Argentina

 

Special book-length issue of Police Gazette's "Hitler is Alive" series
January 1977

There hasn't been an investigative expose in the past twenty-five years that rocked the world more than the great series of 'Hitler Is Alive' articles published by the "Police Gazette" in 1951-54. The "Police Gazette" findings were reprinted throughout the world.

World leaders of that era, including Winston Churchill and President Truman read the "Police Gazette" 'Hitler Is Alive' series with avid interest.

In the spring of 1952, U . S . Senator Thomas C. Hennings Jr. of Missouri, asked Dwight D. Eisenhower whether the revelations about Hitler's disappearance published in the "Police Gazette" were valid. General Eisenhower replied: "I cannot disprove any of the facts in the "Police Gazette" articles. We have been unable to unearth one bit of tangible evidence of Hitler's death ... many people are of the opinion that Hitler escaped from Berlin".

Twenty-five years have passed since the "Police Gazette" 'Hitler Is Alive' series was published. Hitler who was born in Branau, Austria, 20 April 1889, would now be 87. It is interesting to note that Admiral Karl Dönitz, who Hitler appointed as his successor, recently celebrated his 85th birthday. And Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer, and Albert Speer, Hitler's munitions minister, are still alive.

As Russian troops were closing in on Berlin in April 1945, the Führer and his aides masterminded an escape plot that thwarted their capture by the Allied powers. Here are the full details of how some of the top Nazis managed to disappear. It is an episode of World War II that still excites the imagination of today's generation.

Before getting into the Hitler disappearance, let us provide you with some background information which we hope will give you a word-portrait of how the Hitler mystery began.

The world first heard Hitler was dead when Grand Admiral Dönitz announced over the Hamburg radio on 1 May 1945 that the Führer had died a "hero's death," leading his troops in defense of Berlin, and that Hitler had appointed him as his successor as Reichs President and commander-in-chief of all Nazi military forces. It was now in Dönitz' power to negotiate Germany's surrender with the Allies. This announcement surprised the Allied world. The British Foreign Office did not believe Dönitz' account of the Führer's death. They knew that Hitler did not die a "hero's death".  

When the Reds entered Berlin, and assumed command they set up a special guard around the Chancellery and assigned an unit of experts to search through the ruins of the building, and took into custody many of Hitler's servants and minor officials who were with the Führer in the Bunker.

The first new information came from the Russians on 4 May 1945 when they announced the capture of Hans Fritzsche, Göbbels' Deputy, who reported the suicide of  Göbbels and his family.  Fritzsche also declared that he had heard rumors that Hitler had committed suicide, and that his body was set on fire 30 April 1945. 

It wasn't until Erich Kempka, Hitler's chauffeur, in Berchtesgaden on 20 June 1945, made a statement for American interrogator George R. Allen, the Counter Intelligence agent of the 101st Airborne Division, that the first "eye-witness" account of any of the events connected with the death of the Führer, was obtained. Many newspapers throughout the world published Kempka's statements as an authoritative report, thereby deceiving the public into assuming his account was official. The truth is, Kempka's statements were subsequently discredited.

Kempka declared that on 30 April—although he felt unable to say that this was the date "with complete sureness"—at precisely 2:40 pm, SS Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche called him at the Reich Chancellery garage, asking him to bring five cans of petrol over to the Bunker. When he arrived at the Bunker he saw Bormann carrying the body of awoman whom he believed to be Eva Braun. Bormann gave the body to Kempka to deliver to Günsche who took it into the Chancellery garden. Kempka also testified that he saw Linge and some other S.S. officers carry the corpse of a man, the upper half of whose body was wrapped in a gray blanket. Kempka simply assumed that the corpse he had seen Linge carrying was Hitler's, for he noticed "the long black trousers and the black shoes which the Führer usually wore with his field-gray uniform jacket". 

The two bodies were placed in a ditch, drenched with gasoline, and set on fire. The mourners, who included Bormann, Burgdorf, Göbbels, Linge and Günsche, then returned to the Bunker. Kempka had no definite knowledge that the dead man was Adolf Hitler. The body Kempka thought was Hitler's definitely was not that of the Führer.

On 4 July, Kempka made a second statement in which he stated that he was now certain that Hitler had been cremated on 30 April 1945.

The Russians dug up a number of bodies in the Chancellery garden, all wearing clothes with the Führer's name sewed in the lining. The important fact, conceded by every Allied Intelligence officer, is that Adolf Hitler's body was never found - only corpses dressed in Hitler's clothes.

After many weeks of thorough investigation, Soviet Marshall Gregory Zhukov flatly announced in Berlin:

"We have found no corpse that could be Hitler's. Hitler had good opportunities of getting away He could have taken off at the very last moment for there was an airfield at his disposal".

Colonel General Nikolai E. Berzarin, the Soviet Berlin Commander, declared:

"My personal opinion is that Hitler disappeared into Europe".

Berzarin was the Russian official who revealed that several bodies with Hitler's name sewed in the clothes were found in the Reichchancellery, but not one was that of the Führer.

 

EXCLUSIVE SCOOP!
HITLER IS ALIVE!

Officially Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun, were reported to have taken their departure from life in a double suicide pact.  The bodies, placed in a ditch filled with gasoline, were supposedly burned in the courtyard of the Reichschancellery.

In this Special Collector's Edition the "Police Gazette" reprints the original sensational findings of an investigation made throughout Europe and South America by competent investigators in 1951-1954 into the strange mystery of Adolf Hitler's alleged death. This world-wide investigation unearthed amazing revelations.

This world-wide investigation unearthed amazing revelations to displace this theory. Former heads of the Wehrmacht, who are spread all over the world, and certain Nazis, still being sought, were interviewed. The extensive inquiry reached into the far corners of the world.

So sensational and world-shaking are the results of this probe that the "Police Gazette" felt obligated to present all the data to its readers in a series of exclusive articles:.

When news of the probe reached Lieutenant Heinz Schäffer, former commander of the German Submarine U-977, he came voluntarily from Argentina, where he now lives, to the Paris office of the investigators.  He was the commander who surrendered to Argentine authorities at Mar del Plata on 17 August 1945, after having spent three and a half months on a mysterious sea voyage.

The German naval officer denied spiriting Hitler away, but could not or would not explain his long and mysterious submarine voyage at war's end.  Nor would he disclose the unexplained luxury condition of one U-Boat.

Lieutenant Commander Schäffer made the following statement which, incidentally, in no way invalidates the findings which will be presented in these articles.

"It has been claimed that I carried Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun and Martin Bormann aboard my submarine. That is untrue. Also, I was subjected to lengthy interrogations on this point by the American and British authorities. Finally, the latter accepted my explanations and freed me and my crew.  

"The truth is that I went to Mar del Plata, like the U-530 which preceded us, in order to escape internment.

"At the time I received command of the U-977, in April 1945, the Russians were approaching Berlin and the Americans already had occupied most of the French ports. My superiors ordered me to Norway. I arrived there the day Admiral Dönitz took over as head of the German Reich.  On 2 May we received orders to surface, hoist the white flag, return to our bases and wait there for the Allies.

"I told my crew that we had two possibilities:

(1) to scuttle our submarine in the Channel, make for the English coast in our lifeboats and surrender;

(2) make for a country which had remained friendly to Germany.

"Since I had friends in Argentina, I suggested that country which was approved by the crew.  Sixteen of the men who were married preferred to return. I put them ashore on the Norwegian coast and then turned the bow of my vessel towards South America".

We asked Commander Schäffer at this point: "Did you have sufficient provisions for such a long voyage?"

He said, "Yes, only a few days earlier we had taken aboard cases of canned foods at a depot in Denmark". 

A lucky coincidence, indeed.

Heinz Schäffer then went on:

"I knew that the ocean was patrolled by American planes.  For that reason I decided to travel submersed. Our boat was equipped with Schnorchel which enabled us to travel under the surface by using our Diesels.

"We could have lightened our boat by shedding our torpedos.  However, I held on to them. I was afraid we might be charged with having sunk ships after the armistice.

