(CNN) -- Adolf Hitler left no offspring when he died in his
bunker in 1945. But he wasn't the last of the Hitler line. He had a
nephew, William Patrick Hitler, who grew up in England, moved to
America, and had three sons.
The story of those Hitlers is told in a new documentary, "The
Last of the Hitlers," based on the book of the same name by British
journalist David Gardner. CNN's Paula Zahn spoke to Gardner on
Tuesday's "American Morning."
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Very remarkable story to share with you
now. There are three brothers who live normal, anonymous lives with
their mother in a modest house in Long Island, New York. But the
three men have a darkly unique heritage. They happen to be the
great nephews of Adolf Hitler, the last known living relatives of
the murderous tyrant.
A new documentary, called "The Last of the Hitlers," tells the
story of the brothers, and their bizarre pact with each other never
to have children in order to sever the bloodline of their infamous
relative.
The film is based on the fascinating book of the same name by
journalist David Gardner, who joins us now from Los Angeles,
California.
So David, how did you find these brothers?
Photos of Hitler's great nephews that appear in Gardner's book
DAVID GARDNER, AUTHOR, "THE LAST OF THE HITLERS": Well, it was a
long journey. About 1995, I was working with a news agency in New
York, and I was asked to try and track them down, track down
William Patrick Hitler, who was Hitler's nephew. There had been
some cuttings, old newspaper cuttings, from before the Second World
War, and that's pretty much the last anyone heard of him.
So, I kind of started with a phone book, looking under Hitler in
the phone book. Didn't get very far. It was a long journey. Took me
about four years to find the family.
ZAHN: And once you found them, what proof did you have that these
men were actually related to Hitler?
GARDNER: Well, for a start, I had birth dates, and documentary
evidence before I actually approached the family, and then when I
actually knocked at their door, this is the first time anyone had
actually knocked at their door for 50 years. So it was something of
a shock to them, but William Patrick's widow confirmed that her
husband was indeed -- or had indeed -- been the nephew of Adolf
Hitler.
ZAHN: Sorry -- sorry. I was just going to refer back to the head
shots we just saw. There didn't seem to be any overt physical
resemblance to Adolf Hitler. What were the similarities you found,
if any, between these nephews and their uncle?
GARDNER: Well, I think that is the point. Apart from a very vague
resemblance in looks, these -- this part of the family is so far
removed from Adolf. They've lived all-American lives. They live in
a small town in Long Island. ... They were born in America, and
these are the American Hitlers, in effect.
But they've lived very different lives to the one that the Fuhrer
lived, and indeed, a different life than then one their father
lived. Their father actually grew up in England, spent six, seven
years in Germany in the 1930s, where his uncle gave him a job, and
then he came to America just before the Second World War, and the
family's been here ever since.
ZAHN: Tell us a little bit about this blackmail letter that you
learned of. Who had the letter and what did it tell us?
GARDNER: Well, William Patrick, as I said, was working in Germany
in the '30s, and he'd gone there hoping to benefit from his uncle's
position. At that time, having a Hitler in Germany, there was a
good chance he was going to get a good position, but he found that
he was kind of knocked around -- he worked at a lowly bank job, he
worked in a car factory, never really getting any decent money or
any position. He sent a blackmail letter to Adolf, basically
saying: If you don't give me a better job and treat me a little bit
better, I'll go public with the speculation within the family that
Hitler himself had a Jewish grandfather.
ZAHN: Whatever became of that threat?
GARDNER: Well, in fact, Hitler kind of bowed down to it, this lowly
nephew, and did give him some money, which is kind of curious. I
mean, of all the terrible things that Hitler did, the one person
that stood up to him seems to have been his own nephew, and who
went away with the equivalent now to a quarter-million
dollars.
ZAHN: Let's talk about the reality of the lives these nephews live.
Did they all change their names so they could live in relative
obscurity here?
GARDNER: Yeah, that's the case. In fact, when William Patrick,
Adolf's nephew, came to America, he went on to serve in the U.S.
Navy and fought against his uncle. But after the war, obviously, it
became clear that having the name Hitler was not a good thing to
have. And he changed his name, and went on to have -- to marry,
have a family, and they lived in total anonymity. That was for the
last 50 years.
ZAHN: And David, is it true the nephews signed a pact making the
agreement that none of them would ever bear children so that the
bloodline would basically stop with them?
GARDNER: They didn't sign a pact, but what they did is, they talked
amongst themselves, talked about the burden they've had in the
background of their lives, and decided that none of them would
marry, none of them would have children. And that's something that
-- a pact they've kept to this day.
ZAHN: Well, it's amazing, it took you four years to find them. The
story is absolutely fascinating, as is the book. We very much
appreciate your getting up at this ungodly hour on the West Coast
to join us this morning.
GARDNER: It's a pleasure. Thank you.
ZAHN: David Gardner, thank you very much for your time this
morning.