The Death of Adolf Hitler: Difference between revisions

The Death of Adolf Hitler
Author	Lev Bezymenski
Language	English
Publisher	Harcourt Brace & World
Publication date	1968
Publication place	Soviet Union
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	114
ISBN	978-0718106348

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The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives (German: Der Tod des Adolf Hitler) is a 1968 book by Soviet journalist Lev Bezymenski, who served as an interpreter in the Battle of Berlin under Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov.^[1]^[2] The book gives details of the purported Soviet autopsies of Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, their children, and General Hans Krebs. Each of these individuals are recorded as having been subjected to cyanide poisoning.

Much of the information in the book about the manner of Hitler's death has been discredited, including by the author. Of the purported autopsy of Hitler's body, only the description of his dental remains has been regarded as reliable.

Background

Bezymenski's 1968 book, which has gone on to become the subject of scrutiny,^[3] was preceded by many other contradictory reports regarding the investigation of Adolf Hitler's death.

On 9 May 1945, The New York Times reported that a body was claimed by the Soviets to belong to Hitler. This was disputed by an anonymous servant who claimed that the body belonged to a cook who was killed because of his resemblance to Hitler, and that the latter had escaped.^[4]^[5] On 6 June, the United Press reported that four bodies had been found in Berlin resembling Hitler, purportedly burnt by the Red Army's flame throwers. One body was considered most likely to belong to Hitler.^[6] At a press conference on 9 June, on orders from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Marshal Georgy Zhukov presented the official narrative that Hitler did not commit suicide, but had instead escaped Berlin—beginning a Soviet disinformation campaign suited to Stalin's desires, with unclear objectives.^[7] When asked at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 how Hitler had died, Stalin said he was either living "in Spain or Argentina."^[8] The same month, British newspapers repeated comments from a Soviet officer that a charred body discovered by the Soviets was "a very poor double." United States newspapers quoted the Russian garrison commandant of Berlin as claiming that Hitler had "gone into hiding somewhere in Europe," possibly with the help of Francoist Spain.^[9] When U.S. jurist Michael Musmanno (who would later serve as presiding judge at the Einsatzgruppen trial at Nuremberg) visited the Führerbunker in mid-1945, Soviet Major Feodorovitch Platonov denied that Hitler was dead, and claimed while pointing to a spot in the garden, "It is not true that Hitler was found there! Our experts have established that the man found here didn't look like Hitler at all. And we didn't find Eva Braun either!"^[10]^[a]

In July 1945,^[12] Life photographer William Vandivert became the first Westerner to photograph the Führerbunker.^[13] Based on claims by Hitler's chauffeur, Erich Kempka, Life writer Percy Knauth stated that Hitler died by a gunshot through the temples while sitting in the middle of his sofa, slumped against the knees of Braun, who had shot herself through the heart and bled on the arm of Hitler's sofa.^[14] Kempka later admitted that he had not seen the aftermath of the suicides, and only helped carry the latter partway up the bunker stairs.^[15] Actual eyewitnesses—namely SS valet Heinz Linge, SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche, and Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann—attested that Hitler was seated upright at the end of the sofa (or in an armchair next to it) and that Braun was next to him with no visible wounds.^[16] Linge stated that he saw a pfennig-sized wound on one of Hitler's temples (initially saying it was the left temple) with blood dripping from it and forming a pool on the floor;^[17]^[18] Günsche noted Hitler's right temple had "a dark spot", with blood having trailed from it to the cheek. Axmann said Hitler's temples were both bleeding thin ribbons of blood and that his lower jaw was askew, leading him to opine that Hitler had shot himself through the mouth, with the temple blood being a sign of internal damage.^[19]^[20]^[b]^[c] Axmann did not check the back of the head for an exit wound, and contradictorily stated both that he saw no blood coming from the mouth^[19]^[22] and that Hitler's mouth "was bloody and smeared".^[23] Axmann claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler had taken poison then shot himself.^[20]^[19]^[d] A U.S. official who interviewed Axmann stated that the latter believed that "one of the reasons Hitler's body was never discovered is because the impact of the shot fired into his mouth destroyed his dental fixtures".^[25]^[a]^[e] In 1950, Kempka wrote that he heard a shot prior to entering the study, which he later retracted.^[26] Both Kempka and Musmanno wrote that Hitler shot himself through the mouth^[b] and that SS physician Ludwig Stumpfegger inspected the body.^[26]^[27] Kempka claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler shot himself through the mouth, but Günsche later denied telling him this and Kempka retracted many statements about the entire affair.^[28]

Dead body with a toothbrush moustache and an apparent gunshot wound to the forehead

An apparent Hitler body double filmed by the Soviets

In 1963, author Cornelius Ryan interviewed General B. S. Telpuchovski, a Soviet historian who was allegedly present during the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin. Telpuchovski claimed that on 2 May 1945, a burnt body he thought belonged to Hitler was found wrapped in a blanket.^[29]^[f] This supposed individual had been killed by a gunshot through the mouth, with an exit wound through the back of the head.^[29]^[b] Several dental bridges were purportedly found next to the body, because, Telpuchovski stated, "the force of the bullet had dislodged them from the mouth".^[29]^[e] In his 1966 book, The Last Battle, Ryan describes this body as being Hitler's, saying it had been buried "under a thin layer of earth".^[37] According to Telpuchovski, a total of three burnt Hitler candidates had been produced, apparently including a body double wearing mended socks,^[29] as well as an unburnt body.^[37]^[g] Soviet war interpreter Elena Rzhevskaya (who safeguarded Hitler's dental remains until they could be identified by his dental staff) denied the existence of doubles, attributing the claims to Soviet Colonel General Nikolai Berzarin's pledge to nominate the discoverer of Hitler's corpse for the Hero of the Soviet Union award.^[32]

