These days I’m finding more and more conspiracy theories to be true. So what else could be true? Did Hitler really die in the bunker on April 30th 1945, and does it matter?
The first thing I looked for was photographic evidence. I looked at the picture that my search had brought up. It looked a lot like Hitler, but I also noticed two things. One the man in the photo had been shot in the head. Second he was quite emaciated. Even in the closing days of the war German High Command continued to be well fed.
(link to image now broken)
There is a high likelihood he was being used as a body double. They were common in WW2 and most likely used by the elites today.
It turns out this body at first thought to be Hitler was soon established it wasn’t him. Something about Hitler would not have worn darned socks, according to Red Army soldiers. Stalin was extremely interested in locating Adolf Hitler. The very next day the Red Army soldiers found two obliterated corpses that they believed to be Adolf and Eva as according to numerous eye witnesses that saw the bodies taken out of the bunker and burned in the back yard.
There was very little left. Basically some teeth in a jaw. These remains were immediately identified as Hitler’s. It seems speedy but I’m not a dental expert. A more recent examination determined they were categorically Hitlers'. Very strong terminology used there.
One of the leading historians in the field Luke Daly-Groves, who wrote Hitler's Death: The Case Against Conspiracy, contends that no serious historian doubts this, it’s a fact of history and lies about Hitler are dangerous.
Rumours begin where there are holes in the evidence. In this case to all intents and purposes there is no body. Autopsy results were sent to Stalin who did not share this information with the West. This undoubtedly led to a situation whereby Eisenhower could say he had doubts whether Hitler was dead or alive. All feeding the rumour mill.
Thirty seven eye witnesses were interviewed by the Red Army and later by historian Trevor Roper when he compiled his intelligence report for MI5. Many saw Hitler in the hours preceding his suicide, although only a select few actually saw the bodies in the bunker. Most confirm the couple were sat on the sofa. That Eva had taken poison and Hitler's head was slumped sideways on the sofa and there was blood.
There are naturally discrepancies between statements. Was there a gun shot that could be heard for example. Reported by some but not by the people closest to the bunker such as the guard. It was Hitler's valet who entered the antechamber and reported he smelt gun powder. They then carried out Hitler's very specific instructions of how he wished to be disposed of.
Later tests performed on the bloody remains of the sofa were found to be Blood Group A – a less common group – and one shared by Hitler.
Their suicide did not come as a surprise in the bunker, it was being talked about. Hitler had already tried cyanide on his beloved German Shepherd Blondi.
He arranged a goodbye to all the staff in the bunker. He also wrote a suicide note, his political testament.
In this last will and testament Hitler writes;
I cannot abandon the city...I wish to share my fate with that which millions of others...
He implies he has character for doing this. The word coward comes up repeatedly. He fears being captured (and being hung from a tree like Mussolini which he would learn about later that day),
I shall not fall into the hands of the enemy...cowardly resignation or even to capitulation
He views himself as the brave leader leading the way,
the commanders must set a shining example of faithful devotion to duty until death.
This is witnessed by Borman, Goebbels, Burgdorf and Krebs on 29 April at 4am with the Red Army tanks advancing towards them.
Now it is feasible Borman would have been able to get them out of Germany and onto a Ratline as was being run by the Vatican which helped thousands of Nazis to escape primarily to South America. Once there, was a man like Hitler who had been the Fuhrer, be happy to sink into infamy? Or are we expected to believe Nazis run the world from secret complexes (Antarctica/the moon) and we are living in a Fourth Reich?
When you see that the world is indeed being run by evil psychopaths today with their eugenics agenda it can make the whole Hitler didn’t die in the bunker seem even more feasible. The question is would a megalomaniac like Hitler have been content to lead a quiet, sheltered life?
It’s also important to remember that although thousands of Nazis escaped and many more were recruited to work for the US or the USSR, there were still Nazi hunters active. Intelligence agencies managed to track down and arrest Nazis after the war . Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, was captured in Argentina by Mossad in 1960. If there had been any solid ground for believing in Hitler’s survival the intelligence agencies would have looked into it after the war.
Some historians have pointed to the announcement of Hitler’s death on German radio – in a nation where propaganda was rife – so they are suspicious of the source. However, one can see how Hitler viewed his suicide as an act of propaganda to inspire continued fighting among the troops, and for his legacy.
In this case the weight of evidence I believe lies with Hitler taking his own life in the bunker. The story has the ring of truth and the numerous eye witnesses make a compelling case of the last days in the bunker as the Red Army advanced. Goebbels, his wife and their three children all followed Hitler’s lead. His testament and his soldierly death seem in earnest.
What I object to is the assertion that to question this narrative (and by implication any other) is somehow dangerous. According to Luke Daly-Groves -
It’s dangerous because it undermines trust in historians and scientists. Experts – that is the word historian Luke Daly-Groves puts forward. Thinking for yourself undermines the experts. Trust the experts.
It’s dangerous because, these nut job conspiracy theorists undermine democracy, believing it’s all a cover-up.
- It’s encouraging for neo-Nazis. Just don’t mention the Ukraine!
