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(cheering)
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(narrator) During the years of triumph,
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Germans couldn't see enough
of Adolf Hitler—
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Germany's saviour.
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00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:51,280
Germany's greatest statesman.
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The greatest general
the world had ever seen.
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But as the war turned against Germany,
Hitler disappeared from public view.
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00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,280
And at the last,
the German people knew nothing.
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They were told he had died
a hero's death, but that was all.
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Nazis, and later the Russians,
concealed what they knew about his end.
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The first Westerner
to investigate the affair
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00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,960
was British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.
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The controversy began because
Hitler was last heard of in the West
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when he made a broadcast
on the 22nd, I think, of April 1945,
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saying that he would stay in Berlin.
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And when the Russians captured Berlin,
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no announcement was made about his life
or death or anything about him.
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The body of Goebbels was found
and shown by the Russians.
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The body of Hitler was not.
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And five months
after Hitler's disappearance,
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the Russians accused
the British authorities in Germany
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of concealing Hitler and Eva Braun
in the British zone
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for ultimate use against the Russians.
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This was the last straw which provoked
the British authorities in Germany
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to decide to settle this matter
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and I was appointed
to find out the facts.
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That's the beginning of the controversy.
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And of course I naturally consider
that when I had made my report,
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on 1 November, 1945,
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the controversy should logically
have come to an end.
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Why it went on, I can't think,
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except for the perpetual
Russian mystification.
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(narrator) Yelena Rzhevskaya was
an interpreter with the Red Army unit
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00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:52,240
which tried to find Hitler.
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00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,240
Dr Faust Shkaravsky
headed the autopsy commission
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00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,960
which examined the body
the Russians found.
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00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,800
Professor Keith Simpson
is a British pathologist
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who has assessed the Soviet findings.
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00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:06,800
Dental expert Reidar Sognnaes
found important new evidence
40
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,200
in a United States archive.
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00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:14,800
Albert Speer, Nazi armaments minister,
saw Hitler often during the war.
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00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,800
Heinz Linge was Hitler's valet
and closest personal servant.
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Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge
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was with him in the underground
headquarters, the bunker, until the end.
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This situation in the bunker
was a fantastic one.
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One really can't… An unrealistic one.
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One really can't describe how the moods
went on and off like waves.
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Sometimes they were all exhilarating
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and we were thinking,
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“Well, now the Western troops
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are coming for release of Berlin.”
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Goebbels was exclaiming
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00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:05,080
one of the biggest decisions of the war
that Hitler made.
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“He is now determined to…
no more to fight against the West,
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only to the East in Berlin,
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and this will mean that
the Western powers will join us
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00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:21,800
in our fight against Russia.”
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00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,880
And such things happened
every now and then,
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and then a few minutes afterwards
everybody was speaking about suicide.
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00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,480
(speaking German)
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00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,600
(translator) Since Stalingrad,
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Hitler's state of health
had been constantly deteriorating.
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00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:50,560
He dragged one of his legs somewhat
and got a shaking in his arm.
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00:04:55,480 --> 00:05:00,240
During the last days in the bunker,
this got much worse.
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00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:11,440
During April, when the report
came through that Roosevelt was dead,
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00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:17,280
and Truman had said that America's
area of interest was not in Europe,
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00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,600
but in East Asia,
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00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,760
Hitler drew some hopes from this
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and clung to it like a drowning man
clutching a last straw.
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We spoke about committing suicide
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as other people talk about fashions
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or about what they have done today.
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And so Eva Braun asked
for the best and the painless,
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00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,360
the most painless method
to commit suicide.
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00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,560
And Hitler said,
“That would be cyanide.”
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“You don't feel anything.”
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And she said, “Then I would prefer that,
because if I shoot myself,
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I would make an ugly impression
when I am dead.”
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00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:17,320
Hitler himself saw no other solution
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00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:23,560
and no other way out
than to commit suicide himself too.
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00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,400
And so it infected us a little.
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00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:33,760
It was a most varied theme of our
conversations, how to commit suicide.
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00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:40,920
It was a little macabre. And then he
gave us capsules, poison capsules.
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It was in a brass, in a brass…
like a lipstick.
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00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:50,600
It looked like a lipstick
in brass… outside wrapping.
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00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,600
And he gave it to Mrs Christian and me
and said,
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00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:58,840
“I would like to give you
a nice present,
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00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:05,200
but I think this one
will be of much use for you.”
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00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:12,680
And with a regretting smile,
he gave us this poison.