Content

Bezymenski's book begins with a 66-page overview of the Battle of Berlin and its aftermath, including 7 pages purporting to reproduce the Soviet autopsy report of the body believed to be Hitler's.^[38]^[h] The appendix features a 4-page document of the discovery of the Goebbels family's corpses and 38 pages of forensic reports.^[40]

The Death of Adolf Hitler

Bezymenski opens his book with a reflection on the weight given to Hitler's death, acknowledging that accounts written by those who lacked access to the autopsy reports "have confused the issue rather than clarifying it."^[41] He cites The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), in which William L. Shirer states:

The bones were never found, and this gave rise to rumors after the war that Hitler had survived. But the separate interrogation of several eyewitnesses by British and American intelligence officers leaves no doubt about the matter. Kempka has given a plausible explanation as to why the charred remains were never found. "The traces were wiped out," he told his interrogators, "by the uninterrupted Russian artillery fire."^[42]

Bezymenski goes on to cite Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1962 edition), in which Alan Bullock says:

What happened to the ashes of the two burned bodies left in the Chancellery Garden has never been discovered. ... Trevor-Roper, who carried out a thorough investigation in 1945 of the circumstances surrounding Hitler's death, inclines to the view that the ashes were collected into a box and handed to Artur Axmann, the leader of the Hitler Youth. ... It is, of course, true that no final incontrovertible evidence in the form of Hitler's dead body has been produced.^[43]

Bezymenski then gives an account of the battle of Berlin, the subsequent investigation by SMERSH, supplemented by later statements of pertinent Nazi officers. Bezymenski quotes SMERSH commander Ivan Klimenko's account, which states that on the night of 3 May 1945, he witnessed Vizeadmiral Hans-Erich Voss seem to recognize a body as Hitler's in a dry water tank filled with other corpses outside the Führerbunker, before recanting this identification.^[44] Klimenko noted that the corpse had mended socks, initially giving him doubt as well.^[44] Klimenko then relates that on 4 May, Soviet Private Ivan Churakov found legs sticking out of the ground in a crater outside the Reich Chancellery.^[i] Two corpses were exhumed, but Klimenko had these reburied, thinking that the doppelgänger would be identified as Hitler. Only that day did several witnesses say it was definitely not Hitler's body, and a diplomat released it for burial. On the morning of 5 May, Klimenko had the other two bodies reexhumed.^[46] By 11 May, two colleagues of Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke,^[j] both confirmed the dental remains of Hitler and Eva Braun.^[47] On 13 May, SMERSH produced a report of the initial disposal of the corpses based on the testimony of an SS guard.^[48]

A report on the purported forensic examination of Hitler's body conducted on 8 May^[k] states that the "remains of a male corpse disfigured by fire^[l] were delivered in a wooden box^[m] ... On the body was found a piece of yellow jersey ... charred around the edges, resembling a knitted undervest."^[52] The height of the body was judged to be about 1.65 metres (5 ft 5 in).^[35]^[n] Part of the skull was missing, as was the left foot^[o] and the left testicle.^[56]^[p] The upper dental remains consisted of nine upper teeth, mostly gold, with dental work connected by a gold bridge.^[q]^[r] The lower jawbone fragment had 15 teeth, 10 of them apparently artificial;^[r] it was found loose in the oral cavity,^[s] and was broken and burnt around the alveolar process.^[35]^[t] Splinters of glass and a "thin-walled ampule" were found in the mouth, apparently from a cyanide capsule,^[58] which was ruled to be the cause of death.^[59]^[u]

Bezymenski also gives an account of discrepancies of certain reports. For instance, after being published in Der Spiegel, Heinz Linge changed his account of Hitler's suicide gunshot from being to the left temple to being to the right; Bezymenski points out that the former is unlikely as Hitler was right-handed.^[18] Between 1950 and 1960, Otto Günsche changed his account of the position of Hitler and Braun's bodies from being on the couch to being in chairs.^[18] Soviet forensic expert Faust Shkaravsky concluded from the examination held on 8 May that "No matter what is asserted ... our Commission could not detect any traces of a gun shot ... Hitler poisoned himself."^[61]

Bezymenski quotes testimony given to the Soviets by SS general Johann Rattenhuber, in which he claimed that before killing himself with cyanide, Hitler ordered Linge to return in ten minutes to deliver a coup de grâce-style gunshot to ensure his death. Bezymenski calls it "certain" that if anyone shot Hitler, it was not himself. To support this theory, he cites the little black dog found nearby, which was killed in a similar fashion.^[62] The author also refers to a skull fragment recovered in 1946, which had a gunshot wound to the back of the head, saying it most likely belonged to Hitler.^[35]^[v]

Appendix

The appendix includes the purported Soviet forensic reports on the bodies of Braun, the Goebbels family, General Krebs, Hitler's dog Blondi, and another small dog.

Eva Braun

The purported autopsy of the body presumed to be Braun's was conducted on 8 May 1945. The corpse is noted as being "impossible to describe the features of", owing to its extensive charring. Almost the entire upper skull was missing. The occipital and temporal bones were fragmentary, as was the lower left of the face. The upper jaw contained four teeth,^[w] while the lower jaw had six teeth on the left; the others were missing,^[x] as was the alveolar process of the maxilla. A piece of gold (probably a filling) was found in the mouth cavity, and a gold bridge with two false molars was under the tongue. The woman was judged to be no more than middle-aged due to her teeth being only slightly worn; her height was approximately 150 centimetres (4 ft 11 in). There was a splinter injury to the chest resulting in hemothorax, injuries to one lung and the pericardium—accompanied by six small metal fragments.^[y] Pieces of a glass ampule were found in the mouth, and the smell of bitter almonds which accompanies death from cyanide poisoning was present; this was ruled to be the cause of death.^[64]

