Identification and
Evaluation of Sources
Hitler’s death is among the most
researched and controversial topic nearly 80 years after. This essay will use
many well referenced sources however the two main sources that will be used are
Hugh Trevor-Roper’s book The Last Days of Hitler and the Russian autopsy
report by Lev Bezymenski. These sources are of particular value to this
investigation because they allow for a medical account of Hitler’s death and a
historian's perspective. Moreover, the autopsy report is the only finalized
medical report in regards to Hitler’s death making it essential to this
investigation. Trevor-Roper was a British historian who was sent by the British
government to determine a definitive account for Hitler’s death therefor making
it valuable to this investigation due to its reliability.
The Death of
Adolf Hitler: Unknown Document from Soviet Archives by Lev A. Bezymenski
Published
the month the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia during the so-called Prague Spring,
the book provided, after 23 years, the Soviet autopsy conducted on Hitler’s
body. That it took so long and only released during such a crucial event
indicates, as so much about the USSR, its use for a political purpose than
merely informative. A journalist, historian, and intelligence officer in
Zhukov’s staff, Bezymenski confirmed Hitler’s suicide on April 30, 1945,
describing the nature of his body’s recovery, and revealed the findings of a
medical report dated May 8, 1945 of an autopsy conducted by Dr. Faust
Shkaravski, principal forensic pathologist of the Soviet Forensic Commission describing
a severely charred male body with the conclusion that this was “presumably
Hitler’s corpse.”[1]
Through a detailed study of the teeth and interviews with Hitler’s dentists, it
was established that the body was indeed Hitler’s. The autopsy findings
nevertheless were covered up on Stalin’s insistence- again, for political
reasons as Stalin would claim at the Potsdam Conference that the Russians had
not found the corpse and that Hitler was hiding in Spain or South America.
Bezymenski alleges the report had been withheld in case “someone might try to
slip into the role of the Führer saved by a miracle” and to exclude all
possibility of error which seems scarcely convincing considering the
credibility of the autopsy record could not increase in the course of years.[2]
The autopsy contradicted the earlier accepted view that Hitler had shot himself
to claim he instead used poison. We have only the KGB’s word that fragments of
a cyanide phial were found in Hitler’s jaw and contemporary historians have
rejected Bezymenski's account of Hitler's death and autopsy, claiming among
other things that Hitler was found to have had only one testicle as Soviet
propaganda to add to further discredit the view that Hitler died a soldier’s
death with a gun rather than that of a dog.
Source:
Trevor- Roper book Last Days of Hitler published in 1947
Regarded as the foremost expert on Hitler’s
death, Roper is of particular importance to this investigation because he was
the first historian to investigate Hitler’s death. In this book he provides a
strong account for the cause of death whilst still maintaining a professional
and in-depth analysis of witness reports, firsthand account of the place of
death, and the backing of the British government. Published only two years
after Hitler’s death this book paramount to this investigation because there
are no other credible books written from this time. However, as the book gives
valuable information utilizing statements and knowledge only Trevor-Roper would
know, the book does have limitations. Trevor-Roper admitted how his
investigation was being pushed to be finished with a conclusion that would
satisfy the British government but also the world. Over the past few decades
since the book has been published historians such as Smith Geordan state that “Roper
was a curious choice”[3] citing
points of concern in his report and his background in German history or lack of
it, however, Roper is still considered the leading historian in Hitler’s death.
Investigation
In June 1945 British intelligence sent
Trevor-Roper to Germany to uncover the truth of Hitler’s alleged escape. Having
spent ten days in Germany, Trevor-Roper reported that Hitler had died in the
Führerbunker on April 30 1945, concluding the method of death being a fatal
gunshot to the head. Trevor-Roper had the backing of two of the most powerful
countries, America and Britain, funding and helping with the research that was
spent investigating Hitler’s death. Moreover, Britain and America were closing
in on the Potsdam conference in which they required a clear answer as to if
Hitler escaped or died further pushing the importance of the investigation.