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00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,320
(speaking German)
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00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:20,000
(translator) He himself also did not
have the sort of trust he used to have
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00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:22,120
towards other people,
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00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,440
even, for instance,
towards his own doctors.
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00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,080
I had to give him his eye drops
in the morning.
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00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,640
He maintained that I had
a particularly steady hand.
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00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:43,280
But I believe that it was more
his mistrust of other people.
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00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:49,480
Also, when the doctor came
to take his blood,
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I had to be there and keep an eye on it.
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It became more and more clear
that he mistrusted everybody.
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00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:08,240
And one day there came one of the men
of the press bureau, press office,
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and brought the news.
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I think he had heard it by radio
from Reuters news agency,
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00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:25,960
that Himmler had had negotiations
with Count Bernadotte for capitulation
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and Hitler was very upset
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because he held Himmler
for his most faithful paladin
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and the most reliable one,
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and now he saw that also
he had tried to betray him.
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He remembered suddenly that the poison
which he had to use for himself
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was given to him
from one of Himmler's staff
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and he mistrusted that it may affect…
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Perhaps Himmler tried a dirty trick
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and gave him something that would
only make him unconscious,
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so that he could be transported
against his will out of the bunker
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and delivered to the enemy.
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00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,480
And to test this,
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he ordered a doctor to try to test
this poison capsule on the dog.
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00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:28,320
I think next to Eva Braun,
this one was next to him.
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00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,680
So he said farewell
and Blondi died very promptly.
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(speaking German)
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(translator)
The telegram came from Goering,
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which said, “Mein Führer”.
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No longer “My beloved Führer”,
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but just “Mein Führer”.
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“I know that you are now totally cut off
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and are no longer in possession
of full freedom to command.”
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00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:02,480
“According to the law of succession,
I will now step into your position
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and will undertake to represent Germany
both in internal and external matters.”
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“Yours, Goering.”
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Hitler was so worked up over this.
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He sat in his chair
and could not grasp it at first.
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This was added to by Bormann,
who added fuel to the fire somewhat,
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so that Hitler then said, “To give me
an ultimatum, that really is the end.”
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It was sad to see how Hitler
went down and down.
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He walked very stooped and bent,
his hand shaking badly,
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which he used to put inside his jacket
so that people didn't see it so much,
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and his dragging leg.
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And this whole mood spread
over all around him.
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Nobody knew what they should do
any more.
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It came in my mind
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that perhaps he always
was the first commander of the army
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and the chief of all soldiers,
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so it would be more stylish
and more logical
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to fight his last battle,
his last fight,
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and to die on the… honour
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and to fall with his soldiers.
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But he refused.
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“Yes, it would be right,
but I cannot do that
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because my health state is too low
and I am so trembling
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that I couldn't hold a pistol
and couldn't handle it.”
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00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,880
“So… And I am not sure
that any one of my paladins
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would be able to give me the last,
the death shot if I was only wounded,
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and I am not willing
to fall in the hands of the enemy,
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neither alive nor dead.”
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(narrator) By April 29, Soviet troops
were fighting inside Berlin.
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Hitler began putting his affairs
in order.
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He married his mistress Eva Braun,
and then he summoned Traudl Junge
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to dictate to her his personal
and political testaments.
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Then he began, “My last will.”
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Then he dictated me
at first his private will
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and afterwards his political testimony.
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And I must confess that I was…
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I was at first in a very excited mood,
163
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because I expected that I would be
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00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:22,480
the first and the only one who knows,
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00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:28,640
who is going to know
the explanation and declaration
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00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:36,560
why the war had come to this end
and why Hitler couldn't stop
167
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:40,480
and why the development
and why the catastrophe…
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00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:46,240
I thought, “Now comes
the moment of the truth.”
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00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:53,800
And I was heart bumping
when I wrote down what Hitler said.
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But he used nothing new.
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00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:02,880
He came out with his old phrases.
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00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,200
He repeated his accusations,
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00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:14,440
his swearing to the enemy
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00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,080
and to the Jewish capitalistic system.
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00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,520
And then he announced,
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00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,320
in the second part
of the political testament,
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he announced a new government.
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00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:33,760
(speaking German)
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00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,880
(translator) The next day,
reports came in,
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00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:43,320
and it was now clear to him that the
Russians could break in at any moment.
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00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,920
When Hitler said farewell to me,
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00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,400
I… I went to him against him
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00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,400
and he came toward me
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00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:59,560
and his face was already dead.
It was like a mask.
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00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,720
He looked at me, but I had the feeling
he looked through me,
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00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,320
and he gave me a shake of the hand
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00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,360
and murmured something,
but I didn't understand.