Goebbels family

The remains of Joseph and the body presumed to be Magda Goebbels were discovered near the bunker door by Ivan Klimenko on 2 May 1945.^[z] The next day, Senior Lieutenant Ilyin found the bodies of the Goebbels children in one of the rooms of the Chancellery bunker. The bodies were identified by Vizeadmiral Voss, cook Wilhelm Lange, and garage mechanic Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Schneider, "all of whom knew [the Goebbels family] well."^[66] The autopsies of two of the children are listed as taking place on 7 and 8 May; all six children were determined to have died from cyanide poisoning.^[67] Autopsies for Joseph, Magda and General Krebs were conducted on 9 May.^[68]

Joseph Goebbels's body was "heavily scorched", but was identified by his size, estimated age, shortened right leg and related orthopedic appliance, as well as his head characteristics and dental remains, which included many fillings. His genitals were "greatly reduced in size, shrunken, dry." Chemical testing revealed cyanide compounds in the internal organs and blood; cyanide poisoning was judged to be the cause of death.^[69]

The body presumed to be Magda's was scorched beyond recognition. Voss identified two items found on the corpse as having been in her possession: a cigarette case inscribed "Adolf Hitler—29.X.34", which she had used for the last three weeks of her life, and Hitler's Golden Party Badge, which the dictator had given her three days before his suicide.^[70]^[71] Additionally, a reddish-blond hairpiece was identified as matching the color of one Magda wore. Her dental remains were found loose on the corpse along with splinters from a thin-walled ampule; the cause of death was ruled to be cyanide poisoning.^[70]

General Krebs

General Krebs is erroneously listed in the autopsy report as "Major General Krips" (as Bezymenski notes). Cyanide compounds were detected in the internal organs and the smell of bitter almonds was recorded, leading the commission to conclude that Krebs' death was "obviously caused by poisoning with cyanide compounds." Three light head wounds are presumed to have been obtained from his death fall onto a protruding object.^[72]

Dogs

A large German Shepherd matching Hitler's dog Blondi's description appears to have died from cyanide poisoning.^[73] A small black bitch, about 60 centimetres (2 ft) long and 28 centimetres (1 ft) tall, was poisoned by cyanide before being shot in the head.^[74]

Photographs

The 16 pages of photographs include those of Ivan Klimenko, head of autopsy commission Faust Shkaravsky, the locations of Hitler's burning and burying site outside the Führerbunker's emergency exit, SMERSH agents exhuming Hitler and Braun's remains, a diagram of where the corpses of Hitler, Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels were burned, Hitler and Braun's alleged corpses in boxes^[m] (angled so that unidentifiable mounds of flesh can be seen), front and back views of Hitler's golden upper dental bridge and a lower jawbone fragment connecting his lower teeth and bridges, a sketch drawn by Hitler's dentist's assistant Käthe Heusermann on 11 May 1945 to identify Hitler's dental remains, Braun's dental bridge, the first and last page of Hitler's autopsy report, the Soviet autopsy commission with both Kreb's and Joseph Goebbels' corpses, the bodies of the Goebbels family, the bodies of Krebs and the Goebbels children at Plötzensee Prison,^[75] and Blondi's corpse.^[76]

History and criticism

A second investigation, known as "Operation Myth", was conducted by the MVD in 1946. Blood from Hitler's sofa and wall was matched to his blood type, and a newly found skull fragment with gun damage was found.^[v] These two discoveries led to the Soviet admission that Hitler died by gunshot.^[78]

On why the autopsy reports were not released earlier, Bezymenski says:

Not because of doubts as to the credibility of the experts. ... Those who were involved in the investigation remember that other considerations played a far larger role. First, it was resolved not to publish the results of the forensic-medical report but to "hold it in reserve" in case someone might try to slip into the role of "the Führer saved by a miracle." Secondly, it was resolved to continue the investigations in order to exclude any possibility of error or deliberate deception.^[79]

In 1972, forensic odontologists Reidar F. Sognnaes and Ferdinand Strøm reconfirmed Hitler's dental remains based on X-rays of Hitler taken in 1944, the 1945 testimony of Käthe Heusermann and dental technician Fritz Echtmann, as well as the purported Soviet forensic examination of Hitler's corpse.^[80] According to Elena Rzhevskaya, the dental remains were removed during the alleged autopsy, and the pages of the report about them were recorded on "two large non-standard sheets of paper". Shkaravsky (d. 1975) wrote to Rzhevskaya that the commission had been forbidden to photograph Hitler's body for unknown reasons and suggested that the damage to Braun's chest could have been from shrapnel.^[32]

A second edition of Bezymenski's book was released in 1982.^[81] Ten years later, he wrote an article in which he claimed that Hitler's corpse had been cremated in April 1978—eight years after it has otherwise been reported to have been carried out by the KGB.^[82]^[g] He also argued that in writing his book, the KGB had intentionally withheld documentation regarding how Hitler's body was found after he committed suicide "to lead the reader to the conclusion that [a gunshot] was a pipe dream or half an invention and that Hitler actually poisoned himself."^[83]

In 1995, journalist Ada Petrova and historian Peter Watson wrote that they considered Bezymenski's account at odds with British MI6 intelligence officer Hugh Trevor-Roper's report, published as The Last Days of Hitler (1947).^[84] Even though Petrova and Watson used Bezymenski's book as a source for theirs,^[85] they noted issues with the SMERSH investigation.^[60] A main issue they cited is that the autopsies on the alleged remains of Hitler and Braun did not include a record of dissection of their internal organs, which would have shown with certainty whether poison was a factor in their deaths.^[60] They also opined that it was dissatisfaction of this first investigation, along with concerns of the findings of Trevor-Roper, that led to Stalin ordering a second commission in 1946.^[86] Petrova and Watson also cited Hitler's alleged autopsy report to refute Hugh Thomas's theory that only Hitler's dental remains belonged to him, saying that the entire jawbone structure^[e] would have had to have been found loose on the alleged body while clamping down on the tongue, which "would presumably be a very difficult arrangement to fake".^[87]^[s]

