Monday, July 8, 2019

Theories About Hitler's Death by Brenda L. Perez

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide by killing himself with a gunshot, although evidence recovered from the Funrerbunker proved otherwise. There was another theory promoted by the Soviet Government as part of its state-sponsored disinformation campaign, that Hitler and his wife escaped: 
1.      Did Adolf Hitler commit suicide? 
2.      Did Adolf Hitler escape with the help of the government? 
Let’s take a look at Hitler and the conspiracies theories of his death or escape. 
Who was Adolf Hitler? Many may know him as The Most Dangerous Dictator, but as history tells its story Hitler was by far dangerous as a child.  Hitler was born April 20, 1889, into a mid-class society. His father was Alois Hitler who was an Austrian Custome Official in-charge of inspecting people and goods crossing the border to and from Germany (Giblin 2). He had been previously married and had two children, a son, Alois Jr., and a daughter, Angela, whom lived with Adolf. His mother, Karla, was a housemaid whom her doctor described her as being “simple, modest, and kindly” (4).  A few years later Mrs. Karla had two more children, a son, named Edmund, and a daughter, named Paula (4). With a household full of children, Mr. Alois would often lose his temper and beat his sons with a whip (4). Alois Jr. would be the one who got the frequent beating, but Adolf wasn’t a good student academically making Mr. Alois beat him for low grades (5).  Alois Jr. ran away from home due to the beating. In the 1900s, Edmund, Adolf’s younger sibling died of measles, causing family disorder, and more anger between Adolf and his father (6). 



Young Adolf wanted to become an artist, and he had talent in painting, but he knew that his father would never let him be what he dreamed of. He instead enrolled in Realschules, the school emphasized in scientific and technical studies but also offered classes in drawing (Giblin 7). Adolf did so bad in school he thought his father would eventually stop forcing him to study and let him become artist (7). In 1905, Adolf father passed away and he had decided to not attend school anymore (8). A few years later with his father’s estates he moved to Germany to peruse his art interest in street painting such as he had done in Vienna, even though his mother wasn’t happy for his moved (8). He signed up to the Academy of Fine Arts from where he was rejected. Around that same time his mother passed away, making him feel devastated (8). 

With his mother’s estate Adolf and his only friend August moved to Vienna to pursue his career as an art artist (Giblin 9) After a few months, August went back to his homeland to visit his family, Adolf decided to stay behind and tried again to enroll to the Academy of Fine Arts; once again he was rejected (9). Embarrassed and without money, he had to move to a smaller place (9). He didn’t leave any note for his only friend who he knew would come back (9). It’s been suggested that he didn’t leave a trace of where he could be found because he was ashamed of his failed art career and his economy (13). His financial situation worsens as time went by and he ends being homeless (13). He would sleep in shelters, and a Catholic church gave him food (13). This resulted in him meeting another homeless who became his good friend and business partner, Reinhold Hanisch (14). Together they created a small business.  Adolf would paint, and Reinhold would sell them. After a while Adolf, ended partnership with his friend (14).
 They were a series of events in Hitler’s life that led him to Politics. In 1913 Adolf received the rest of  his father's estates and moved back to Germany, but a year later he received a notice from Linz his home town to report for duty in the Austria army, he was able to manage and change location of report soon and became part of the Germany Army after that World War I begun (Giblin 17). While in duty, Adolf suffered two injuries; the first injury was due to a bomb that exploded near by shooting sharp metals across the air injuring Adolf in his thigh (20). He was sent for treatment, and once he was ready for duty was sent back to his group (20). His second injury was caused by smoked gas that caused him to lose sight temporary (20). While in treatment to recuperate his vision, the first war had ended in 1918 (20). When Adolf found out of this, he was extremely devastated and felt all he and the other solders had gone thru was in vain (21). He felt betrayed – angry, and it was at this point, he wrote a letter that would change his life, and the lives of a million others; he wrote “I, for my part decided to go into politics” (Giblin 24).

Late 1918, he joined the small German Workers’ Party, which aimed to unite the interests of the working class with a strong German nationalism (“Adolf Hitler”). By 1920, he had left the army and took charge of its propaganda efforts. National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party adopted a version of the ancient symbol of the hakenkreuz, or hooked cross, as its emblem (1). Printed in a white circle on a red background, Hitler’s swastika would take on terrifying symbolic power in the years to come (1).