"We traveled submersed for sixty-six days. Sixty-six days of superhuman suffering.

"My crew of 31 sailors took turns in falling sick.

"By the time we had left the danger zone they had been reduced to human debris.

"We surfaced in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands.

"From there on the voyage was pleasant and on 17 August we entered the Port of Mar del Plata".

Nobody maintains that Hitler was aboard the U-977. Our staff investigator also established that fact. However, as we shall see very soon, the U-977 as well as the U-530 were stated to play different roles than that of transport vessels.

The statement of Commander Heinz Schäffer fails to shed light on several points on which we vainly tried to get satisfactory explanations.

For instance, is it plausible for a captain to condemn his crew to two months of superhuman suffering merely to escape captivity?

On the other hand, the U-977 left Norway 2 May and arrived around 8 July in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands. Why did the vessel take two and a half months to reach Argentina? We stress these baffling details, because in the course of the series of articles which starts in this issue, the staff of investigators will present a proper explanation. 

Surrender by the U-530

"Hello," an excited voice came over the phone.  "This is the 'United Press'. A German submarine has just surrendered to Argentine Naval authorities in the port of Mar del Plata".

This conversation took place 10 July 1945. The capitulation of the Reich already was history and the three Great Powers were making last-minute preparations for their meeting at Potsdam. Thus it was no wonder that this unexpected news created a sensation not only in Buenos Aires, but also in London and Washington.

Subsequent stories confirmed that first piece of news and around noontime an official communique of the Navy Ministry announced the vessel in question was the German submarine U-530.

The commander's papers identified him as Captain Otto Wermuth. He was the last to leave his boat. On shore he handed over a small valise containing the flag of the submarine as well as the ship's papers. His youth created general attention. It was later learned that he was only 25 years of age. His second in command, Captain Karl Felix Schuller, was still younger, only 22. Both officers and enlisted men seemed unusually young, some of them mere children.

The crew of the U-530 appeared tired, but not undernourished. The first officials who came aboard established that the boat's entire complement of 54 men still had a rather large store of food, despite their long voyage. In turn, a surprisingly small amount of fuel was found on board the submarine. Incidentally, at the moment of surrender the vessel was partially disarmed. It lacked the forward [bow] cannon as well as two large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. These it was supposed, had been dumped overboard when the captain had decided to surrender.   On the other hand, the hull of the submarine was partially denuded of paint and generally covered with dirt, sure signs of an extended voyage on the high seas.

No important Nazi bigwig arrived on the U-530, the Buenos Aires evening papers announced in large headlines, thus furnishing a clear answer to the question asked by all. Meanwhile, another question raised was whether the U-530 was responsible for the sinking of the Brazilian cruiser 'Bahia', whose survivors arrived that same morning at the port of Recife.   On the other hand, rumors were heard everywhere to the effect that some of the Nazi Chieftains had landed on the coast of Patagonia. These landings, it was alleged, had been made by means of rubber boats in the region of Necochea. 

Four and a Half Months at Sea

The next day, the mystery was cleared up by a second communique issued by the Navy Ministry which stated as follows:

(1) Investigations established that the German submarine which surrendered to the authorities of the Mar del Plata base was not responsible for the sinking of the Brazilian cruiser 'Bahia'.

(2) No German political or military leaders were on board the aforementioned submarine.

(3) Prior to having surrendered to the authorities, the submarine did not disembark anybody along the Argentine coast.

(4) All persons who did come ashore were members of the crew of the submarine, in accordance with the official register submitted.

At Mar del Plata the arrival of the German submarine created unusual excitement.

Following inspection visits by the Naval Attachés of Great Britain and the United States, it was learned that in accordance with information furnished by the Captain the U-530 had left Germany on 19 February 1945 and sailed northward to Norway.  From there it left on 13 March in the direction of the North Atlantic. When the surrender order issued by Admiral Dönitz became known on board, Captain Wermuth decided to continue his voyage to the coast of Argentina and surrender at Mar del Plata.

These statements, together with additional information concerning the person of Captain Wermuth and his career as submarine commander were soon published by the papers. Yet, there was the fact that the U-530 had traveled on the high seas for almost four and a half months.

This fact, in itself, could not fail to attract considerable attention. The modern German submarines like the U-530 which had been constructed in 1942 were equipped with completely new devices which enabled them to cruise for months on end far away from their bases. 

They were Schnorchel-equipped, the Schnorchel being a respiratory device which made it possible for the submarine to stay submersed and travel under water for 70 consecutive days. Thus, it was not the fact of the prolonged voyage on the high-seas which attracted so much attention, but the question which logically followed, namely:

What had been the activities of the U-530 during those four and a half months, from the day it had left its base to the day of its surrender at Mar del Plata?

This question was asked not only at Buenos Aires but also in London. There the news of the submarine's surrender created consternation at the Admiralty, whose spokesman had only recently stated that the seas of the globe could again be traversed in absolute safety. When no official communique was forthcoming in the British capital, a naval commentator did not hesitate to speak of "an ocean mystery which is open to numerous conjectures". One month before it had been assumed that the last German submarine had been accounted for.   Then, on 3 June, one of these vessels was disarmed by its crew off the northern coast of Portugal.

The news of the surrender of the U-530 created in London the effect of a bombshell and promptly provoked lively disputes in naval circles, where the presence of a German submarine in Argentine waters was explained by one of two theories:

(1) Under orders of its fanatical commander, the submarine had continued to carry on the war on its own account as long as possible, without heeding the orders issued by Dönitz.

(2) The submarine had been selected for the secret transport of a high Nazi personage to Argentina with the hope of finding refuge there.

Soon it became evident that both theories were ill founded. Few facts were known concerning the political convictions of Commander Wermuth. However, inspections of the technical installations on board the vessel showed beyond doubt that the U-530 not only had not sunk the 'Bahia', but had in fact not engaged in any warlike action during the last phase of its voyage, that is, at least not since the day when the capitulation order had been issued.

With regard to the second theory, the official Argentine statement was absolutely clear: it was based on the result of inquiries carried out in the most conscientious manner. Yet, one question remained unanswered: What had the U-530 been doing during its long voyage and why had it come to Argentina to surrender? 

There seemed to be no satisfactory answer to this question nor to several others that cropped up in that connection. The crew of the submarine underwent repeated questioning, with no result. Their statements agreed perfectly with the documents produced and with the stories of their officers.  Their replies were perfectly co-ordinated, as if they had been carefully rehearsed or, and there is always that possibility, as if they actually embodied the truth.

Nevertheless, three days after the arrival of the U-530 at Mar del Plata only a handful of people believed in the declarations of Captain Wermuth and his crew.   For in these uniform recitals there were several obscure points which yet required explanation.   Without going into any lengthy investigation, there was the obvious fact that the submarine could not possibly have undertaken the long and dangerous voyage from Norway to Mar del Plata for no other reason than to arrive on the hospitable shores of Argentina, to quote the Captain of the vessel. 

The Mystery Cigarettes

Certain details continued to arouse the public interest. The U-530 was of limited tonnage. Its normal complement could not have exceeded 27 men. Since the second year of the war, German submarines of the U-530 type used to carry no more than 18 and sometimes only 16 men, in view of the lack of manpower which permanently beset the Reich submarine arm. Why, then, did the U-530 at the time of its surrender carry three times the complement of the war years?

Why did Captain Wermuth's vessel carry 54 men aboard?   Why was the majority of the crew so surprisingly young?

Experts who inspected the vessel were able to establish that the supplies on board were rather ample even for such a large crew. They also found that the ship carried only an insignificant number of torpedoes and other munitions. In all probability, the war materiel had been reduced in quantity so as to gain space for such a large crew as well as for the necessary food supplies.

Another mystery which balked satisfactory clarification: one compartment of the submarine yielded a rather large quantity of cigarettes. The naval inspectors were surprised to find such a large stock of cigarettes on board the U-530.   And without doubt they raised eyebrows when Captain Wermuth told them that on his arrival he still had 10 cartons of cigarettes per man aboard. As a result, there were found 540 cartons of cigarettes on board and maybe more.

