Hitler Is Alive! Page 8

  Nevertheless, it would have been simple for Hitler to escape in another plane. In fact, he did not need an airport for a getaway, since the Charlottenburger Chaussee highway, outside of the Reichchancellery, was used as an airstrip until the day of Hitler’s disappearance.

  British intelligence exerted every effort during the latter months of 1945 to obtain definite evidence that Hitler was dead. But the failure of their search was admitted by Hector MacNeil, British Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, who, on October 15, 1945, declared in the House of Commons:

  “The Government has no evidence proving conclusively that Hitler is either dead or alive.”

  The failure of the Allied intelligence bureaus to solve the riddle of Adolf Hitler’s disappearance, is a serious matter tormenting the secret services of Great Britain, France, Russia and America.

  Should Hitler avoid capture and return to Germany after a peace treaty has been signed with the Western Powers and the Soviet Union, he would be a free man. The world might suddenly be confronted with a vast change in the current balance of power.

  It cannot be said that Hitler’s return would weigh the scales in favor of the East or of the West, but it would upset all calculations based on known political factors. The Police Gazette’s profound opinion is that no time should be lost before trying Hitler in absentia, and that certainly no peace treaty should be signed until the matter is settled.

  US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, agreed with the Police Gazette that:

  “If Hitler is not tried in absentia before the peace treaty with Germany is signed, then there is nothing the allied powers can do to him.”

  Both Thomas J. Dodd, Chief US trial counsel at Nuremberg, and General Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services, fought vigorously to have Hitler tried in absentia during the criminal trial, along with the captured Nazi leaders, but they could not obtain permission from Washington.

  Why?

  Today, while not one shred of evidence exists to prove that Hitler is dead, the possibility of his triumphant return cannot be lightly dismissed. Adolf Hitler did not simply disappear from the face of the earth without trace. Everything in his bloody career supports the theory that he would attempt a melodramatic return at the head of a resurgent Germany.

  When?

  After the Peace Treaty is signed, at which time the Allied Powers will forfeit their rights to try any more Nazis as war criminals.

  THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT HITLER’S FAKE SUICIDE!

  by COL. W. F. HEIMLICH

  Former Chief, US Intelligence, Berlin

  More light on history’s great hoax—the “death” of the Fuehrer in his Berlin Bunker—by the US Intelligence officer who made investigation on the spot

  Seven years ago in April, rampaging American troops, flushed with victory, smashed their way to the very gates of the Nazi capital of Berlin before they were recalled west across the Elbe River by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. To the south and east, other troops, led by gallant General George Patton had sliced their way through the crumpled resistance of the Werhmacht to Austria and deep in Czechoslovakia. The end came in May with full and unconditional surrender, a violent finale to what was to have been a “thousand year Reich”.

  On the first of May 1945 Radio Hamburg reported that Adolf Hitler had died a “hero’s death”. A few days later, Hans Fritzsche, the former aide to Nazi Propaganda Chief Paul Joseph Goebbels, said that Hitler had died a suicide.

  One week after the radio report of Hitler’s “hero’s death,” I received from the Chief of Intelligence, Supreme Headquarters, a secret letter giving data of interrogation of several former guards at the Reichschancellery, together with a sketch of the now-famous Bunker. According to information available to G-2 (Intelligence) at Supreme Headquarters, Hitler had died in the Reichschancellery in Berlin, a suicide. My mission was to prove that Hitler was dead.

  In February 1945 I had been designated to plan the intelligence phase of the Berlin Operation. We were still far west of the Rhine and had only recently succeeded in straightening out the deep salient into France forced by General Von Rundstedt in the now famous Battle of the Bulge.

  Upon receipt of top secret orders, I reported to Supreme Headquarters in Versailles, and together with other members of the staff selected by Supreme Headquarters to plan the Berlin Operation, I went to work in the tiny village of Jouey-en-Josas, about four kilometers out of Versailles. Our boss was Major General Paul B. Ransom. Ransom was one of the ablest staff officers in the United States Army and, personally, one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known.