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00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,600
It's… I had not understand
what he said at last.
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00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,680
But Eva Braun was beside him
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00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:22,640
and he… shook hands to all the others.
191
00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:29,760
She embraced me really heartily
and looked at me with a little sad smile
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00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:32,600
and said,
“Please try to go out of here.”
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00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,200
“Please try to come to Munich again
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00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:42,240
and give my regards
to my beloved Bavaria.”
195
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,760
And then he…
196
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:50,840
she and Hitler
shut the door and retired
197
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:58,080
and I had an absolute need
for… for fleeing, and I… I…
198
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:04,160
I fled these stairs upside
on the next level,
199
00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:06,840
and there I found the children
of Goebbels.
200
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:08,960
(speaking German)
201
00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,320
(translator)
He said farewell to everybody
202
00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,880
and I was the last one he came to.
203
00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:21,760
Hitler said to me,
“I have given the order to break out.”
204
00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:27,600
“You should break out in groups,
join one of these groups
205
00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:31,320
and try to get through to the West.”
206
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:38,280
Then I asked Hitler,
“For whom should we fight on for now?”
207
00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:42,160
And to that Hitler said in a monotone,
208
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,160
“For the coming man.”
209
00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:50,840
I saluted him. He gave me his hand
and I disappeared out of the room.
210
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:58,000
I was so upset, and for a moment
I didn't know what to do.
211
00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,000
I ran over to the bodyguard.
212
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,680
But after a short while, I went back
213
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:09,760
because I assumed
now it must surely have happened.
214
00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,840
Suddenly there was a bang.
There was a shot.
215
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:18,400
And it was obviously within the bunker,
216
00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:25,800
because the noises of the outside…
shooting,
217
00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,760
we know how they sound.
218
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:34,680
And the little boy of Goebbels,
219
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,840
he noticed and he noticed
that there was another sound.
220
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:45,440
He said, “Oh, that was a bull-eye…
that was a bull's-eye.”
221
00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:50,120
And I thought, “Yes, you are right,
that was really a bull's-eye.”
222
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:52,440
(speaking German)
223
00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,280
(translator)
I went into Hitler's workroom
224
00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,000
with the former
Reichsleiter Bormann,
225
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,840
and this picture
presented itself to us.
226
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,400
Hitler was sitting
on the left of the sofa
227
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:12,560
with his face bent slightly forward
and hanging down to the right.
228
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:19,120
With the 7.65 he had shot himself
in the right temple.
229
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,600
The blood had run down onto the carpet,
230
00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:27,800
and from this pool of blood,
a splash had got onto the sofa.
231
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,840
Eva Braun was sitting on his right.
232
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,560
Eva Braun had drawn both her legs up
onto the sofa
233
00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,960
and was sitting there
with cramped lips,
234
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:53,120
so that it immediately became clear
to us that she had taken cyanide.
235
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,280
I took Hitler by his neck.
236
00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:01,880
Behind me were two other officers
from the Escort Commando.
237
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,360
And so we took Hitler's body
238
00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,160
and proceeded with it into the park.
239
00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:18,840
In the park we laid the bodies together,
next to each other
240
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,080
and poured the available petrol
over them.
241
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:29,360
In the Reichschancellery Park,
there was fire all around it
242
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:31,240
and there was a draught,
243
00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:36,040
so that we could not set the corpse
alight with an ordinary match.
244
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:45,360
So I twisted a taper out of some paper
with notes on it,
245
00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,320
and Reichsleiter Bormann,
246
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:53,240
who meanwhile had also come upstairs
with some others,
247
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:58,160
like Dr Goebbels, Burgdorf and officers,
248
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:04,160
lit the taper and I threw the taper
onto the bodies
249
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:08,880
and in an instant
the corpses were set alight.
250
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,720
As regards the burning of the bodies
of Hitler and Eva Braun,
251
00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:24,720
I should like to add that the flames
lit them for about half an hour,
252
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:34,040
that only the woollen blankets and the
clothes were affected by this and burnt,
253
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,720
and not the body itself.
254
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:51,360
It was clear to us afterwards that we
should have laid the corpses on them.
255
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,360
Then the bodies
would have been totally charred.
256
00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:06,200
But this was in consequence
of the whole mood.
257
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,640
We couldn't collect our thoughts
any more.
258
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:19,360
And apart from that, the troops who
should make the break-out with us
259
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,720
were quartered in the Reichschancellery.
260
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,320
If the soldiers had seen
261
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:34,200
that we were burning Hitler's
and Eva Braun's bodies—
262
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:38,240
one can't just say Hitler's body—
263
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:44,080
they would probably not have been
prepared to carry out the break-out.