In 1995, German historian Anton Joachimsthaler criticized Bezymenski's account in his book on Hitler's death, repeating an argument put forward 45 years earlier by Musmanno that the dictator's corpse was almost completely burnt to ashes^[a]—meaning that no body would have remained to perform an autopsy on. Joachimsthaler implies that another body must have been examined instead, and quotes a German pathologist as saying about the alleged autopsy: "Bezemensky's report is ridiculous. ... Any one of my assistants would have done better ... the whole thing is a farce ... it is intolerably bad work ... the transcript of the post-mortem section of 8 [May] 1945 describes anything but Hitler."^[88] Similarly, historian Luke Daly-Groves states that "the Soviet soldiers picked up whatever mush they could find in front of Hitler's bunker exit, put it in a box and claimed it was the corpses of Adolf and Eva Hitler", and also denounces "the dubious autopsy report riddled with scientific inconsistencies and tainted by ideological motivations".^[89] Only the report's coverage of the dental remains has been substantially verified, with 2017–2018 analysis led by French forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier concluding that the extant evidence "[fits] perfectly" with the Soviet description.^[36]

In their addendum to The Hitler Book (2005), Henrik Eberle and Matthias Uhl quote Bezymenski as admitting in 1995 that his work included "deliberate lies", and criticize his book for advocating the theories that Hitler died by poisoning or a coup de grâce.^[90]

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c In his 1950 book about Hitler's death, Musmanno argues that "there never was any authoritative account that Hitler's and Eva Braun's bodies were found intact."^[10] He cites one of Hitler's bodyguards as saying that the charred remains of both Hitler and Braun "fell apart" upon being touched, with the burning leaving them both unrecognizable.^[11]
^ ^a ^b ^c According to German historian Anton Joachimsthaler, most eyewitnesses said Hitler did not die by a gunshot through the mouth or have a wound in the back of his head.^[33] Further, in 2017–18, forensic analysis was conducted on Hitler's dental remains, which did not detect any gunpowder.^[34]
^ Joachimsthaler posits that the bullet could have penetrated one temple and caused a bleeding haematoma on the other side, citing the lack of a bullet or a bullet hole in the wall, as well as the relative likeliness of such a projectile becoming lodged.^[21]
^ Günsche later denied telling Axmann that Hitler had poisoned himself.^[24]
^ ^a ^b ^c In addition to a maxillar golden bridge, Hitler's dental remains include a mandibular fragment broken around the alveolar process.^[35]^[36]
^ Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov wrote in his 1964 memoirs that Hitler's body was found on 2 May.^[30] According to Soviet war interpreter Elena Rzhevskaya, this is the day Joseph Goebbels and a woman presumed to be his wife^[31] were discovered (to great commotion), but Hitler's body was not unearthed until 4 May.^[32]
^ ^a ^b Soviets also told Cornelius Ryan in 1963 that Hitler's body had by that time been cremated.^[29]
^ Bezymenski states that the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were "the most seriously disfigured of all thirteen corpses" examined.^[39]
^ Later in the book, Bezymenski credits Churakov with "[pulling] the dreadfully disfigured corpse of Adolf Hitler from the rubble", though Klimenko describes the exhumation as a group effort.^[45]
^ Dental assistant Käthe Heusermann helped locate Hitler's X-rays and directed the Soviets to dental technician Fritz Echtmann, who had made Hitler's bridges.^[47]
^ Bezymenski explains that the initial report was handwritten. Because it was typewritten at a later date, the 11 May identification of the dental remains by Hitler's dentist's assistant is mentioned.^[49]
^ The autopsy report states that "On the face and body the skin is completely missing; only remnants of charred muscles are preserved."^[35] In the 2017–2018 analysis of Hitler's remains led by French forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier, it was pointed out that muscles remain near the areas of the jawbone fragment affected by burning.^[50]
^ ^a ^b The boxes containing the remains of Hitler and Braun were ammunition crates.^[51]
^ Hitler stood about 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) tall.^[53]^[54]
^ One of Hitler's bodyguards claimed that "the flesh on the lower parts of [Hitler's body] had burned away, and [his] shinbones were visible."^[11] Additionally, Mengershausen, who claimed to have buried Hitler, allegedly reidentified his remains in Finow in early June 1945. He stated that "The feet had been entirely consumed."^[55]
^ Bezymenski says that "This congenital defect [of a missing testicle] had not been mentioned anywhere in the existing literature. But Professor Karl von Hasselbach, one of Hitler's physicians, remembers that the Führer always refused categorically to have a medical check-up."^[57]
^ The autopsy report notes that "the right canine tooth is fully capped by [gold]."^[35] According to Bezymenski, Käthe Heusermann (assistant to Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke) identified traces of where it had been sawn through by Blaschke in 1944.^[57]
^ ^a ^b Charlier et al. 2018 describes a number of upper and lower teeth as conglomerates of natural and artificial elements.
^ ^a ^b Despite the lower jawbone fragment being unattached to flesh, the tip of the burnt tongue is claimed to have been "locked between the teeth of the upper and lower jaws."^[35]
^ Examinations conducted c. 2017 confirm the condition of the dental remains; over the decades, the jawbone fragment separated into three pieces.^[36]
^ Petrova and Watson point out that no dissection of internal organs was recorded, making this impossible to verify.^[60]
^ ^a ^b In 2009, DNA and forensic tests indicated that the skull fragment belonged to a woman less than 40 years old.^[77]
^ These comprised three molars and a loose canine, in addition to a detached root.^[63]
^ The report says this was "probably because of burning."^[63]
^ Bezymenski attributes this to splinters from Soviet shelling while the bodies were burning in the garden.^[39]
^ According to Klimenko, a German alerted him to the presence of the couple's corpses.^[65]

