The Explorer Who Found Hitler’s Bunker

Urban explorer and photographer Marc Askat braved the hunting season to walk through the thick wooded countryside in northern France. He was searching for a new subject for photographs and stumbled upon what is believed to be one of Adolf Hitler’s last bunkers— a place where the Nazi leader plotted the invasion of Britain.
The eerie underground stronghold is filled with stories from one of the most devastating wars in human history, but despite finding and photographing the bunker, Askat won’t reveal its exact location. It turns out he has a very good reason for keeping Hitler’s underground bunker location a secret from the public.

The History Buff

This isn’t the first time Parisian photographer Marc Askat has uncovered an intriguing World War II history site and photographed it. He’s also used soldier’s journals to uncover an underground World War II hospital and numerous wartime relics.
However, his latest adventure to uncover Hitler’s last bunker was more difficult. From the looks of this photo, this bunker was located off the radar pretty well deep in the forest. Most people know that Hitler fled to a bunker in German territory in a failed attempt to salvage his ailing war efforts, but that wasn’t the only bunker Hitler used. Askat uncovered a different bunker in France that was used to plan the invasion of Britain. You won’t believe what’s inside.

Crumbling Structure

After making his way through the dense forest during a dangerous time—hunting season—Askat saw a crumbling concrete building that was being enveloped by undergrowth and reclaimed by nature. He wasn’t entirely sure what he would find inside, but he pulled out his camera to document the experience.
Outside he found an enormous swimming pool. He researched and learned that a giant tarpaulin once hung above the pool to camouflage German officers as they swam. The empty pool was now covered in moss, but the grand scale of this Nazi bunker in the now peaceful French countryside seemed eerie.

A Way In

Now that Askat had located the bunker, he had to find a way in. The doors and windows were covered with rusty shutters—designed to keep intruders out. The entrance looks like something out of an Indian Jones film and for you to get in there is probably some complex way. Eventually, the urban explorer and photographer was able to find an opening.
The bunker Askat discovered was far from the only bunker Hitler had in France. The ruins of Nazi bunkers still exist throughout northern France, including the battle-ready bunker Batterie Todt near Normandy, and a rocket launching bunker that was never completed called Le Blockhaus. The Nazis occupied France for several years in World War II, ending with the Liberation of Paris in 1944.

Inside The Bunker

Askat entered the bunker and began exploring a massive network of tunnels and rooms that sprawled beneath the surface of the earth for six miles. At its deepest point, the underground bunker is close to 100 feet below the ground. Long hallways with different rooms on both sides spell for a ton of exploring. The windows were probably covered with something and we’re bare like in the photo above.
Inside he discovered crumbling ceilings, dark echoing hallways, and moss covered military phrases stamped on the chipped walls. The bunker is scary on its own, but knowing that it was once inhabited by the evilest man in the world makes the journey through the darkness even more chilling. During the occupation of France, Nazi’s brought terror and genocide to the country.

Historical Importance

Beyond the bunker’s staggering size, the underground stronghold Askat photographed has a significant historical importance. It was believed to be Hitler’s final headquarters outside of Germany. From this photograph, it is hard to distinguish what exactly is pictured but it resembles a labyrinth. At the time the bunker was built, Hitler planned to invade Britain—which didn’t work out.
He later planned to burn the city of Paris to the ground if the Allies captured the city; they did, but Hitler was holed up in his German bunker, support for the Nazis was waning, and he was unable to execute a military strategy at that point. The bunker Askat photographed may have been the site of major military decisions that resulted in massive death and destruction.

Who Lived There?

The name of the bunker Marc Askat found was Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschlucht II, and Adolf Hitler wasn’t the only terrifying figure who resided there. Here you see the floorboards fell away and rusted pipes beneath. This wasn’t in every location of the bunker. The bunker served as the Nazis’ Western Front military command center and housed dozens of German officers and their staff.
The maze of passageways and rooms would’ve been full of Nazis plotting the expansion of their fascist regime. What makes this bunker all the more terrifying is that it was just one of ten similar sites used by Hitler during the war—which gives you an idea of just how vast their influence was. In a bunker like this one, it was difficult for Allied forces to find and attack Hitler.

