Adolf Hitler

             Adolf Hitler

                        On May 1, 1945, the battle for Berlin had been raging for two weeks. The capital of the Third Reich lay in ruins. While the Nazi leadership still refused to sign an unconditional surrender, Soviet troops continued to fight their way towards the Fuehrer bunker in a house-to-house battle. Their ultimate goal was to capture the leader of the Third Reich. Hitler was the symbol of the war and fascism, a trophy that everybody wanted. But where was Hitler? Soviet soldiers found 6 children's corpses in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, 2 charred bodies, as well as skull fragments and teeth. And what did these two young women have to do with the search? One was Elena Rzhevskaya, a Red Army interpreter, the other a German, Käthe Heusermann, the assistant to Hitler's dentist. Both played a decisive role inthe identification of Hitler’s remains. The witness states: I clearly recognize the gold teeth and the dentures I was shown. Stalin was immediately informed about the remains and their identification. He now knew that Hitler was dead. Yet: 7 weeks later, at the Potsdam conference, Stalin told his Western allies that the dictator was in good health and had probably defected. Why didn't Stalintell his Allies? Probably because keepingit a secret could prove useful. 

            The story of Hitler's death showshow suspicious Stalin was of the West. Stalin's lie about Hitler's death was upheld for almost 50 years. All proof of Hitler’s death was kept under wraps until the Soviet Union became history. Only then was the truth finally told. Nothing can be hidden. Everything comes out in the end. For the Soviet Union, WW II began in June1941 after a surprise invasion by Hitler. Within a few months, the enemy was outside Moscow. Stalin ordered the massmobilisation of the population. The poorly equipped regiments that marched across the Red Square were sent directly to the front. Elena was just 22 and the other of a 2-year-old son. But the Red Army needed interpretersand Elena, who spoke German, volunteered. 4 years later, she was part of the Soviet unit in Berlin that was trying to track down Nazi leaders. Nobody knew where Hitler was. Therewere rumors of him lying dead or dying, a victim of a brain hemorrhage.Or that he had taken his own life. But according to Soviet radio, Hitler was alive and well and in hiding in the Alps. 

           It was said that a double was fighting in his place on the streets of Berlin, and Nazi propaganda wasonly waiting for his death to present the Allieswith appropriate photos. Another rumor claimed that Hitler was hiding in the ruins of the Reichstag. Capturing the Reichstag was a historical moment. The red flag above the parliament building symbolized victory over the Third Reich. It was our unit that led the attack on the Reichstag. We were lucky, it was a great honor for us. They stormed the Reichstagthinking Hitler was hiding there. But really, nobody knew where he was. But Hitler wasn't in the Reichstag.It had burned down in 1933. The Red Army front line headed to the chancellery, the former heart of Nazi power. It was exciting to imagine Hitler could still be there. We were on edge. But where was Hitler?Was he alive or dead? German radio announcedthe death of the Führer, who “fell in his heroicbattle against Bolshevism". Shortly afterward, German Chief of Staff, Hans Krebs, went to Soviet Headquarters. He wanted to begin surrender negotiations and told Marshall Georgy Zhukov about Hitler's death. So while bitter fighting continued on the streets of Berlin, the small Soviet advance unit with Elena, the interpreter, reached the Chancellery. 

              Close by was the bunker where Hitler had possibly been hiding for several months. They found a chaotic scene: the ground plowed with shells, and corpses lying everywhere. They quickly recognized one the body: Joseph Goebbels. Then those of his wife Magda and their 6 children. Hitler's body hadn't yet been found, but the next day, the news of his death made the headlines worldwide. Except in the soviet Union: Pravda, the official Communist Party newspaper, and voice of the Kremlin wrote that the claim Hitler was dead was a ruse to enable him to escape. Similarly, in Paris, L’Humanitéquestioned the report. Meanwhile, in the grounds of the Chancellery, the search for Hitler’s body continued among the rubble and corpses. One of them closely resembled the dictator, especially because of the typical mustache. Excitement and restlessness spread. Experts were called in. But despite the resemblance and the beard, it was clear that it was not Hitler. Nevertheless: the legend of a double was born. All Soviet troops marching into Berlinwere ordered to keep an eye out for Hitler. But the real search was done in secret and carried out by only 3 people: Major Gorbushin, Major Bystrovand their interpreter Elena. She was needed to help question German soldiers and officers.