Imagine the surprise of naval technicians in view of the fact that no smoking is permitted in the interior of a submarine. 

As a rule, submarine crews don't smoke and the Germans are no exception to that. And this abstinence became quite evident during the internment of the U-530 crew near Mar del Plata at a summer camp, which happened to be vacant: they didn't smoke, even though they had disembarked. 

All these facts indicated that the U-530 was truly an unusual submarine.  It carried a large complement, plenty of food supplies, a large store of cigarettes and little war materiel.  It had not conformed to the capitulation orders and it had undertaken such a long and perilous voyage for the sole purpose of surrendering to the Argentine port authorities.

Truly, this story smelled phony.   On the other hand, the truth failed to be unearthed. Officers and men of the U-530 continued to repeat their initial statements with the precision of a phonograph record and without any contradictions. Yet, the naval authorities dared not be satisfied with these well-tailored stories.

And so, on the morning of 13 July, the Argentine flag was hoisted on the conning tower of the German submarine and Argentine war vessels and planes left the Mar del Plata base to search the coastal waters for other German naval unit.

A Phony Captain?

That search yielded no positive results. Investigations were also undertaken throughout the Necochea region where several persons insisted they had observed the landing of a rubber lifeboat several days prior to the surrender of the submarine. A new crop of rumors sprang up but soon subsided. Yet some people persisted that Captain Wermuth was not the real captain of the submarine.

The most persistent rumors concerned alleged landings of Nazi bigwigs on the coast of Patagonia.  True, in view of the enormous length of the Argentine coastline, the U-530 could have carried out shore landings by means of rubber lifeboats. However, the results of the investigations did not support such theories by a single shred of evidence. During the period which has elapsed since, all conjectures of this sort have been thoroughly demolished. It is safe to state that beyond any reasonable doubt, no person was put ashore along the Argentine coast by the U-530.

If such conjectures had proved well founded, it would have undoubtedly caused new investigations and certainly would have resulted in official steps on the part of the United States and Great Britain with the Argentine Government.

On 14 July 1945 a naval commentator declared: "The truth concerning the U-530 will be found only in the German naval archives". He is probably right.

It is not known whether the Allies succeeded in getting hold of the pertinent Reich Naval records and whether those records explained the nature of the last mission of the submarine seized at Mar del Plata. News dispatches announced that the American and British Governments would hold consultations on the case of the U-530 on the basis of reports from their respective naval attaches at Buenos Aires.

But a few weeks later it was learned that the submarine which had surrendered at Mar del Plata actually was not the real U-530 at all.  

Several days later, on 19 July 1945 Admiral Eberhardt God, Commander in Chief of Submarine Operations issued this statement at Kiel, Germany:

"The U-530 did not leave Germany on 19 February 1945.  As a matter of fact, the boat was still at Kiel on 3 March. On that date it left Kiel for Norway".

This statement by Admiral Godt later confirmed by Helmuth Heye, former Commander of the German Battle Cruiser 'Admiral Hipper' and ex-Chief of Small Combat units, which included mini-submarines, combat divers, etc., squarely contradicted the stories told by Capt. Otto Wermuth, Commandant of the U-530, to the Argentine authorities. 
 
Did Wermuth Lie?

Wermuth's tale was contradicted even more strongly by another German naval officer, Capt. Kurt Langer who until the middle of 1944 had been in command of the U-530.

In an interview with newspapermen, Langer stated that the U-530 actually leaked water at the seams and could no longer be considered seaworthy.

In fact, he went on, the U-530 was an unlucky submarine:

"Its stern had been smashed by an American tanker on Christmas Day of 1943 when I was attacked on the eastern shore of the Panama Canal. It was a sheer miracle that I managed to get back to my base".

"It seems unbelievable to me that such an old and worn ship could have made the trip to the Argentine Coast.

"If Hitler and Eva Braun escaped from Germany aboard a submarine," he concluded, "they hardly could have made this voyage aboard the U-530".

But the U-530 which surrendered at Mar del Plata, was not at all an old and worn ship which leaked water through its seams. As a matter of fact, it was a recently designed, completely new boat and in excellent condition to have made the long journey across the Atlantic. Thus, all evidence points to the fact that the U-530 which surrendered at Mar del Plata was not the same submarine of which Captain Langer spoke. In other words, the ship at Mar del Plata was a different unit, though of the same class as the original U-530. Somewhere along the line, a switch had been made and a new ship had been substituted for the old U-530.

What reason was there for this switch?

Obviously, it was to confound any subsequent investigations.   What actually seemed to have happened was this: while the real U-530, that "old and worn ship", was being overhauled at Kiel for departure scheduled on 3 March, its double had left Germany as early as 19 February to carry out the mission entrusted to it.  It is entirely feasible that this switch was carried out in a secrecy which tricked even Admiral Godt and Captain Heye, especially since the secret orders heretofore seem to have come from the Supreme Army Command of the Reichwehr.

Thus, all German naval officers quoted previously may have spoken the truth.   Commandant Wermuth may have been sincerely convinced that his boat was the real U-530. And Captain Langer and Admirals Godt and Captain Heye also may have been entirely sincere when they asserted that the real U-530 was on 19 February still at Kiel.

Did the Allies ever succeed in proving a switch? This is a moot question, since no statement on this subject was ever published.

Nevertheless, the British Admiralty must have entertained suspicions as to the real state of affairs.  On 18 July 1945 its spokesman told the press in London that "no official calculation has been undertaken as to the number of remaining German submarines".  At about the same time a London naval commentator freely admitted "With respect to the German submarine problem even the Admiral's secret Intelligence branch despite the information available, is unable to express itself with absolute certainty".

Strange Events 

With the U-530 and its crew interned at Mar del Plata, the Argentine Naval Authorities decided on 17 July 1945 to place that sub at the disposal of the United States and Great Britain. That same day, news was received in Buenos Aires of strange observations made by inhabitants of the village of San Clements del Toyo, situated to the north of Mar del Plata.

These villagers claimed to have seem the shape of another German submarine silhouetted against the horizon far out at sea. A few of the observers even claimed to have spotted two subs and that one of them appeared to have run aground not far from the shore.

Upon receipt of this news the Argentine Navy Ministry dispatched several airplane squadrons and various ships to the scene.  But despite intensive searching no submarines were spotted. As a matter of fact, weather conditions in the warmth of a thick fog hampered the search considerably which rendered the job of the combined naval and air units so difficult that it was soon broken off. Yet, an extensive area was covered.

Also, numerous beach patrols were organized immediately along the coast in order to prevent any landing attempts. Simultaneously, Argentina's Federal Police launched several investigations among the country's German colonies.

The net results were zero.

No submarines were sighted and no landings were discovered along the coast.

A week later, on 24 July, the US Government at Washington announced it had dispatched army planes to Mar del Plata in order to bring the crew of the U-530 to the US The same communique added that the U-530 would be towed to an American port.

The news was bound to create a sensation. Though the war had ended three months earlier, the US seemed in great haste to intern within its borders the crew of the U-530. This contrasted with the leisurely manner in which the crew of the 'Admiral Graft Spee' had been carried off at the height of the war.

Suffice it to say that no official statements were ever issued concerning the interrogations of the crew of the U-530 by the US authorities. Rumors had it that both officers and men were subjected an intensive questioning.   But the results still remain to be aired. 

Appearance of the U-977

A little over a month after the surrender of the U-530, on 17 August 1945 the Argentine Naval Ministry issued to the press two communiques.

"Today, at 9:20 a.m., the first communique, from a German submarine, seemingly of the type of the U-530, surrendered to Argentine Naval units on patrol off Mar del Plata. The aforementioned submarine entered Mar del Plata at 11:15 towed by the Dredge M10 and escorted by a submarine of the country's Navy. Thereupon the crew was taken ashore. At present, a security watch is being stationed on board".

The second communique added:

"The German submarine now lying at anchor in the port of Mar del Plata is the U-977 of 600 tons. Its crew is made up of 32 men, including four officers. The boat was commanded by Lt. Commander Heinz Schäffer who at present is aboard the 'S.S. Belgrano'.

