One of the pleasures or pains of having to undergo a longish convalescence is the existence of day time TV.
Now normally at this time of year I would have been able to hope for some hot summer days, but such is the misery of the British summertime this year (its been more like autumn for most of July and August), that I have been watching TV shows that I would normally avoid like the plague.
One such show is called 'Forbidden History'. A show which claims to uncover the truth behind great myths, conspiracy theories, ancient treasures, lost civilisations and war time secrets. Actually it does nothing of the sort.
Rather it publicises the wildest of claims and theories, as though they have some real merit. These are claims that can't stand any close examination, and rarely have any facts underpinning them. They often have very obvious flaws, and are riddled with the self interest of the authors of the books proposing these wild claims, and who the show often dignifies, by giving them the title of 'historian', when they patently are nothing of the sort. The show never attempts to expose them for what they really are, or challenge their claims with some real counter facts. In other words it doesn't uncover the truth, or even really attempt to.
The claims made in some episodes often contradict previous episodes of the show but that aside, the episode of the show that made me laugh out loud was entitled Hitler: Suicide or Survivor? This posited the claims that the man shot in the head in the Hitler bunker was a body double, and that the 'real Hitler' escaped from Germany. This was because despite the fact that a real historian shot all the claims down in the 30 seconds in which he was allowed to throw a fact into the programme, the show blithely ignored it, and carried on examining rubbish claims such as Hitler having two little girls in Argentina, or being seen on a ferry in the 1950's in Germany.
The most popular version of this alternate history is that two days before his supposed death, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were flown to Tonder in Denmark, they then took a second flight to the Luftwaffe base at Travemunde. There they boarded a Long range Ju 252 and flew to the Spanish military base at Reus, south of Barcelona. From there General Franco supplied a Spanish military plane to fly Hitler to Fuerteventura on the Canary islands.
The next day, Hitler and Braun allegedly boarded a U-boat, at which point their doubles in Berlin were executed. They landed on the Argentine coast, south of Mar Del Plata in Argentina where the local German community whisked them and their bullion away. He eventually died on February 13, 1962 at 3pm. This was all planned by Martin Bormann who also ended up in Argentina, rather than being killed in Berlin as history says.
So in order to set the record straight I produced my own version of the evidence. Firstly the photo evidence .... I have quickly knocked up a birthday shot for Adolf if he had lived to be 65. Fairly convincing if I say so myself.
Whereas the TV show produced this one .....
... I can't say it looked like an older Adolf Hitler to me!
Of course others have tried to guess at Fuhrer disguises .... such as the The US Secret Service in 1944, which tried to guess a possible Hitler disguise.
Then there was this one from a UK newspaper I think ..... from which I have removed the moustache (too obvious a giveaway), to make it more realistic of a disguised Hitler.
Then there was the additional claim that Adolf and Eva Braun had two little girls in South America. Now apart from the fact that according to popular legend Adolf only had one ball (apparently confirmed in the original Soviet autopsy), there's also the simple fact that by 1945 Hitler was a drug addled man, who may also have had Parkinson's disease, and who had lost all his libido by the end. This, despite the fact that he had been getting bulls ball extracts (seminal vesicles) injected by his quack physician Theodor Morell. Eva Braun and these two girls have never been traced, nor come forward, despite claims by the crackpots that the girls still live in Argentina.
Another basis for the Hitler survived claims, was that Stalin always said Hitler had escaped, while Eisenhower post-war said there was no evidence of his death, and all the contemporary reporting from the BBC, Time, and all of the major international news agencies all said that the Soviets did not find a body. Of course the Soviets did in fact secretly find two body remains, which they later disposed of by scattering the freshly cremated ashes in an unknown river.
The skull sample the Soviets took as being Hitlers, proved to be of a woman aged between 20 and 40 years of age, but as Ms Braun never shot herself in the head, its not believed to be her skull either.
Peter Baumgart who many have claimed had flown Hitler to Denmark on his way to South America, was actually just the last in a line of several men who made that claim in the post war years. Strangely these claims all ignored the fact that Hans Baur, who was Hitlers personal friend, pilot and leader of the Reichsregierung squadron (later renamed the Fliegerstaffel des Führers -FdF), had offered to fly Hitler out in a modified JU290 from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten, near the Brandenburg gate. When Hitler refused, Baur then stayed in the Berlin bunker complex until Hitler killed himself on the afternoon of 30 April 1945, before making his escape attempt and getting captured by the Soviets.
So where's the proof positive that Hitler died in the bunker?