264
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,840
(narrator) Even before Berlin fell,
265
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,880
a Soviet investigating team had been
given the job of finding Hitler
266
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,120
or his corpse.
267
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:02,920
Incomplete reports and poor photographs
of their work were eventually released.
268
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,880
This is supposed to be the very spot
269
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,520
where they found the bodies
of Hitler and of Eva Braun.
270
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:17,400
The Russians never admitted
that Hitler was dead until 1950,
271
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,080
when they produced a film.
272
00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:26,880
They then revealed no details,
273
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,640
although we now know
that they had all the facts.
274
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:38,640
The details they have revealed
have been revealed in such a form
275
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:43,160
that it doesn't carry a great deal
of conviction or not full conviction.
276
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,440
(speaking Russian)
277
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,640
(translator) On 4 May,
278
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:52,240
I saw them lying in the garden
of the Imperial Chancellery
279
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,560
wrapped in a grey blanket.
280
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,440
In fact, on 4 May,
281
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,280
they were discovered in a bomb crater
spattered with earth
282
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:08,600
by Churakov,
one of the soldiers in our group.
283
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:17,200
Their bodies were dragged from there to
the garden of the Imperial Chancellery.
284
00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,360
(narrator) The bodies were sent
to Dr Faust Shkaravsky
285
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,200
to be autopsied by himself
and his five-man team.
286
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,960
(speaks Russian)
287
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,840
(translator) One should however say
that Hitler's and Eva Braun's bodies
288
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,360
were badly charred,
289
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:38,200
unrecognisably so,
especially that of Eva Braun.
290
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,760
Hitler too was charred, but less so.
291
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,960
From the outside,
one couldn't have said who it was.
292
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,920
You see, the extremities,
293
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,000
that is the ends of the hands
and lower part of the foot,
294
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:55,440
were completely gone—
they'd been burnt away.
295
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,400
The torso itself was a dark colour,
like some sort of coal.
296
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,880
The crown of the head was
extremely badly burnt in places,
297
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:09,040
so much so that a lump of skin,
sorry, of bone, had been burnt.
298
00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:14,240
We approached the examination
299
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,320
with the highest degree of care
that it was possible to observe.
300
00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,760
Everything that was possible to be seen
from the autopsy we examined,
301
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,120
and then we took samples of fluids
302
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,960
and despatched it all to the
district medical research laboratory,
303
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,560
which was called,
as far as I can remember, cellar 291.
304
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,280
They did the examination
305
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:44,320
and advised me by telegraph
either one or two days later—
306
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,920
I don't remember the date too well—
307
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,080
that the traces found were either
cyanide or cyanide compounds.
308
00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,760
The autopsy for Hitler, for instance,
which they have published,
309
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,680
has never been published
in the original Russian.
310
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,920
It has only been published
in German and English.
311
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,480
It was released in… an unusual way,
312
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:18,200
in a way which, perhaps unfairly,
seems to deprive it of authority.
313
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,840
(narrator) Here, in Russian,
314
00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,160
is Shkaravsky's typed copy
of the autopsy report.
315
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,880
It states, “On the body,
considerably damaged by fire,
316
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,120
no visible signs of severe
lethal injuries or illnesses
317
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:33,600
could be detected.”
318
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,880
“The presence in the oral cavity of the
remnants of a crushed glass ampoule;
319
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,440
the marked smell of bitter almonds
emanating from the bodies
320
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,200
and the forensic chemical test
of internal organs,
321
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,200
which established the presence
of cyanide compounds,
322
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,040
permit the commission
to arrive at the conclusion
323
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:55,080
that death in this instance was caused
by poisoning with cyanide compounds.”
324
00:25:55,160 --> 00:26:00,200
The report also says that “Part
of the occipital vault is missing.”
325
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,160
Since this is part of the skull,
326
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:07,040
some people say it leaves open the
possibility that Hitler was also shot.
327
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,480
I've read the autopsy report. I expect
it's mainly directed by Shkaravsky.
328
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,000
But he had assistance,
329
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,360
and I would regard it
as a very full and searching autopsy.
330
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,480
The postmortem appears to have been
a really searching one
331
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,440
and to have been thorough
by ordinary standards.
332
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,640
(narrator) But was this body Hitler's?
333
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,720
The corpse had only one testicle,
334
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:31,040
and the body was not as tall
as Hitler was known to be.
335
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:33,240
(speaking Russian)
336
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,880
(translator) I repeat,
the body was badly charred
337
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,800
and the extremities
were even more charred.