  A month later, our mission had been largely completed and a draft plan had been developed based on three possibilities: capture of Berlin by direct assault; capture of Berlin by “vertical envelopment” or, drop by parachute, and finally, joint capture of the city with Soviet forces. In any event, Intelligence was to have the huge job of rounding up the top war criminals, the documents, the records, the whole frightful evidence of twelve years of brutality under the Nazis. Early in March, Colonel Rufus S. Bratton, a Regular Army officer, was made acting AC of S G-2—“Plans Group G,” the code name for the Berlin staff. I became his Executive Officer and later succeeded him as Chief of Intelligence in Berlin in August, 1945.

  The story of how we got to Berlin is now history. The Russians captured the city on the 1st of May 1945, but the Americans were not permitted to enter the city till July 2, 1945. During that time, the Russians had thoroughly looted and visited their excesses of rape and pillage on the rubble pile of Berlin while the American troops, who could have entered the city at least two weeks in advance of the Soviet Red Army, cooled their heels west of the Elbe River. It was impossible, therefore, to begin the official investigation into the rumors of the death of Adolf Hitler until mid-July 1945. Our story must begin from that time.

  At the outset, the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) ferreted out Hitler’s former dentist who had in his possession X-ray plates of the late leader’s head including front and side views. These plates were vital to our investigations because they would have conclusively identified any remains which we found.

  Other investigators explored the ruins of the Reichschancellery and in the trophy room found thousands of decorations and medals which had been stored there. Engineering assistants under G-2 had explored the Bunker with its three levels, had donned gas masks and hip waders to go down into the stinking third level which was under about three feet of water. Before any examination could be completed, that water had to be pumped out.

  Preliminary investigation of the ground surrounding the Bunker in the Reichschancellery garden revealed that six feet of earth was the total depth above the Bunker level, everything below that being of concrete and steel. This had great bearing on the subsequent investigations.

  By middle August we had collected a considerable amount of data. Chronologically, the story began with Hamburg radio reports of May 1 that Hitler had died. On May 8, a rumor was broadcast that Hitler’s body had been found in the Berlin ruins. But his servant said that it was not his master’s body. On the 15th of May, 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill reported to the House of Commons that his government accepted as true the report of Hitler’s death but only three weeks later on June 9, Russian Marshall Gregory Zhukov announced that the Russians had no definite facts of Hitler’s death or whereabouts and pointed out that the Fuehrer might “easily have escaped by plane from the Reichschancellery area before the fall of Berlin.”

  When the three leaders of state, President Truman, Marshal Stalin, and Winston Churchill, met in Potsdam for the last conference among the Big Three, President Truman is reported to have asked Stalin point-blank if Hitler was dead, and Stalin with characteristic bluntness and brevity replied in one word: “No.”

  Soon after the war ended, several people reported to have been in the Reichschancellery during the last days were captured and interrogated at great length in the American Occupi
ed Zone of Germany. Among these were the emotional Hannah Reitsch, a German female pilot, and two officers of the SS. Their story in affect was that Hitler had committed suicide after reading his last will and designating in his political testament Admiral Doenitz (now in Spandau prison, Berlin) President and Doctor Goebbels as Chancellor of the Reich. Hitler also nominated as his executor, Martin Bormann, later tried in absentia at Nuremburg and sentenced to death.

  Incidentally, Bormann has never been found although there have been many rumors of his being in various parts of the world. In connection with the investigation into Hitler’s death, we definitely disproved the reported death of Martin Bormann.

  This, then, we knew by early autumn of 1945. Our knowledge was pooled with that of the British and the Soviet intelligence. The Chief of British Intelligence in Berlin was Colonel E.A. Howard, not Captain Trevor-Roper as is popularly supposed because of Trevor-Roper’s widely accepted book. Trevor-Roper was in no way connected with our inquiry into Hitler’s “death” in Berlin except as a visitor in the early days of September, far in advance of really significant findings. The Chief of Soviet Intelligence was Major General Alexis Sidnev, Chief, NKVD (later MVD) for Berlin and Brandenburg Province.

