Not long after Hilliard's encounter with Helmut, his family learned of his father's death on the battlefield of the Seven Years War (1756-1763). After a Pyrrhic Burial Hilliard became Baron Zemo. Weeks later Hilliard's advisors suggested the slaughter of the whole Kleinenshvitz family because new social reforms would've given the Kleinenshvitz family a huge amount of money from the Zemo's family fortune. Hilliard agreed to the slaughter, but warned his beloved Elsbeth about the plan. He told her to leave with her whole family, but she didn't want to leave because she believed in the new laws. She revealed that she carried Hilliard's child within her, but Hilliard still didn't stop the slaughter.

(Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo - Born Better#2 (fb) - BTS) - Hilliard eventually married a woman named Gretchen and fathered Hoffman.

Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza, Tom Grummett & Gary Erskine.

Elsbeth survived, but many of her descendants in the modern era were killed by Wendell Volker (another descendant), who needed their blood to bring back Helmut Zemo to the modern era to murder him. Don't cry! According to Wendell there still exist several dozens more, which made Helmut, who wasn't killed by Wendell, really happy. Finally he had a family.

I'm not sure how old Hilliard became, but it is possible that he lived through the end of the Holy Roman Empire.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Hademar Zemo has no known connection to:

• any other character with blood in their name

Elsbeth Kleinenshvitz

Hilliard's true love and a member of the Kleinenshvitz family, which had served the barony's interest for centuries. Elsbeth and Hilliard encountered the time-displaced Helmut Zemo at the waters near Zemo Keep once and wouldn't believe him when he told them that their love would never be accepted. New laws threatened the Zemo's riches, which would've been rewarded to their peasants, including the Kleinenshvitz family. Because they would've received the biggest amount of money, Hilliard agreed to slaughter them. Elsbeth warned Elsbeth, but didn't prevent the attack on her family even after he had learned from Elsbeth that she was pregnant with his child. Nearly her whole family was killed by Zemo's assassins, but Elsbeth was saved by Helmut Zemo, who advised her to flee as far away from Zemo Keep as possible.

--Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo - Born Better#2

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Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo - Born Better#2, p4, pan4 (main)