Well apart from the original body remains found in 1945, the Soviets also found the skull fragment (which turned out to be of an unknown woman), and a lower jaw fragment and dental bridgework in the second search ordered by Stalin in 1946 - both of which they recovered from the same petrol pit site area as the first 1945 search. All the recovered remains were stored in a SMERSH centre in Magdeburg, East Germany. There they remained until 1970, when the KGB cremated the body remains, and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
However they kept the skull and jaw fragments with the bridgework, and this surviving dental work was originally shown to the captured assistant of Hitler's dentist, who confirmed it as Hitlers.
All of these parts were also made available to a German forensic scientist in the early 1990's .… and he was able to compare it with preserved medical cranial x-rays of Hitler (his original dental x-rays went missing at the end of the war), and the bridgework and jawbone held by the Soviets matched the cranial x-rays exactly. The cranial x-rays, which included his dental work, were taken in 1944 after Hitler complained of migraines following the July 20th bomb attack.
So if Hitler escaped, he did so without his jaw .... so claims that Hitler did not commit suicide, and in fact escaped from Berlin to South America, represent nothing but gratuitous sensationalist TV.
Post Script: Even as recently June 2017 stories circulated that 128 year old Adolf Hitler had been found alive in Argentina and people believed it. Talk about Fake News!
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| These Sort Of Claims Are Given Plenty Of TV Time |
One such show is called 'Forbidden History'. A show which claims to uncover the truth behind great myths, conspiracy theories, ancient treasures, lost civilisations and war time secrets. Actually it does nothing of the sort.
Rather it publicises the wildest of claims and theories, as though they have some real merit. These are claims that can't stand any close examination, and rarely have any facts underpinning them. They often have very obvious flaws, and are riddled with the self interest of the authors of the books proposing these wild claims, and who the show often dignifies, by giving them the title of 'historian', when they patently are nothing of the sort. The show never attempts to expose them for what they really are, or challenge their claims with some real counter facts. In other words it doesn't uncover the truth, or even really attempt to.
The claims made in some episodes often contradict previous episodes of the show but that aside, the episode of the show that made me laugh out loud was entitled Hitler: Suicide or Survivor? This posited the claims that the man shot in the head in the Hitler bunker was a body double, and that the 'real Hitler' escaped from Germany. This was because despite the fact that a real historian shot all the claims down in the 30 seconds in which he was allowed to throw a fact into the programme, the show blithely ignored it, and carried on examining rubbish claims such as Hitler having two little girls in Argentina, or being seen on a ferry in the 1950's in Germany.
The most popular version of this alternate history is that two days before his supposed death, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were flown to Tonder in Denmark, they then took a second flight to the Luftwaffe base at Travemunde. There they boarded a Long range Ju 252 and flew to the Spanish military base at Reus, south of Barcelona. From there General Franco supplied a Spanish military plane to fly Hitler to Fuerteventura on the Canary islands.
The next day, Hitler and Braun allegedly boarded a U-boat, at which point their doubles in Berlin were executed. They landed on the Argentine coast, south of Mar Del Plata in Argentina where the local German community whisked them and their bullion away. He eventually died on February 13, 1962 at 3pm. This was all planned by Martin Bormann who also ended up in Argentina, rather than being killed in Berlin as history says.
So in order to set the record straight I produced my own version of the evidence. Firstly the photo evidence .... I have quickly knocked up a birthday shot for Adolf if he had lived to be 65. Fairly convincing if I say so myself.
 |
| Birthday Boy - Adolf At 65 |
Whereas the TV show produced this one .....
 |
| Adolf in South America .... Not Convincing? |
... I can't say it looked like an older Adolf Hitler to me!
Of course others have tried to guess at Fuhrer disguises .... such as the The US Secret Service in 1944, which tried to guess a possible Hitler disguise.
 |
| The US Secret Service In 1944 Tried To Guess A Hitler Disguise |
Then there was this one from a UK newspaper I think ..... from which I have removed the moustache (too obvious a giveaway), to make it more realistic of a disguised Hitler.
 |
| How Hitler May Have Looked Before Alleged Death In 1962 |
Then there was the additional claim that Adolf and Eva Braun had two little girls in South America. Now apart from the fact that according to popular legend Adolf only had one ball (apparently confirmed in the original Soviet autopsy), there's also the simple fact that by 1945 Hitler was a drug addled man, who may also have had Parkinson's disease, and who had lost all his libido by the end. This, despite the fact that he had been getting bulls ball extracts (seminal vesicles) injected by his quack physician Theodor Morell. Eva Braun and these two girls have never been traced, nor come forward, despite claims by the crackpots that the girls still live in Argentina.
