Sir, - I refer to a letter from C. Kerrigan in Amsterdam, "Hitler's Irish Cousin", which appeared on September 17th. The only Irish connection of Hitler, as far as I know, was his sister in law Mrs Bridget Hitler (nee Dowling). She was married to Hitler's half brother, Alois.
They left Ireland to marry and settled in Liverpool in 1910. Bridget's marriage broke up, and Alois disappeared. Their son Patrick renewed contacts with his famous uncle and sought employment in Germany, where Bridget met the Fuhrer in his idyllic residence in the Bavarian Alps in 1937.
After a debacle, both escaped the watchful eyes of Adolf's bodyguards and came back to England where they stayed in Highgate, North London. They emigrated in 1939 to New York, and in 1944 William Patrick was sworn into the US Navy.
The whole Irish connection of Hitler is well documented in The Memoirs of Bridget Hitler, edited by Michel Unger and published by Duckworth in 1979. Yours, etc.,
Pembroke Lane,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.