A Bloody War

In this room you can see the ceiling is ripping off and more rust stains located on the wall underneath what appears to be a shelf. What that shelf held, we are unsure but it probably helped contribute to the gore of WWII. World War II was one of the bloodiest wars in history. The unprovoked German attack on Poland in 1939 set the war in motion, and it raged for six years until the Nazis were defeated in 1945. It was a brutal six years, with more than 50 million soldiers and civilians killed in the war.
A large portion of the death toll was due to the genocide of six million European Jews killed by Hitler’s directives. Death camps and concentration camps contributed one of the deadliest genocides in history. This genocide was carried out in stages, with the extermination camps eventually posed as “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” The bunker is a reminder of this horrifying chapter in history.

The Spread Of Antisemitism

This room looks particularly interesting. There are tanks along the wall and something that resembles a long horizontal medicine cabinet. What on earth was kept in here? More rust and mold on the ceiling can be seen as well. Antisemitism was not a new concept when Hitler rose to power—and he preyed on this fear of the other by scapegoating Jews for the economic problems and social unrest Germany was facing after World War I. The historian and scholar Eberhard Jackel wrote about why the Holocaust was so shocking to those who lived through it.
“Never before had a state with the authority of its responsible leader decided and announced that a specific human group, including its aged, its women, and its children and infants, would be killed as quickly as possible, and then carried through this resolution using every possible means of state power.”

A Slow Build

Though many of us are unable to visit harrowing historical sites like this one, the photos remind us that state sanctioned violence on a scale as massive as the Holocaust didn’t happen overnight. It took resources, supporters, and infrastructure. Terrain militaire defense d’entrer as you see on the wall directly translates to military ground defense of entering. The armed forces would be here it appears.
When the Third Reich was first established, they started ordering Jewish Germans by dividing the population into two categories: “national comrades” and “community aliens.” Nazis also further divided people by their perceived offenses: “racial” enemies (e.g. Jews and Romani), political enemies (e.g. Marxists and liberals), and moral enemies (e.g. gays and lesbians). The first step was propaganda that instilled fear about these groups and turned neighbors against them.

Harrowing History

Inside the dark and dingy bunker, Askat found harrowing reminders of the past. Though many of the floorboards had fallen away to reveal rusty pipes underneath, there were still old canisters and decaying debris strewn around some rooms—a reminder that this space was lived in.
Before underground bunkers, the legal and social rights of Jews were slowly but steadily being restricted in Germany. Throughout the 1930s, several anti-Semitic laws were passed. In 1933, Jews and other “non-Aryans” were barred from civil service. Jews were also barred from owning farms. Jewish lawyers were abruptly disbarred, and judges were dragged from their courtrooms and beaten.

If Walls Could Talk

Inside the bunker, Askat photographed the winding concrete corridors deep underground. These gloomy passageways were reinforced with thick cement walls and metal doors to protect the Nazis plotting underground from Allied forces. This bunker was one that you had to get used to or else you would probably get lost byt the looks of this photo.
To get to this point, the Nazis stripped Jews of more and more rights until they had few ways to resist.
In 1933, a major eugenics law was also passed, and 400,000 people were sterilized against their will. The Nuremberg Laws, passed in 1935 by Hitler, also prohibited “Aryan” Germans from having relationships with Jews and later other “non-Aryan” groups. Many persecuted artists and intellectuals fled Germany before World War II.

The Secret Location

After finding and photographing the bunker, Askat was pleased and wanted to show off his historical find to the world. This is a good shot of the outside of bunker which might lead some to think this was it but they had no clue about the whole underground. He uploaded photographs of the complex to Facebook, but people quickly noticed a bit of important information was missing: the location of the underground bunker.
It turns out Askat had a very good reason for keeping the location a secret. He wasn’t just trying to keep the location and all the great photos to himself. He was protecting something very important about the complex. It was still in use, and the reason for its use had changed a lot since its original purpose as Hitler’s bunker.

The Bunker Today

The bunker Marc Askat stumbled upon may have once served as an underground stronghold for Nazi forces and Hitler, but today it serves a much different purpose. From the looks of these doors, it would have taken a ton of man force to infiltrate through this bunker if all doors were shut and locked. The top-secret location is actually currently a training site for the French Foreign Legion.
Askat knew the importance of keeping the precise location a secret, even though he wanted to share his discovery with the world. Though the location of Hitler’s French hideout is concealed from the rest of the world, Askat’s photos give us a glimpse into the past without compromising the location. The photos remind us of important history and serve as a warning to current and future generations.

