Behind History's Icons II: Hitler's Jaw and Cold War Secrets

Medscape

03-06-2025

Ancient Egyptians believed that mummifying a king's body was key to his ascent into the realm of the gods. The preserved body, known as the Ach, a luminous spirit, was thought to begin this journey by entering the sarcophagus, seen as the womb of Nut, the mother goddess of the sky.
The belief in the enduring power of human remains has been deep in global history.
In the West, reverence for the relics of Christian saints took place early in the Church. Some of the most extraordinary examples include what was believed to be the foreskin of Jesus and the severed head of Saint John the Baptist.
By the 19th century, European scientists had begun preserving and studying body parts of famous individuals — from Mohammed's beard and Buddha's teeth to Adolf Hitler's jaw.
Following the Napoleon relics story, Part II probes Hitler's preserved jaws.
Hitler's Final Days
It was April 28, 1945. Hitler, 1889-1945, Germany's leader, paced furiously through the corridors of the Wolf's Lair, his secret headquarters near Rastenburg, close to Görlitz. He was furious, as his trusted deputy head of the Nazi Party's paramilitary force, Heinrich Himmler is believed to have been betrayed by Hitler for several months. He reportedly held secret talks with Western Allies to end the war. Shockingly, he is said to have offered to halt the Holocaust of Hungarian Jews if Americans — Germany's main enemy in the West — would ease their attacks. Hitler was reportedly stunned.
In an effort to regain his composure, Hitler summons Hermann Fegelein — 1906-1945, his liaison to the Waffen Schutzstaffel, the Nazi Party's armed military unit responsible for combat operations. According to these reports, Hitler ordered their execution. Another report stated that he ordered his arrest and left the execution order to his subordinates.
Himmler, in turn, expels Hitler from the Nazi Party and removes him from all party and state positions.
However, in reality, Hitler was more composed than he appeared. As often in his life, even moments of lost composure serve a greater purpose.
Historian and Himmler biographer Heinz Peter Longerich noted that just one week before his public outburst on April 22, 1945, Hitler privately declared that he would stop issuing orders. This was his way of signaling to his top officials that the war was lost.
By this point, Hitler had effectively lost control over his army. Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner, 1896-1966, had earlier refused to carry out a relief attack ordered by Hitler during the Battle of Berlin, calling it impossible.
To avoid being linked to inevitable and shameful defeat, Hitler allowed others to handle peace negotiations and then publicly expelled them from the Nazi Party.
Historians widely agree that Hitler decided to take his own life on April 27, 1945, one day before his outburst. When news of Himmler's betrayal became known, Hitler acted quickly and decisively. He first expelled Himmler from the party and then, by proxy, took revenge on Fegelein. Just before midnight, Hitler hurriedly married his partner, Eva Braun in 1912-1945. He then dictated his political and personal will to his secretary, Traudl Junge in 1920-2002.
On the morning of April 30, Hitler tested poison ampoules on his German shepherd and later gave a similar poison to his colleagues. At approximately 3:30 PM, he had Braun swallow cyanide before shooting. However, myths and uncertainties surround what occurred next.
Corpse Odyssey
Hitler's death did not end speculation. Conspiracy theories quickly surfaced, claiming that he had faked his death and fled abroad, possibly to Argentina or Japan, with the help of body doubles and plastic surgery.
According to conspiracy theories, Hitler fired a double shot and burned his body beyond recognition before escaping the submarine to Argentina or Japan. These theories claim that his outbursts of rage, will, distribution of poison vials, and suicide were staged. Until recently, Hitler was said to have lived a privileged life abroad, even after undergoing surgical alterations.
Local historian and biographer Harald Sandner calls this 'humbug.' He pointed out that Hitler's body was examined multiple times by experts and moved at least 10 times.
According to the report, Hitler and Braun's bodies were carried into the Reich Chancellery Garden at approximately 3:50 PM on April 30, 1945.
The individuals who carried the bodies into the garden included Hitler's valet Heinz Linge, Criminal Director Peter Högl, Hauptsturmführer Ewald Lindloff, and Obersturmführer Heinrich Josef Reiser. The bodies were then doused with gasoline and set on fire.
Eyewitness accounts, including that of Rottenführer Hermann Karnau, mentioned that between 4 and 6:20 PM, the remains showed movement described as 'the flesh moved up and down,' which is consistent with the natural effects of burning human bodies and muscle contractions during cremation.
On May 4, Soviet soldiers found the remains, initially unaware of their significance. The next day, the bodies were reburied and moved to Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch, where autopsies were performed on May 8.
Fritz Echtmann, longtime assistant to Hitler's dentist Hugo Johannes Blaschke, 1881-1959, may be for propaganda reasons, confirmed the identity of Hitler's jaw remains as unclear. However, Soviet authorities promoted the narrative that Hitler had cowardly taken poison, rejecting the evidence that he had also shot himself, and confirmed the authenticity of the jaws. Soviet doctors later claimed Hitler had 'cowardly poisoned himself instead of heroically shooting himself.'
