Posted: 9/24/2009 6:59:14 AM EDT
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Every so often a tabloid will run an article claiming that Hitler is alive and living in an "enemy" country-usually one of the Eastern Bloc countries/states. Was there a body found that was "known" to be Hitler's, or do we simply "know" he's dead due to reports from the time?
Just a question that pops its head whenever I see one of those bullshit articles. |
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Interesting. What did happen to his body? ETA: Death of Adolf HitlerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe generally accepted cause of the death of Adolf Hitler on 30 April 1945 is suicide by gunshothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-0][1][/url] and cyanide poisoning. The lack of public information concerning the whereabouts of Hitler's remains, confused reports stemming from the dual method and other circumstances surrounding the event encouraged rumours that Hitler may have survived the end of World War II. Records kept by the Soviet KGB and Russian FSB were opened in 1992 and mostly matched the widely accepted version of Hitler's death as described by Hugh Trevor-Roper in his book The Last Days of Hitler published in 1947.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-Roper-1][2][/url] However, the Russian archives yielded more detailed autopsy information along with what happened to the corpse.
SuicideHitler took up residence in the Führerbunker on 16 January 1945 where he presided over a rapidly disintegrating Third Reich as the Allies advanced from both east and west. By late April Soviet forces had entered Berlin and were battling their way to the centre of the city where the Chancellery was located. On 22 April Hitler had what some historians later described as a nervous breakdown during one of his military situation conferences, admitting defeat was imminent and Germany would lose the war. He expressed his intent to kill himself and later asked physician Werner Haase to recommend a reliable method of suicide. Haase suggested combining a dose of cyanide with a gunshot to the head. Hitler had a supply of cyanide capsules which he had obtained through the SS. Meanwhile, on 28 April Hitler learned of Heinrich Himmler's attempt to independently negotiate a peace treaty. Hitler considered this treason and began to show signs of paranoia, expressing worries the cyanide capsules he had received through Himmler's SS were fake. He also learned of the execution of his ally Benito Mussolini and vowed not to share a similar fate. To verify the capsules' potency he ordered Dr. Haase to try them on his dog Blondi and the animal died as a result.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-2][3][/url] After midnight on 29 April,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-MI5-1-3][4][/url] Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the bunker complex. Antony Beevor states that after hosting a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife Hitler took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament. He signed these documents at 04:00 and then retired to bed (some sources say Hitler dictated the last will and testament immediately before the wedding, but all sources agree on the timing of the signing).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-Beevor-343-4][5][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-MI5-2-5][6][/url] Hitler and Braun lived together as husband and wife in the bunker for less than 40 hours. Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500 metres from the bunker, Hitler had a meeting with General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin Defence Area, who informed Hitler the Berlin garrison would probably run out of ammunition that night. Weidling asked Hitler for permission to break out, a request he had made unsuccessfully before. Hitler did not answer at first and Weidling went back to his headquarters in the Bendlerblock where at about 13:00 he got Hitler's permission to try a breakout that night.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-Beevor-358-6][7][/url] Hitler, two secretaries and his personal cook then had lunch consisting of spaghetti with a light sauce, after which Hitler and Eva Braun said their personal farewells to members of the Führerbunker staff and fellow occupants, including the Goebbels family, Bormann, the secretaries and several military officers. At around 14:30 Adolf and Eva Hitler went into Hitler's personal study. Some witnesses later reported hearing a loud gunshot at around 15:30. After waiting a few minutes, Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, with Bormann at his side, opened the door to the small study. Linge later stated he immediately noted a scent of burnt almonds, a common observation made in the presence of prussic acid, the gaseous form of cyanide. Hitler's SS adjutant, Otto Günsche, entered the study to inspect the bodies, which were found seated on a small sofa, Eva's to Hitler's left and slumped away from him. Owing to an exit wound towards the top, left side of his head Hitler appeared to have shot himself in the right temple with a Walther PPK 7.65 mm pistol which lay at his feet. According to Hitler's bodyguard, Rochus Misch, Hitler's head was lying on the table in front of him.  Blood dripping from his temple and chin had made a large stain on the right arm of the sofa and was pooling on the floor/carpet. Eva's body had no visible physical wounds and Linge assumed she had poisoned herself.