Reagan in Hitler Godson’s Castle
Baron Joerg Adolf Sigismund von Holzschuher, who owns the 17th-Century castle where President Reagan is staying this week, says his godfather was Adolf Hitler.
Holzschuher, owner of Gymnich Castle, said he was given his middle name for the Nazi leader and received a silver dish as a gift from Hitler at his christening in a small village in northern Bavaria in 1934.
Hitler was not present at the christening and Holzschuher never saw him, he said today. Nor, he said, did Hitler ever visit the castle, about 18 miles outside Bonn.
“It’s the first I’ve heard of it,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Peter Roussel.
Holzschuher said, “I myself was no Nazi. Even if I had have wanted to, I would not have had the chance. I wasn’t old enough.”
He said he did not know why Hitler became his godfather, but thought that Hitler had many godchildren born to important German officials. Holzschuher’s father, Wilhelm, was governor of two districts in Bavaria and a Nazi Party member at the time, he said, but later opposed the Nazis and was arrested.
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