During the next 48 hours it was revealed that the U-977 had been spotted approximately eight miles east of the port of Mar del Plata. It was sighted by Argentine Naval Units on patrol in this area as well as by a local fishing boat.   The 'S.S. Commodore Py' and other vessels approached the sub and ascertained that it was German. Thereupon the sub's commander indicated his readiness to surrender. The ship was then escorted to the base where officers and enlisted men were immediately interned and subjected to preliminary questioning".

Important contrasts were observed between the new arrival and the U-530 which had surrendered over a month earlier.

The U-977, seemingly of the latest design and equipped with the latest type of navigating and other instruments, was not disarmed. It even possessed equipment in the form of a chemical substances which, when released into the water, would stay submerged and there create subsurface bubbles so as to lend the impression that the submarine had sunk.

Concerning the itinerary of the U-977 as recorded in the ship's log book, the Argentine Naval Ministry on the eve of 18 August issued the following communique:

"Documents found aboard the German U-boat U-977 seem to indicate that the ship left Kiel on 13 April, made Oslo and left there on 22 April, then touched Christiansund and left there on 2 May. On the Norwegian Coast it disembarked 16 men, all noncommissioned officers, who were married and had families in Germany. Next the ship traversed the blockaded zone of the Atlantic by slipping through the Faroe Islands and Iceland. From there it traveled a southerly course, passed to the west of the Charies and in between the Cape Verde Islands. Thereafter it surfaced, passed near the cliffs of San Pablo, then followed the Brazilian coast, but out of sight from the latter and at an average distance of 180 miles, and made for Mar del Plata".

From the above communique it would appear that the U-977 had been on the high seas for more than three and a half months, without engaging in any belligerent act, just like the U-530.

Now Commandant Schäffer of the U-977 stated that he had no personal acquaintance of Capt. Otto Wermuth of the U-530 and his officers.

But he did admit that he knew about the surrender of the U-530 to the Argentine naval authorities at Mar del Plata. This news had been received by the radio on board the U-977.

Now arises this question:

Why did Captain Schäffer and the U-977 wait five additional weeks before following the example of the U-530 in surrendering at Mar del Plata?

The rest of the story of the U-977 is comparatively uneventful. The crew was taken to Garcia Island and from there transferred by planes to the US As in the case of the U-530, the results of their interrogations were never published.

An Unknown Mission

Despite the official silence cloaked around these two mysterious Nazi subs, the following conclusions are self-evident:

(1) After leaving Germany, both the U-530 as well as the U-977 touched Norwegian ports, then set their course for the South Atlantic, both traveling almost identical routes.

(2) Both boats were on the high seas for approximately three and a half months, without their officers being able to account satisfactorily for their activities during that period.

(3) Both commandants failed to comply with the surrender orders issued by Admiral Dönitz. Nevertheless, they did not engage in any acts of war.

(4) No satisfactory explanations were given by either sub for their motives to surrender. Although Capt. Schäffer of the U-977 had received the news of the surrender of the U-530, he elected to remain at sea for another 5 weeks prior to surrendering HIS ship.

(5) Despite the U-977 being fully armed, both submarines apparently had been used for transport instead of combat. This is also borne out by their rather full complements and by the surprisingly large food stores on board.

(6) In both submarines, officers as well as enlisted men were young and had no families.

(7) The ship headed by Commandant Wermuth obviously was not the original U-530, as seen from the statements of Admiral Godt and Capt. Langer.

(8) Actually, and we again stress the point, not only the U-530 and the U-977 were prowling the Atlantic after Dönitz' surrender orders. There was a third sub or, chronologically speaking, a first one.

As early as 4 June, 1945 it had been announced by the British Admiralty that a German submarine had appeared that day off Leixoes, Portugal.   The crew, numbering 47, disarmed and scuttled their ship and then surrendered to the Portuguese authorities. Its commander stated that the ship had followed a course which later on was traveled by the U-530 and U-977, but had decided upon surrender to the Portuguese authorities because its hull and engines were badly in need of repairs.

The above seems to indicate that at the time of Germany's collapse, a number of subs had left German ports, their identity either real or faked, in order to touch first Norwegian ports of call and then to embark for the South Atlantic on missions of mystery.

Nevertheless, the mystery of these Nazi subs prowling the Atlantic even after the end of the War is bound up with the greatest mystery of all time: the survival and hiding place of Adolf Hitler, in whose death neither the highest diplomat in America nor England nor Russia believes.

As a matter of fact, the strange story of these German subs which surrendered in Argentina and Portugal starts in the underground fortresses of the Nazi Chancellery.

In the Bunker of Adolf Hitler whose criminal hand seven years earlier had set the torch of war to the world, there was hatched one of the supreme hoaxes of all times.

'I shall die defending Berlin," boasted Adolf.   But the FANTASTIC EVIDENCE proves that HE LIVED!

Hitler Arranges his Fake "Death" and Cremation

On 30 April 1945 the battle for Berlin entered its last stage. The entire city was in flames and the ground trembled under salvos of 15,000 cannon with which Soviet General Zhukov had ringed Hitler's Capital. Illuminated by flickering flames, combat continued throughout the night with a ferocity seldom witnessed. At dawn the Russian flag was fluttering over the hollow, ruined shell that remained of what once had been the Reichstag, Germany's Capital.

Where was Hitler? He was said to be directing the defense of Berlin from his underground shelter below the Nazi Chancellory. But the Allies doubted this.

Nevertheless, in the early morning hours of 30 April, the "London Daily Mail" blared forth in giant headlines:

"Hitler Dying; War May Be Over Today"

This prediction was based on a piece of news received by Wilson Broadbent, diplomatic editor of the paper, who quoted a high Whitehall official as having told him: "Hitler is dying and may already be dead".  The official had added that in his opinion the European war had come to an end. "The Times", generally considered the most reserved newspaper in the world, ran the following news item: "Hitler is on the brink of death as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage". The paper added that this news was based on information supposedly released by Himmler.

A Piece of Clever Staging

During the afternoon of 1 May 1945 the Hamburg Radio Station suddenly interrupted its program and began transmission of solemn Wagnerian music.   After the funereal strains of "Twilight of the Gods", the announcer stated:

"Attention: In a few seconds we are going to broadcast a grave, but important message addressed to the German people.   But first, the Seventh Symphony by Bruckner".

The Bruckner piece concluded, the announcer resumed:

"German men and women: Our Führer Adolf Hitler died this afternoon at his post of command in the Chancellory of the Reich, fighting to his last breath against Bolshevism".

 

The evidence of the eyewitness, Hermann Karnau, is interesting because he is the only eyewitness to the alleged cremation of Adolf and Eva Hitler who fell into the hands of the British whose story has ever reached the public. 

Karnau escaped from Berlin, but by mid-May he had made his way to his British-occupied hometown, Wilhelmshaven, where he surrendered to Canadian troops. After being interrogated by British intelligence officer Captain K. W. E. Leslie, Karnau related his version of the events he had witnessed to an audience of reporters which included Walter Kerr from "Reuters" and Daniel De Luce of the "Associated Press".

Leslie told the reporters:

"I am sure that Karnau's report about Hitler's death is authentic. I have interrogated many German prisoners of war and I would call this man a reliable witness." 

Karnau claimed that the cremation had taken place at 6.30 pm on 1 May. Karnau's account of the events of 1 May is sufficiently detailed that it cannot be said that he was mistaken about either the date or the time at which the cremation occurred. Karnau had seen Adolf Hitler alive and sitting in his favourite wicker chair when he went for breakfast on the morning of 1 May. During that morning, he recalled, four men arrived carrying gasoline cans "for the air conditioning system". Karnau said that as he knew the Bunker's air conditioning system used Diesel oil, he denied them entrance. He only allowed them in after Linge intervened. 

Karnau, who last saw Hitler alive at around 4.00 pm, believed that Hitler was subsequently poisoned by one of his personal physicians, Dr Ludwig Stumpfegger, and cremated at around 6.30 pm that same day. It should not be concluded that Karnau was wrong about a cremation having taken place on 1 May.