  Sidnev had copies of pictures taken immediately after fighting ceased, of Dr. Goebbels, his wife and family. Goebbels’ body had also been burned by gasoline as Hitler’s was supposed to have been but was clearly identifiable as the late Propaganda Chief. General Sidnev assured me that he did not have any further evidence of Hitler’s demise and particularly, he did not have any idea as to what had been done with Hitler’s body, despite the fact that Soviet Intelligence agents had been with the assault troops who entered the Reichschancellery on May 1, 1945!

  Plane Ready for Escape

  By late September, events were moving rapidly. We discovered that a transport aircraft had been found near Travamunde, a small resort city about 50 kilometers northwest of Lubeck on the North Sea. The crew of the plane had also been found and said that they were one of several such stand-by crews who had volunteered to fly the Fuehrer to some remote part of the world. Navigation maps were provided together with food and petrol supplies which would have made a non-stop flight half around the world possible.

  In Berlin, a British journalist also unconvinced that Hitler had died in the Reichschancellery discussed with me the possibility of burning a body in the open air. I was highly doubtful because I had seen a US gasoline truck strafed by German aircraft during the war while fully loaded with 10,000 gallons of hundred octane gasoline. The truck burned fiercely for nearly three hours but when it was possible to approach the cab, it was found that the two men there were still clearly recognizable as human beings. The British journalist managed to acquire a 160 pound pig, borrowed 200 liters of gasoline, poured it over the pig and set it afire. At the end of an hour or so he had some thoroughly roasted pork but had not been able to consume the carcass.

  A check at the Berlin Crematorium revealed that it was necessary to burn a body for three hours at 3500 to 4200 degrees in an enclosed oven at the end of which time the large bones were ground to powder. It was therefore, reasonable to believe that Hitler’s body had not been destroyed by fire in the Reichschancellery. Nonetheless, we decided that a largescale excavation must take place in that area.

  Soviet Intelligence indicated their willingness that this should be accomplished. British Intelligence agreed that this must be done in view of the fact that the research, conducted in the Bunker itself had been fruitless. The water had been pumped out of the Bunker by engineers and a painstaking inch-by-inch search had been accomplished.

  Analysis of the couch stains where Hitler reportedly killed himself revealed that the stains, while they were human blood, were not of the blood type of Hitler or Eva Braun. There were no bullet holes in the couch or in the wall behind it.

  The Russian soldiers had stripped the Bunker of all small items of value and only broken furniture remained. In front of the Bunker, in the bomb-crater where Hitler was supposed to have been burned, there was only a trash pile of the debris of battle.

  Meanwhile, interrogation of literally hundreds of persons who had taken shelter in the last days of war in basements, bomb-­craters, and bunkers in the vicinity of the Reichschancellery had been exhaustively completed.

  Naturally, none of these persons admitted to having seen either Hitler’s body, or any other in the Reichschancellery proper. However, many of them had seen Goebbels’ body, together with those of his family, in front of the Propaganda Ministry. Many of the stories were “tall tales,” narrated deliberately in order to make the teller appear in a more dramatic light. Others could not recollect the facts because of shock which was upon them in those last days of the city and most stories were highly influenced by starvation and illness.

  In the period between May 1 when the city fell and July 2 when American troops finally entered, the economic situation of the city had gone from bad to frightful. People had been reduced to the very lowest levels of human degradation in order to remain alive. The hospitals were full to overflowing, and without heat, light, drugs and medical supplies. It is a fact that 98% of all babies born in Berlin in this period died of malnutrition or dysentery.