On May 4, 1945, Soviet troops from the 3rd Shock Army discovered these bodies. Unaware that they belonged to Adolf and Eva Hitler, they wrapped them in blankets and buried them.
On May 5, the next day, other Soviet soldiers found the bodies again and transported them in an ammunition box to the Pathological Institute at Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch.
The bodies were autopsied between May 8 and May 10. Echtmann confirmed the authenticity of Hitler's jaw. For propaganda purposes, Soviet doctors later claimed that Hitler had 'cowardly poisoned himself instead of heroically shooting himself.'
Even decades later, in 1968, the well-known Russian journalist and military history professor Lev Aleksandrovich Bezymensky in 1920-2007 wrote that Hitler's charred corpse smelled of bitter almonds.
In the second half of May 1945, grave robbers opened Hitler's grave, searching for a rumored Nazi treasure said to be buried with him. Soviet soldiers protected the bodies and moved them again, in ammunition crates, to Finow, 38 km away, where they were reburied.
On May 22, 1945, the body was exhumed and reburied for unknown reasons.
Forensic Investigation
On June 9, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov in 1896-1974 claimed that Hitler's death was uncertain. British historian Sir Richard John Evans suggested that the Soviet Union might have wanted to maintain the threat of Hitler's survival to justify a harsh occupation policy. Consequently, false information about Hitler's death is deliberately disseminated.
This theory is supported by the fact that Hitler's suicide was reported in the Soviet newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on May 10, 1945. As late as June 5, Soviet Army officers confirmed this to American officers. Probably on orders from Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin in 1878-1953 denials began just 4 days later.
On June 7, 1945, the bodies of Adolf and Eva Hitler were reportedly brought to Rathenau in a 'half-rotten state.'
Between December 8, 1945, and January 13, 1946, Soviet Colonel General Bogdan Zakharovich Kobulov ordered a new examination of Hitler's body. To prevent this investigation, other Soviet officials arranged for the bodies to move to Magdeburg, Germany. Once again, the bodies were buried in ammunition crates in a 2 m deep pit in the courtyard of Westendstraße 32 (now Klausenerstraße 32).
On February 21, 1946, the bodies were autopsied. They were then buried in the courtyard of a Soviet military settlement beneath an 18 cm thick concrete slab.
On April 5, 1970, the KGB, a highly centralized and secretive organization Chief Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, 1914-1984, ordered the bodies to be destroyed. The military settlement was to be handed over to the East German authorities, and Andropov did not want to risk the bodies falling into their hands.
Among historians, Sandner's accounts are valued but are not fully reliable. Sandner, who had never received formal training in history, did not provide detailed annotations in his books to clarify his reasoning.
A publication by the French forensic scientist and pathologist Philippe Charlier in the European Journal of Internal Medicine is considered scientifically credible. Charlier reported that the Russian domestic intelligence service (Federal Security Service) allowed him and his team to examine Hitler's presumed skull and dentures, which had survived the final burning. Their investigation confirmed that the dentures belonged to Hitler. However, they were not 100% certain about the skull, which showed traces of a gunshot wound.
These findings align with the report of German forensic biologist Mark Benecke, who was permitted to examine Hitler's alleged remains for a week in November 2001.
Benecke wrote at the time:
'There is no doubt about the authenticity of the teeth. Hitler had a unique dental structure. He used a large metal bridge in 1944. Using old x-rays, I was able to clearly identify the teeth as Hitler's.'
However, Benecke found no traces of poison or glass fragments in the ampoule. Surprised, he consulted Bezymensky.
'Bezymensky told me that the KGB had only allowed him to publish his book in 1986 on one condition: That he would support the poison theory,' Benecke wrote about his conversation with Bezymensky.
Finally, the alleged fragment of Hitler's skull was stored in a plastic box, which was intended for computer disks. According to contemporary historian Joachim Fest in 1926-2006, Hitler's body was found 'slumped over,' with 'his head slightly bent forward…on the flowered sofa,' after he had shot a coin-sized hole in his temple with a pistol. If this description is correct, the skull fragment could not belong to Hitler. The entry and exit wounds suggest the shot came from below, most likely fired 'in the mouth.'
To confirm identity, the remaining blood traces must be examined. However, Benecke stated that he would require comparative DNA from Hitler's relatives, such as his sister, who was buried near Munich. Exhumation is the only method to obtain genetic material.
Conclusion
Few other deaths are surrounded by myths similar to Hitler's death. The search for the truth about Hitler's death is complicated by the competing interests and the interests of those with partial knowledge.
Historians now agree that Hitler died by suicide on April 30, 1945, either by shooting himself or by combining gunshots with poison.
Scientific evidence confirms that Hitler's dentures are preserved and currently held by Russian domestic intelligence services. Whether the skull in the Russian State Archives belonged to him remains unclear.