Background-image
Hitler of the Andes
In April 1945 Hitler was the most wanted man in Europe. Dead or alive the victorious allies needed to see his body in the dock or in the grave. But in the chaos of war proof that the dictator had died proved elusive. Maybe Hitler was dead. Maybe he’d escaped.

The mystery of the missing dictator drew in spies, scientists, and historians from America, Russia and Britain. As recently released documents show it led the FBI into its most incredible manhunt, searching for Hitler from the subways of the Bronx to the jungles of Latin America.

Whilst the allies spent six years trying to defeat Hitler. It would take them many times longer to sort out the confusion that surrounded his fate. Conspiracy, fact and fiction all rushed in to fill the vacuum left by the missing dictator.

In the final months of the war even the Germans couldn’t be certain. Since the 1944 bomb plot Hitler kept well out of sight, hidden away in bunkers.

There was speculation already in the fall of 1944 about his escape and his whereabouts. So when the end of the war came this was a story that had already long been prepared.

Many of Hitler’s most senior supporters did try to escape. Himmler was captured dressed as a private soldier. Heinrich Muller, head of the Gestapo was never captured, and down in the Chancellery bunkers Hitler’s staff tried to repeatedly to persuade him to get out before it was too late. Flight was certainly possible.

The myth of Hitler’s physical survival is really about the survival of a unique kind of evil embodied in Hitler, about the survival of the mystery of Hitler. The fact that in some way he escaped explanation.

The remarkable story of Hitler’s life after death is a clear warning of what can happen when a dictator melts away. The world wanted a clear sign that World War Two had ended but Hitler’s death went missing and the fate of the last century’s most terrible dictator took over fifty years to sort out.