Citations

^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh (26 September 1968). "Hitler's Last Minute". The New York Review of Books.
^ Bezymenski 1968, note about the author.
^ Eberle & Uhl 2005, pp. 287, 288.
^ Mitchell, Arthur (2007). Hitler's Mountain: The Führer, Obersalzberg and the American Occupation of Berchtesgaden. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-0-7864-2458-0.
^ "HITLER BODY FOUND, RUSSIANS REPORT; Servant, However, Challenges Identity, Declaring Corpse That of a 'Cook Double'". The New York Times. 9 May 1945. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ UP (6 June 1945). "Hitler's Body Found, Russians Report; He Died of Poisoning". The Hanford Sentinel. Hanford, CA. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 22, 23, 247–249.
^ Beschloss, Michael (December 2002). "Dividing the Spoils". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
^ Philpot, Robert (2 May 2019). "'Hitler lived': Scholar explores the conspiracies that just won't die". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
^ ^a ^b Musmanno 1950, p. 233.
^ ^a ^b Musmanno 1950, p. 221.
^ Vandivert, William (1952). "The Last Photographs of Hitler". Pageant. Retrieved 29 November 2021 – via OldMagazineArticles.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Cosgrove, Ben (15 April 2014). "Adolf Hitler's Bunker and the Ruins of Berlin: Photos From 1945". Life. Retrieved 29 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Knauth, Percy (23 July 1945). "Did Adolf and Eva Die Here?". Life. 19 (4): 27.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, p. 147.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 154–156.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 154–155.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bezymenski 1968, p. 71.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Axmann, Artur, interviewed on January 7, 1948 and January 9, 1948. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates". Gumberg Library Digital Collections. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Duquesne University.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ ^a ^b Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 155–158.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 161, 163–164, 166.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 156, 158.
^ "Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates". Gumberg Library Digital Collections. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Duquesne University.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, p. 158.
^ "Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates". Gumberg Library Digital Collections. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Duquesne University.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ ^a ^b Joachimsthaler 2000, p. 165.
^ Musmanno 1950, p. 219.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 148, 164–165.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "3 Dead Hitlers a Puzzle". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, CA. 16 March 1966. p. 72. Retrieved 23 July 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "RUSSIAN WRITES OF HITLER DEATH; Chuikov States His Troops Found Body May 2, 1945". The New York Times. 22 February 1964. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
^ Ryan 1995, p. 366.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rzhevskaya, Yelena (2018) [2012]. Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to the Discovery of Hitler's Berlin Bunker. Translated by Tait, Arch. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1784382810.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, p. 166.
^ Daley, Jason (22 May 2018). "Hitler's Teeth Confirm He Died in 1945". Smithsonian. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Bezymenski 1968, p. 45.
^ ^a ^b ^c Charlier et al. 2018. "It is important to see that these data fit perfectly with the [Soviet] autopsy report and with our direct observations."
^ ^a ^b Ryan 1995, pp. 504–505.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 44–50.
^ ^a ^b Bezymenski 1968, p. 51.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 3–76, 79–82, 85–114.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 3–5.
^ Bezymenski 1968, p. 4.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 4–5.
^ ^a ^b Bezymenski 1968, pp. 31–32.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 33, 76.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 32–33.
^ ^a ^b Bezymenski 1968, pp. 47–48, 53–55.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 35–37.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 44, 47–48.
^ Charlier et al. 2018.
^ Petrova & Watson 1995, p. 54.
^ Bezymenski 1968, p. 44.
^ Flood, Charles Bracelen (1985). "Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler on the Western Front, 1914–1918". The Kentucky Review. 5 (3). University of Kentucky: 4.
^ El hombre más peligroso de Europa: Otto Skorzeny en España (motion picture) (in Spanish). RTVE. 2020. 25, 32:30 minutes in.
^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh (2002) [1947]. The Last Days of Hitler. London: Pan Macmillan. p. xliii. ISBN 978-0-330-49060-3.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 46–47.
^ ^a ^b Petrova & Watson 1995, p. 57.
^ Marchetti, Daniela, M.D., PhD; Boschi, Ilaria, PhD; Polacco, Matteo, M.D.; Rainio, Juha, M.D., PhD (2005). "The Death of Adolf Hitler—Forensic Aspects". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 50 (5): 1. doi:10.1520/JFS2004314. JFS2004314.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Bezymenski 1968, p. 49.
^ ^a ^b ^c Petrova & Watson 1995, p. 81.
^ Bezymenski 1968, p. 75.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 73–75.
^ ^a ^b Bezymenski 1968, p. 111.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 110–114.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 30, 102.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 80–81.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 85, 91, 107.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 94, 99, 103.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 95–99.
^ ^a ^b Bezymenski 1968, pp. 81–82, 99–103.
^ Angolia, John (1989). For Führer and Fatherland: Political & Civil Awards of the Third Reich. R. James Bender Publishing. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-912-13816-9.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 103–107.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 89–90, 92.
^ Bezymenski 1968, pp. 92–94.
^ Erickson, John (2015). The Road to Berlin. Orion Publishing Group. p. 435. ISBN 9781474602808.
^ Bezymenski 1968, index of illustrations.
^ ABC News (9 December 2009). "DNA Test Sparks Controversy Over Hitler's Remains". ABC News. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
^ Petrova & Watson 1995, pp. 81–82, 84–86.
^ Bezymenski 1968, p. 66.
^ Senn, David R.; Weems, Richard A. (2013). Manual of Forensic Odontology. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-439-85134-0.
^ Eberle & Uhl 2005, p. 341.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, p. 253.
^ "Hitlers letzte Reise". Der Spiegel (in German). 19 July 1992. Retrieved 6 March 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ Petrova & Watson 1995, p. 162.
^ Gimbert, Robert A. (1996). "The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives". Military Review. US Army Command and General Staff College: 93.
^ Petrova & Watson 1995, pp. 81–82, 84–85.
^ Petrova & Watson 1995, pp. 96–97.
^ Joachimsthaler 2000, pp. 252–253.
^ Daly-Groves, Luke (2019). Hitler's Death: The Case Against Conspiracy. Oxford, UK: Osprey. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-4728-3454-6.
^ Eberle & Uhl 2005, pp. 287–288, 341.

