| Leo Rudolf Raubal Jr. | |
| Birth Date: | 2 October 1906 |
| Birth Place: | Linz, Austria-Hungary |
| Death Place: | Spain |
| Placeofburial: | Linz |
| Branch: | Luftwaffe |
| Serviceyears: | 1939–1943 |
| Rank: | Leutnant |
| Battles: | World War II |
| Relations: | Angela Hitler (mother) Adolf Hitler (half-uncle) |
Leo Rudolf Raubal Jr. (2 October 1906 – 18 August 1977) was an Austrian half-nephew of Adolf Hitler who served in the German Luftwaffe during World War II.
Leo Raubal Jr. was the son of Leo Raubal Sr. and his wife Angela, Adolf's half-sister. Raubal Jr. worked in Salzburg as a teacher of chemistry. He visited his mother sporadically while she was living in Berchtesgaden. Like his younger cousin Heinz Hitler but unlike cousin William Patrick Hitler, Leo Raubal was a "favorite nephew of the leader", and Hitler liked to spend his time with him.[1] According to William Patrick Hitler, Leo did not like his uncle Adolf and blamed the latter for the death of his sister Geli. This cannot be confirmed, with Leo saying in 1967 that Hitler was "absolutely innocent" of Geli's death, according to historian Werner Maser.[2]
Before the war, he became a manager of the Linz Steelworks. In October 1939, he was drafted into the Luftwaffe and was a lieutenant in the engineering corps. He looked similar to Adolf Hitler and sometimes served as Hitler's double during the war.[3]
He was injured in January 1943 during the Battle of Stalingrad,[4] and Friedrich Paulus asked Hitler for a plane to evacuate Raubal to Germany.[5] Hitler refused and Raubal was captured by the Soviets on 31 January 1943. Hitler gave orders to examine the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Soviets for Stalin's son Yakov Dzhugashvili, who had been captured by the Germans on 16 July 1941.[6] Stalin refused to exchange him either for Raubal or for Friedrich Paulus,[7] [8] and said "war is war".[9] Raubal was detained in Moscow's jails and was released by the Soviets on 28 September 1955, and returned to Austria.
He lived and worked in Linz as a teacher. He died during a vacation in Spain. He was buried on 7 September 1977 in Linz.[10] Leo Raubal Jr. had a son Peter (born 1931) who along with Elfriede Raubal's son, Heiner Hochegger (born 1945), and William Patrick Hitler's three surviving sons Alexander Adolf (born 1949), Louis (born 1951), and Brian William (born 1965) are the closest living relatives to Adolf Hitler. Peter Raubal is a retired engineer who lives in Linz, Austria.