Adolf Hitler is one of the most hated and influential figures in modern history. He was the architect of World War II, a conflict that changed the world forever.
His life has become a subject of study for historians, biographers, writers and filmmakers. Despite the fact that everything seems to have been said about Hitler, there are still many facts and theories covered with a veil of secrecy, and these are only the most famous of them.
Was Hitler a brave soldier?
During World War II, Adolf Hitler was one of the most influential military leaders, but in World War I he did not receive the rank of corporal. However, he served in the imperial German army for several years, even being awarded the Iron Cross, one of the most valiant medals in imperial Germany.
History does mention that he was a brave soldier who regularly faced death. However, it is difficult to say whether these references were fabricated by the Nazis, or if Hitler was really brave.
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Was Hitler partly Jewish?
The details of Adolf Hitler's lineage from his maternal side have been established with almost mathematical precision. However, with regard to the pedigree of his father, there are a number of inaccuracies that gave rise to this theory.
Alois Schicklgruber, who later changed his last name to Hitler, was an illegitimate child. Since no one knew who the young Schicklgruber's father was, the place on his birth certificate was left blank.
Historians have gone to great lengths to uncover the true identity of Adolf Hitler's paternal grandfather. The mystery was never revealed, but one potential candidate was a Jew named Leopold Frankenberger.
The possibility that he could be a quarter Jewish haunted Hitler throughout his life.
Modern DNA tests have found in 39 of Hitler's closest living descendants the E1b1b1 chromosome, rare among Europeans and belonging to the Berbers of North Africa and Jews. Perhaps Hitler really was a bit of a representative of the people who sought to wipe out from the face of the Earth.
Did Hitler kill his niece?
Geli Raubal was a beautiful girl. Adolf Hitler, apparently, realized this, and since 1929 they began a love relationship. All would be fine, but Hitler was 19 years older and had an uncle for the girl.
Despite the incest, Hitler demanded that Geli accompany him everywhere. The Fuhrer's love soon turned into an obsession. He did not lose sight of the girl, did not allow himself to be ignored and fell into madness if Geli dared to speak to another man.
The couple lived in a joint apartment in Munich. On the evening of September 18, 1931, neighbors reported that a violent quarrel had taken place between Hitler and his niece. The next morning Geli was found shot to death from Hitler's revolver, which was lying nearby.
Unfortunately, the truth about whether the girl's death was murder or suicide will forever remain hidden, however there are many theories that Hitler himself killed Geli.
Was Hitler really blinded by the poisonous gas?
In 1918, World War I finally ended as a truce entered into force. The vast majority of the soldiers on both sides were relieved that it was over and they survived. But not Adolf Hitler.
During the truce, he was not up to joy, because he was in a field hospital, where he was being treated for the effects of a gas attack. When news of Germany's surrender reached him, he fell to his knees in tears. At least this story was always repeated by Hitler.
In 2011, historian Thomas Weber decided to take a closer look at Hitler's words. The medical history of Hitler during the First World War has been lost or destroyed. However, the famous German neurosurgeon Otfried Forster claimed to remember the notes.
Weber found letters that Forster wrote to his American colleagues in the 1930s. According to Forster, Hitler was hospitalized due to hysterical blindness, not poisonous gas.
Did a British soldier really save Hitler's life?
Henry Tandy was a World War I hero, one of the most decorated soldiers in the entire British army, and perhaps the man who unwittingly missed the opportunity to prevent World War II.
Legend has it that Tandi and Hitler met face to face on the battlefield during World War I. Tandi supposedly could have shot the future leader of Germany, but decided to leave the defenseless enemy to live.
Hitler himself recognized Tandi from a photograph in the newspaper, as the very soldier who once spared unarmed Hitler. Tandi claimed to have actually saved several German soldiers, however he was unable to remember Hitler.
It is still unknown how true this story is.
Was Hitler a weak dictator?
