Hitler’s Death

4 stars

I read the Kindle edition.

This book is very detailed and footnoted copiously. The writing is a little dry, but that is the nature of some historical writing. It speaks of all the conspiracies surrounding not only Hitler’s death, but also other key members of the Nazi regime. It lays out the origin of the differing conspiracy theories and why they were disseminated. I enjoyed it, although I did have to take an occasional break now and then.

Really enjoyed reading this book. Fascinating subject and it taught me a great deal. Very informative and interesting

This was a very good and easy read for those interested in WW2. In discussing in quite forensic (but never overly burdened) detail the death of Hitler and all that followed, we get great insight into what people thought of all the rumours of Hitler's survival, and what people should think of such suggestions that annually float around on F*c*book. There were rumours from the get-go that Hitler had survived, escaping by himself, or with others, or with the full complicity of the Allies. The Soviets seemed to want to say the Brits were harbouring him, for one. And what of the fact that everyone did look into the reports of his being seen? Well, people making such comments needed to think they were in the investigators' good books, and were worth looking at themselves, however insane they were. Also, every false declaration of Hitler's continued existence was a barrier for those hoping to resurrect his Reich. We even learn a very sensible reason why Argentina became a hotbed of allegations of Hitler's and Bormann's retirement homes.

There's great depth to Hugh Trevor-Roper, and what he was getting out of his report and book, and why it was published in the timeline it lived through (although there is a hole where I wanted to know what the conspiracy theorists were saying against him as being unreliable and unable to do the job he clearly did). There is also emotional fact, when the Goebbels children were murdered, and many people killed themselves, seeing – immediately post-Hitler – no future of the kind they hoped for. What I didn't like was the suggestion that because the UK and the US both investigated things, at much expense but separately, and allegedly found nothing, the theories cannot be true – this author seems to not realise the (implausible) possibility of a false paper trail. But there's been a massive piece of legwork, from the notes' evidence alone, to make this book, and despite what at times seems a little bit of first-book naivety, this is still really good. It took me a long afternoon, which suggests it's just the right length for the layman, but it's also forensic enough for the specialist historian, making this really well worth considering.