Most believe Adolf Hitler died in his Berlin bunker in 1945, towards the end of the Second World War. However, over the years, amateur sleuths have concocted theories of how the dictator may have survived. Now, a group of researchers in France might finally be able to put the conspiracies to bed, after they were given the opportunity to analyse Hitler’s teeth, or all things.
The group, led by medical examiner and palaeopathologist Philippe Charlier, published a paper in the European Journal of Internal Medicine on their findings, entitled “The remains of Adolf Hitler: A biomedical analysis and definitive identification”.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/07/how-did-hitler-rise-to-power/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/h3tbkrvbasn8bb9b007e.jpg” title=”How Did Hitler Rise To Power?” excerpt=”Video: When you combine an unhappy group of people with a leader who is more than willing to feed and exploit their fear with wild speeches and rhetoric, things can go bad. When people in business and intellectuals want to be on the favourable side of public opinion, so they start doing things they don’t believe are right, things can get worse.”]
Charlier, speaking with AFP, posits that Hitler did indeed ingest cyanide, with an inspection of the fuhrer’s teeth revealing “bluish deposits” that “could indicate a ‘chemical reaction between the cyanide and the metal of the dentures’”:
“The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt. Our study proves that Hitler died in 1945,” said professor Philippe Charlier. “We can stop all the conspiracy theories about Hitler. He did not flee to Argentina in a submarine, he is not in a hidden base in Antarctica or on the dark side of the moon.”
The teeth were positively identified as Hitler’s by a “Russian interpreter who worked in Berlin in 1945”, writes The Telegraph’s Rory Mulholland:
She recounted how she had been tasked with proving Hitler’s death by tracking down his dental records in the ruined German capital and seeing if they matched a set of teeth she had been entrusted with — which they did.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2015/11/hitlers-supergun-the-nazi-plot-to-destroy-london-and-why-itfailed/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/1531283735678950287.jpg” title=”Hitler’s Supergun: The Nazi Plot To Destroy London (And Why It Failed)” excerpt=”The V-3 ‘supergun’ was meant to win the war for Germany. In 1943, for the first time since World War II began, Hitler was on the back foot. Allied bombs were devastating German cities and the Fuhrer was rattled. His proposed V-3 cannon would be the biggest gun the world had seen.”]
As far as Charlier is concerned, the real question now is if it was the cyanide or the bullet that killed Hitler. Unfortunately, there’s no way to no for sure, though Charlier believes “[it was] in all probability both”.