The question “How did Hitler die?” is one which has been debated for many years. We take a closer look at some of the conspiracy theories surrounding his mysterious death
When the Life Daily team began researching material to answer this question, it discovered that there were many people who disputed that Hitler had actually died in his bunker in Berlin in 1945.
Firstly, to give some framework to this article, here is a little background. At the beginning of April 1945, World War II entered its last few weeks. Russian troops were advancing on the German capital from the east, and were about 50 miles (82 kilometers) from Berlin.
Allied forces were moving in from the north and south, and the remainder of the German leadership understood that the battle for Berlin would be the last offensive of a war that had lasted six years
Although American and Canadian forces could have been the first to arrive, a political decision was made to allow the Russian army to get there first.
The relevance of this decision is critical to the dispute over Hitler’s death, since Russian soldiers were the first to enter the area of Hitler’s bunker, and the bunker itself. This has meant that information about the deaths of Hitler, his wife, and other occupants of the bunker, has been controlled by Russia to this day.
The generally accepted version of events is that Hitler committed suicide by taking a cyanide capsule and then shooting himself in the mouth.
His wife, Eva Braun – who he had married only 40 hours previously – also took cyanide. Members of Hitler’s staff then carried the two bodies out of the bunker, doused them in petrol and attempted to burn their remains.
They were not successful, since it is difficult to totally destroy bodies by fire in the open air. After trying repeatedly, they gave up and fled. The Russians then had control of the remains, and their version of how Hitler died was accepted at the time.
There is some eyewitness evidence from Germans who claim to have either seen what took place, or were active participants. But the reliability of their statements has been repeatedly challenged. It is suggested that their overwhelming loyalty to Hitler would cause them to say or do anything for his protection, including faking his death.
For many years after the war there were rumors that Hitler had not died, and numerous sightings were reported from around the world
One of the more credible claims has been made recently by film-makers Noam Shalev and Pablo Weschler. Their new documentary, ‘Hitler in Argentina’, says that Hitler and Eva Braun spent the last years of their lives living comfortably in a hotel in Cordoba, Argentina.
The hotel was owned by Ida and Walter Eichorn, who had been close friends and supporters of Hitler. Weschler claims to have interviewed former hotel employees who say that they waited on Hitler for many years after the war.
Weschler points out that just after the war, South America was the responsibility of the FBI
“In de-classified documents the FBI took very seriously the possibility that Hitler fled to Argentina”. Indeed, they even set up a special unit to investigate the claims.
But the most damning evidence that Hitler’s death was faked, and that the Russian version was simply presented by them for propaganda purposes, is recent DNA testing carried out on what were supposed to have been bone fragments from Hitler’s skull. These forensic tests were carried out in 2009, and showed that the skull fragments were those of a 40-year-old female.
No logical explanation has been put forward to explain this seemingly conclusive evidence that the answer to the question, “how did Hitler die?’ has to be “did he?”.