The East Berlin Bunker

The secret bunker in France may have been eerie but Hitler’s not so discreet bunker in East Berlin almost packed the same punch as far as being creepy goes. a man by the name of Robert Conrad took some risks when he disguised himself as a construction worker to take photos of this bunker. This photo here appears to be the opening of one of the entrances to the bunker. Taken from an obscure angle, you can still see the intricacies to this bunker. He would sneak in 30 times before finally releasing the photos.
There were guards, dark tunnels, and explosions but he trekked on so he could be able to show the world these horrific truths. “I walked very slowly across the site, as if on eggshells, so no one would notice me,” he recalls.

The Photographer Feared For His Life While Capturing These Photos

The photographer Robert Conrad risked his freedom 30 times just to get exclusive pictures of this bunker. He started his work in 1987 and only recently decided to reveal the photos. Maybe he feared his life would be in danger if he would have surfaced the pictures or his actions way back then. Who knows…but the pictures he got were chilling.
Starting off with this image, it depicts tiles falling from the wall in the bunker of the New Reich Chancellery. One can only imagine what it looked like when it was in full service and Hitler was walking the grounds.

When It Floods It Rusts

What we see here is an air raid shelter. If you are unaware, an air raid shelter is a structure designed to protect people from bombs being dropped. This specific shelter in the New Reich Chancellery had been flooded. You can notice the sediment markings along the walls which indicate different water levels.
And if you look to the left, you can see a steel cabinet that has been overturned. It looks like someone can fit perfectly in their if they crouch down if bombs were to be dropped on them. Let’s see what lies on the next page.

Selfie In The Bunker

Selfie In The Bunker

What we see here are two things. Let’s talk about the first glaring recognition. That man is Robert Conrad, the person we can thank for all of these photos. You are probably wondering why he is taking a self-portrait at a time like that when he was supposed to be disguised as a construction worker. Well, wonder no more because what he is standing in front of is history.

What’s behind him is known as the “Führer’s bunker” and it is where Hitler shot himself way back in April 1945. Still wondering why he took the selfie at the spot?
What we see here are two things. Let’s talk about the first glaring recognition. That man is Robert Conrad, the person we can thank for all of these photos. You are probably wondering why he is taking a self-portrait at a time like that when he was supposed to be disguised as a construction worker. Well, wonder no more because what he is standing in front of is history.
What’s behind him is known as the “Führer’s bunker” and it is where Hitler shot himself way back in April 1945. Still wondering why he took the selfie at the spot?

From The Outside

Up until now, we have only seen what the inside looked like but what about the exterior? An apartment building was in the works of being built on the same position where the bunker was so construction workers had to do some demolition work before they could begin the process. This is what they had uncovered.
Hitler made a man by the name of Albert Speer commence the construction of this building because, at the time, the old Reich Chancellery had become outdated and too small. It was time to take things up a notch.

Nothing Is Safe

What is a bunker without the amenities that come with it? Secret rooms, trap doors, hiding spots and of course safes, just to name a few. Of course, we don’t know for certain what a bunker comes detailed with.
This photo was taken in 1988 and what you see is a couple of rusting metal safes. We wonder what Hitler kept in the safes he owned. It couldn’t have been anything good for humankind wouldn’t you agree?

If You Read The News, You Are Misinformed

Pictured above is a bunker room. Photographer Robert Conrad shed some light on what it was like, as the public had major concerns over the bunkers being built. The newspapers wouldn’t even call them bunkers, avoiding talking about it at all.
“Of course there was nothing in the newspapers about the Nazi bunkers. That was very much a taboo subject, as was everything about the Nazi period,” Conrad explains. “Officially, they were just constructing a new residential neighborhood.” That is what the media fed and the public consumed it.

Not A Hunt

_ What we see here appears to be rusted water heaters. Who knows what it could be, but Robert Conrad wasn’t in this just to do it or find some type of hidden artifacts. He was in it for something else that may have been meaningful for him.
“I didn’t go to the bunkers hunting for relics or out of some secret admiration for the Nazi regime,” Conrad says. He says that he was more concerned with documenting the architecture that was found in the bunker. That could be of important use for others who may ever need to refer back to how things were built back then.

