Learn more about the conspiracy rumors surrounding Hitler's death

Today, April 30, it is 73 years since Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his Führerbunker, the huge shelter built under the Reich Chancellery to keep him safe and where he had relocated his residence months before. According to witnesses, the Führer shot himself in the temple with a 7.65 mm Walther PPK, and his corpse and his wife Eva Braun - who also took his own life - were allegedly cremated the following day, precisely to avoid the risk that the bodies would be captured by the Soviets and exposed and attacked in the public square like Benito Mussolini's.

However, as you may know, there are a lot of people out there who swear that this whole story of suicide and body destruction is just bullshit and that it was all part of a framework orchestrated by Hitler and his men so he could escape the Germany - and end your good days in some South American country. You may have heard this rumor, haven't you? By the way, did you know that there is more than one theory (of conspiracy, of course) about what end the Führer led?

And died?

Adolf Hitler's death was announced by radio broadcast on May 1, 1945, by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz - who said the Führer had died gallantly while leading his men in a battle against the Soviet Army. In the broadcast, Dönitz also said that Hitler had named his successor in his will, that the headquarters of the German government would be temporarily relocated from Berlin to Flensburg in the north, and that all was well and life would go on smoothly. Only not ...

Adolf hitler

This would be the last photo of Hitler (Rare Historical Photos)

Obviously it was not all right! Germany was defeated, days after the announcement Dönitz was captured by the Allies and reunited with other big boys of the Nazi regime, and with it was found a telegram sent by Goebbles, the Reich Propaganda Minister, warning that Hitler was dead - not to mention any detail on how the Führer had gone from this to a better one.

But since there was no body to prove that Hitler had actually died, it was not long before rumors began to circulate that the Führer had survived and fled Germany on a submarine to Argentina. The FBI and CIA have even investigated the allegations - and the involvement of both government agencies has further bolstered the rumors.

Hitler Bunker

The destroyed Führerbunker (Wikimedia Commons / Bundesarchiv / Otto Donath)

One problem encountered by the Americans was that the (then) Soviet Union was the one who could have access to “hotter” information about what might have happened to Hitler's corpse and, as you know, the Soviets were not about to reveal information like that, no more, right?

In fact, they kind of circulated fake news - and we thought this was a recent phenomenon ... - to confuse everyone, saying they had the body, after the British had stolen the deceased Führer and that they had a fragment of Hitler's skull. But tests conducted on the artifact revealed that it belonged to a woman ...

Mismatched Investigations and Testimonials

Shortly after the end of the war, an SS general named Walter Schellenberg who had been captured by the Allies said Hitler had not shot himself in the head, but was poisoned by Himmler, one of the Führer's closest men. Another conversation that took place at the time was that of a woman named Carmen Mory, who vowed to have firsthand information that Hitler, his wife, Eva Braun, and several of his cohorts had adopted false identities and were living somewhere in the city. Bavaria.

Hitler Photos

US Secret Service poster showing possible change in Hitler's appearance (Wikimedia Commons / United States Secret Service)

There was also a Luftwaffe pilot named Peter Baumgart who told his allies that he had personally transported Hitler to Denmark on the day he committed suicide. Another witness who emerged was an Argentine citizen who, in September 1945, told FBI people who had seen Hitler and his men personally - and that this evil gang had established residence at the foot of the Andes, where the weather was more “ European".

Years later, in the 1960s, Phillip Citroen, a veteran SS pilot, told the CIA that he had frequent contact with the Führer in Colombia before he moved to Argentina, and it looks like this guy even provided a photo. of the two together. The problem is that hundreds of such testimonies arose, many of them from people who had been involved in war crimes and therefore had an interest in receiving forgiveness for their actions. As such, these stories may have been fabricated.

Hitler Bunker

Couch - with bloodstains - where Hitler reportedly committed suicide (Time)

Moreover, despite the many allegations made by the alleged witnesses, none of the persons heard could provide concrete and irrefutable evidence to substantiate their accounts. As a result, Hitler's suicide story continues to be accepted as the official version of the facts - even though the absence of the body continues to arouse the fascination and the emergence of theories about the possible escape of the Führer . And you, dear reader, what do you believe?

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