On 7 May, Dr Helmut Kunz, who had worked in the Reich Chancellery dental surgery from 23 April 1945 onwards, was interrogated by the Soviets. The evidence he gave on this occasion can not be lightly dismissed because it was the first account ever given by a Bunker survivor—meaning that it is the least influenced by accounts given by others. It is also the most reliable, in the sense that the events it discusses had taken place only a week before. Dr Kunz explicitly affirmed seeing Eva Hitler alive on at least two occasions on the evening of 30 April. Dr Kunz told his Russian interrogators that he had seen Eva playing with the Göbbels children on that evening and that a little later, between 10.00 and 11.00 pm, he, Professor Werner Haase and two of Hitler's secretaries had joined her for coffee. On the latter occasion, Eva told Dr Kunz that Hitler was not yet dead but he "would die when he received confirmation that [his] will had reached the person it had been sent to".

Dr Haase's interrogation record, as well as those of several other Bunker survivors, affirms that Dr Kunz was in the Bunker in the period in which these events took place. Unfortunately, the record of Dr Haase's interrogation published in "Hitler's Death: Russia's Last Great Secret from the Files of the KGB" contains no information pertaining to either Adolf or Eva Hitler.

It is very hard to imagine that Dr Kunz could have been confused about the date, that in such circumstances he could have mistaken Eva Hitler for someone else or that Eva did not actually know whether Hitler was yet dead or not. Moreover, since Hitler's will never reached its intended recipient[s], it is entirely plausible that Hitler would not have decided to die until the last possible moment, which is consistent with a time of 6.30 pm on 1 May.

"Thereupon, the women lined up outside Hitler's private apartment. Soon someone announced the coming of the Führer and on the scene appeared Dr. Stumpfegger in his white surgeon's blouse.  With him was a person who seemed semi-paralyzed. That person rigidly shook the hands of every woman and finally withdrew into the Führer's private apartment. Not a word was spoken during the entire scene. Although it had been said that Hitler wanted to say goodbye, the person did not speak a single word. When some of the women addressed him, he didn't answer".

This person could have been one of Hitler's doubles who had been transmitted into a semi-paralytic state by one of Dr. Stumpfegger's silk-cord operations.

The women as a whole thought it was Hitler. One remarked, "I am sure it was the Führer. But he had changed. Maybe he had been injected with drugs. His eyes were glassy and seemed unable to focus. His spirit was different. But it was the Führer all right".

The Russians expressed the opinion that everything had been set in motion for a gigantic plot to facilitate Hitler's flight.

"We know that Hitler had doubles," one of Marshall Zhukov's aides stated. "Several of them were killed at Berlin. Also, I want to make it clear that I am certain we have not found the corpse of Hitler".

Commandant Deodor Pletonov, the Russian officer in command of the Berlin sector which took in the Chancellory, himself was at the head of the first Soviet troops who penetrated into the building. At the entrance they came across a charred body which was supposed to be Hitler's. Pletonov said, "The body was not that of Hitler's. It was one of his doubles".

From a study of the foregoing, we know that:

(1) Two bodies were cremated in the Reich Chancellory in the late afternoon of 1 May.

(2) Nobody at any time got a closeup of the corpses supposed to be those of Hitler and Eva. Both were draped in flags.

(3) The man in the company of Stumpfegger on the morning of 1 May was semi-paralyzed, and his movements were limited to shaking the hands of about a dozen women. These women said that the person was Hitler, although "he appeared changed and his eyes were glassy".

(4) The women were summoned to say goodbye and to testify later that they had seen Hitler a few hours prior to his "suicide," thus serving as alibi witnesses for Hitler.

There is no doubt that this miserable double who appeared as semi-paralytic and who was unconscious and deprived of his willpower, was later eliminated by means of a pistol shot, then wrapped in a flag and cremated in the company of a body supposedly that of Eva Braun.

In the meantime, where was the real Hitler?  Undoubtedly, he was already a long way from the Chancellory, the same building which General Jodl on 22 April  had nick-named a "mouse-trap".

Hitler could have escaped by plane from the Gatow Airport, located 13 kilometers from the center of Berlin, as late as 27 April, when the airport was taken by the Russians.

Or Hitler and Eva could have escaped even later. They could have taken off directly outside the gates of the Chancellory where the Charlottenburg Highway could have served admirably as runway.

In fact, although the Charlottenburg Highway was under the fire of Russian artillery, Hitler could have taken off from there as late as 30 April. A plane piloted by the Nazi Aviatrix Hanna Reitsch and carrying as passenger General Ritter von Greim took off from the highway as late as the early hours of 30 April.

On 9 June 1945 Marshal Zhukov announced that Hitler and Eva Braun had been married shortly before the fall of Berlin. Several days later, a Stockholm dispatch stated that Eva Braun had two children, a son and a daughter, both of whom had been born during her long affair with Hitler.

Hitler reportedly became a father for the first time during the night of 1 January 1938.  Eva Braun bore him a son in a maternity pavilion at San Remo, Italy.  During the preceding month she had not been seen, as usual, driving through Berlin in her car.

Several hours after the birth, it was announced to Japanese journalists in Berlin in a short, unofficial statement by General Bansai, Japanese military attaché.  Very soon afterwards, the Japanese Ambassador summoned the correspondents to his office and said the statement had been without any factual basis.  Also, he asked them to give their word of honor not to speak about the matter and especially not to breathe a word about it to their colleagues of the foreign press in Berlin.

But the Berlin correspondent of "Nichi Nichi", leading Japanese daily, decided not to keep silent.  At least, he felt not bound to silence if the news was inaccurate.   And so he decided to go to Munich where Eva Braun's father lived and where also the informant of the Japanese military attaché resided.

In the course of a long talk with Eva's father, the latter said, "There is no doubt that the Führer intends to marry my daughter. That she has borne him a son or is about to do so is of little importance.  The important thing is that Hitler shall not die without a successor".

The correspondent returned to Berlin and called on his Ambassador.  He told him of the result of his trip in the hope that the diplomat would relieve him of the oath of silence. On the contrary, the Ambassador enjoined him not to reveal a single word on the matter.

Another correspondent states that on the eve of 1 January 1939, an official of the Reich Chancellery was arrested for having stated at a party, "Today, the son of the Führer celebrates his first birthday. Let us drink to his health".

But where are Hitler's children?  After the fall of Berlin a former attaché of the Swedish legation who had remained in close contact with Hitler's headquarters during the siege of the Reich Capital, revealed that Hitler's children were living with Eva Braun's parents in Bavaria. He added:

"It is believed that when Hitler left Berlin on 8 or 9 April, he did so not only in order to take Eva Braun out of Berlin but also to say goodbye to his children whom he wanted to be in a safer place. He spent 3 days in Bavaria at a time when his presence in Berlin was more than necessary".

What really happened to the children were determined by French Intelligence. A few days before Hitler vanished from Berlin, the children were flown to a naval base in Norway which the Nazis occupied.

Hitler Left Children, says a Doctor
The Canberra Times
Tuesday, 4 May 1965

HAMBURG: A close friend of the doctor of Eva Braun -the woman Adolf Hitler married hours before their dual suicide- has stated that Hitler had two children by her and at least one of them was living in Austria.

Hitler and Braun committed suicide 20 years ago on Friday. Dr Hans-Dictrich Röhrs, a friend and associate of Miss Braun's gynecologist, Professor Scholten, said In a book published before the 20th anniversary of Hitler's death, that Hitler's children escaped from Germany and the son was still living in Austria. He said that Prof. Scholten had spent two long periods at Hitler's hideout in the Bavarian Alps to assist Eva Braun to give birth to a daughter in 1941 and to a son in 1943. The whereabouts of the daughter is not known.

A former official photographer, Hugo Jäger, has supported the fact that Hitler has a son in Austria: "It is reported that he attended the funeral at Berchtesgaden of Hitler's sister Paula some years ago".