Floods On Floods

We brought up flooding earlier but you couldn’t actually see the water. In this image you see the water and how high it is. This was shot in 1988 and to the left, you can see the entrance to the staircases that attached an older portion of the structure to a new area.
The black and white tone adds a dramatic effect to the photo as you can see debris from the damage the bunker took over on the right side. A photographer is going to do what he or she has to do to get the absolute best shot possible no matter the conditions.

The Survival

The name of the construction site that Robert Conrad had snuck into was called Otto Grotewohl Strasse. It is now called Wilhelmstrasse and what you see in the picture are buildings from the former Nazi Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (that’s not a tongue twister).
Hitler used to stand in the window to address the crowds, but decided the building was inadequate for use. What you see is typical Nazi architecture.

The Electrics

What does this look like to you? Like something was ripped out of the wall that had wires? Or just some room in the New Reich Chancellery bunker where obscure things happened? Well, what it is exactly is the remnants of the electrical system. Hitler had to have lights, right?
Robert Conrad admitted that due to fear, he was not able to get in optimal positions so that he could take the best pictures because he did not want to get caught while in the bunker. Who can blame him? It took a huge act of courage to do what he did.

The Surrounding Area

Has anyone ever said anything to you and you didn’t have a clue as to what he or she was talking about? Then they provide context and you start to understand what in the world they initially said to you. Well, this photograph is a bit similar as it provides context to the photo of the bunker.
Sure, you can vividly know what the bunker looked like thanks to the photographs Robert Conrad provided but wouldn’t you like to know what it looked liked around the bunker? Conrad took pictures after an explosion as you see the smoke from the construction area.

More Demolition

Here is more context for you piggybacking off the last slide. Here is another view but a closer look at the demolition site of the bunker. Even whilst outside the bunker, Conrad carried fear with him and for good reason. Wouldn’t you feel even the slightest bit of anxiety while on a mission like this?
“My greatest fear was that they would assume I was trying to escape,” Conrad says. “As far as I knew, parts of the labyrinth of bunkers ran along under the Wall and even extended into the death strip.” Just the word death strip brings fear.

Big Hole There

Of course, taking photographs on the outside must have been easier for Robert Conrad. Whether or not he was caught doesn’t matter because what’s important is that he was able to share these pictures with the world.
What we see here is a huge hole of Hitler’s bunker. It is the stair shaft that led from the western exit. The bunker had its complex setup but Hitler most likely knew every part of like the back of his hand. Can’t say the same for anyone who might have gotten lost down there.

Take A Look

If you look to the right you can see the Nazi Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda building and if you look to the left you see an East German state publishing house. The Nazis used to use that building to the left as well but what you see in the middle is, of course, the bunker. Now you know how far away the Nazi Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was.

By Chance

If you look closely you can see the Berlin Wall. This photo was taken in 1988 by Conrad and in the background, you are able to see the temporary construction buildings that are in front of the Berlin Wall.
Conrad only found out about the site by chance when he was an apprentice bus driver. One day on his route, he went past the Otto Grotewohl Strasse. “My seat in the bus was raised, so I could see over the fence into the construction site,” he recalls. “Suddenly I saw this completely insane landscape with enormous concrete ruins that had buried for decades protruding out of the ground.”

Caught Up!

Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
They took a dozen rolls of film from him during his secret visits. That means Conrad could have possible had way better pictures to share on top of just simply having more. How do you think he was feeling each time he was caught? Our guess is that his heart dropped.

Curiosity Killed The Cat

As we mentioned earlier, if it weren’t for Robert Conrad’s bus route, he may not have found out about the bunker. Taking a step further, the construction is the reason why the bunker even made it to surface level. The bunker was underground so even with that bus route Conrad had taken, the demolition is what helped bring it to light.
On why he couldn’t stop from going down Conrad had this to say. “Being down there and hearing the echo of your own footsteps, discovering things from a completely distant chapter of history — it was that feeling of traveling back in time that fascinated me so much.”