Furthermore, one could conclude that Britain would choose the best person for
the job when considering its importance. Trevor-Roper had then been a
well-known and respected historian of 16th and 17th
century British history, acclaimed for his strong intuitive skills and ability to
conduct and produce confident results in a swift manner as seen in his book
“Archbishop Laud, 1573-1645” in which he dedicated an immense amount of study
to a man that we had no physical body
of.[4]
This in the eyes of the British government qualified Trevor-Roper for the sensitive
task despite his young age (31 at the time). His conclusion that Hitler shot
himself in the mouth while taking cyanide has been the accepted majority
version and made Trevor-Roper the leading authority in Hitler’s cause of death.[5] This
began with his first press conference on November 1, 1945 followed by his
eventual book in which he explained his methodology and reasoning. Moreover,
Trevor-Roper was the only historian to ever see the Führerbunker in person and analyse the blood spray patterns left behind at the crime scene.[6]
Along with Trevor-Roper being able to analyse the bunker in depth within his
book he gave first-hand experience regarding interviews conducted on Hitler’s
informants in the bunker at the time of his death. Trevor-Roper also had access
to Hitler’s informants in the bunker with him as well as ground zero where and
when the suicide was committed. Decades later Kenyon would describe how “some of [Trevor-Roper's] short essays have
affected the way we think about the past more than other men's books."[7]
Nevertheless, his conclusion has not been
universally accepted. Firstly, Trevor-Roper was sent to determine the death of
Hitler in under two weeks, without the body and with it an autopsy report. Moreover,
the witness reports that Trevor-Roper referenced within his book were summaries
from British and American interrogations.[8] This
is crucial because one can’t gain a full understanding of the interrogations
through summary reports due to a lack of emotion revealed on the page. It is
clear that emotion and the way a suspect answers the questions can lead to
different conclusions of whether or not they are lying. Another problem
surrounding Roper’s book was that recently it came to light that one of the
witness reports was ‘fabricated’. German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch claimed that
“at least parts of the account attributed to her in the 'Last Days of Hitler'
had been fabricated” and only after her death would she allow this interview go
public.[9] Lastly, Roper stated in his report and book
that some of the prisoners interrogated did not state the same cause of death. Heinz
Linge was Hitler’s personal assistant who claimed to have heard a gunshot and
when entering the room saw a “small hole the size of a German silver mark on
his right temple”.[10] Additionally,
Peter Watson, citing "new
evidence", claims that the Russians believed that Hitler’s pilot knew
something about his death that he was not bringing forward suggesting neither
Soviet nor British interrogators had gathered sufficient evidence given
contradictory prisoners' statements regarding the cause of death. [11]
Lastly, Roper had no experience with German history leading up to is approval
for the investigation leading Peter Levenda to argue that “the choice of
Trevor-Roper for a politically-sensitive task of determining Hitler’s fate
would seem curious”. [12] Geordan
Smith states “Given that his only previous publication was a biography of a 17th-century
archbishop… he neither read nor spoke German, Trevor-Roper was a curious choice
for the task”. [13]
It is clear that there were points within Roper’s investigation that did cause
for worry among historians and there were times that people doubted his report.
Finally, in 1968 Russia dropped a
bombshell, releasing Hitler’s autopsy report which claims the cause of death
was due to “cyanide Compounds”.[14] This
report seemed to completely discredit everything that the Soviets had
previously stated when, in 1945, they had claimed Hitler had escaped and no
body had been recovered. Historians such as Roper, Ian Kershaw, and Norman
Stone described the report as “propaganda” or “intentionally misleading” being
used to display Hitler as dying a coward’s death rather than that of a soldier.[15] [16]
Furthermore, within this autopsy report statements such as claiming that “only
the right testicle was found” further agreeing with statements from Stalin emasculating
Hitler, more a dog not even a man.[17]
The fact that the report was published in 1968 alone can be concluded that it
has its own guided purpose at the height of the invasion of Czechoslovakia to
deflect attention and distract when all eyes were on Russia. Lev Bezymenski who
wrote the autopsy report stated that “it was kept a secret in case someone
tried to slip into the role of the Fuhrer”.[18] Although
the report contain sflaws and discrepancies historians have concluded that it
does contain valid information such as a cyanide vial found in Hitler’s molar[19] which coincided with information from Hitler’s
dentist in which he drew the jaw lines in which he stated that there was a
molar that contained cyanide.[20] One
could conclude that there were clear discrepancies with Lev’s autopsy, however
it does prove certain points that other historians believed such as the cyanide
in the molar.
In conclusion it appears that despite discrepancies
with Trevor-Roper’s book, Hitler did shoot himself while biting down on a
cyanide capsule. Hitler shooting himself in the right temple would be more
likely when considering the blood spray and the witness reports in which the
majority claimed that there was a bullet hole in his right temple. Moreover,
the autopsy report does play a role in supporting the idea that Hitler did take
cyanide directly before his death due to Hitler’s dentist drawings matching
almost exactly to the autopsy report presented by the Russians.
