Tales From the 'Myth File'

摘要

It is one of the last mysteries of World War Ⅱ: exactly how did Adolf Hitler die, and what happened to his body? On May 1, 1945, Hitler's death was announced by his successor, Grand Adm. Karl Doenitz, who claimed the fuehrer had fallen while fighting "at the head of his troops." Only the Soviets, who recovered the corpse, knew what had happened to Hitler, and during the cold war they guarded the information like a military secret. Contradictory stories eventually emerged, none of which told the full truth. One version said Hitler had shot himself in the mouth, while his new wife (and longtime mistress), Eva Braun, took poison in their bunker beneath Berlin. Another said the fuehrer also killed himself with poison. A third said he swallowed poison and, in the same instant, shot himself through the temple. Some people thought Hitler still lived. Lake a prototypical Elvis, he was "sighted" everywhere: in Switzerland, in Argentina, in France, where he supposedly worked as a croupier at a gambling casino. Now the archives of the former Soviet Union have given up their secrets. The story is told in a new book, "The Death of Hitler," by Russian journalist Ada Petrova and British writer Peter Watson.