 

Hitler Vanishes

In his Political "Last Will and Testament" Hitler had bragged: "I was never beaten - I was betrayed". And now he was thirsting for revenge. He was planning his comeback and the resumption of his work; just as he had done during the bleak days of 1923 when the failure of his ill fated "Putsch" had forced him to start all over again, using new methods and plans. In 1923 Hitler also had fled. But six months later he was captured, due to having taken insufficient precautions and was committed to the relative comfort of Landsberg jail.

Had Hitler this time made preparations, better preparations, for fleeing before the victorious Allies from whom he couldn't expect mercy? The answer is: Yes. There is proof of that, both circumstantial and concrete.

But first of all, there are the telling words uttered by Admiral Karl Dönitz in 1943: "The German submarine fleet is proud of having built for the Führer in another part of the world a Shangri-La on land, an impregnable fortress". Strangely enough, Dönitz's words were soon forgotten in the torrent of subsequent events. No mention was made of that utterance in the press commenting on Dönitz' succession to Hitler as Reichs Führer on 1 May 1945. Only from time to time the matter cropped up, like sudden flashes in the dark. Thus when the Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling faced his judges he cried in a desperate plea for his life: "I believed I fought for a just cause and I refused to run away from my responsibilities when the Nazis, shortly before their final collapse, offered to convoy me aboard a submarine to a safe refuge".

But there is no doubt that the submarine was the only means by which Hitler could have been able to flee the European Continent. The airplane was no longer a safe means of flight, in view of the superiority of the Allied air arm and also in view of the vast, invisible radar net which enmeshed the sky over Germany. In contrast, the submarine did not only enjoy an infinitely larger radius of action, but also, practically enjoyed immunity if it refrained from warfare action. From the second year of the war on, a fairly large number of German submarines had operated in the vast reaches of the Pacific and in some cases had been away from their bases for over a year. They were capable of descending to a depth of more than 200 meters and could cruise in a submerged state for weeks without coming to the surface, according to information given out by the British Admiralty. It is silly to believe that Admiral Dönitz couldhave been unaware of such organized flight plans. A task of such nature involved a certain number of submarine units and could never have been accomplished without authorization of the supreme Commander of the Nazi submarine arm.

Dönitz most certainly was fully aware of Hitler's plans to escape. Witness his ominous words spoken towards the end of 1943 and cited above. Actually Dönitz was far from being a "simple sailor at heart and good-natured", as he had been pictured by friendly sources. On the contrary, he was one of the most formidable figures in the galaxy of the crumbling Third Reich. Implacable, fanatic, experienced and possessed with unbelievable energy, he was more Nazi than any of the other high officers of the Nazi war fleet. Furthermore, Dönitz enjoyed the fullest confidence of the Führer and was at any time able to come and go as he saw fit at Hitler's office. According to British commentators, Dönitz was one of the "mystery men" of the Nazi Hierarchy.

There were sufficient grounds for such theories. During the first World War, Dönitz was one of the most clever submarine commanders of the German War Fleet which then was commanded by Admiral Tirpitz. Nevertheless, during a brave, but careless attack against Allied shipping, Dönitz' vessel was torpedoed and sunk. He was taken prisoner on 14 October 1917 and sent to a prisoners' camp near Manchester where he began to fake symptoms of incurable madness. Six months later he was returned to Germany with a group of disabled prisoners. Hardly had Dönitz touched the German soil when his "madness" vanished.

It is strange that so little attention has been paid to the fact that at the crucial moment when the very existence of Nazi Germany seemed in the balance, the helm of the Third Reich was entrusted to a naval person, instead of to an army man, an aviator or to a politician-diplomat. The surrender talks were initiated not by Keitel of the Army or von Ribbentrop of the Foreign Office, but by Admiral Dönitz of the Fleet. Why? Because it was necessary that in the critical days of Hitler's flight, Dönitz should be in command of the overall situation.

According to Hitler's carefully drawn and long-prepared escape plans, the submarine convoy which was to transport Hitler and his entourage southward, was to meet at "some point along the Norwegian coast". Here the embarkation of the Führer and his aides was to occur some time between 22 April and 2 May, 1945. The above is not simply based on conjectures, but on indisputable facts. The submarine which surrendered at Leixoes, Portugal, on 4 June 1945 as well as the U-530 and the U-977 both of which surrendered at Mar del Plata, Argentina, came from Norway; all three had left Norwegian ports prior to undertaking their mystery trip to the South Atlantic.

Then there is the testimony of the documents found on board the U-977 and corroborated by its Capt. Schäffer and his officers and men. The U-977 had weighed anchor in the German port of Kiel on 13 April 1945 and went to Oslo. It left Oslo Fjord on the 22nd of that same month and went to the Norwegian base of Christiansund where it remained until 2 May, when the sub got underway again, beginning its southward journey. All three subs, the one which gave up at Leixoes, the U-530 and the U-977, belonged to that "Phantom Convoy" whose task it was to convoy the Führer southward to an already prepared refuge, the existence of which had been hinted at by Dönitz towards the end of 1943. Neither Captain Wermuth nor Schäffer could reveal anything concerning the nature of their mission, since they did not know a thing about it. They did not know whom they followed or escorted nor where they were bound for. They had received from their superiors, sealed orders to the effect that they were to follow a predetermined route towards the South Atlantic, always traveling submerged. They, as well as the other units of the convoy, had been expressly forbidden to use their radio, even for intercommunication, so as not to reveal their whereabouts. They were to follow the submarine flagship as closely as possible, guided only by their whereabouts. They were to follow the submarine flagship as closely as possible, guided only by their earphones. This then was the "Phantom Convoy" which traveled southward, mute, blind, unseen and unheard, led only by the one vessel which knew its plan and purpose and final destination.

After the U-Boats U-530 and U-977 surrender to neutral Argentina, the U.S. sent a commission of high-ranking officers to investigate the acquiescence of the submarines.

Both Captains, Otto Wermuth and Heinz Schäffer, were held in custody and questioned about the whereabouts of Martin Bormann, the body of Hitler, as well as a possible location of the last bastions of Nazis somewhere in the Antarctic.

The commander of U-977, Captain Schäffer, was familiar with the Hartz Mountain complexes, the Type XXI U-Boats and had experience with patrolling the Antarctic.

Following the grilling by the U.S. commission, Schäffer was given over to the British for further interrogation.

This part of the story created additional rumors, that the U-977 first stopped off at a large cavern entrance in the Antarctic area of Neuschwabenland and dropped off crates and their entire payload.

It did not matter if one or several of them would be impelled by storms, or would suffer damage impairing their maneuverability and become separated from the convoy The risk of losing several of the units during the long trip had been foreseen. It did not matter as long as none of the officers knew anything about the true nature of the "Phantom Convoy" so that they could not reveal the plan. And this was what happened to the Leixoes surrendered sub as well as to the U-530 and the U-977. The first suffered serious engine trouble. The other two were most probably isolated from the main convoy by storms, since their engines and other sailing equipment were found to be in perfect order. It seems safe to calculate that this piece of bad luck occurred in 1945, probably in the South Atlantic, approximately 40 degrees southern latitude. Furthermore, the fact that the U-530 and the U-977 were separated from the rest of the "Phantom Convoy" explains clearly why these two subs roamed for so long in the South Atlantic before their commanders decided to turn towards Mar del Plata and surrender. They had been forbidden to use their radios. Yet, they continued to keep on their course in the vague hope that some units of the convoy would turn around and come searching for them.

The security measures prescribed for the commandants of the convoy were so stringent that they deprived the individual captains of any chance to make for a prearranged rendezvous point in case they should find themselves dispersed for unforeseen reasons. To act otherwise would have been imprudent: it would have meant taking unjustified risks which could have compromised the entire scheme. The convoy units had been ordered to refrain from any warlike actions. They were not to use their cannon and their torpedo tubes except when actually attacked and then only to protect the submarine flagship. However, no such contingency materialized. The convoy was not attacked and the two subs which surrendered at Mar del Plata arrived with their arms and munitions intact. That it was the "double" of the U-530 and not the authentic U-530 which surrendered at Mar del Plata confirms plainly that the convoy had been prepared with the greatest secrecy and that most of the Nazi Naval Chiefs did not suspect its existence.