Sources

Bezymenski, Lev (1968). The Death of Adolf Hitler (1st ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Charlier, Philippe; Weil, Raphael; Rainsard, P.; Poupon, Joël; Brisard, J.C. (1 May 2018). "The remains of Adolf Hitler: A biomedical analysis and definitive identification". European Journal of Internal Medicine. 54: e10–e12. doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2018.05.014. PMID 29779904.
Eberle, Henrik; Uhl, Matthias, eds. (2005). The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-366-1.
Joachimsthaler, Anton (2000) [1995]. The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. Translated by Helmut Bölger. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-1-85409-465-0.
Kershaw, Ian (2001) [2000]. Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis. Vol. 2. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-027239-0.
Musmanno, Michael A. (1950). Ten Days to Die. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Petrova, Ada; Watson, Peter (1995). The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-03914-6.
Ryan, Cornelius (1995) [1966]. The Last Battle. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80329-6.

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 Bezymenski's 1968 book, which has gone on to become the subject of scrutiny,{{sfn|Eberle|Uhl|2005|pp=287, 288}} was preceded by many other contradictory reports regarding the investigation of [[Adolf Hitler's death]].
-On 9 May 1945, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that a body was claimed by the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] to belong to Hitler. This was disputed by an anonymous servant who claimed that the body belonged to a cook who was killed because of his resemblance to Hitler, and that the latter had escaped.<ref name="Mitchell">{{Cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Arthur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKe2nFkNFZwC&pg=PA57|title=Hitler's Mountain: The Führer, Obersalzberg and the American Occupation of Berchtesgaden|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7864-2458-0|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=56–57|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1945-05-09|title=HITLER BODY FOUND, RUSSIANS REPORT; Servant, However, Challenges Identity, Declaring Corpse That of a 'Cook Double'|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/05/09/archives/hitler-body-found-russians-report-servant-however-challenges.html|access-date=2021-07-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On 6 June, the [[United Press]] reported that four bodies had been found in Berlin resembling Hitler, purportedly burnt by the [[Red Army]]'s flame throwers. One body was considered most likely to belong to Hitler.<ref>{{Cite news|last=UP|date=6 June 1945|title=Hitler's Body Found, Russians Report; He Died of Poisoning|work=The Hanford Sentinel|location=Hanford, CA|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82207159/|access-date=2021-07-24}}</ref> At a press conference on 9 June, on orders from Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]], Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]] presented the official narrative that Hitler did not commit suicide, but had instead escaped Berlin. This was the official beginning of Soviet disinformation, suited to Stalin's desires, even if the objective to be obtained remained unclear at that time.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=22, 23, 247–249}} When asked at the [[Potsdam Conference]] in July 1945 how Hitler had died, Stalin said he was either living "in Spain or Argentina."<ref>{{cite web | last = Beschloss | first = Michael | author-link = Michael Beschloss | title = Dividing the Spoils |website = Smithsonian Magazine | date = December 2002 | url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dividing-the-spoils-73307705/ | access-date = 14 September 2018 }}</ref> The same month, British newspapers repeated comments from a Soviet officer that a charred body discovered by the Soviets was "a very poor double." [[United States]] newspapers quoted the Russian garrison commandant of Berlin as claiming that Hitler had "gone into hiding somewhere in Europe," possibly with the help of [[Francoist Spain]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Philpot |first=Robert |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/hitler-lived-scholar-explores-the-conspiracies-that-just-wont-die/ |title='Hitler lived': Scholar explores the conspiracies that just won't die |website=The Times of Israel |date=2 May 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427034437/https://www.timesofisrael.com/hitler-lived-scholar-explores-the-conspiracies-that-just-wont-die/ |archive-date=27 April 2020 |access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> When U.S. jurist [[Michael Musmanno]] (who would later serve as presiding judge at the [[Einsatzgruppen trial]] at Nuremberg) visited the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' in mid-1945, Soviet Major Feodorovitch Platonov denied that Hitler was dead, and claimed while pointing to a spot in the garden, "It is not true that Hitler was found there! Our experts have established that the man found here didn't look like Hitler at all. And we didn't find [[Eva Braun]] either!"{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=233}}{{Efn|name=charred|In his 1950 book about Hitler's death, Musmanno argues that "there never was any authoritative account that Hitler's and Eva Braun's bodies were found intact."{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=233}} He cites one of Hitler's bodyguards<!-- Hermann Karnau --> as saying that the charred remains of both Hitler and Braun "fell apart" upon being touched, with the burning leaving them both unrecognizable.{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=221}}}}
+On 9 May 1945, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that a body was claimed by the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] to belong to Hitler. This was disputed by an anonymous servant who claimed that the body belonged to a cook who was killed because of his resemblance to Hitler, and that the latter had escaped.<ref name="Mitchell">{{Cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Arthur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKe2nFkNFZwC&pg=PA57|title=Hitler's Mountain: The Führer, Obersalzberg and the American Occupation of Berchtesgaden|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7864-2458-0|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=56–57|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1945-05-09|title=HITLER BODY FOUND, RUSSIANS REPORT; Servant, However, Challenges Identity, Declaring Corpse That of a 'Cook Double'|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/05/09/archives/hitler-body-found-russians-report-servant-however-challenges.html|access-date=2021-07-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On 6 June, the [[United Press]] reported that four bodies had been found in Berlin resembling Hitler, purportedly burnt by the [[Red Army]]'s flame throwers. One body was considered most likely to belong to Hitler.