On November 8, 1923, Hitler and his organization forced their way into a large beer hall where leaders were asked to join his organization for a better Germany (“Adolf Hitler”). Leaders refused and as Hitler left marching a gun battle with police began. Hitler fled but was later arrested and given a five-year sentence for treason (1).  After serving nine months and with many accommodations he as released (1). During this period, he began to dictate the book that would become Mein Kamof ("My Struggle") he spoke about nationalistic, and plans he planned to accomplish when he came to power (1). Once he was released, he started working on a second volume of the book. Over the next few years, Hitler economic recovered selling his book and worked on reorganizing and reshaping the Nazi Party. The worldwide Great Depression began 1929, determined to achieve political power.

Hitler spoke about the Nazi Support to German's Army, businesses and industrial leaders (“Adolf Hitler”). In 1932, he ran against the war hero Paul von Hindenburg for president and received 36.8 percent of the vote (1). By January 1933, Hitler was named chancellor, but by March the Reichstag assed the Enabling Act giving full power to Hitler (1). In July, the government passed a law stating that the Nazi Party "constitutes the only political party in Germany," within months all non-Nazi parties, trade unions and other organization had ceased to exist (1). Between 1935 to 1944, the Nazi under the command of Hitler killed many Jews and other targets (1). Hitler was a dangerous dictator and politician who used his power to conquer a nation.
              The first theory is that Hitler did commit suicide that April 30th in his funrerbunker. Hitler’s close friend and doctor said that Hitler himself asked him what the most effective way was to take his life away (“Adolf Hitler”). He suggested for him to take cyanide capsules and shoot himself in the head was the best way to do it (1). By the time the Red Army found Hitler’s and his wife corpses burned to ashes, only a lower jaw with dental work was found in the scene (1). Hitler ordered his soldiers to “burn our bodies once we are dead”.  According to the Red Army, it was mentioned that Hitler’s soldiers had carried Hitler’s and his wife lifeless bodies out to the garden, placed in a bomb carter, doused with petrol and set on fire (1). Later, it was added that also a human skull had been found which seemed to have a bullet wound, allegedly proving that Hitler had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head (1). To provide more confusion to the ending of Hitler, rumors were spread that he had died but not because he committed suicide but because he was shot while fighting against the Russians (1). Something that was quickly forgotten, and people did not believe Hitler had killed himself (1).
            The second theory was the he was helped by the government to escape to Argentina. As the community demanded information of Hitler’s death, by recovering and examining the funrerbunker, it was hard to prove that Hitler had killed himself (“Adolf Hitler”). They didn’t have a body, and they didn’t find any gun shells, or gun holes in the walls, as if he allegedly killed himself with a gunshot (1). The human skull found was later tested and proved that it had belonged to an under 40-year-old woman (1). And, even though the lower jaw with dental work was found and they had Hitler’s dentist view and provide dental work of Hitler, this proved information that the lower jaw indeed belonged to Hitler (1). The idea of false information or fake fabrication of this evidence was just to keep Hitler safe (1). Witnesses in the other hand, said “we have seen submarines from Argentina full of Nazi important documentation” establishing that had been the way that Hitler escaped (1). The FBI received information that he had escaped from Berlin to Argentina with the help of the British Government and evidence after researching this could of have been a possible action (1). None the less Hitler, was never found, and he didn’t leave any trace if he did escape (1). In recent years, books such as “Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler” by Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams; Harry Cooper’s “Hitler in Argentina: The Documented Truth of Hitler’s Escape from Berlin”; and “Hunting Hitler: New Scientific Evidence That Hitler Escaped Nazi Germany” by Jerome Corsi, have all pushed the notion that Hitler did not die as the Soviets advanced on Berlin, but lived out his final years in South America (“Hitler Lived”).

After examining the history of Adolf Hitler, the results of the death led to two conspiracy theories:
1. Did Adolf Hitler commit suicide?
2. Did Adolf Hitler escape with help from the Government?
The Most Dangerous Dictator in history never suffered the consequences of his actions. Up to today, his death remains an unsolved case.

Work Cited
 Giblin, James Cross. "The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler." Google Books,          books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hdEnddrZBVwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=hitler+death&ots=dIunkOGuWY&sig=RMmm53E0nfFc5PeiGBfxN0qPrGE#v=onepage&q=hitler%20death&f=false. 

 "Adolf Hitler." HISTORY, 28 May 2019, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/adolf-hitler-1.
  "‘Hitler Lived’: Scholar Explores the Conspiracies That Just Won’t Die." The Times of Israel | News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World, 2 May 2019, www.timesofisrael.com/hitler-lived-scholar-explores-the-conspiracies-that-just-wont-die/.

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