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An Encounter

After being caught five times, your sense of trust and awareness is surely raised. You are likely moving about like a wolf in the night on the hunt for sheep. And mistrust is exactly what was going on the mind when Conrad ran into an unsuspecting individual.
“It was unbelievable,” he says. “He was sitting there as calm as could be with a miner’s lamp, drawing the gloomy scene on a small easel,” Conrad says. “We talked to each other, but the mistrust was too great,” he says. “He didn’t dare to ask me why I was there, and I didn’t dare to ask him either.”

Creepy Stairs

What we see here is the staircase at the former foreign ministry. Conrad would frequent this spot often. Doesn’t this image give you the slightest bit of chills? The rubble and debris everywhere with the rusted handrails just makes you want to wonder what could have taken place here.
Much to no avail, however, these images apparently did not do the site as much justice as Conrad might have imagined. What do we mean by that? Well, Conrad thought that a certain vibe would still be there but that was not the case. See the next page to uncover what he meant.

Slightly Disappointed

Robert Conrad, with all the fear he had,still felt disappointed by his findings. Sure, the pictures were compromised because he wasn’t able to get the positioning he really wanted but the environment itself is what made him unsatisfied and he expressed exactly why.
The bunker did not have the “original setting of insanity” he wanted to witness. “Too many Allied soldiers and curious Berliners had already been through there in the first years after the war, and all of them took souvenirs,” he explains. That makes sense because he didn’t get there until later so he can’t have too much disappointment.

Jewish Resistance

Though many history books and documentaries explore Hitler, few take a closer look at resistance by German Jews. Because they were persecuted slowly and for so long, the resistance wasn’t as strong as one might expect. It was just like the old saying about putting a frog in a pot of lukewarm water: if you slowly turn it up to a boil one degree at a time, the frog won’t realize until it’s too late.
Peter Longerich, who studied the Polish ghettos, observed, “On the Jewish side there was practically no resistance.” However, the Warsaw ghetto uprising was one of the most pivotal moments in resistance. After months of massive deportations, the remaining Jewish community, which was small, armed themselves and took to the streets.

The French Resistance

The bunker, which was found in France, needed to stay well concealed because there was an active guerrilla campaign against the Nazis and Vichy authorities called the French Resistance. The French Resistance aided Allied armies. Though Jews made up only one percent of the French population, they were 15 to 20 percent of the French Resistance.
Pieter Meerburg disputed the idea that there was little Jewish resistance during World War II. “Many people think Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter, and that’s not true—it’s absolutely not true. I worked closely with many Jewish people in the Resistance, and I can tell you, they took much greater risks than I did.”

Hitler’s Defeat And Death

By 1944, Western Allies and the Red Army had advanced into Germany. Hitler spent his final days in a bunker very similar to the one Askat photographed—located in Germany and called the Führerbunker. He knew he would be trapped and have to face the atrocities he’d committed.
In the bunker, Hitler married Eva Braun. Then, a day later, he shot himself and Braun bit into a cyanide capsule. Their bodies were removed from the bunker and their corpses were burned. Bunkers were the site of some of the most important decisions in World War II, and Askat’s photographs are a gateway into that time.

Occupation Of France

When Germany occupied France (along with Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium) in 1940, anti-Semitic measures were introduced there too. The Vichy regime in occupied France aided in the persecution of French Jews. They were deported to unoccupied areas of France, with only Jews in mixed marriages not expelled.
In October 1940, 6,500 French Jews were given just two hours of warning before being forced onto trains and deported. The French authorities in unoccupied territories were unhappy with the sudden influx of deported people who were not allowed to bring any belongings with them. After this jarring and disorienting trip, they were greeted with more hostility.

The Importance Of The Photos

Marc Askat may not be able to reveal the secret French bunker’s location, but he was able to show the world what it looked like. Though many World War II historical sites are open to tourists, Askat’s photos have the ability to circulate around the world and don’t require anyone to travel to see this historic site.
Hitler’s French bunker may be disturbing to look at, but it offers an important glimpse into the life of a man who shaped the history of the world in unimaginable ways. The old cliché “history repeats itself” has been proven again and again to be true, so it’s important to learn about the evils man is capable of and prevent them from happening again.

