On August 30, 1998, Don McAreavy, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, wrote to the LDS Family History Library asking if LDS proxy temple work had been performed for Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. McAreavy specifically wanted to know if temple ordinances had been performed for Hitler and Braun on September 28, 1993, in the Jordan River Temple, Utah.
A response to this inquiry was sent to McAreavy on September 8, 1998. Typed on an official letterhead of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the letter was signed by Mae Dean Ashton. The address of the sender was shown as: Family History Library, 35 North West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3400.
Ashton's reply reads as follows:
DON McAREAVY
Dear Mr. McAreavy:
Thank you for your letter of August 30th regarding temple ordinances for Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun.
We searched the International Genealogical Index TM Addendum and found no information listed for either. The enclosed printout is the closest we could find and you will note that birth dates are 1836 and 1838.
No additional information is available.
Sincerely,
Mae Dean Ashton
Team Leader
Photoduplication Unit
The printout Ashton sent McAreavy shows LDS proxy ordinances that have been performed for Alois Hiedler or Heidler (Hitler), the father of Adolf Hitler.
In October 1998, McAreavy was able to obtain copies of LDS temple ordinance records for Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun from Philip Roberts of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. These IGI (International Genealogical Index) copies reveal that Adolf Hitler was "baptized" and "endowed" on December 10, 1993, and "sealed" to his parents on March 12, 1994. These events took place in the London Temple, England.
Roberts' copies also show that Hitler was "sealed" to Braun on September 28, 1993, in the Jordan River Temple, Utah and on June 14, 1994, in the Los Angeles Temple. Roberts sent copies of these records to Ashton.
McAreavy sent another mailing to Ashton on October 17, 1998, again asking her if she could locate information for Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun in LDS files. On November 17, 1998, McAreavy mailed a double registered letter to Ashton. He reminded her that Roberts had sent documentation to her that seemed to indicate that the Mormon Church had done temple ordinances for Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.
"Would you please be kind enough to verify if the information that Philip Roberts provided is both accurate and proof that temple ordinances were performed for Adolf Hitler," McAreavy wrote.
Ashton replied to McAreavy's November 17 letter on December 2, 1998. She again insisted that the (Alois Hitler) copies she had sent McAreavy with her September 8 letter were all that could be located in the IGI TM (Addendum). McAreavy was informed that he could soon expect to receive a reply from the (Family History) Department Director.
On December 29, 1998, McAreavy again wrote to Ashton. He requested the name and mailing address of the Department Director because he had received no communication from that person as promised by Ashton. When there was no response to this request, McAreavy wrote directly to the Department Director of the Photoduplication Department of the Family History Library on January 25, 1999. McAreavy again asked if the Mormon Church had done temple ordinances for Hitler and Braun.
The following reply, again typed on an official letterhead of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dated March 16, 1999, was sent to McAreavy from the Family History Library:
To Whom It May Concern:
Subject: Famous or Historical Figures
You recently wrote to inquire if temple ordinances have been performed for a famous or historical figure. As a matter of policy, we respond to such requests only when those making the request are directly related to the person about whom they seek information.
In might be helpful to know that, as an institution, we have no control over the names individuals submit to receive temple ordinances. However, we strongly counsel Church members to submit only the names of those persons to whom they are related. Furthermore, we believe that ordinances performed in behalf of any deceased individual are valid only if that person is worthy of and chooses to accept what has been done in his or her behalf.
The Church spends a great deal of time, effort, and money to make information available that helps not only its members, but all who are interested in family history pursuits. You are welcome to use the resources we provide. We hope you find satisfaction in doing so.
Sincerely,
Family History Department
In this impersonal communication to McAreavy, the LDS Family History Department clearly avoided taking responsibility for the discrepancy between Ashton's September 8 denial of LDS temple work for Hitler and Braun—and the IGI copies, supplied by Roberts, which seem to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt—that this notoriously well-known pair have, indeed, had proxy LDS ordinances performed on their behalf.
At the time McAreavy made his initial inquiry to the Family History Library on August 30, there were multiple entries in LDS temple ordinance files that showed that Mormons have performed various rituals on behalf of Hitler and Braun. These records can still be accessed. Ashton gave McAreavy incorrect information. Was this a deliberate evasion of truth? What are the facts?
Current IGI TM addendum temple ordinance entries for Mr. (Adolf) Hiedler (Hitler) show that Hitler was "baptized" by Mormons on September 30, 1993, and "endowed" on April 27, 1994, in the Jordan River Temple, Utah. This record was in the IGI TM Addendum at the time of Ashton's denial to McAreavy (of temple ordinance information for Adolf Hitler) on September 8. I obtained a copy of this particular record for Hitler from the LDS Family Search Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City on July 13, 1998—less than two months before Ashton stated that no such IGI record existed for Hitler!
If Ashton and her co-workers were not very efficient in their search for Adolf Hitler temple ordinance entries in the LDS genealogical computer system, the same could be said for their lack of thoroughness in locating the same type of records for Eva Braun.
