At 6:30 p.m. on the evening of April 20, 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau Am Inn just across the border from German Bavaria. His mother Klara gave birth to two boys and a girl, all of whom died. In1889 her fourth child, Adolf was born healthy and was baptized a Roman Catholic. Throughout his early days, young Adolf's mother feared losing him as well and lavished much care and affection on him. His father was busy working most of the time and also spent a lot of time on his main hobby, keeping
bees. When Adolf was almost five, in 1893, his mother gave birth to a brother, Edmund. In 1896 came a sister, Paula. In May of 1895 at age six, young Adolf Hitler started the first grade in the public school in the village of Fischlham, near Linz in Austria.
In 1895, at age six, two important events happened in Adolf’s life. First event was that he entered primary school. Secondly, his father retired on a pension from the Austrian civil service. That meant a double dose of supervision and discipline under the watchful eyes of teachers at school and his strict father at home. His father was used to giving orders and having them obeyed and that’s what he also expected from his children. Hitlers’ family moved to little town in the area of Saltbach called Lambach. There was an old Catholic Benedictine monastery in the town. Young Hitler did well in the monastery school and also took part in the boys' choir. He was said to have had a fine singing voice. Adolf as a young boy idolized the priests and for two years seriously considered becoming a priest himself. In describing his boyhood, Hitler later said of himself that he was an argumentative little ring leader who liked to stay outside and hang around with 'husky' boys. In 1898, the Hitler family moved once again, to the village of Leonding, close to Linz. This meant another change of schools for Adolf. He found school easy and got good grades with little effort.One day, young Hitler went rummaging through his father's book collection and came across several of a military nature, including a picture book on the War of 1870 - 1871 between the Germans and the French. By Hitler's own account, this book became an obsession. He read it over and over, becoming convinced it had been a glorious event. Adolf's little brother Edmund, age 6, died of measles. It seems to have shaken Adolf badly. To make matters worse, the little boy was buried in the cemetery next to their house.