Is Angela Merkel the daughter of Adolf Hitler? No, that's not true: Merkel, the former German chancellor, was born in 1954 in Hamburg, West Germany. Hitler died on April 30, 1945, almost a decade before Merkel was born. Merkel's parents were Horst and Herlind Kasner, as her biography on Britannica states. Hitler had no children and only married Eva Braun the day he killed himself in 1945.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Instagram on February 19, 2024. The fourth slide in the post read:
The fourth Reich began on November 22, 2005 when Angela Merkel Hitler was sworn-in as chancellor of reunited Germany. Angela Merkel Hitler was born in Argentina or West Germany, and adopted by a couple named Horst and Ferlind Kasner from Hamburg, West Germany. Angela was named after her aunt Angela--the sister of Adolf Hitler.
This is what the post looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Fri Feb 23 18:39:11 2024 UTC)
The caption on the post read:
It's just a conspiracy theory...don't get all worked up everyone. I mean why would they place 'supposed offspring' of Hitler into a major world leadership role? 🙄
These are just some 'theories' going around ...not necessarily my theory. But it does cause you to question what's been told.
There is no evidence given in the post to support the claim that Angela Merkel is the daughter of Adolph Hitler.
Angela Merkel, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021, was born in West Germany on July 17, 1954, as Britannica states (archived here). A biography (archived here) of Merkel, as the first female chancellor of Germany, notes that Merkel was born in 1954 to Horst and Herlind Kasner. Her father was a Protestant minister, as The Washington Post reported (archived here).
Hitler died on April 30, 1945, as media around the world (archived here) reported at the time. He took his own life almost 10 years before Merkel was born. This is how the Britannica entry for Hitler reads (archived here):
On April 30 he said farewell to Goebbels and the few others remaining, then retired to his suite and shot himself. His wife took poison. In accordance with his instructions, their bodies were burned.
The National WWII Museum states that Hitler, "committed suicide on April 30, 1945 after being hunted by Soviet troops storming Berlin" (archived here).
Though claims about Hitler's supposed children have persisted for years, no definitive proof exists that the Nazi leader ever fathered any children.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to Angela Merkel or Adolf Hitler can be found here and here.
