mother was his father's second cousin, an episcopal dispensation had to be obtained for the marriage.

- Author: [William L. Shirer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer.md)
- Book: [Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_L._Shirer#The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich_(1960)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/adolf-hitler-was

## More from this book

> And had all the other orders of Hitler and Bormann — there were a number of supplementary directives -- been carried out, millions of Germans who had escaped with their lives up to then might well have died. Speer tried to summarize for the Nuremberg court the various "scorched earth" orders. To be destroyed he said were: "All industrial plants, all important electrical facilities, water works, gas works, food stores and clothing stores; all bridges, all railway and communication installations, all waterways, all ships, all freight cars and all locomotives."

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/and-had-all.md)

> "I have fallen from Heaven!" ("Ich bin vom Himmel gefallen!") Hitler exclaimed when he read Chamberlain's message. He was astounded but highly pleased that the man who presided over the destinies of the mighty British empire should come pleading to him, and flattered that a man who was sixty-nine years old and had never travelled in an airplane before should make the long seven hours' flight to Berchtesgaden at the farthest extremity of Germany. Hitler had not had even the grace to suggest a meeting place on the Rhine, which would have shortened the trip by half.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/i-have-fallen.md)

> Chamberlain's stubborn, fanatical insistence on giving Hitler what he wanted, his trips to Berchtesgaden and Godesberg and finally the fateful journey to Munich rescued Hitler from his limb and strengthened his position in Europe, in Germany, in the Army, beyond anything that could have been imagined a few weeks before. It also added immeasurably to the power of the Third Reich vis-à-vis the Western democracies and the Soviet Union.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-l-shirer/rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich/chamberlains-stubborn-fanatical.md)