             The two officers were part of SMERSH, the Soviet military intelligence during WW II. On May 4, I spoke to the bunker's heating engineer. He had installed the ventilationsystem in the rooms Hitler lived in. He saw the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun being taken out of the bunker. After questioning thefirst German prisoners, investigators were convinced that Hitlerhad held out in the bunker until the end. And that he had taken his own life shortly before the first Soviet troops arrived. It was also known that on the afternoon of April 30, the day of his supposed suicide, all the gasoline kept in the Chancelleryfor emergencies had been used up. Had Hitler disappeared without a trace?Or had he ordered his body to be burned? Could his remains still befound? And if so, where? The bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were discovered completely by chance. In the garden of the Chancellery, a soldiersaw the tip of a boot in good condition sticking out of ahole in the ground. He decided to take it and found two dead bodies. They didn't know if it was really Hitler.They were able to identify Goebbels because less petrol hadbeen used to burn his corpse. But these remainswere burnt to a cinder. The corpses of the Goebbels family, severalofficers and the still unidentified remains. SMERSH now had to identify around adozen bodies, charred to varying degrees.

               Vice admiral Hans-Erich Voss confessed he wasamong the last to see Goebbels and Hitler alive. Identifying Goebbels wasn't a problem,but was this really the corpse of Hitler? The autopsy proved inconclusive. The doctors could not- unlike with Goebbels - say with absolute certainty whether theremains were really those of the dictator. The last hope we're his teeth. The upper jaw was well preserved. The lower jaw, too. He still had fifteen teeth. On May 8, my superior officer, MajorGorbushin, told me to go and see him. He gave me a burgundycolored box and said: "These are Hitler's teeth.You're responsible for them.” On May 8th, the guns fell silent as theunconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht came into effect - people celebrated the endof a war that claimed millions of victims. But Elena stayed awayfrom the victory celebrations. Instead, she carefully guarded a box lined with red satin. It probably contained Hitler's final remains. In Berlin-Karlshorst, representatives of the Allies and German Field Marshal GeneralWilhelm Keitel met at Soviet headquarters. Overseen by Marshal Zhukov, they signed the surrender document of the German Wehrmacht on the night of May 9th. The war in Europe was now officially over. The next morning, Elena and the two officersset off to track down Hitler's dentist. Maybe he could say for certainif these were Hitler’s teeth. But they knew neither the dentist's name nor his address. Or even if hewas still alive.

                  Finally, they found out his name and thathe had left the city two weeks earlier. But they also learned that hisassistant had stayed in Berlin, hoping for her soldier husband to return from the front. A few hours later, Elenamet Käthe Heusermann. A young, cheerful woman, who for almost ten years, had assisted every one of Hitler's dentist visits. So the Führer's teeth held no secrets for her. She becamethe main witness. The teeth meant nothing if you couldnot find the person to identify them. Questioning ofKäthe Heusermann. The witness states: I clearly recognise thegold teeth and the dentures I was shown. They belong to Chancellor Hitler. The witnessmakes the same statement for Eva Braun. This testimony is very important. Now it disproven that the teeth truly belong to Hitler. We asked her to sketch Hitler's teeth, without showing her the teeth we had found. Käthe hadn't forgotten about Hitler's terrible dental health. Her sketch corresponded exactly to the jaw found by the Soviets. It removed all doubt. The burnt corpse found in a hole inthe Chancellery garden was Hitler’s. So Hitler was dead. But howwould Stalin handles this information. For the Soviet leadership inBerlin, it was clear Hitler was dead. And Stalin was informed immediately. 

            To not give Stalin an accurate report on the subject was out of the question. Hitler was a symbol ofhuge political importance, as the taking of the Reichstagand the conquest of Berlin. Stalin hardly emerged from the kremlin, but he had informers everywhere. Every day, new documents about Hitler'sdeath and the identification arrived. They were precise and definite. After Käthe Heusermann's testimony, it was clear Hitler was dead and Stalin knew it. However, a few days later, a Soviet general arrived in Berlin to verify the facts. The general started questioning people again, for the 1st time, Elena, the interpreter, was warned she would be held responsible in the case of a translation error. Everybody was given strict instructions and intimidated. The general sent the trio to find Käthe Heusermann again. She was told to pack for a week-long absence. Then they took her with them. Official report of the second questioning of Käthe Heusermann. It says it started at 01:15 and ended at06:00. The questions were always the same. They made her repeat what she knew about Hitler's teeth and after she'd said everything, they asked the same question: "so do you still say that the teeth and dentures shown to you belong to Hitler?" She said "Yes, Ican confirm that." The document is only five pages long but we know the interview lasted five hours, so we can imagine how many timesthey forced her to give the same answers. The mysterious general didn't sign any official reports.