Hunting Hitler

Hunting Hitler
Teaser poster for the first season
Genre	Reality
Directed by	Jeffrey R. Daniels Clint Lealos
Narrated by	Dave Hoffman
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	25 (+2 special episodes)
Production
Running time	42 minutes
Production company	Karga 7 Pictures
Original release
Network	History Channel
Release	November 10, 2015 (2015-11-10) – February 19, 2018 (2018-02-19)

Hunting Hitler is a History Channel television series based on the hypothetical premise that Adolf Hitler escaped from the Führerbunker in Berlin at the end of World War II. The show was conceived following the declassification of FBI documents exploring whether Hitler might have escaped his apparent fate in Berlin, where he is widely believed to have died in 1945. It explores how might he have escaped, where might he have gone, and whether he plotted a Fourth Reich. The series ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018, followed by a two-hour special in 2020.

Series overview

The show is hosted in Los Angeles by CIA veteran Bob Baer and war crimes investigator John Cencich. Utilizing a database of intelligence files from the FBI, CIA, MI6, and other international authorities, they look for information regarding the survival of Adolf Hitler or any of his right-hand men. The ground teams search for evidence supporting these leads. According to the show's creators, similar man-hunting techniques are employed as were used by the CIA to find Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Hitler's U-boats disembarked in Caleta de Los Loros es.

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			Season premiere	Season finale
	1	8	November 10, 2015 (2015-11-10)	December 29, 2015 (2015-12-29)
	2	8	November 15, 2016 (2016-11-15)	January 3, 2017 (2017-01-03)
	3	8	January 2, 2018 (2018-01-02)	February 20, 2018 (2018-02-20)

Investigative team

• Bob Baer — Former CIA Operative
• Dr. John Cencich — Former international war crimes investigator, professor, and criminologist
• Nada Bakos — Former terrorist targeting officer
• Tim Kennedy — U.S. Army Special Forces operator and former MMA fighter
• James Holland — WWII historian
• Mike Simpson — Medical doctor, airborne ranger, and special forces operator
• Gerrard Williams — Investigative journalist and historian
• Lenny DePaul — Former U.S. Marshals commander
• Steve Rambam — Private investigator and Nazi hunter

Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
1	1	"The Hunt Begins"	November 10, 2015 (2015-11-10)	N/A
CIA veteran Bob Baer and war crimes investigator Dr. John Cencich begin investigating what might have happened to Adolf Hitler at the end of WWII if he survived. An FBI report places Hitler residing in a small Nazi-connected town in Argentina over three months after he was believed dead.
2	2	"Secret Nazi Lair"	November 17, 2015 (2015-11-17)	N/A
Tim Kennedy, US Army Special Forces, joins archeologists Philip Kiernan and Daniel Schavelzon to explore a mysterious Nazi complex in the jungles of Argentina. They discover Nazi artifacts at the three-building site, as well as evidence of an opulent German residence. In response to the revelation that a skull fragment with gun damage—long thought to belong to Hitler—may instead belong to a female, an attempt is made to contact Eva Braun's only living relative to see if her DNA is a match.
3	3	"Escape From Berlin"	November 24, 2015 (2015-11-24)	N/A
Prominent death claims investigator Steven Rambam and Nazi profiler and historian Gerrard Williams join Tim Kennedy to investigate a site that the FBI reported Hitler used to disembark from a U-boat in Argentina. Former US Marshal Lenny DePaul uncovers an escape route from Hitler's bunker in Berlin to the nearby Tempelhof Airport, where multiple Nazi airplanes fled the Battle of Berlin.
4	4	"The Tunnel"	December 1, 2015 (2015-12-01)	N/A
Lenny DePaul and Sascha Keil find a never before discovered tunnel leading from Hitler's bunker directly to Tempelhof Airport. Kennedy joins a team of elite marine archeologists to search for a possible German U-Boat off the coast of Argentina. DePaul joins Gerrard Williams to investigate if Hitler could have been concealed in Spain with the help of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
5	5	"Ratlines"	December 8, 2015 (2015-12-08)	N/A
In Spain, DePaul and Williams investigate a monastery that could have been a Nazi hideout and meet an eyewitness who claims Hitler once lived there. Further investigation leads the team to a German plane landing and nearby Nazi communication devices. Kennedy investigates the possibility of a sunken U-Boat off the coast of Argentina. The team is led to the Canary Islands, where they learn of a possible Enigma machine and tunnels used to supply U-boats with torpedoes.
6	6	"Hitler's Safehouse"	December 15, 2015 (2015-12-15)	N/A
In the Canary Islands, DePaul and Williams uncover secret tunnels and a large German compound which may have supplied Hitler's potential escape to South America. Kennedy infiltrates a German town in Argentina known for sheltering Nazis after the war. Williams locates an isolated lakeside mansion that could have housed Hitler.
7	7	"Friends in High Places"	December 22, 2015 (2015-12-22)	N/A
The team investigates a now-defunct resort which a close confidant of Hitler's once operated. They discover an eyewitness placing Hitler at the location. Kennedy and Williams travel to a small coastal town in Brazil, where Hitler reportedly attended a ballet performance.
8	8	"Hitler's Plane"	December 29, 2015 (2015-12-29)	N/A
An FBI report places Hitler landing a plane in Colombia. Baer and Cencich identify a marsh where they believe this plane was hidden, and the team gains unprecedented access to the protected site to use side-scan sonar to carry out their search.

