Death of Hitler - 1945 or 1962?

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

And that plane then flew out to land in Magdeburg, despite the place having been in American hands for about two weeks? A lot of fiendish Nazi cunning in play there!

indeed! pilot was that well-known 122-victory ace Hptm. Peter Baumgart..
but rather than waste all this forum space, here's a book recommendation, Volker Ulrich's " Eight Days in May", the story of the eight days under a new Führer, Admiral Dönitz. No Luftwaffe content, despite the fact that a lot was still happening in the air..II./JG 6 Doras were still flying sorties on May 5 according to the logbook extracts in that Jet & Prop article about the Gefechtsverband Rudel (IIRC)

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/319/...241467268.html

[Franek Grabowski]

I have reviewed Baumgart file prepared by local security services, but there was nothing really interesting. Baumgart was found not reliable, and his stories of no value.
That said, the funny thing is that the evidence of Hitler's death, as well as some other prominent figures is somewhat inconclusive. Too much disinformation has been spread after the war, and this leaves plenty of room for various conspiracy theories. There is a good question, why such stories were disseminated, and why body evidence was so happily destroyed.

[edwest2]

Franek,

What body evidence? The Russians had what they said was a portion of Hitler's skull on display and what they said was a portion of his jawbone in their archives.

Best,
Ed

[Franek Grabowski]

Originally Posted by edwest2

Franek,

What body evidence? The Russians had what they said was a portion of Hitler's skull on display and what they said was a portion of his jawbone in their archives.

Best,
Ed

The skull piece is said to belong to an unknown woman, while there is reputedly a piece of jawbone or a teeth, and some blood samples. AFAIK the only positive identification comes from a comparison of a teeth to an x-ray of Hitler's jaw. No full profile DNA test and genealogical cross check. Otherwise, how can you prove that small peice of bone was recovered in Berlin, indeed.
Same situation in other cases, Bormann, Hess, Himmler. Reputedly forensic evidence was gathered, and the bodies destroyed, so you cannot prove that they died in the described circumstances, nor that those were their bodies indeed. It is really plenty of room for a foul play.
To be clear, I do not claim that Hitler and his gang lived ever after at a rancho in Texas, where they were joined by Elvis. I merely note, that the evidence gathered is quite weak, and may lead to some conspiracy theories.
In fact, I am most intrigued as to why Soviets did not reveal the fact that they have found Hitler's body or who was behind of some conspiracy theories, and what was the purpose of disseminating them. Such things do not happen without a reason.