Adolf Hitler: A Dictator's Death

For the most part, history is based on facts, however, some aspects of history are debatable. A debate on historical occurrences usually rises when there is not sufficient evidence to offer an undisputable answer. One such debate is the death of Adolf Hitler, a German dictator, who is believed to either have commit suicide or have escaped to Argentina. Evidence strongly suggests that Hitler did not escape and that he committed suicide in his bunker using his pistol and cyanide pills.

To understand the full story of Adolf Hitler, it is best to start from the beginning.

Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, and spent most of his childhood in Linz, Upper Austria. He had a bad relationship with his father, however, he adored his mother. Hitler never advanced past secondary education. Originally, Hitler aspired to be an artist, however, he failed twice to get into the Academy of Fine Arts. Once he failed to get into the Academy of Fine Arts, he tried to get into the Austrian military.

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The first time he failed due to inadequate physical vigor but petitioned to join after World War II started (Britnacanna).

Hitler joined the 16th Barvarian Reserved Infantry Regiment and was deployed in October of 1914. He fought in the First Battle of Ypres and was wounded in October of 1916. He earned the first and second class Iron Cross for serving on the front lines as a headquarters runner. When the war was over, Hitler went back to civilian life, but he quickly found that civilian life was aimless.

Hitler then took up political work to join the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeirterpartei, also known as the Nazi party. The party grew rapidly due to the widespread anger shared by the Germans after World War I and Hitler’s ambition led him to become the Nazi leader in June of 1921. He was well known for his “charismatic personality and dynamic leadership” (Britnaccana).

Hitler was later arrested after leading to an attempt to force Bavarian government leaders to proclaim a revolution. Hitler took advantage of this publicity and used it to plead his cause. He was sentenced to five years in prison, however, he only served nine months. During these nine months, he wrote Mein Kampf, a novel which lays out Hitler’s anti-semitic laws. Once he was released from prison, he was forbidden to speak in front of crowds. The party grew and gained publicity through Hugenberg’s newspapers. Hilter would go to industrialists who desired a strong, antisocialist government to ask for funds. The Nazi party quickly became the second largest party in the nation. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was offered the Chancellorship.

Soon after, he established an absolute dictatorship and declared the Nazi party as the only legal party on July 14, 1933. In August 1934, he abolished the office of president, giving him unlimited control over Germany. Hitler enacted hundreds of Anti-Semitic laws such as the boycott on Jewish businesses and the Nuremberg Laws. The Nuremberg Laws, which were enacted on September 15, 1935, stated that anyone with three to four Jewish grandparents was considered Jewish, regardless of whether or not they themselves were a Jew. Jews were excluded from all aspects of public life and were also forbidden to marry non-Jews.

Hitler also targeted disabled people and homosexuals, even authorizing a euthanasia program for disabled adults. Hitler came up with a plan to exterminate the entire Jewish race, which he called the Final Solution. In the end, Hitler brought about the end of around six million people, which included two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, beginning the second World War. By 1945, Germany was losing badly. On April 29, 1945, Hitler married Eva Braun. (Who is Eva Braun) Hitler and his wife committed suicide on April 30, 1945, out of fear of being executed like Mussolini, one of his allies. However, some believe that Hitler faked his death and escaped to Argentina.

Witnesses in the bunker claim to have heard a gunshot and smelled burnt almonds, which is a smell commonly associated with cyanide poisoning. Hitler’s body was carried outside and burned because Hitler had told his soldiers that he did not want his body abused like Mussolini’s, who was displayed in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto. Soldiers made two attempts to burn his body and eventually moved his remains to a bomb crater. Allegedly, Hitler took a cyanide pill, then shot himself with his 7.65 mm Walther PPK. A study done by Philippe Charlier suggests that Hitler did, in fact, commit suicide.

Philippe Charlier is a French researcher that is currently the Head of Section (Medical and a forensic Anthropology) at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin. Charlier led a study that examined Hitler’s unique set of dentures. By the time of his death, Hitler only had five of his own teeth left, the rest were false teeth. Charlier states that Hitler’s dentures were extremely unusual, in completely extraordinary shapes,” and that “There was a perfect anatomical and technological correspondence.” (Independent)

Charlier confirmed that “The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt” (Express). The dentures had bluish deposits on them, which Charlier thought could indicate a chemical reaction between the metal in the dentures and cyanide. Charlier also examined a piece of Hitler’s skull, which had a 6 mm bullet hole, and though the diameter of the bullet is larger, 7.65 mm, the Russians supposedly burnt his body, which could have caused his skull to shrink. In a study done by Paula Eileen Specht of University of Montana, Missoula, Paula states that “once temperatures reached... 1000-1200°C range …[a skull can shrink around] 14-18%.(Cite) According to sciencing.com, a bonfire can reach 1,100 degrees Celsius (Munoz).

This would mean that the since the original hole was 7.65 mm, it shrunk to around 6.273 mm and although it is still slightly bigger than the diameter of the bullet, Paula also states that “studies have also shown a correlation between the amount of shrinkage and the sex of the individual (Mayne Correia, 1997). Males have been reported to have larger amounts of shrinkage due to the fact that they have a higher percentage of minerals present in their bones’’(Specht). This suggests that the original 7.65 mm hole could have shrunk down to 6 mm. Charlier also noted seven radiating fractures, measuring 26 mm, and an exit hole, which measured about 23 mm.