The question has been raised if we are allowed to accept Germans as converts. The Shevet Halevi addressed this in 1981 where he wrote that we can accept them if they are sincere. It’s difficult to say that the Germans are Amalek, although their actions are similar, since the Gemara says Sancheiriv, King of Ashur, confused all the nations. He conquered and resettled them in different lands. Since the nations of the world became integrated, even if someone comes from a certain land we can’t assume he is an actual descendant of that nation.
Dr. Daniel Brown (a pseudonym), whose grandmother’s second husband, Hans Hitler, was the Führer’s nephew, converted to Judaism. Born in Frankfurt in 1952, Brown's father, a staunch Nazi supporter, divorced his mother soon after his birth. In 1977, while studying at Hebrew University in Israel, Brown developed a deep connection to the country, extending his stay from one year to two. Eventually, he enrolled at Yeshivas Mercaz Harav and converted to Judaism in 1979. He later married another German convert.
Other individuals with similar life paths include Matthias Goering, the great-nephew of Hermann Goering, Hitler’s right-hand man, who now keeps kosher, observes Shabbos and wears a yarmulke; Katrin Himmler, the great-niece of SS Commander Heinrich Himmler, who married an Israeli; and Oskar Eder, who changed his name to Asher, married a Holocaust survivor, and now works as a tour guide in Israel.
5:149. Brachos 28a.
As crazy as it sounds, there were a nice amount of Jews in New York in 1933 who had the last name Hitler. A JTA article from June 1933 entitled “Kiss the Mezuzah — and meet the Brownsville Hitlers” begins, “Herr Adolf Hitler of Germany would be covered with confusion if he dared to enter the strictly kosher home of Mrs. Rose Hitler, pretty young Jewish housewife, who lives at 233 E. 92nd Street, in the heart of Brooklyn’s Brownsville.” In 1933, more than 30 families across New York had the last name Hitler, the same name as the man who became the leader of Nazi Germany that year. Rose Hitler said, “My father-in-law, may he rest in peace, used to say when he was living that he never heard of a Hitler who wasn’t Jewish. Take my brother-in-law, Louis Hitler, who lives on Pulaski Street. Take all the other Hitlers in New York.”
