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Apr 05, 2016 By Zach Hollwedel Web Exclusive

A 16-year old girl in St. Louis. An Ecuadorean immigrant. The aging father to four adult children in Salt Lake City. A lonely German national with no one and no money. These four seemingly unrelated people—and others featured in the documentary—have one thing in common—their name. By all accounts, their bond is picayune, and had it been any other cognomen, their linkage would be wholly unremarkable. Such is not the case, however, when your name is Hitler.

Director Matthew Ogens’ Meet the Hitlers chronicles the daily lives of people saddled with the most notorious last name of all time, and how (or if) the infamous connection impacts them and their everyday interactions. Emily Hittler is your typical high school student. Her primary concerns revolve around school drama and grades and her family’s financial hardships. It’s easy to imagine her surname—which, she’s sure to point out has two Ts—would alienate her from her peers or make her the subject of ridicule. But it doesn’t. Emily has embraced her family name as an inherent part of her identity. Gene Hitler in Salt Lake City is similar in his acceptance of his last name. Ever curious, he practices genealogy (an unavoidable pun) and traces his branch of the Hitlers’ emigration to the United States all the way back to the late 1700s. Gene was over a decade old when World War Two began, so it wasn’t until he was already a pre-teen did his name even have any negative connotation. Like Emily, Gene doesn’t mind being a Hitler; he is, however, grateful that his mother decided not to go with her initial choice for Gene’s first name—Adolph.

When Hitler Gutierrez’s father named him, they had no clue who Adolph Hitler was. World War Two had long since ended, but Hitler’s infamy hadn’t permeated their small town in Ecuador. Gutierrez’s father simply thought Hitler sounded like a unique name, one he couldn’t recall anyone else he knew as having. Over the documentary, Hitler Gutierrez shares his experiences as an immigrant in America with one of the most hated names in the world, an association that cost him jobs and opportunities.

Perhaps most interesting among the subjects, however, is Romano Hitler, a German citizen who claims to be the only living relative of the notorious despot. The man, one of the saddest, most lonely documentary subjects featured on screen in a long time, has no family, no money, and no friends. His name has been a curse his whole life, one his parents warned him about, before they abandoned him at an orphanage when he was but a boy. Romano is so alone in this world that he clings to the only person he has: Adolph Hitler. It’s a fascinating, devastating response, when Ogens presents Romano with evidence that three of Adolph’s great nephews are actually living in the United States. Romano won’t accept such a claim, since it deprives him of the only connection he has in life to other people, even if that connection is someone as universally despised as Adolph Hitler.

Therein lies the heart of the film. What does the name Hitler mean to those who have it? The individuals profiled who have no relation to the genocidal maniac might feel a modicum shame when they have to give their name, but they also accept it as part of who they are. When Ogens—via reporter Doug Shimell—unearths the existence of Hitler’s blood relatives two generations removed, he finds a wall. Yes, there exist people who can trace their lineage directly to the dictator, and they have tried their hardest to erase their history. They have changed their name and pledged to let their family line die. In blood, they are Hitlers, but in name, they are not.

Meet the Hitlers is a fascinating examination of the power of a name and perhaps the even greater power of the individual who rises above it.

www.meetthehitlers.com

Author rating: 7/10