Season 2 (2016–2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
9	1	"The Hunt Continues"	November 15, 2016 (2016-11-15)	N/A
Lenny DePaul and Sascha Keil discover an unknown fifth exit from the Fuhrerbunker and begin investigating areas that could have served as a makeshift runway out of Berlin. Meanwhile, Tim Kennedy and historical archaeologist Alasdair Brooks reunite with Daniel Schavelzon at the mysterious Nazi lair in Misiones, Argentina. There, they discover a new building that could be a military compound.
10	2	"The Compound"	November 22, 2016 (2016-11-22)	N/A
Intelligence reports indicate that Hitler would have taken a short-range plane from Berlin to Denmark. DePaul and James Holland head there and investigate an airstrip and a massive bunker system. In Misiones, Kennedy and Brooks unearth clues that the site could be that of a militarized Nazi compound.
11	3	"Eyewitness Accounts"	November 29, 2016 (2016-11-29)	N/A
A declassified document reveals that Hitler and a close associate, Leon Degrelle, could have moved from Denmark to San Sebastian, Spain. There, James Holland and Mike Simpson discover several eyewitnesses, a satellite of the Third Reich, and what could be a Nazi communications center. The team in Misiones speaks with a living relative of Hermann Göring and a man who claims his father worked for Martin Bormann (believed to have died in 1945) after the end of the war.
12	4	"The Web"	December 6, 2016 (2016-12-06)	N/A
While following leads on a Nazi escape network, the teams in Southern Spain and Northern Argentina both make discoveries of vast tunnel systems in the mountains.
13	5	"The Factory"	December 13, 2016 (2016-12-13)	N/A
Baer and Cencich continue to investigate leads in Spain, Morocco, and Argentina. The teams look into Hitler's possible escape route while uncovering a plan for a Fourth Reich.
14	6	"The Secret Island"	December 20, 2016 (2016-12-20)	N/A
Digging deeper into reports about the Fourth Reich, Baer and Cencich send the team to a rumored weapons testing site in Germany, and a mysterious deserted island in Argentina that could have housed nuclear facilities with Nazi ties after the war.
15	7	"Unmarked Grave"	December 27, 2016 (2016-12-27)	N/A
Baer and Cencich send their teams into Chile and Paraguay to investigate Hitler's whereabouts if he were forced to flee Argentina following Juan Perón's overthrow in 1955. In Chile, Kennedy and Williams follow a lead to the adopted daughter of a man locally believed to have been Bormann. They are then shown his grave, which seems to match red earth found on the remains found in Berlin in 1972 which were conclusively identified as Bormann's in 1998.
16	8	"Nazi Colony"	January 3, 2017 (2017-01-03)	N/A
Kennedy and Simpson investigate a secretive German community in Chile, formerly known as Colonia Dignidad, with reported Nazi ties. Inside the compound they find clues pointing to the potential formation of a Fourth Reich.

