The author of The Last Secret of the Reich, Leon Arbatsky, doubts that Hitler committed suicide in April 1945.
Leon Abramovich, you have chosen a significant subtitle for the book - "The Case of the Disappearance of Hitler." It turns out that we are not talking about the death of the Fuhrer … Is there really any reason to assert this?
- I am not asserting, but making an assumption based on facts. And there are a lot of them that allow us to doubt the death of Hitler.
But there is a verdict of the administrative court for civil cases, which in 1956 took place in Berchtesgaden. After hearing 48 witnesses, the judges concluded: Adolf Hitler is dead
- Firstly, this decision, as you have noticed, was 1956. And I don’t deny: by that time Hitler was probably no longer alive. Secondly, many key witnesses were absent from this trial, key documents were not presented, and two key witnesses later recanted their testimonies - the dental technician who made the dentures for Hitler and the dental assistant.
Let me remind you that on May 4, 1945, our scouts discovered the alleged corpses of Hitler and Eva Braun in the imperial garden of Berlin. This find was reported to Stalin. But he said that one should not rush to conclusions. In addition, he made a number of statements addressed to the leaders of the United States and England that Hitler was alive and was hiding somewhere.
Perhaps Stalin received the relevant information from unofficial sources that we do not know about. There is no doubt that he had such sources.
Let's go back to the indications of dentists
- In 1945, when Soviet officers presented Hitler's jaw to a dental technician, he recognized his work. And in 1972, in a conversation with the German writer Werner Mather, he changed his testimony: he says, he cannot say for sure that the plug-in bridge and crowns belong to Hitler. The same was stated then by the assistant dentist. But it was on their confessions that the conclusions of the Soviet experts were based. And since both retracted their testimony, the entire evidence system collapsed.
But there was other important evidence: in the Moscow forensic laboratory, they examined blood stains on the couch on which Hitler allegedly shot himself. The examination showed that this is not blood, but its imitation. The blood type of the alleged body of Hitler, found in the funnel from the shell, also did not match the blood type of Adolf. No bullet canal was found in the brain of the remains found in the garden. In addition, there is a version that on April 30, 1945, Hitler, before putting a bullet in his temple, was poisoned. However, a chemical examination carried out several months later denied the presence of poison.
It turns out that Stalin rightly doubted: Hitler fled? It turns out that someone's corpse was “covered - this escape? But when could the double appear in the bunker?
- Most likely April 30th. On this day, at about 13 o'clock, Hitler said goodbye to his subordinates and retired with Eva Braun to his apartment. Of the surviving witnesses, only one saw Adolf dead, his personal valet Linge. All the others only witnessed the removal of the body, wrapped in a blanket. Who was hiding under the covers is a question.
So, the real Hitler entered the bunker to go into oblivion …
- One of the scenarios: he goes to the bathroom or to the bedroom of Eva Braun. And it locks up there. At this time, the body of an imaginary Hitler, wrapped in its head, is carried out of the office, which was delivered there in advance. They also endure the dead Eva Braun, a victim of poison.
Why did Eve get poisoned if her husband stayed to live? Or was she forced? …
- Perhaps both. Why? … Yes, to make the staging look more believable! Hitler disguises himself and changes his appearance. Shaves off her famous mustache, puts on a wig. All the uninitiated are removed from the bunker at the right time. Hitler's adjutant Gunsche testifies in his testimony that he ordered the guards to leave the premises adjacent to the Fuehrer's apartments. The sentries were also removed from the emergency exit. It was from there, after some time, that the body of a double was taken out.
And what about the original?
- It is known that on the night of May 1, about 40 people fled from the shelter of the Reich Chancellery. The bunker probably had an underground passage leading to city blocks. In general, this bomb shelter was a whole city, where thousands of people were hiding during air raids.
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And yet, how could Hitler be saved if Berlin was occupied by our troops?
- The Fuhrer had chances, and not bad ones. In the confusion of the first post-war weeks, when all of Germany was filled with thousands of unfortunate people, it was not difficult to get lost among them. It is curious that, saying goodbye to his valet, the Fuhrer ordered him to make his way to the West.
- For whom? Linge asked.
- For the Fuhrer!
And in Germany there was only one Fuehrer. The same Linge, sitting in prison, declared that he knew the secret of the death of his master, but would never reveal it.
Do you believe that Adolf fought for his salvation?
“He was by nature a desperate adventurer. His entire career is a chain of risky adventures, starting with the Beer Putsch in 1923. Why couldn't he risk the last time life was at stake? He would always have time to commit suicide with an ampoule of poison. In addition, some rescue measures were provided in advance.
What kind?
- On the personal instructions of Hitler at the plant in the city of Dessau, the Juncker company manufactured two huge six-engine aircraft, one of which made a test flight to Japan. The fuselages were loaded to capacity with fuel cans. There was room for only a few passengers and crew.
Did it come to evacuation?
- Not. The airfield was bombed. After that, the Germans organized a temporary airfield at the Brandenburg Gate, not far from the Reich Chancellery. To lengthen the runway, century-old linden trees were cut down. Training aircraft were constantly on duty there, which required a minimum take-off run. And with Hitler, two of his personal pilots and the commander of the government squadron were inseparable. True, the captured commandant of Berlin argued that even here Hitler could not take off (this airfield was also bombed), but he could also have escaped in the metro tunnels. The sea remained. It is known that ten ocean-going submarines stood ready at the piers in Hamburg. Their commanders knew that members of the German government were to be evacuated.
Nevertheless, there is no evidence that Hitler was seen anywhere and ever after April 30, 1945
- Why not? Security officer Kernau assured that he met Hitler on May 1. In addition, in the foreign press immediately after the war there were publications that the Fuhrer was evacuated to Argentina. Paraguay, Spain, Ireland were also named. Once on the shores of the North Sea in Denmark, they found a bottle with a letter from a German sailor from a sunken submarine. He reported that she stumbled upon a sunken ship and received a hole. On board the submarine, the sailor assured, was Hitler, who did not escape, because he could not get out of the tightly battened cabin in the stern.
It turns out that in the garden of the Reich Chancellery they found and then examined the remains of the wrong person? …
- The probability of this is great. The German government also had doubts on this score. In the late 1980s, it turned to the leadership of the
USSR with a request to indicate the place of Hitler's burial. Apparently, the Germans wanted to conduct an examination of the Fuhrer's remains using modern means of identification. But they were late. Back in 1970, the chairman of the KGB Andropov ordered to open the grave of the Fuhrer and the Goebbels family, which was located on the territory of the Soviet military unit in Magdeburg, and destroy the remains.
How then to explain that the fact of Hitler's death is beyond doubt?
- Apparently there is a psychological barrier. It is difficult for a normal person to admit that a criminal who committed so much evil escaped retribution. I also do not presume that he managed to escape, but I just want to draw attention to the fact that in this story not everything is clear to the end.
- As for Hitler, history gave him what he deserved. He never found a grave. His body is not buried. Relatives and descendants do not come to worship his ashes. Dark end.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №31. Author: Leon Arbatsky, interviewed by Valentin Shimko