338
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,280
And so, to speak of a difference
of six, seven or even ten centimetres,
339
00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:46,360
to ascertain it accurately
would be beyond our scope.
340
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,760
And this was why we wrote
“approximately” in the end.
341
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:56,240
And even if in life he measured 1.75 and
in the autopsy he only measured 1.65,
342
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,840
I don't see this
as being anything significant.
343
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:04,840
A body shrinks when burned and I think
the difference is too small to matter.
344
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,720
(speaking Russian)
345
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,200
(translator) There was indeed
one genital missing,
346
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,880
which we discovered quite by chance,
347
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:19,080
but it had nothing to do
with the case in hand.
348
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,440
We usually treat
this extremely rare occurrence
349
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,200
by looking in the sperm duct itself.
350
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:31,160
But it wasn't there.
351
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:37,080
Then we looked in the lower intestine
regions, but it wasn't there either.
352
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:41,240
So we came to the conclusion
that it was in fact absent.
353
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,520
To find one testicle only,
354
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,840
which I was amused to see in the report
was found quite by accident—
355
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,040
it doesn't appear to have been
searched for—is not uncommon.
356
00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:55,960
They did search properly, but it's not
uncommon to find only one testicle.
357
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,560
I don't think that's a very important
point of identification.
358
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,080
And we don't know if Hitler
had only one testicle or not.
359
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:09,720
The ordinary methods of identifying
a dead body as a particular person—
360
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,360
their clothing, papers, documents,
361
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,000
credit cards and things
in their pockets,
362
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,960
the features,
which can be recognised by relatives,
363
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:21,800
colour of the hair and eyes,
364
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,360
and fingerprints,
if it comes to detail of that order—
365
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,120
are of course destroyed
when the body is subjected to fire.
366
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:36,160
When it's scorched badly
or is charred,
367
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,880
almost all those things disappear,
368
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:44,560
and you are left with a study
of what is sometimes nearly a skeleton.
369
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,520
So you can only identify a person
as being male or female,
370
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,400
a certain height and probably
somewhere near a certain age.
371
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,000
The fingerprints will have disappeared.
372
00:28:55,080 --> 00:29:01,440
Now you also, because the teeth tend to
be preserved from fire inside the mouth,
373
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,680
have one other source of information.
374
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:10,360
The teeth, especially if they include
a lot of detail of conservation,
375
00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:15,480
repair work, of fillings and bridges
and other similar things,
376
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,080
can provide a mine of information
about identification.
377
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:21,560
(speaking Russian)
378
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,080
(translator) The teeth were so unusual
379
00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:28,160
that their identification would mean
the identification of the corpse.
380
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,560
One should also comment
that in the upper jaw
381
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,600
on the left-hand side, I think—
I don't remember for certain—
382
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,280
well, high up in the left-hand jaw,
there was a smooth file mark.
383
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,480
It was felt that some mistake had been
made in the filing of the dentures
384
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,640
and a stomatologist had filed off
a piece of the bridge.
385
00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,720
Taken all in all, we paid
considerable attention to the teeth.
386
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,440
Of course, for those to have any value,
like fingerprints,
387
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,120
you must have records.
388
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,320
You must have a dental surgeon who
has been careful to keep full records,
389
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,760
and you must have photographs
and x-rays.
390
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,440
And it is when you can,
391
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:22,480
by making careful note of the details
in your dead body,
392
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:24,360
take these to a dental surgeon,
393
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:28,400
whom you suspect to have looked after
that supposed body,
394
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:34,320
by comparing the two and finding
that they do match in detail,
395
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,680
then you can be as certain
as you could with fingerprints
396
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:44,800
that that is the body of this person
whose records that dental surgeon has.
397
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,960
(narrator) Hitler did have
a personal dentist, Hugo Blaschke.
398
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:50,640
No one could find him.
399
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,840
So the investigators began
the search for his assistant.
400
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,840
(speaking Russian)
401
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,480
(translator) Käthe Hausermann
was the assistant of Professor Blaschke,
402
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,200
who was Hitler's personal dentist.
403
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,480
In a medical investigation,
404
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,880
her participation was an extremely
important link in the chain
405
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,600
because nobody else could have
determined Hitler's teeth,
406
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:20,320
which were in perfectly good order,
to such a degree.
407
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,200
And this being the case,
408
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,480
her place in the investigation
was extremely important.
409
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,920
We hardly hoped to find anybody
of assistance
410
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,840
in the destruction and fire of Berlin,
411
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:41,280
the city which had just been witness
to the fall of the Third Empire.