It seems safe to assume that quite a number of subs which formed the convoy were doubles of Nazi subs which at that time were operating from various German bases.

This was an easy way to fool the victors as well as the leaders of the vanquished German Armies.

What was the final goal of the two German subs which surrendered at Mar del Plata? Where did the "phantom convoy" travel to? In what part of the globe was the "Shangri La" which had been constructed by the Nazi submarine fleet and which had inspired the aforementioned boasting on the part of Dönitz late in 1943? Although it might seem obvious, Hitler could not have escaped to Japan. At the time of the flight, relations between Berlin and Tokyo had been strained since the Japanese Warlords had refused categorically to attack Russia in order to save the hard-pressed Nazi armies. On the other hand, it is well known that the Führer himself cordially detested the Japanese and that he had not the slightest confidence in them. Also he could not have taken refuge in any neutral country: No Government, regardless of what its principles and politics might be, would have assumed the responsibility of granting refuge within its territory to Adolf Hitler. To grant asylum to "World Criminal No. 1" would have in itself constituted a grave affront and defiance of the Great Powers and might have brought about an armed conflict which could have resulted only in the final capture of Adolf Hitler. And if the Führer had entered secretly a neutral country or one of its colonies, even under a disguise, he would have ever been in danger of being spotted. No, the Führer did not devise such a hiding place from which to plan ultimate resumption of his power through preliminary underground activity. And this was not the kind of refuge Dönitz had hinted at in his notorious boast.

Actually, there was only one country, both remote and practically deserted, which could have been considered. The construction of a Shangri-La which at the same time was an impregnable fortress, took a considerable time. Furthermore, it had to be hidden, regardless of where it might have been. Thus there remains the possibility that Hitler's refuge might have been established on an island, located in some remote part of the world. A number of times there have been rumors that German submarines, in the course of their wartime roamings, had discovered some faraway island and that they had established there a refuge for the Führer. Such a theory is that and nothing else. But where did the Führer and his convoy go? In other words: Does there exist in a part of the globe a sufficiently uninhabited, large enough space where it would be practically impossible to find Hitler and his entourage? Is there a refuge which is simultaneously sufficiently remote and immense enough so that it would be practically impossible to carry on a search for him? Yes, that land exists, although it may seem improbable. And not only does this place exist, but the Germans and we shall prove this to be so. They began to fit it out suitable as early as 1940.....

 

In 1938, Antarctica was not politically stable due to international treaties, and the only way Germany could stake a claim over that territory would be actual occupation. Although, the Nazis did not want to provoke the Allies. Germany's actions in Austria and other countries had pushed the limits for friendly relationships between Germany and the Anglo-French Allies. As much as Hitler wanted lands in Antarctica, he was not prepared to go to war over them. The idea of a semi-civilian expedition in cooperation with Lufthansa came into being. Command of the expedition was given to Captain Alfred Ritscher, who had already led some expeditions to the North Pole and proved courageous and skillful in dangerous situations. The expedition's ship was the 'Schwabenland', a special freighter capable of carrying and launching aircraft. It had been in use since 1934 for trans-Atlantic mail delivery. The aircraft it carried was the famous Dornier Wal [Whale]. These aircraft were mounted on steam catapults on the deck of the ship, and could be started and refueled on board the vessel. The 'Schwabenland' was prepared for the expedition at the Hamburg shipyards, carrying a cost of 1 million Reichsmark, nearly a third of the total expedition budget. This alone speaks of the importance and urgency the Nazis placed to secure the Antarctic for Germany. Meanwhile, the crew was assembled and trained by the German Society of Polar Research. The society also invited Richard E. Byrd, the famous American Antarctic researcher, to join the expedition. Byrd arrived in Hamburg in mid November of 1938 and was given a tour of the expedition preparations, including meeting the crew. In the end, though, Byrd declined and returned to the US. The ploy by the Nazis worked as Allies never saw the expedition as a as a military venture.

The 'Schwabenland' left Hamburg on 17 December 1938, and headed to the Antarctic on a precisely planned route She reached the pack ice on 19 January 1939.  Wal flights took place over roughly 250,000 square mi. These were photographic missions, and they took more than 11,000 pictures of the area. Old Norwegian maps from 1931 were proven to be wrong and changed accordingly. Nearly one fifth of Antarctica was observed and charted this way. Valuable information was documented for the first time and the lands were simultaneously claimed to be German territory. To stress this claim to the other powers, the two Wal aircraft dropped several thousand small Nazi flags, as well as special metal poles with expedition's insignia and the Swastika.

The whole territory now got the name Neuschwabenland.  The expedition apparently discovered several ice free regions, small signs of vegetation, as well as warm water lakes and cave inlets.

One vast ice cave within the glacier was reportedly found to extend 30 miles to a large hot-water geothermal lake deep below.

The expedition's geologists said that this phenomenon was due to hot sources in the ground. In mid February of 1939, the 'Schwabenland' left the Antarctic. It took two months to get back to Hamburg, and Ritscher used this time to organize the results, maps and photos. Captain Ritscher was so surprised by the results of the flights that he immediately planned a second, fully civilian, expedition. These plans were, however, canceled with the onset of World War 2. The fact was, that there was never going to be a another civilian expedition. 

The military took over completely sending U-Boats to the area before and during the war. From military cargo manifests to captured and sunk submarines, many in the Antarctic area had payloads which included at times 50 to 60 men, and included machinery and construction materials.  Various scientific teams were moved in to the area, including hunters, trappers, collectors and zoologists, botanists, agriculturists, mycologists, parasitologists, marine biologists, ornithologists, and many others. Numerous divisions of the German government were involved in the top secret project.

This is where the mainstream historians leave off, however there is probably much more to this story.

It is alleged that deep underground construction teams came pouring into the renamed Neu-Schwabenland. They came on cargo ships, military transport ships, and submarines. The cargo ships coming from South Africa were protected by a host of killer-submarines and military ships. This might explain the intense Nazi war efforts in North and South Africa. Any ship that even came close to the shipping routes from South Africa to Antarctica were destroyed by German U-Boats to protect the secret. There are also claims that the last to go there were VIPs and Nazi SS Intelligence teams. At the end of WWII it is also claimed that Martin Borman, the body of Hitler and many others within the Reich were brought directly to the Antarctica or via Argentina. None of this is fully documented to the point of being conclusive but there exists much circumstantial evidence. 

The Antarctic expedition, unike the other expeditions the Reich was involved in, had all the earmarks of being more of a military movement which included a colonization. It was a well protected secret and part of a possible plan.

Base 211 is the alleged name for the underground complex and Nazi Redoubt.

According to the "Guinness Book of World Records", the largest unsolved Bank Heist recorded in history is that of the entire contents of the Reichs Bank at the end of WWII. The entire nations economy disappeared. It is  like somebody taking over the United States, then come into Fort Knox and all of the Gold is gone.>

If a group could remove an entire nations economy, it means they have a place and a plan for another day.....

In Berlin, on 2 May 1945, Major Feodor Novikov of the Red Army ordered the vaults of the Reichbank to be opened. Still in the vaults were 90 gold bars worth 1.3 million dollars and gold coins worth 2.1 million dollars. Also 400 million dollars worth of negotiable bonds. Major Novikov ordered the vaults locked and demanded the keys. Shortly afterwards the entire contents of the vault disappeared. The gold was never seen again, but the bonds keep turning up even today all over the world. Another six and a half tons of gold, recovered from Ribbentrop's castle "Schloss Fuschl" near Salzburg and turned over to the US Army on 15 June 1945, also disappeared and no records of it being received at the Frankfurt US Foreign Exchange Depository can be found. In 1945 it was worth over seven million dollars. Much of the gold recovered by the Americans was re-smelted and in the process all hallmarks, Nazi symbols and identification numbers, were erased.