<ref>{{Cite news|last=UP|date=6 June 1945|title=Hitler's Body Found, Russians Report; He Died of Poisoning|work=The Hanford Sentinel|location=Hanford, CA|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82207159/|access-date=2021-07-24}}</ref> At a press conference on 9 June, on orders from Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]], Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]] presented the official narrative that Hitler did not commit suicide, but had instead escaped Berlin—beginning a Soviet [[disinformation]] campaign suited to Stalin's desires, with unclear objectives.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=22, 23, 247–249}} When asked at the [[Potsdam Conference]] in July 1945 how Hitler had died, Stalin said he was either living "in Spain or Argentina."<ref>{{cite web | last = Beschloss | first = Michael | author-link = Michael Beschloss | title = Dividing the Spoils |website = Smithsonian Magazine | date = December 2002 | url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dividing-the-spoils-73307705/ | access-date = 14 September 2018 }}</ref> The same month, British newspapers repeated comments from a Soviet officer that a charred body discovered by the Soviets was "a very poor double." [[United States]] newspapers quoted the Russian garrison commandant of Berlin as claiming that Hitler had "gone into hiding somewhere in Europe," possibly with the help of [[Francoist Spain]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Philpot |first=Robert |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/hitler-lived-scholar-explores-the-conspiracies-that-just-wont-die/ |title='Hitler lived': Scholar explores the conspiracies that just won't die |website=The Times of Israel |date=2 May 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427034437/https://www.timesofisrael.com/hitler-lived-scholar-explores-the-conspiracies-that-just-wont-die/ |archive-date=27 April 2020 |access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref> When U.S. jurist [[Michael Musmanno]] (who would later serve as presiding judge at the [[Einsatzgruppen trial]] at Nuremberg) visited the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' in mid-1945, Soviet Major Feodorovitch Platonov denied that Hitler was dead, and claimed while pointing to a spot in the garden, "It is not true that Hitler was found there! Our experts have established that the man found here didn't look like Hitler at all. And we didn't find [[Eva Braun]] either!"{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=233}}{{Efn|name=charred|In his 1950 book about Hitler's death, Musmanno argues that "there never was any authoritative account that Hitler's and Eva Braun's bodies were found intact."{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=233}} He cites one of Hitler's bodyguards<!-- Hermann Karnau --> as saying that the charred remains of both Hitler and Braun "fell apart" upon being touched, with the burning leaving them both unrecognizable.{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=221}}}}
-In July 1945,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vandivert|first=William|date=1952|title=The Last Photographs of Hitler|url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/Last_Photographs_of_Hitler-1945#.YaTVz5AZtTZ|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-29|website=|publisher=[[Pageant (magazine)|Pageant]]|via=OldMagazineArticles.com}}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' photographer [[William Vandivert]] became the first Westerner to photograph the ''Führerbunker''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cosgrove|first=Ben|date=2014-04-15|title=Adolf Hitler's Bunker and the Ruins of Berlin: Photos From 1945|url=https://www.life.com/history/after-the-fall-photos-of-hitlers-bunker-and-the-ruins-of-berlin/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-29|website=Life|language=en-US}}</ref> Based on claims by Hitler's chauffeur, [[Erich Kempka]], ''Life'' writer Percy Knauth stated that Hitler died by a gunshot through the temples while sitting in the middle of his sofa, slumped against the knees of Braun, who had shot herself through the heart and bled on the arm of Hitler's sofa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knauth|first=Percy|date=23 July 1945|title=Did Adolf and Eva Die Here?|journal=Life|volume=19|issue=4|pages=27}}</ref> Kempka later admitted that he had not seen the aftermath of the suicides, and only helped carry the latter partway up the bunker stairs.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=147}} Actual eyewitnesses—namely [[SS]] valet [[Heinz Linge]], SS-''[[Sturmbannführer]]'' [[Otto Günsche]], and [[Hitler Youth]] leader [[Artur Axmann]]—attested that Hitler was seated upright at the end of the sofa (or in an armchair next to it) and that Braun was next to him with no visible wounds.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=154-156}} Linge stated that he saw a [[pfennig]]-sized wound on one of Hitler's temples (initially saying it was the left temple) with blood dripping from it and forming a pool on the floor;{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=154-155}}{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=71}} Günsche noted Hitler's right temple had "a dark spot", with blood having trailed from it to the cheek. Axmann said Hitler's temples were both bleeding thin ribbons of blood and that his [[lower jaw]] was askew, leading him to opine that Hitler had shot himself through the mouth, with the temple blood being a sign of internal damage.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=155–158}}{{efn|name=mouth}}{{Efn|Joachimsthaler posits that the bullet could have penetrated one temple and caused a bleeding [[haematoma]] on the other side, citing the lack of a bullet or a bullet hole in the wall, as well as the relative likeliness of such a projectile becoming lodged.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=161, 163-164, 166}}}} Axmann did not check the back of the head for an [[exit wound]], and contradictorily stated both that he saw no blood coming from the mouth<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on January 7, 1948 and January 9, 1948. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates|url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/461/rec/1|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-08|website=[[Gumberg Library]] Digital Collections|via=[[Duquesne University]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=156, 158}} and that Hitler's mouth "was bloody and smeared".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates |url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/90/rec/2 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-08 |website=[[Gumberg Library]] Digital Collections |via=[[Duquesne University]]}}</ref> Axmann claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler had taken poison then shot himself.