412
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:44,200
It was still enveloped in flames.
413
00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:47,400
This city, whose roads
were so wrecked
414
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,560
that our cars couldn't go
to and fro across the town.
415
00:31:55,120 --> 00:32:01,000
In Berlin we literally dug in the heaps
of rubble to unearth her.
416
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:05,640
One could say that our efforts have been
accompanied by a stroke of luck.
417
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:09,800
Without her we could hardly have had
418
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:14,080
such an exhaustively full
and complete proof.
419
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:17,560
(speaking Russian)
420
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,080
(translator) It was I who,
both as an expert
421
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,360
and as the chairman of the commission,
422
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,160
had to have a long conversation
with Käthe Hausermann.
423
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,200
Her first approach to us
was one of trepidation.
424
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:33,240
She feared that the Soviet doctors
would treat her badly.
425
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,760
But then told her that I also
was a doctor, just like herself,
426
00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:41,840
interested in purely medical questions
and therefore she could feel at ease.
427
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:47,160
The table at which I was sitting
had a flask of water, sweets,
428
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,240
Russian cigarettes and cigars on it.
429
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,520
I asked her if she wanted to smoke
430
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,760
and an atmosphere both businesslike
and calm was established.
431
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,640
When I was working during the war,
432
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:06,800
at the period in question,
1942, '43, '44, '45,
433
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,920
I had several
London bombing bodies to—
434
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,320
the victims of London bombing—
to identify, and we used dental details.
435
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:20,080
And I wouldn't have thought
of setting out in the mortuary
436
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,480
for identification of a body
437
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:26,760
without the assistance of
a dental surgeon and his records.
438
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:30,680
I might myself,
if we were working under difficulty,
439
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:37,040
as the Russians may well have been
at the 1945 autopsy on Hitler,
440
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:42,560
I would myself, perhaps, have to make
a photographic and drawing record
441
00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:44,720
of the teeth as I saw them.
442
00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,000
But I would certainly
retain those teeth
443
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,520
and see that an expert dental surgeon,
used to dental recording,
444
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,040
saw them later to confirm my findings.
445
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,600
(speaking Russian)
446
00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:59,160
(translator) I suggested that she
should relate all that she knew,
447
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,240
and in those instances where there was
a lack of clarity in what she had said,
448
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,080
I posed her several questions.
449
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:10,440
When I realised that she really was
acquainted with Hitler's dentures,
450
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,720
that to say
that this was indeed a person
451
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,800
who had dealings with the dentures,
452
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,840
I asked her additional questions.
453
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:25,920
The team consisted of some
half a dozen army pathologists,
454
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:32,560
none of whom, even Lt Col Shkaravsky
himself, who was in charge,
455
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,360
none of whom
had special forensic experience
456
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:37,440
and none of whom, to my knowledge,
457
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,840
had ever had this exercise
to perform before.
458
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:45,880
They made an autopsy which, from
the record, looked thorough enough,
459
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,400
but they failed to include
in their autopsy
460
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:56,200
more than a very poor drawing
of the upper and lower teeth
461
00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:01,240
and of bridge work,
which were still lying in situ.
462
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,080
It would not be enough
for a pathologist,
463
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:10,880
especially if he were doing routine
army pathology, to indulge himself
464
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:15,440
in what is a special medical
legal exercise of identification
465
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,760
in which he knows,
if he's had experience,
466
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,360
he must use the services
of a skilled dental surgeon,
467
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,120
very often a dental surgeon
whose work has become forensic
468
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:29,240
or who may have turned over to
forensic identification work entirely.
469
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,640
(speaking Russian)
470
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:35,040
(translator)
As I talked to Käthe Hausermann,
471
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,440
I sketched the teeth of a human being.
472
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:39,320
Here's the right-hand side.
473
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:44,080
Here I sketched the teeth in
the upper jaw and here the lower jaw.
474
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,760
And you can clearly see
the smooth edge of the teeth.
475
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,200
Then I showed this sketch
to Käthe Hausermann
476
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:56,320
and said that here
I'd found the two steel pins.
477
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,160
But she protested,
saying there had to be three.
478
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:05,040
It's incredibly poor.
It's a schoolboy diagram.
479
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,320
It shows a nine-tooth gold bridge here.
480
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,840
It even shows in front the little pegs
which were hung on the four,
481
00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,520
the left lateral
and a right lateral incisor here.
482
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,920
But really the detail
is very difficult to pick up.
483
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,360
It's small and it's indeterminate,
though I can't say it's inaccurate.