Hitler’s Bunker Re-Created In Berlin

In 2016, it was reported that Hitler’s bunker was re-created in Berlin. It was opened inside a former Nazi air raid shelter and was open to the public to take a look at how Hitler spent his final days. Although, one would think that a bunker would not include many, if any, luxuries especially in the middle of a war – for Hitler the opposite was true. The bunker had thirty rooms, and was outfitted with furniture, including a personal desk for the fuehrer. Of course, Hitler was never to emerge from within the confines, and he committed suicide in 1945 before the Allied forces could capture him alive. It is also said that he encouraged the suicide of those closest around him.

Hitler’s Closest Associates

Hitler surrounded himself with people that would pledge their undying loyalty to him. Many of these people rose to the ranks of powerful military officers like Heinrich Himmler, while others held jobs like doctors like Adolf Eichmann, and still there were those who were even closer to him like his lover and eventual wife Eva Braun. How Hitler was able to find others to carry out his work which came with so many horrifying atrocities, is perhaps one of the greatest world mysteries. However, one thing is for certain these people created some of the worst crimes against their fellow human beings and it is absolutely imperative nothing like the Holocaust ever takes place again.

Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels was one of Hitler’s closest associates. He also later became the Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany until the end of the war. He was known for extremely evident anti-semitism so it was clearly not hard to get him to follow along with Hitler’s views, which he gleefully did. In fact, he often advocated even harsher discrimination, notably the literal extermination of the Jewish people. Disturbingly, Goebbels was an educated man who held a Doctorate of Philosophy. He was also responsible for seizing control of the media, art, radio, and film which was only to produce pro-Nazi propaganda. Nazis adopted the term “Lügenpresse” which translates to “lying press” in order to label any news or media they did not agree with.

Hitler’s Favorite Little Girl

Hitler apparently had a special affinity for Helga Goebbels, the twelve-year-old daughter of Joseph Goebbels. The Goebbels had six children and Helga was the eldest. At twelve, she was probably old enough to understand what was going on, as her parents forced her into an underground bunker. Clearly, she must have known that forces were closing in on both the fuehrer and her parents. Her mother and a Nazi doctor crushed cyanide tablets in the children’s mouths as they slept. Although, apparently, Helga was found with bruising on her face, which indicated she did not take the poison willingly. A sad end for a child stuck in the middle of World War II.

Eva Braun

Eva Braun first met Hitler when she was only a teenager, seventeen years old, in Munich. At the time, she was working with his personal photographer. Several years later she began seeing him. Apparently, Eva was quite tortured from the start, and she reportedly tried to kill herself twice during their early time together. She later became a constant in Hitler’s life and home. She also is the one who took many of the surviving color photos of Hitler. She was not seeing publicly with him till almost the end of the war at which point her sister married another SS officer, Hermann Fegelein. Even as the walls began to close in on the two, she remained loyal to him. They married forty hours before they committed suicide together in the underground bunker. She bit into a cyanide capsule and Hitler shot himself in the head.

Hitler’s Grave

As the Soviet Army began to close in on Hitler and his cronies, they began to take steps surrounding the end of their life. For one, Hitler married his longtime love Eva Braun. The defense forces were being overtaken and running out of ammunition. The next day, Hitler and Eva said goodbye to those in the bunker with them and went into Hitler’s study, closing the door behind them. One hour later, a gunshot was heard. Eva had taken a cyanide tablet and Hitler had shot himself in the head. Allegedly, German soldiers carried the bodies outside and set them on fire. Then their remains were put into a shell crater and covered up in a shallow grave. Not long after soldiers with the Soviet Army were exploring the area and found the grave. After they did an autopsy they moved the body to another grave site. However, that wasn’t the bodies last move.

Hitler’s Demise

After Hitler’s body was moved to another gravesite outside of Berlin. He was re-buried again in a forest near Rathenau. It was later moved again to a Soviet Army base in Magdeburg. The body allegedly remained here until the 1970s. At that point, the base was turned over by the Soviets to the German government. The Soviets kept the location of these remains very secret and access was also completely limited. Later, the KGB director Yuri Andropov allegedly ordered the remains to be destroyed and disposed with the exception of bone fragments from the skull. These fragments were stored in Moscow in protected government buildings. Although, later testing was said to dispute that these were Hitler, or even male in origin and actually belong to a woman. However, Russians dispute those findings.