Reflection
It was
evident that when researching and analyzing historians one could argue that the
Trevor-Roper’s book was as much about the Cold War when considering Roper 's
lack of Russian sources to argue his case. This can be seen that governments are
using documents and information to cloud what happened for ideological agendas
as seen with Stalin withholding Hitler’s body and fabricating an autopsy report
that is seen as ‘propaganda’. It was clear to me that I had to evaluate sources
such as the Russian autopsy report and look at more than just the information
inside them but look at what the underlying ideology behind it to fully
determine what I believed to be true and relevant to my investigation.
Moreover, when considering the fact that nearly 80 years have passed and to
this day we have only received a small fracture of Hitler’s cranium and have
not yet be able to fully study the full cranium that is safeguarded in Moscow.
It was important to understand that everything about Hitler’s death has a cloud
surrounding it distorting the full picture. This created the difficult
situation of trying to see through the mist and create a strong a coherent
argument that is backed by what is seen as factual information.
However,
it is clear that what we believe now can be turned on its head as seen with
Russia’s involvement with Hitler’s body. It calls into question what Russia’s
political objectives are and what they are hiding with still no release date on
Hitler’s full cranium. It is striking here in Germany that with the release of
“Mein Kampf” the topic of Hitler is still a very sensitive area that many
Germans will not discuss. Creating the belief that Hitler was a great man in
the sense that to this day people continue to raise the question of what
actually happened to him. This also raised the point that the pursuit of
knowledge regarding Hitler’s death was difficult at best when considering the only
witnesses of Hitler’s death are dead and many don’t believe what they stated in
their testaments.
Bibliography
1.) Admin.
“Menu.” NL-Aid, www.nl-aid.org/suicide-hitler-proven-the-seduction/.
2.)
Ada Petrova, Peter Watson, The Death of Hitler: The Full Story
with new evidence from secret Russian achieves published 199
3.) Bezymenski,
L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives.
Jove Publications, 1978.
4.) Eberle
and Uhl, ''The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the
Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides'
5.) “Hitler's
Death The Final Report - Operation Myth.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Dec.
2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL1P7D2wa0.
6.)
Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from
the Files of the KGB. Chaucer Press, 2005.
7.) Hugh
Trevor – Roper. The Last Days of Hitler: 1945 University of Chicago print
published 1947
8.) Kershaw,
Ian. Hitler 1936-45: Nemesis. Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 2000.
9.) Levenda,
Peter. Ratline: Soviet spies Nazi
priests, and the disappearance of Adolf Hitler. York Beach, Me.:
Nicolas-Hays, 2012
10.)Smith, Giordan. “Fabricating the Death of Adolf
Hitler.” Feb. 2008, pp.
11.)Toland,
John. The Last 100 Days: The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the
Final Days of World War II in Europe. Blackstone Audio, 2014.
[1] Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents
from Soviet Archives. Jove Publications, 1978, pp. page 44
[2]Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives. Jove
Publications, 1978, pp. page 54
[3]Smith, Geordan. Fabricating the Death of Adolf Hitler. Feb. 2008, pp Page 38
[4] Quoted at Adam Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper (2010)
p. 414
[5] Hugh Trevor – Roper. The Last Days of
Hitler: 1945 university of Chicago print published 1947 page 178
[6] Hugh Trevor – Roper. The Last Days of Hitler: 1945 university of Chicago print published
1947 Introduction to the Third Edition Page Iv
[7] Quoted at Adam
Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper (2010) p. 414
[8] Smith, Geordan. Fabricating the Death of Adolf Hitler. Feb. 2008, pp Page 37
[9] Smith, Geordan. Fabricating the Death of Adolf Hitler. Feb. 2008, pp Page 37
[10] Hugh Trevor – Roper. The Last Days of Hitler: 1945 university of Chicago print published
1947 page 47
[11] Ada
Petrova, Peter Watson, The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with
new evidence from secret Russian achieves published 1995 page 111
[12] Levenda, Peter. Ratline: Soviet spies Nazi priests,
and the disappearance of Adolf Hitler. York Beach, Me.: Nicolas-Hay, 2012 page
1907
[13] Smith, Geordan. Fabricating the Death of Adolf Hitler. Feb. 2008, pp Page 38
[14] Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives. Jove
Publications, 1978, pp. page 49
[15] Kershaw, Ian. Hitler 1936-45: Nemesis. Allen Lane the Penguin Press, 2000. Page
936
[16] Hugh
Trevor – Roper. The Last Days of Hitler:
1945 University of Chicago print published 1947 page 51
[17] Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents
from Soviet Archives. Jove Publications, 1978 page 46.
[19] Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents
from Soviet Archives. Jove Publications, 1978 page 38
[20] Bezymenski, L. The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents
from Soviet Archives. Jove Publications, 1978 page 46.