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=155-158}}<ref name=":0" />{{Efn|Günsche later denied telling Axmann that Hitler had poisoned himself.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=158}}}} A U.S. official who interviewed Axmann stated that the latter believed that "one of the reasons Hitler's body was never discovered is because the impact of the shot fired into his mouth destroyed his dental fixtures".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates|url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/91/rec/2|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-08|website=Gumberg Library Digital Collections|via=Duquesne University}}</ref>{{efn|name=charred}}{{efn|name=bridges}} In 1950, Kempka wrote that he heard a shot, prior to entering the study, something he later retracted.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=165}} Musmanno wrote that Hitler shot himself through the mouth{{efn|name=mouth}} and that SS physician [[Ludwig Stumpfegger]] inspected the body.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=165}}{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=219}} Kempka claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler shot himself through the mouth, but Günsche later denied telling him this and Kempka retracted many statements about the entire affair.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=148, 164-165}}
+In July 1945,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vandivert|first=William|date=1952|title=The Last Photographs of Hitler|url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/Last_Photographs_of_Hitler-1945#.YaTVz5AZtTZ|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-29|website=|publisher=[[Pageant (magazine)|Pageant]]|via=OldMagazineArticles.com}}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' photographer [[William Vandivert]] became the first Westerner to photograph the ''Führerbunker''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cosgrove|first=Ben|date=2014-04-15|title=Adolf Hitler's Bunker and the Ruins of Berlin: Photos From 1945|url=https://www.life.com/history/after-the-fall-photos-of-hitlers-bunker-and-the-ruins-of-berlin/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-29|website=Life|language=en-US}}</ref> Based on claims by Hitler's chauffeur, [[Erich Kempka]], ''Life'' writer Percy Knauth stated that Hitler died by a gunshot through the temples while sitting in the middle of his sofa, slumped against the knees of Braun, who had shot herself through the heart and bled on the arm of Hitler's sofa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knauth|first=Percy|date=23 July 1945|title=Did Adolf and Eva Die Here?|journal=Life|volume=19|issue=4|pages=27}}</ref> Kempka later admitted that he had not seen the aftermath of the suicides, and only helped carry the latter partway up the bunker stairs.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=147}} Actual eyewitnesses—namely [[SS]] valet [[Heinz Linge]], SS-''[[Sturmbannführer]]'' [[Otto Günsche]], and [[Hitler Youth]] leader [[Artur Axmann]]—attested that Hitler was seated upright at the end of the sofa (or in an armchair next to it) and that Braun was next to him with no visible wounds.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=154-156}} Linge stated that he saw a [[pfennig]]-sized wound on one of Hitler's temples (initially saying it was the left temple) with blood dripping from it and forming a pool on the floor;{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=154-155}}{{sfn|Bezymenski|1968|p=71}} Günsche noted Hitler's right temple had "a dark spot", with blood having trailed from it to the cheek. Axmann said Hitler's temples were both bleeding thin ribbons of blood and that his [[lower jaw]] was askew, leading him to opine that Hitler had shot himself through the mouth, with the temple blood being a sign of internal damage.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=155–158}}{{efn|name=mouth}}{{Efn|Joachimsthaler posits that the bullet could have penetrated one temple and caused a bleeding [[haematoma]] on the other side, citing the lack of a bullet or a bullet hole in the wall, as well as the relative likeliness of such a projectile becoming lodged.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=161, 163-164, 166}}}} Axmann did not check the back of the head for an [[exit wound]], and contradictorily stated both that he saw no blood coming from the mouth<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on January 7, 1948 and January 9, 1948. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates|url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/461/rec/1|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-08|website=[[Gumberg Library]] Digital Collections|via=[[Duquesne University]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=156, 158}} and that Hitler's mouth "was bloody and smeared".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates |url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/90/rec/2 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-08 |website=[[Gumberg Library]] Digital Collections |via=[[Duquesne University]]}}</ref> Axmann claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler had taken poison then shot himself.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=155-158}}<ref name=":0" />{{Efn|Günsche later denied telling Axmann that Hitler had poisoned himself.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=158}}}} A U.S. official who interviewed Axmann stated that the latter believed that "one of the reasons Hitler's body was never discovered is because the impact of the shot fired into his mouth destroyed his dental fixtures".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Axmann, Artur, interviewed on October 10, 1947. - Musmanno Collection -- Interrogations of Hitler Associates|url=https://digital.library.duq.edu/digital/collection/mussinter/id/91/rec/2|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-08|website=Gumberg Library Digital Collections|via=Duquesne University}}</ref>{{efn|name=charred}}{{efn|name=bridges}} In 1950, Kempka wrote that he heard a shot prior to entering the study, which he later retracted.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=165}} Both Kempka and Musmanno wrote that Hitler shot himself through the mouth{{efn|name=mouth}} and that SS physician [[Ludwig Stumpfegger]] inspected the body.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|p=165}}{{sfn|Musmanno|1950|p=219}} Kempka claimed that Günsche had told him that Hitler shot himself through the mouth, but Günsche later denied telling him this and Kempka retracted many statements about the entire affair.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|2000|pp=148, 164-165}}
 [[File:Hitler_body_double,_identified_as_Gustave_Weler.png|thumb|upright|alt=Dead body with a toothbrush moustache and an apparent gunshot wound to the forehead|An apparent [[Alleged doubles of Adolf Hitler|Hitler body double]] filmed by the Soviets]]