Hitler Survived?

As with many fallen world leaders, there have been many conspiracy theories surrounding Hitler’s death. One of the most popular is that he and Eva Braun actually survived the bunker and fled to Berlin. Others claim that Hitler fled to South America, and Argentina to be more specific. Because Hitler used a double, many believe it was the double who was actually killed, while the real Hitler was able to escape. Although, experts and historians have mostly debunked these theories they are still quite pervasive. Allegedly, this idea was directly promoted by the Soviet government in order to engage in disinformation.

Did Hitler Escape?

The rumor that Hitler survived even caused a possible disguise photo by the United States Secret Service to be issued. While many have claimed to have sightings of Hitler, none have ever been verified. Russian officials also claimed to have fragments of skull belonging to Hitler. However, in 2009 an archaeologist from the University of Connecticut examined the bone and found it to be from a woman under the age of forty. The Russian Officials also had jawbone fragments including dental bridges which were shown to Hitler’s dentist who claimed them to belong to Hitler and Eva Braun respectively. Another popular theory is that Hitler escaped to Argentina, which probably has root in the fact than many former Nazis did in fact escape to South America.

Man Claims To Be Hitler

Recently, a man from Argentina claimed that he was actually Hitler and has spent the past seventy years in hiding. While the man is apparently an actual German immigrant, he says that he came with a fake passport and that he is actually Hitler. He said he decided to come out of hiding because the Israeli Secret Service was no longer searching for WWII war criminals. The man said, “I’ve been blamed for a lot of crimes that I’ve never committed. Because of that, I’ve had to spend more than half of my life hiding from Jews, so I’ve had my punishment already.” He is also apparently preparing a book, however his wife of fifty-five years, Angela Martinez says that her husband – Herman Guntherberg – is definitely not Adolf Hitler. Instead he only began to talk about Hitler when he began showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease a few years previously. Although, she concedes its possible he was a Nazi at some point, he definitely isn’t Hitler.

Hitler’s Son?

In the 1970s, a French railway worker named Jean-Marie Loret claimed to be Hitler’s son. Allegedly, for most of his life he was told by his mother that his true father was an unknown German soldier she had an affair with during WWI. Shortly before his mother died she claimed that his true father was in fact the Fuehrer himself, Adolf Hitler. According to some, Hitler did actually have a relationship with a young French woman while he was a soldier, and some also claim that he told people he had a son from this woman. Many historians dispute the claims while others say it is difficult to know the truth without proper DNA testing. Regardless, Loret’s family, including his sons believe that they are indeed related to Adolf Hitler.

Nazi Human Experiments

Some of the most horrifying atrocities took place during the Holocaust and mass murder of Jewish people during the war. Some of the poor souls captured even had to endure a fate worse than death. Nazis became quite fond of conducting various gruesome human experiments on their prisoners including children. These experiments took place at various concentration camps and while the victims were mostly Jewish, the Nazis also targeted Romani, Sinti, ethnic Poles, Soviet POWs, and disabled Germans. The people experimented on were forced to participate and did not willingly enage in the experiments which very often resulted in their death. Essentially, their deaths were brought through heinous torture. Experiments were used to develop weapons, disturbing experiments on twins including trying to change eye color and sewing twins together to try to create conjoined twins, they attempted to transplant bone, muscle, and nerves from one patient to another, as well as many other horrifying atrocities which prisoners were forced to endure.

Sigmund Rascher

Sigmund Rascher was a German doctor who was responsible for committing multiple gruesome experiments on human beings. Sigmund directly reported to the SS leader Heinrich Himmler. Some of his horrifying experiments included the effects of high altitude, freezing and blood coagulation in the human body. Sigmund’s undoing came even before the end of the war after he claimed that he had “fertility” treatments which could vastly extend maternal age. He claimed his own wife was able to get pregnant multiple times past the age forty eight. However, it was later discovered that the resulting babies from these pregnancies were actually kidnapped. He was charged with a number of crimes before he was taken to the concentration camp Dachau and executed.