Eva Anna Paula Braun, born in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, on February 7, 1912, was "baptized" by Mormons on October 16, 1964, and "endowed" on February 5, 1965, in the Los Angeles Temple. She had been "sealed" to her parents some time prior to 1970. This information is current and is easily accessible in the IGI TM Addendum, in which file Ashton stated that no information was available for either Hitler or Braun. Genuine seekers should have found these entries for Braun.
In this case, it seems these records may have been intentionally overlooked. Was it easier for McAreavy to be given inaccurate information rather than present him with any copies that he could possibly have used against the Mormon Church? Or, are the staff of the Family History Library so poorly skilled at accessing their own computer files that they missed the entries in question?
In addition to the IGI, which is a huge database of names and vital information for multi-millions of people, with an Ordinance Index attached, the other significant LDS genealogical file is the Ancestral File. In this family history archive, LDS ordinance records may be found attached to pedigree charts.
There are currently Ancestral File ordinance records that show that Adolf Hitler was "baptized" on September 4, 1993, "endowed" on October 12, 1993, and "sealed" to his parents and also Eva Braun on June 14, 1994 in the Los Angeles Temple. The June 14 sealing of Hitler and Braun is the same sealing of which Roberts sent copies to McAreavy and Ashton. These entries could once be found in the IGI. They have since been deleted, along with other entries for prominent Nazis. What is going on here? Prior to adding the 1997 edition to the IGI, it seems that the Mormon Church, intent on preserving its public image, attempted to remove the names of well-known Nazis from the IGI files. Most of the IGI entries for Adolf Hitler, Mrs. (Adolf Hitler), Adolf Eichmann, Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, and Heinrich Himmler were quietly removed. Also erased were the records for Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Fascist Italy from 1922 to 1943 and an ally of Hitler and the Third Reich.
But the deletion effort was botched. Some entries were missed, such as the ones still current for Hitler and Braun in the IGI and Ancestral File. The IGI ordinance records for Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, which correctly showed his place of birth as Alexandria, Egypt, were deleted—yet other IGI ordinance entries still exist for Hess, wrongly listing his place of birth as Germany.
Also missed were LDS ordinance records, which still exist in the Ancestral File, for Paul Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering. These entries, which include baptisms for each of them, may have been intentionally removed from the IGI files.
Mormons apparently overlooked the LDS ordinance records of other well-known Nazis during their IGI purge. These records are currently accessible. Included in this liberal list are: Reinhard Heydrich, "The Father of The Final Solution"—Hitler's plan to exterminate all Jews in Europe; Alfred Rosenberg, hanged at Nuremberg for war crimes; Ernst Roehm, once the thuggish leader of Hitler's Storm Troopers; and Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, the Famous Desert Fox of World War II.
In May 1994 and March 1996, from LDS genealogical centers I obtained numerous Nazi IGI entries that have since been deleted. In this collection are copies of the LDS records for Hitler and Braun that Roberts sent to McAreavy and Ashton, with the additional sealing of Adolf Hitler to his parents on June 14, 1994.
I have IGI copies of all the LDS ordinance records for Hitler, which are currently in the Ancestral File—but no longer in the IGI. As well, my copies show another baptism for Hitler, almost identical to the one still in the IGI files under Heidler (Hitler) with the same ordinance dates. But the deleted entry is listed as Hitler (Hiedler) Adolf, showing a birth date of 1889. The Hiedler (Hitler) entry shows a birth date of 1891—so they are different records.
A mysterious record for a Mr. Hitler, of Vienna, Austria, with date of death 1900, and showing a proxy baptism date of April 15, 1924, in the Logan Temple, Utah, is also no longer in the IGI files. Other vanished IGI entries are a sealing of Adolf Hitler to Eva Braun on October 19, 1993, at the Jordan River Temple, and a baptism for Mrs. Hitler (Hiedler) on September 10, 1993, and an endowment for her on March 17, 1994, also in the Jordan River Temple.
The Mormon Church has attempted to deliberately conceal LDS temple ordinances for Adolf Hitler. This first occurred with the disappearance of many of the IGI records for Hitler and other publicly known evildoers of the Third Reich. Then—there was a second attempt to cover-up Nazi records when Ashton told McAreavy that no LDS temple ordinances had been performed for Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.
Even when confronted by Roberts with IGI temple records for Hitler and Braun, those in charge of the Family History Department at the Family History Library, representing the genealogical arm of the Mormon Church, did not want to take responsibility for these records. Their implausible excuse was that they have no control over the names individuals submit to receive temple ordinances.
Like a slippery snake in the grass, the Mormon Church may have tried to dodge public criticism by denying its questionable proxy recognition of Adolf Hitler—the amoral and evil Nazi genius who was responsible for the terror and barbarism of the Third Reich and the loss of millions of innocent lives before and during World War II. But LDS ordinance records speak for themselves—Mormons have repeatedly claimed the unpopular Hitler. Anything stated to the contrary cannot alter this conclusion.
Deception is not the hallmark of a church with integrity. As the Mormon Church will eventually find out—even the most artful serpent can be choked by its own coils!
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