orn two years later. The family moved once more in 1895 to the farm community of Hafeld, 30 miles southwest of Linz. Another sister, Paula, was born in 1896, the sixth of the family, supplemented by a half brother and half sister from one of his father's two previous marriages. Following another family move, Adolf lived for six months across from a large Benedictine monastery. The monastery's coat of arms' most salient feature was a swastika. During this time in Hitlers childhood, his dream was to enter the priesthood. While there is evidence that Hitlers father regularly beat him during his childhood, it was not unusual for discipline to be enforced in that way during that period (Davidson 58-67). So you can see that Hitlers childhood was very unbalanced. By 1900, Hitler's talents as an artist surfaced. He did well enough in school to be eligible for either the university preparatory "gymnasium" or the technical/scientific Realschule. Because the Realschule had a course in drawing, Hitler accepted his father's decision to enroll him in the Realschule. Hitler would not last long there, partially because of illness, and partially because he was not doing well grade wise. So he dropped out of school at the age of sixteen. In 1906, Adolf was permitted to visit Vienna, but he was unable to get into the art school there. Hitler spent six years in Vienna, living on a small income from his father and an orphan's pension. Virtually penniless by 1909, he wandered Vienna sleeping in bars, flophouses, and shelters for the homeless, including those financed by Jewish philanthropists. It was during this period that he developed his prejudices about Jews, his interest in politics, and debating skills. However, Vienna was a center of anti-Semitism, and the media's portrayal of Jews as scapegoats with stereotypes did not escape Hitler's mind-set. Seeking to avoid military service, Hitler left Vienna for Munich, the capital of Bavaria. But the poli...