Another basis for the Hitler survived claims, was that Stalin always said Hitler had escaped, while Eisenhower post-war said there was no evidence of his death, and all the contemporary reporting from the BBC, Time, and all of the major international news agencies all said that the Soviets did not find a body. Of course the Soviets did in fact secretly find two body remains, which they later disposed of by scattering the freshly cremated ashes in an unknown river.
 |
| Not Hitlers Skull ... Not Eva Braun's |
The skull sample the Soviets took as being Hitlers, proved to be of a woman aged between 20 and 40 years of age, but as Ms Braun never shot herself in the head, its not believed to be her skull either.
 |
| The Canberra Times Feb 9,1949 |
Peter Baumgart who many have claimed had flown Hitler to Denmark on his way to South America, was actually just the last in a line of several men who made that claim in the post war years. Strangely these claims all ignored the fact that Hans Baur, who was Hitlers personal friend, pilot and leader of the Reichsregierung squadron (later renamed the Fliegerstaffel des Führers -FdF), had offered to fly Hitler out in a modified JU290 from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten, near the Brandenburg gate. When Hitler refused, Baur then stayed in the Berlin bunker complex until Hitler killed himself on the afternoon of 30 April 1945, before making his escape attempt and getting captured by the Soviets.
 |
| Bunker Burial Site - Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-V04744 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 |
So where's the proof positive that Hitler died in the bunker?
Well apart from the original body remains found in 1945, the Soviets also found the skull fragment (which turned out to be of an unknown woman), and a lower jaw fragment and dental bridgework in the second search ordered by Stalin in 1946 - both of which they recovered from the same petrol pit site area as the first 1945 search. All the recovered remains were stored in a SMERSH centre in Magdeburg, East Germany. There they remained until 1970, when the KGB cremated the body remains, and secretly scattered the ashes in a river.
 |
| The Soviets Kept The Jawbone And Bridgework From The Bunker Graves |
However they kept the skull and jaw fragments with the bridgework, and this surviving dental work was originally shown to the captured assistant of Hitler's dentist, who confirmed it as Hitlers.
All of these parts were also made available to a German forensic scientist in the early 1990's .… and he was able to compare it with preserved medical cranial x-rays of Hitler (his original dental x-rays went missing at the end of the war), and the bridgework and jawbone held by the Soviets matched the cranial x-rays exactly. The cranial x-rays, which included his dental work, were taken in 1944 after Hitler complained of migraines following the July 20th bomb attack.
So if Hitler escaped, he did so without his jaw .... so claims that Hitler did not commit suicide, and in fact escaped from Berlin to South America, represent nothing but gratuitous sensationalist TV.
Post Script: Even as recently June 2017 stories circulated that 128 year old Adolf Hitler had been found alive in Argentina and people believed it. Talk about Fake News!
Update: In May 2018 it was reported that French scientists analysed those teeth and skull fragments that the Russians had taken from the bunker firepit, and that had been confirmed as Hitlers, and they also concluded that they were genuine, and the person had died by bullet and also cyanide poisoning.
The researchers published their findings in the European Journal of Internal Medicine and lead study author professor Philippe Charlier told AFP: "The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt. Our study proves that Hitler died in 1945. 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."
A Creationist would say that we should teach all points of view, especially the least probable version!
ReplyDeleteWith 12 hour air time to fill I guess this stuff makes for good padding, although if I were the controller I'd have to take a long shower at the end of the day. There is some good stuff as well though like How it's Made on QUEST or Incredible Engineering Blunders.
Those are factual shows .... which Forbidden History claims to be as well. However it patently isn't.
DeleteThis is such simple-minded reasoning.. the author sees himself as serious and the alternate view (no doubt presented absurdly in a TV show like that) as ridiculous.. despite this meaning 1) relying on thin testimony of conflicted parties such as SS guards and the KGB 2) ignoring the enormous volume of reports from South America.
ReplyDeleteI'm undecided but the Bormann death (also held to as gospel here) is a fraud, I think he escaped, and such a fraud would be possible with Hitler too, dentistry fabrications included. Rubbish article.
Simple minded people regularly reported seeing Elvis alive, despite that fact that his family buried him. Reports don't make it true
DeleteUsing DNA analysis, German and Swiss scientists have established that a skeleton dug up in Berlin in 1972 is indeed Bormann's.
Its called logic and science .... your welcome .