484
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:26,720
(speaking Russian)
485
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,480
(translator)
And when the conversation had ended,
486
00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,040
and I was convinced that she really
did know these teeth well,
487
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,680
I showed her the dentures
which had been extracted from Hitler.
488
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:42,360
Her first reaction
was one of extreme surprise.
489
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,720
She then realised that our conversation
had not been an abstract one,
490
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,680
that we really had autopsied
Hitler's corpse
491
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,920
and that it had been examined
by Soviet specialists
492
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,800
and that she was confronted
with Hitler's very dentures.
493
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:04,240
She then became less distraught and we
calmly, dispassionately examined them.
494
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,920
Then she started off
showing me these steel pins,
495
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,520
and when we examined the teeth
in greater detail,
496
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:18,040
she turned out to be right—there were
indeed three of these pins to be seen.
497
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:20,520
And here they are pictured on the right.
498
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,800
This convinced the commission,
and more so myself,
499
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,240
that we had indeed
unearthed Hitler's body.
500
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:39,960
The evidence that I have been involved
with in studying Hitler's remains
501
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,640
is based on three types of observation.
502
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:48,520
First of all, the Russian
autopsy report, published in 1968,
503
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,280
revealed certain types
of dental bridge work
504
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:56,320
which are critical for identification
on a body that was destroyed by fire.
505
00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:01,400
Number two, in the National Archives
in Washington DC,
506
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,000
I was able to study in detail
507
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,600
the interrogation report
of Hitler's dentist,
508
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,120
Dr Hugo Blaschke, who is now dead.
509
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,840
And he described in great detail
the state of his dentition,
510
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,320
his treatment and so forth.
511
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:19,920
And thirdly, I was very fortunate,
after a considerable search,
512
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,440
to locate five x-rays
which were known to exist
513
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,800
from the British study of Hitler's last
days, but which had not been found.
514
00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:33,240
And I located this in the branch
of the National Archives
515
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,960
in the little town of Suitland
in Maryland.
516
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:41,600
And I'm showing two of the five x-rays
here taken by the head and neck experts
517
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,800
who treated Hitler
after the assassination attempt.
518
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,840
This picture was taken in September
and this in October.
519
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:51,360
I want to point out,
520
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,520
though they were taken
at two different times and locations
521
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,880
by two different doctors,
they are from the identical persons,
522
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:02,280
seeing the very typical fingerprints,
as it were, of the sinus outlines
523
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:05,160
and very characteristic bridge work
524
00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:08,880
both in this picture
and in that picture.
525
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,920
Lastly, I have prepared a model
526
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:18,400
which summarises the findings
of the dentist's report,
527
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,400
the x-rays and the Russian findings,
528
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:25,960
and I believe that this represents the
true state of affairs of Hitler's teeth,
529
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,440
made up here in gold and porcelain.
530
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,840
Among that, this very discoloured
left front tooth here,
531
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:34,800
which can be seen in some pictures,
532
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:39,920
although it was camouflaged
most of the time by his moustache,
533
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,720
and the very characteristic bridge work
in the lower jaw as well
534
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,320
and various types of pathology
in his front teeth.
535
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:51,200
Sognnaes and Ström,
when they drew,
536
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,000
of course by now,
with the assistance of x-rays,
537
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,400
which had been discovered
in Washington,
538
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:01,720
have absolutely every single piece
of detail in a single diagram,
539
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,880
the diagram in their article.
540
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,120
It shows not only the presence of,
the number of teeth in,
541
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:12,000
the exact shape of
and attachment of the three bridges,
542
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,920
the nine-tooth in the upper jaw,
the two in the lower,
543
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,320
it shows the remarkable shape and
attachment of the lingual bar bridge
544
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,280
in the right lower jaw
and draws special attention
545
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,360
to the left upper-central incisor,
546
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:28,800
with its curious Richmond gold crown
and this central translucent face.
547
00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:33,000
I cannot conceive of anybody now
not being utterly convinced
548
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:38,720
that these are the teeth of Hitler
and that this was Hitler's skull.
549
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,560
There could be, I think,
no conceivable objection.
550
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,960
There is not a single point
which doesn't fit
551
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,440
and there are very many points which do.
552
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:53,400
It would be impossible, in my opinion,
to recreate this in another individual.
553
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:55,680
So that I disregard the possibility
554
00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,440
of there being a double
that the Russians autopsied.
555
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:03,400
They did in fact find the body and where
Trevor-Roper suggested it may be found,
556
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:08,160
outside a bunker in Berlin,
and they autopsied the real Hitler.
