The Death of Adolf Hitler: Difference between revisions

In 1946, the successor to the NKVD, the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Internal Affairs]], conducted a second investigation (known as "Operation Myth"). Blood from Hitler's sofa and wall was reportedly matched to his [[blood type]] and a partially burnt skull fragment was found with gun damage to the posterior of the [[parietal bone]].{{sfn|Petrova|Watson|1995|pp=81–82, 84–86}}{{sfn|Charlier et al.|2018}}{{efn|In 2003, forensic anthropologist Marilyn London argued that internal trauma caused by the gunshot could have facilitated the detachment of the skull fragment.<ref name=":9" /> In 2009, [[DNA]] and forensic tests indicated that it belonged to a woman less than 40 years old.<ref>{{cite web | author = ABC News | title = DNA Test Sparks Controversy Over Hitler's Remains | website = ABC News | date = 9 December 2009 | url = https://abcnews.go.com/WN/hitler-skull-russian-secret-service-custody/story?id=9288287 | access-date = 15 February 2021}}</ref>|name=skull}} These two discoveries led to the Soviet admission that Hitler died by gunshot, as opposed to cyanide poisoning (as claimed by the purported autopsy report published in Bezymenski's book).{{sfn|Petrova|Watson|1995|pp=81–82, 84–86}}{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=49}} Linge said he saw the Soviets unsuccessfully search for a bullet hole.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=161}}

 

 

[[File:Hitler body double, identified as Gustave Weler (side view).png|thumb|alt=Dead body with a toothbrush moustache and an apparent gunshot wound to the forehead|An [[Alleged doubles of Adolf Hitler|alleged Hitler body double]] with gunshot damage to the forehead{{sfn|Petrova|Watson|1995|p=90}} filmed by the Soviets in 1945]]

Bezymenski criticizes discrepancies of prior reports. Günsche allegedly told the Soviets in 1950 that both Hitler and Braun were seated on the sofa, but in 1960, said both were on chairs. Bezymenski points out that Linge's 1965 claim of Hitler's entry wound being to the left temple is unlikely as Hitler was right-handed and his left hand trembled significantly.{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|pp=70-71}}

 

 

Bezymenski asserts that sometime after the forensic examinations, the corpses of Hitler and the others were completely burned and the ashes scattered.{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=66}}{{Efn|name=cremation}}

 

==Criticism and legacy==

Upon the book's publication, Hugh Trevor-Roper wrote that it was "remarkable that [Bezymenski's] book is apparently for Western consumption only", with no Russian release and the book's original language apparently being German. Trevor-Roper says, "No explanation is offered of these interesting facts, which suggest a [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|propagandist]] rather than an historical purpose."<ref name=":3" /> In 1969, {{Ill|Reuben Ainsztein|de|Reuben Ainsztein}} compared Bezymenski's account to that of Soviet war interpreter [[Elena Rzhevskaya]], whom he says implied that "the investigating team completed its investigations against [Stalin's] wishes". Ainsztein criticizes Bezymenski for failing to explain why he ostensibly blames Shirer and Bullock for helping "foster the legend that [Hitler] shot himself like a man".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ainsztein |first=R. |date=April 1969 |title=The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives |url=https://academic.oup.com/ia/article-lookup/doi/10.2307/2613016 |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]] |language=en |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=294–295 |doi=10.2307/2613016 |issn=1468-2346}}</ref> In his 1971 book about Hitler, German historian [[Werner Maser]] expresses doubt about Bezymenski's book, including the autopsy's insinuation that [[Possible monorchism of Adolf Hitler|Hitler had only one testicle]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Raack |first=R. C. |date=1991 |title=With Smersh in Berlin: New Light on the Incomplete Histories of the Führer and the Vozhd' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20672302 |journal=[[World Affairs]] |volume=154 |issue=2 |pages=47–55 |jstor=20672302 |issn=0043-8200}}</ref>{{efn|name=ball}}

 

In 1972, [[forensic odontologist]]s [[Reidar F. Sognnaes]] and [[Ferdinand Strøm]] reconfirmed Hitler's dental remains based on {{Nowrap|X-rays}} of Hitler taken in 1944, the 1945 testimony of Käthe Heusermann and Fritz Echtmann, as well as the purported Soviet forensic examination of the dental remains.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Senn|first1=David R.|last2=Weems|first2=Richard A.|title=Manual of Forensic Odontology|publisher=[[CRC Press]]|location=Boca Raton|year=2013|isbn=978-1-439-85134-0|page=43}}</ref>

Elena Rzhevskaya claimed to have seen Hitler's charred corpse in the Chancellery garden. According to her, the dental remains were removed during the alleged autopsy (at which Bezymenski asserts she was not present),{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=69}} and the pages of the report about them were recorded on "two large non-standard sheets of paper".<ref name=":1" /> Rzhevskaya safeguarded the dental remains until they could be identified by Hitler's dental staff. Shkaravsky (d.&nbsp;1975) wrote to her that the commission had been forbidden to photograph Hitler's body for unknown reasons and suggested that the damage to Braun's chest could have been from shrapnel.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Rzhevskaya|first=Yelena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRdhDwAAQBAJ|title=Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to the Discovery of Hitler's Berlin Bunker|publisher=[[Greenhill Books]]|year=2018|isbn=978-1784382810|translator-last=Tait|translator-first=Arch|orig-year=2012}}</ref> According to Lindloff, who cremated Hitler and Braun's bodies, after only 30 minutes the bodies were "already charred and torn open", in part caused by shrapnel.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=212}}

 

In his 1975 book ''[[The Bunker (book)|The Bunker]]'', journalist [[James P. O'Donnell]] dismisses the book's implication that a poisoned Hitler could not have shot himself, pointing out that "few if any poisons act instantly, [and] certainly not cyanide".{{sfn|O'Donnell|2001|pp=322–323}}{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=72}} O'Donnell dismisses the supporting claim that Hitler would not have been able to pull the trigger due to hand tremors, as only his left hand shook badly. O'Donnell further exhorts: "Hitler lacked many human qualities; but, really, did he lack a strong will?"{{sfn|O'Donnell|2001|pp=322–323}}

===Revised edition===

 

 

===Later discourse===