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-historyplace-8][9][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-9][10][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-10][11][/url] Günsche exited the study and announced that the Führer was dead. Immediately afterwards, several people in the bunker began smoking cigarettes (which had been forbidden, given Hitler's strong dislike for smoking).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-historyplace-8][9][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-11][12][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-12][13][/url] Several witnesses said the two bodies were carried up to ground level and through the bunker's emergency exit to a small, bombed-out garden behind the Chancellery where they were doused with petrol and set alight by Linge and members of Hitler's personal SS bodyguard. Someone was heard to shout: 'Hurry upstairs, they're burning the boss!'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-13][14][/url] The SS guards and Linge later noted the fire did not completely destroy the corpses but Soviet shelling of the bunker compound made further cremation attempts impossible and the remains were later covered up in a shallow bomb crater after 18:00. Ashes thrown in the Elbe riverRed Army troops began storming the Chancellery at approximately 23:00, about 7 hours and 30 minutes after Hitler's death. On 2 May the remains of Hitler, Braun and two dogs (thought to be Blondi and her offspring Wulf) were discovered in a shell crater by Ivan Churakov of the 79th Rifle Corps, to which a unit of SMERSH had been attached with orders to find Hitler's body.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-14][15][/url] Even after the autopsy which, contrary to public reports authorized by Stalin in 1945, recorded both gunshot damage to Hitler's skull and glass shards in his jaw, Stalin was wary about believing his old nemesis was dead.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-kershaw-15][16][/url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-16][17][/url] The remains of Hitler and Braun were repeatedly buried and exhumed by SMERSH during the unit's relocation from Berlin to a new facility in Magdeburg where they, along with the charred remains of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and those of his wife Magda Goebbels and their six children, were buried in an unmarked grave beneath a paved section of the front courtyard. This location was kept highly secret. In 1970 the SMERSH facility, by then controlled by the KGB, was scheduled to be handed over to the East German government. Fearing that a known Hitler burial site might become a Neo-Nazi shrine, KGB director Yuri Andropov authorised an operation to destroy the remains. A Soviet KGB team was given detailed burial charts and on 4 April 1970 they secretly exhumed the ten bodies and thoroughly burned them before throwing the ashes in the Elbe river.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-17][18][/url] In 1969 Soviet journalist Lev Bezymensky's book on the SMERSH autopsy report was published in the west but because of earlier disinformation attempts historians may have thought it untrustworthy.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-18][19][/url] However in 1993 the KGB/FSB publicly released the autopsy records and other statements by former KGB members. Drawing from these, historians reached a consensus about what happened to the bodies of Hitler and Braun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler#cite_note-19][20][/url] |
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I'm pretty sure it went down the way it has been written in the history books. Body was burned then buried. Supposedly the remains were dug up again, cremated and scattered in some river by the Russians. The entire process of burning him in the crater to not give a body makes perfect sense, and there's been nothing to dispute it. The rest of the story varies a bit but who cares at that point. |
| Hitler was born in the late 1880's. If he were alive today he'd probably be among the few oldest living people on earth. He was in pretty poor health in the spring of 1945, and likely would have only lived a few more years naturally. I've never been completely sold on the suicide story. It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't rule out the likelihood of a final conspiracy by his crumbing inner circle to kill him and flee. |
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Every so often a tabloid will run an article claiming that Hitler is alive and living in an "enemy" country-usually one of the Eastern Bloc countries/states. Was there a body found that was "known" to be Hitler's, or do we simply "know" he's dead due to reports from the time? Just a question that pops its head whenever I see one of those bullshit articles. Well considering he was born in 1889 I seriously doubt that he is alive presently.However while he was in his bunker he did not want his body to be displayed and shown around as if he were some kind of prize won to the Allie Countries. He knew that the collapse of Germany was eminent and that all would be lost.He had his guards take Diesel and ordered them to burn his body up.The only proof we have is from the people there that witnessed it.Do I belive this i what happen yes I do. |
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male.
Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. |
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male. Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. Aren't there some of Hitler's relatives still living in the US? IRC, they either had to or decided to change their names since WWII. Also, a good book on Hitler surviving the war is called "The Trial of Adolph Hitler". In this fiction book, he's found in Europe, tried and convicted and sentenced to death with Israeli to carry out the execution. The Israeli's fly him to a remote S. Pacific island, shoot him dead, then pour a chemical on his body that completely dissolves it. This is so that neither the island nor the body become monuments to Hitler. Merlin |
| Stalin hated Hitler and made damn sure he was dead. other points already made is his age, health, and the secrecy of the Russians made it unclear in the west that the Russians had made certain he was dead. The few SS guards that were there and survived all tell the same account. |
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male. Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. Can't say I blame them. The Russians used dental records to verify the identity of Hitler's remains. The "Hitler is alive" controversy exists because the Russians spirited away all of the evidence back to Moscow and locked it away. I have no idea why they did this, but I have trouble believing that they would have wanted to help Hitler fake his own death and escape... ...unless, perhaps, in the spirit of the wildest, craziest conspiracy theory, Stalin wanted Hitler all to himself to torture without interference from the West. I do not believe that Hitler survived through 1945. I believe he committed suicide in his bunker (using his 7.65mm Walther PPK). The destruction of the body is a reasonable outcome. No one wanted it intact. Hitler and the Nazis' didn't want the Allies to have it as a trophy, and the Allies didn't want his gravesite turned into a shrine. I think these motives explain the secrecy regarding Hitler's remains, and are a much more likely explanation than that he somehow survived. (Edited for typos) |
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male. Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. Can't say I blame them. The Russians used dental records to verify the identity of Hitler's remains. The "Hitler is alive" controversy exists because the Russians spirited away all of the evidence back to Moscow and locked it away. I have no idea why they did this, but I have trouble believing that they would have wanted to help Hitler fake his own death and escape... ...unless, perhaps, in the spirit of the wildest, craziest conspiracy theory, Stalin wanted Hitler all to himself to torture without interference from the West. I do not believe that Hitler survived through 1945. I believe he committed suicide in his bunker (using his 7.65mm Walther PPK). The destruction of the body is a reasonable outcome. No one wanted it intact. Hitler and the Nazis' didn't want the Allies to have it as a trophy, and the Allies didn't want his gravesite turned into a shrine. I think these motives explain the secrecy regarding Hitler's remains, and are a much more likely explanation than that he somehow survived. (Edited for typos) the same will be true of Bin Laden's body. The US doesn't want to make him a martyr and bin laden followers don't want to give the US pleasure in knowing we got him/ knowledge their leader is dead. |
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I've never seen anything that really nails it down. The Russians, because of their paranoia, made it impossible to ever get a clear answer. I do think the burning outside the bunker is the most logical explanation. +1-Adolf didn't want to follow in Il Duce's footsteps. 
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male. Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. IIRC from the History Channel documentary, all of Hitler's relatives made the decision not to have children in order to kill off his bloodline. |
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Every so often a tabloid will run an article claiming that Hitler is alive and living in an "enemy" country-usually one of the Eastern Bloc countries/states. Was there a body found that was "known" to be Hitler's, or do we simply "know" he's dead due to reports from the time? Just a question that pops its head whenever I see one of those bullshit articles. Well considering he was born in 1889 I seriously doubt that he is alive presently.However while he was in his bunker he did not want his body to be displayed and shown around as if he were some kind of prize won to the Allie Countries. He knew that the collapse of Germany was eminent and that all would be lost.He had his guards take Diesel and ordered them to burn his body up.The only proof we have is from the people there that witnessed it.Do I belive this i what happen yes I do. I wasn't disputing in the least that he's dead, just commenting on whether or not "his" body was found. Another reason I asked was that 6-8 years ago there was a seller on ebay(when ebay had the ebay wanted page) who said "Check out item numberXXXXXXXX-I can't believe this is real!". Of course curiosity made me look. It was 4 strands of what was claimed to be Hitler's pubic hair and the bid was $1.1 million. Sick joke or not, it started my curiosity on what happened to his body. As far as Hitler's relatives, I do know of a woman who claimed to be Eva Braun's niece until she died of cancer a couple years ago. Age was right and she supposedly had a picture of herself with Hitler and Eva together. May or may not be true. |
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I saw a documentary last week on digging up Hilter's body, not sure if it was Discovery channel or another. It was performed by a group from UConn. They were able to look through the Russian documents and actually obtain a couple of small samples of bone from the piece of skull to perform DNA testing, the also had a piece the couch that was thought to be were Hitler and Ava killed themselves. The couch had blood stains on the fabric and wood. The DNA they were able to obtain from the bone was female DNA and the DNA from the couch was of a male. Very interesting documentary. They tried to obtain DNA from know relative of Hilter's, none wanted to participate. IIRC from the History Channel documentary, all of Hitler's relatives made the decision not to have children in order to kill off his bloodline. Take a look at the "Family" section at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler#Family, then the Hilter Family Tree here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hitlerfamilytree.png There appears to be three people left, but the don't show any children. |