  There were stories told of hundreds of persons having been trapped in the subway which had been flooded by SS troops. Later investigation into this by the Military Government, including the pumping of the subways dry and the raising of the cars, revealed that there had been no deaths due to this action. These wild stories, together with what had been gleaned by intelligence units in Western Germany, made excavation in the Reichschancellery proper all the more important. Arrangements were therefore completed with the Soviet representatives for excavation of the Reichschancellery area around December 1, 1945.

  No Trace of the Body

  The American Intelligence team headed by Captain George Gabelia, one of the American officers who spoke fluent Russian, arranged for two dozen workmen to be available. At the appointed time the workmen were carried by trucks to the Reichschancellery, provided with picks, shovels and axes and the operation began.

  First, all debris was cleared up, such odds and ends of war as broken machine guns, ammunition, rifles, helmets, uniforms, bits and pieces of wood, leather and metal all were examined and carefully piled in one area of the garden. The bomb-crater, located about four yards from the entrance to the Bunker was the prime target. Two screens were erected, one of wire mesh similar to chicken wire and behind it a second one much finer with half-inch holes. Every shovel full of dirt from the bomb-crater went first through the wide screen and next through the small screen in the hope that any small piece of evidence showing the presence of a human body might be quickly detected.

  The X-ray photographs of Hitler’s head gave us expert clues as to his dental structure and even one tooth might have been sufficient to identify his body.

  As the excavation progressed, we found bits of uniform and civilian clothing including a woman’s slip, a man’s hat with the initials “A. H.” in silver in the lining, suitcases and other pieces of clothing, books, magazines, records, diaries, recording tape and the remains of what had once been the switchboard in the Bunker.

  After two days of excavation in an ever widening area we found no signs of any bodies and more significantly no evidences of burning or of fire!

  On the third day of excavation I received a call at 7:00 in the morning from Captain Gabelia telling me that upon reporting at the Reichschancellery to continue the digging, he and our British allies had been met by an entire battalion of Soviet troops on guard there and had been denied access to the Reichschancellery Bunker area. I hurried to the Reichschancellery, arriving there about 7:45 in the morning. The area was indeed under guard. The Soviet major in command said that he was acting under instructions.

  I proceeded to NKVD headquarters in the Luisan Strasse, in the Soviet sector of Berlin. I found that General Sidnev was “not available” and that his d
eputy, Colonel Tulpov was “ill.” After three fruitless days, we were forced to call off further excavation in the Reichschancellery. The building and the grounds continued under guard for another six months! It was therefore necessary to send my uncompleted report of investigation into the death of Adolf Hitler to Supreme Headquarters then located at Frankfurt, Germany, together with pictures and supporting documents, with the notation that it had been impossible to complete the investigation.

  In the final paragraph of that report I stated that there was no evidence beyond that of hearsay to support the theory of Hitler’s suicide.

  I was authorized by higher headquarters in 1945 to say that: “On the basis of present evidence, no insurance company in America would pay a death claim on Adolf Hitler.”

  My final report to Washington stated that no evidence was found of Hitler’s death in Berlin in 1945. As a result, the “Wanted List of War Criminals,” last issued in 1948, carried the cryptic notice: “Wanted: Hitler, Adolf, Reichsfuehrer.”

  This story has never been properly told because of the fear that it might give credence to the rumors rampant throughout the world that Hitler was indeed alive. Particularly in South America where a hard core of Nazis still exists such a theory might give rise to the belief that their Fuehrer was indeed alive in some remote part of the world awaiting a chance to return as did Napoleon from Elba. This seems hardly credible, and it is not my place here to speculate on what actually did happen to Hitler.

  More sinister than Hitler’s disappearance was that of Martin Bormann, for Bormann was an organizational genius with a true passion for anonymity. Moreover, he was a true Nazi who believed passionately in that evil political system. Aside from speculation, there is no ghost in the crumbled ruins of the Reichschancellery more dangerous than that of Hitler himself and over the deliberations in Bonn as well as Washington, there still hangs the cloud of doubt: “What really happened to Hitler?”