Hitler's 'grandson' speaks out about discovering family lineage

London, Apr 8 (ANI): A French plumber, believed to be Hitler's grandson, has revealed how his father broke the news of their ancestry to him over the dinner table.

Philippe Loret, now 56, and his six siblings were sitting around the dining room table chatting about everyday things almost 40 years ago when their dad, Jean-Marie Loret, told them about his own father.

"Suddenly my father said, 'Kids, I've got something to tell you. Your grandfather is Adolf Hitler'," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"There was stunned silence as no one knew what to say. We didn't know how to react," he added.

Jean-Marie is thought to be Hitler's love child with a French woman called Charlotte Lobjoie.

The story of the infamous dictator's secret child has divided historians for decades. Jean-Marie died in 1985, aged 67, but two months ago, in Paris's Le Point magazine, his lawyer, Francois Gibault, revealed compelling evidence to support his claims.

Tests prove Jean-Marie had the same blood type as Hitler and similar handwriting. Hitler had no official children and never acknowledged or met Jean-Marie but German army papers show that officers took envelopes of cash to Lobjoie during the Second World War.

When she died, Jean-Marie found paintings in her attic signed by Hitler, while in Germany a picture of a woman painted by Hitler looked exactly like Lobjoie.

There is a striking resemblance between Philippe and Hitler too. They both have dimpled chin, square jaw and piercing eyes. He also has photos of the Fuhrer on the walls of his house in Northern France.

A former plumber with the French air force, he has kept his ancestry secret from all but his closest friends, never telling his colleagues or even his partner's family.

Philippe has spoken publicly about it for the first time in the light of new evidence backing up his father's story.

Last month Alan Wilkes, the son of Royal Engineer Leonard Wilkes, one of the first soldiers to land on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, released an entry from his father's diary that appeared to corroborate Jean-Marie's assertion that he was Hitler's illegitimate son.

"An interesting day today. Visited the house where Hitler stayed as a corporal in the last war, saw the woman who had a baby by him and she told us that the baby, a son, was now fighting in the French army against the Germans," Leonard wrote on September 30, 1944.

For his part, Philippe is unperturbed with the fact he could be a direct descendant of the man responsible for the death camps and the Holocaust.I believe I am Hitler's grandson. Of course I am. The evidence is there. If people don't believe it, that's their problem," he said.

"My father told me. My mother is still alive and also believes it. He is part of my family, that's why I have him on the wall. Hitler is my family. It's not my fault that I ended up as his grandson or that all the things happened during the war. What he did has nothing to do with me. He will always be family for me.

"When I was first told, all I was interested in was girls, and so I didn't think about it too much. I knew who Hitler was - I studied him at school - but I did not tell any of my school friends. My private life had nothing to do with them," he added. (ANI)