Season 3 (2017–2018)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Original air date	Viewers (millions)
17	0	"Anatomy of a Manhunt"	December 26, 2017 (2017-12-26)	N/A
Bob Baer and his team provide an inside look at their investigation. Along with exclusive previews of the next stage of the investigation, they share their evidence and explain their strategies.
18	1	"The Final Hunt Begins"	January 2, 2018 (2018-01-02)	N/A
Baer recruits prominent terrorist targeting officer Nada Bakos. Enacting the hunting strategy which led to the capture of Osama bin Laden, the team finds two planned escape routes for Hitler out of Germany. To the south, Kennedy and Holland discover a tunnel system under Hitler's home. To the north, DePaul and Williams investigate a hidden Nazi compound.
19	2	"Clandestine Cache"	January 9, 2018 (2018-01-09)	N/A
DePaul and Williams make a startling discovery in a sabotaged aircraft hangar in northern Germany. Simpson and Holland scan an Austrian lake in search for a large cache of secret Nazi documents.
20	3	"Nuclear Nazi Weapons"	January 16, 2018 (2018-01-16)	N/A
In Norway, Kennedy and Williams explore a hydroelectric plant where the Nazis were dangerously close to producing a nuclear weapon. Simpson and Holland investigate a cabin high in the Austrian Alps where Hitler’s top associate made the ultimate sacrifice.
21	4	"150 Feet Below"	January 23, 2018 (2018-01-23)	N/A
At the bottom of an Arctic fjord in Norway, Kennedy dives on Nazi relics that may blow the case wide open. Simpson and Holland encounter a smuggler who leads them to Nazi castle on the Italian border.
22	5	"Dead Drops"	January 30, 2018 (2018-01-30)	N/A
Simpson and Holland excavate the grounds of a remote Alpine hotel in search of buried Nazi dead drops. In Rome, DePaul and Williams make a shocking discovery that implicates some of the world’s most powerful people.
23	6	"Lurking Beneath the Surface"	February 6, 2018 (2018-02-06)	1.65
At a lagoon in Uruguay, Kennedy and Simpson uncover evidence of a long-range seaplane that was shuttling Nazis all around the continent. In Buenos Aires, Kennedy and Williams convince an informant to share a massive cache of explosive documents that could unravel the clandestine global Nazi network known as Die Spinne.
24	7	"Target: United States"	February 13, 2018 (2018-02-13)	N/A
On the trail of Josef Mengele, Kennedy and Simpson investigate a key Nazi support point in Uruguay: Rincón del Bonete dam. Simpson and DePaul review newly declassified Chilean files that reveal a secret plot to attack the United States.
25	8	"Hitler's Last Will"	February 20, 2018 (2018-02-20)	N/A
Kennedy and Williams discover a mysterious militarized Nazi compound in the jungle of Paraguay. Simpson and DePaul explore an alleged Nazi concentration camp in Chile before an anonymous source leads them to a microfilm copy of Hitler's last will and testament. Baer presents the compiled evidence of Hitler's possible escape.

Reception

The show has been criticized by Variety, CNN and Media Life Magazine for "capitalizing on the American public's fascination with Hitler to produce a show based on a [hypothesis], while providing no evidence to substantiate the theory."

James Holland, one of the team members, has since described it as 'absolute nonsense'. During episode 349 of the podcast 'We have ways of making you talk' which he hosts with comedian Al Murray he shares a moment when he was talking to a fellow team member whilst in a bunker situated in the Atlantic wall. "I was there with a guy who was a former presidential bodyguard and he said 'you know Jim, when I look around this place and think it's a kind of place that I can see a top-ranking Nazi official hiding out' I was there thinking it was a piece of concrete that achieved very little but you know whatever". On Twitter he also said "I was certainly interested in learning more about how Nazis escaped, but was very careful never to mention on film that I thought either Hitler or Bormann escaped. Because they didn’t."

See also

• Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler
• Ratlines (World War II aftermath)

External links

• Official website
• Hunting Hitler at IMDb