557
00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:13,960
The only question which
is still debated, in my opinion,
558
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,440
or can legitimately be debated,
559
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,600
is whether Hitler took poison
or shot himself.
560
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:25,480
All the evidence that I had in 1945
was that he shot himself.
561
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:31,240
The Russians have always maintained
that he took cyanide.
562
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:39,120
I stated in 1945, on the evidence
of one of the German authorities,
563
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:42,880
that it was possible
that although he had shot himself,
564
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,560
he had also put a poison capsule
in his mouth to make sure.
565
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,080
And that seems to me quite possible.
566
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:50,160
(speaks Russian)
567
00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:52,320
(translator) A small piece of the skull
568
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,200
of approximately ten by seven
centimetres was missing.
569
00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,680
The edge of the missing portion
was charred,
570
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:02,840
which meant that this was a result
of the burning and not of injury.
571
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:06,080
I must stress that the brain itself
was well preserved
572
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:08,920
and that there was no damage
to the brain.
573
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,080
Neither was there damage
to other portions of the skull.
574
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:16,400
Neither the nasal portion,
the cheekbones, etc.
575
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:18,080
In a word, there is,
576
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:20,840
there was no damage at all,
577
00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:24,440
so there is no proof of damage
by firearms.
578
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,960
The only positive things
that emerged from autopsy
579
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,840
are that glass was found in the mouth
580
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:35,800
and that hydrocyanic acid was detected
by analysis afterwards in the body.
581
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:39,720
I find this a little surprising if there
was great heat for some time,
582
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:42,960
as there was—petrol was poured
more than once on the body—
583
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:48,360
for cyanide evaporates very quickly,
and I'm a little surprised at that.
584
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,360
But glass was found in the mouth.
585
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:54,040
I think death must have due
to the crushing of a cyanide capsule,
586
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,280
which we know was common practice
among the higher Nazis.
587
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,000
We have to recognise the fact
588
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:07,080
that all the German witnesses
do bear witness about the shooting.
589
00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:12,040
We can't ignore that. They are just
as good witnesses as the Russians.
590
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:19,280
The evidence on the Russian side
is the autopsy which they've produced.
591
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:23,560
But I can't regard it as final,
592
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:28,960
firstly because they have produced it
in so propagandist a form
593
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:32,440
that it, to some extent,
cancels itself out.
594
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,800
Mr Bezymenski,
a Russian journalist,
595
00:43:35,880 --> 00:43:40,800
whom the Russians have employed
to publish these documents,
596
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:47,360
makes it quite clear that he regards
suicide by poison as the death of a dog
597
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,080
and a cowardly death,
598
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,800
and suicide by shooting
as a soldier's death,
599
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,720
and that he is anxious to show that
Hitler did not die a soldier's death,
600
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:58,240
but a dog's death.
601
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:01,200
That shows
a kind of political motivation
602
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:05,640
which rather detracts
from his objectivity.
603
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:11,800
There is a truly extraordinary passage
in Bezymenski's work
604
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:19,280
in which, having argued throughout
that Hitler only took a poison capsule,
605
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,760
he then suddenly produces a theory which
has no evidence or probability in it
606
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:28,480
and is given
as a second-hand speculation,
607
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:35,480
that Heinz Linge afterwards
shot Hitler when he was dead.
608
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:39,280
Well, what is the point of this
609
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:43,600
unless there was some evidence
that Hitler had been shot?
610
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,880
I can't see what is the point
of this speculation,
611
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,280
especially since the Russians had Linge
612
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,160
in their possession
as a prisoner for nine years.
613
00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:56,600
They could easily have established
this fact if it were true
614
00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:02,000
without producing it as a second-hand
speculation ascribed to Linge.
615
00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:05,000
So I think that they,
even in this matter,
616
00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:07,600
the Russians have created mystification
617
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:09,720
and I think the balance of evidence,
618
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:13,680
which is what one has to go on
when the evidence conflicts,
619
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:15,440
that the balance of evidence,
620
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:21,000
taking account of the fact that the
German witnesses had no reason to lie
621
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:25,920
and were perfectly objective
in their accounts to me,
622
00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:29,640
the balance of evidence
is that he shot himself.
623
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:33,480
As regards to the firearm, I find
no evidence of this in the report.
624
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:38,360
Shkaravsky doesn't find a hole in
the roof of the mouth or either temple.
625
00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:41,320
Part of the skull was missing,
but it commonly is in fire—
626
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:43,680
it flakes off or is destroyed by fire.
627
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,720
And the brain was in good condition
with no bullet track through it.
628
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:52,200
I don't think Hitler can have been shot.
Certainly not through the head.