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Himmler was one of the leading members in the Nazi Party and definitely remains one of the most recognizable names from the era. He became one of the most powerful men under Hitler and held a large majority of responsibility for the Holocaust. He was the one who set up and remained in charge of the Nazi concentration camps. He also oversaw other forces like the Gestapo. As the one directly in charge of the concentration camps he was responsible for the killing of six million Jewish people, hundreds of thousands of Romani people, and many other victims largely of Polish and Soviet descent. As the Germans began to lose the war, he attempted to make peace with the West which Hitler found out and called for his arrest. Heinrich attempted to flee but was caught by the British. While in custody, he killed himself in 1945.

The Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg trials were a series of thirteen trials held in order to bring Nazi war criminals to justice on the international level. The trials were carried out in Nuremberg, Germany. They lasted for five years from 1945 and 1949. There were a variety of people tried including Nazi officials, military officers, and others including doctors. They were charged with crimes against humanity. Of course, Hitler himself the leader of the entire Nazi party killed himself before he could ever face justice as did many of his men. The trials are now thought of as landmark and setting the standard for international court, particularly in dealing with other situations of genocide and crimes against human beings.

Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi military officer and was directly involved in the Holocaust. He was primarily responsible for the logistics of moving Jewish people to ghettos and later concentration camps during WWII. After the war, he fled first escaping to Austria and then later he managed to escape to Argentina. However, he was captured in 1960 by Mossad (Israel’s intelligence service). Eichmann did not deny his crimes but said he was simply following orders. He was then put on trial in Israel and found guilty of war crimes with the punishment of hanging. He was killed in 1962 for his crimes.

Nazis In South America

In 2012, The Daily Mail published a report that alleged that “secret files” revealed that as many as 9,000 Nazi officials were able to escape to various South American countries. They claimed that Brazil had between 1500 and 2000 war criminals, while 500 to 1000 settled in Chile, another 5,000 escaped to Argentina. This is thought to be partially because some of these countries, namely Argentina already had a large German immigrant population and thus had relatively close ties to Germany. It is also believed that they were assisted greatly by Argentina President Juan Peron and his wife Eva, who helped established secret routes to smuggle in Nazis. Apparently, Peron was quite taken with some of the ideals of Hitler and was interested in having Nazis teach him various military endeavors.

Using The Church To Aid War Criminals

It has been alleged that the Perons used the Catholic church to aid the escape of various Nazi War criminals. At least one Catholic Bishop Alois Hudal, of Austrian descent, knew that he was aiding war criminals by helping them obtain false documents in order to flee to Argentina. Many of these war criminals never saw justice for their heinous actions. For instance, the SS colonel Walter Rauff, died in Chile in 1984. He was responsible for inventing mobile gas chambers. Perhaps the most famous who escaped was, Dr. Josef Mengele who conducted grotesque human experimentation at Auschwitz. He managed to flee to Argentina and later settled in Brazil. He apparently drowned in an accident in 1979. His remains were identified after forensic testing in 1985.

Nazis Kept Slaves In Brazil?

A photograph was unearthed in 2014 that appeared to be from some time in the 1930s, interestingly it featured a soccer time that held a flag with a swastika on it. Years later, a wall broke in the same area the photograph was taken. The fallen bricks were also marked with a swastika. Apparently, the farm had at one point been owned by a family called the Rocha Mirandas, who were part of a political party who were sympathetic to Nazis. They were also fond of engaging in behavior akin to Nazis which included running a brutal work-camp. The workers were abandoned non-white children that were forced to endure hard labor. They were even assigned numbers. The surviving orphans claimed they were forced to be essentially slaves on the farm before they were able to escape.

Modern Day Nazis And White Nationalists

There is still a movement around the world and even in the United States of America attempting to advance the views of the Nazi party. If you visit the American Nazi Party website, where they discuss Adolf Hitler in glowing terms. They also say that “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children.” One man who holds a similar ideology is Richard Spencer who claims to be “white nationalist” and calls for a peaceful ethnic cleansing. He is considered to be a founder of the “alt-right” which rejects mainstream conservatism and instead calls for white nationalism. Richard garnered quite a bit of media attention after the 2016 United States Presidential election. While at a National Policy Institute Conference, Richard was a speaker and he quote directly from Nazi propaganda and denounced the Jewish people. He also said, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!”, where he and those in the audience erupted into Nazi salutes.