At the height of his power, Adolf Hitler controlled a vast empire that spanned almost all of continental Europe and a large chunk of North Africa. Hitler is usually portrayed as an absolute dictator making all decisions.
However, some historians, most notably Hans Mommsen, have argued that Hitler did not show his full strength. He was indeed the most influential person in the Reich, but was unable or unwilling to exercise direct rule, allowing subordinates to make decisions “on the ground”, trying to impress the Fuhrer.
Was Hitler obsessed with the occult?
This theory, which feeds the fantasies of many writers and filmmakers, is actually not so far from reality. Several members of Hitler's inner circle strongly believed in the power of the supernatural.
Heinrich Himmler created a special SS unit to study and research the occult and supernatural forces. The German Navy even set up the National Pendulum Institute in Berlin.
While British submarines used sonar to track down German submarines, the Germans tried to locate British ships with pendulums suspended over maps of the Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, it is not known whether Hitler was deeply involved in the strange hobby of his subordinates or simply gave them a huge share of freedom. It is only known that Hitler strongly believed in fate and predestination.
Hitler suffered from Parkinson's disease?
During his rise to power, Hitler turned out to be an exceptionally shrewd and cunning politician who knew how to skillfully manipulate people. He later demonstrated the same ability in the international arena, easily outsmarting most European statesmen.
While World War II did not go exactly as Hitler wanted, the flexibility of his mind seemed to have left him. He began to make mistakes and let himself knowingly lose the war.
In 1945, visitors to Hitler's Berlin bunker were shocked at how awful their leader looked. His left hand trembled, and as he walked, he pulled his leg along. The stress of the lost war undoubtedly crippled the Fuhrer's psychological state, but some neuroscientists believe that Hitler suffered from a degenerative defect or Parkinson's disease.
Was Hitler a drug addict?
Adolf Hitler did not smoke, drink alcohol, or eat meat. He even refrained from coffee. Nazi propaganda portrayed him as a man who devoted his entire life to serving Germany: he had neither the time nor the desire to pursue carnal pleasures.
Only recently has it surfaced that it has been suggested that Hitler spent much of the war on a horrific cocktail of drugs.
Hitler's addiction began when he fell ill in 1941. His personal physician, Theodore Morell, treated the Fuhrer with a course of methamphetamine injections. After that, Morell accompanied Hitler everywhere, pumping the Fuhrer with opium drugs before bed and cocaine before important meetings.
In early 1945, the factories producing the drugs he relied on were destroyed by Allied bombers, stopping most of his supplies. Hitler was forced to stop taking drugs, which may have led to symptoms similar to Parkinson's.
Did Hitler survive the war?
Of all the theories circulating around the personality of Adolf Hitler, perhaps the most famous and unsinkable is the theory of his escape to Argentina after the fall of the Third Reich.
We know with certainty that Hitler was in Berlin on his birthday on April 20, 1945, just two weeks before the city fell. Berlin was eventually captured by the Soviets, but Stalin's secret police did not even allow Georgy Zhukov, the commander of the entire frontline, to inspect Hitler's bunker, located under the Reich Chancellery.
By the time the Americans and British were given access, there was no sign of Hitler in the bunker, dead or alive. Without the conclusion of a pathologist, the FBI and CIA initially did not rule out the possibility that Hitler simply fled.
Even in the last weeks of the war, Hitler still had the opportunity to escape, given the Fuhrer's enormous resources. However, there is more evidence of Hitler's death than its denials.
Dozens of mutually confirming eyewitness accounts say that Hitler was in Berlin at the very time when the Red Army was encircling his bunker. The submarine in which he was rumored to have escaped was recently found sunk in the North Sea between Denmark and Norway. In addition, in 2018, the Russian National Archives allowed international experts to examine a number of teeth that belonged to Hitler. A team of French pathologists compared them to X-rays of Hitler's teeth taken in 1944 and announced an exact match.
Author: Nadezhda Chikanchi