When the Allies came upon the huge cement encased submarine pens where the latest Nazi submarines were housed as many as 200 of them were unaccounted for. Most of these had the latest Schorchel attachment which could allow for a transatlantic crossing undetected as there was no need to surface to re-supply air and recharge the batteries.

After the fall of Germany. when the Allies came upon all the technology found at Nordhausen, Peenemünde and Thüringen, covert plans went into action to procure the projects, the documentation and the people working on these various programs. Operations Sunrise, Lusty and Paperclip went into action to accomplish these goals. One of the biggest mysteries at the end of World War II is what happened to most of these people. They seemed to fall off the face of the earth. The highest man in charge of most "Black Operations" in Nazi Germany, Obergruppenführer Dr Ing. SS General Hans Kammler, was never found and not even searched for by Simon Wiesenthal the famous Jewish Nazi hunter,  and most of the scientists, engineers and technicians, estimated by various researchers to range anywhere from a couple of thousand to six thousands, just disappeared after the war never to be found. A small handful however were taken and in one way or another continued their work for the victorious Allies.

Towards the end of World War Two German engineers and scientists researched increasingly advanced [and occasionally outlandish] projects in a vain attempt to halt the inexorable advance of Allied forces. During this period prototypes were produced of combat and cargo carrying helicopters, advanced, Delta wing, high altitude, high performance jet fighters and bombers and ground-to-air missiles. Some projects still in their early stages as the war ended sounded more like science fiction and included directed energy weapons intended to destroy or disable enemy bombers.

However, as the situation in the Third Reich became more desperate, some of this research moved into esoteric and even occult areas. In particular the SS were involved in projects which are still shrouded in mystery. One of these projects was overseen by SS General Hans Kammler,  who became one of the most powerful men in Hitler’s Germany and one of the most wanted men in Europe.

The precise nature of the work he was involved in towards the end of the war has provoked intense speculation with suggestions ranging from the development of nuclear weapons to the design and manufacture of a flying saucer. Whatever it was that he was working on, Kammler disappeared in May 1945 and there were at least three contradictory and conflicting accounts of his death and his body was never found.

But it’s not just that disappearance, one of the most intriguing things about Hans Kammler is the way in which his name disappeared from the historical record. Kammler is almost unique amongst senior Nazis, and particularly those close to Himmler, because one will find him almost completely absent from the plethora of books and papers written about Nazi Germany which appeared after the war and he was barely mentioned during the Nurmberg Trails. Even now, many people who are familiar with the history of Nazi Germany remain unaware of Kammler.

Many Intelligence officers and other Nazi high officials also disappeared.

Even mainstream historians admit that the Nazis were meticulous in records keeping, yet at the end of the war, although records could account for citizens killed in bombings, troops taken prisoner or missing in action, taken to concentration camps, in spite of their efforts there remained almost 200,000 people from the general population that are still unaccounted for. 

Any one of these situations alone would be a curious mystery but when they are added all together, they demand the realization that a relocation and colonization had taken place. If not then what happen to all of the money and people?

The place where Hitler sought refuge comprises a surface of fantastic expanse -6,205,000 square miles- much more than the area of Europe. This land is the Antarctic, the Seventh Continent of the world. Its inhospitable regions are difficult to enter and are not inhabited by any other human beings. This, then, was the ingenious element of Hitler's plan of flight: instead of seeking an isle, here was an entire continent available as Hitler's Shangri-La. As unbelievable as this idea appears at first glance it was the result of calculation. The logic in the Nazis' train of deliberation readily foresaw that the Antarctic would serve as an ideal hiding place for the Dictator because it was far from the inhabited world, just as remote as another planet. Here the Führer could exist in absolute safety and here he could once again plan his revenge, his comeback at an hour when events would be favorable. The idea to create for Hitler an absolutely safe refuge was the decisive factor in the choice. For the Nazis foresaw that even if Hitler's presence in the Seventh Continent were known, a search for him would practically be impossible. How could the Allies search every nook and corner of this vast expanse, with its plains, valleys, mountains and glaciers covered with ice and snow? Thousands of polar explorers with suitable equipment would be required to explore even a trifling slice of this immense territory - and the Nazis did not intend to render Hitler's hideout visible from the air. 

At any rate, at this point, there are the following questions to be answered: (a) Was Hitler's group able to reach the Antarctic Continent? (b) Are there proofs or indications that he traveled in the direction of Antarctica? (c) Were the Führer and his aides able to live all these years in the inhospitable reaches of this Continent? (d) Did the Nazis undertake preparations for the construction of Hitler's refuge in Antarctica?

To answer these four questions satisfactorily would furnish an explanation not only of the mystery of Hitler's disappearance but also of his present whereabouts, of the final refuge where the man from the tiny town of Braunau, Austria, waits for the proper moment to make a comeback on the stage of world history.

Concerning the first question, it can be stated beyond the slightest doubt that Hitler and his group reached the Antarctic Continent without any difficulty. During the larger part of the trip, which was negotiated under water, the phantom convoy in this fashion could have avoided a blockade only if there was no blockade to be evaded. Once the convoy had arrived in the Antarctic zone, there was no fear of the presence of anybody who might have reported its presence. True, on certain points of the Antarctic Continent existed a U.S. base and a British mission. However, the Nazis knew the location of the latter and took pains to keep at a distance. The fact that the U-530 and the U-977 surrendered at Mar del Plata, Argentina, is stark proof that the Phantom Convoy went southward, in the direction of the Seventh Continent. In examining the itinerary covered by these two Nazi subs from their departure from Norway, the sole conclusion which can be arrived at is that the line traced thus far was broken at the latitude of Mar del Plata and that its extension would undoubtedly have led the rest of the convoy to the Antarctic. Where would the line have terminated?A simple glance at the map suffices to furnish a logical reply.

The history of the expeditions carried out in the 20th Century furnishes the most eloquent proof that a group of persons under certain conditions could exist in these regions throughout the entire year. The Byrd expeditions have demonstrated the miracle of technological progress as applied to survival in these remote corners of our globe. The members of these expeditions did not suffer any privations. Photographs of the members of these expeditions, showing them with bare upper bodies caressed by the Antarctic sun, show in irrefutable manner that a human being, if equipped with proper resources, can exist throughout the entire year in the vastness of the Antarctic Continent without any damage to his health and without the necessity of lowering his living standard. It is safe to assume that the Nazis did everything in the way of preparations so as to construct a comfortable refuge in this Seventh Continent. And there are proofs.

Even if we disregard Dönitz' assertions concerning that "paradise on land" and "impregnable fortress" which had been constructed for the Führer by the Nazi Navy there are additional facts of circumstantial evidence. Toward the end of the second expedition by Byrd, and after the Ellsworth expedition which explored a zone that was later on claimed by Australia, the Norwegians, the British and even the Japanese seized parts of the Seventh Continent. All this happened during the years preceding the Second World War. Then on 2 January 1938, it was announced at Moscow that preparations had been concluded for a South Polar expedition under Vodopyanov. But this venture never came off. On the other hand, a German mission appeared in the Antarctic Continent toward the end of 1938, without any previous announcement. It returned the following year. This expedition caused world-wide surprise.

"In carrying out this mission, I have merely executed the orders of Marshal Göring," declared Capt. Alfred Ritscher, after his return to Hamburg on board the 'Schwabenland' on 12 April 1939. According to this officer's statement, the purpose of the expedition had been to study the feasibility of whaling in these international waters, since the Reich was much in need of all sorts of fats. It so happens that the motor vessel 'Schwabenland' was not an ordinary ship. It was, rather, a floating island. It belonged to the Lufthansa, which had placed the vessel, with its complement of technicians and planes, at the disposal of the expedition. There were two planes on the 'Schwabenland', both amphibians weighing ten tons each. Among the flight personnel attached to the 'Schwabenland' were fliers who had experience in Arctic aerial reconnaissance. They now were able to collect photographic aerial surveys of large and previously unmapped stretches of Antarctica. For their specific mission these planes had been equipped with powerful Zeiss cameras. With typical German arrogance, Capt. Ritscher let the cat out of the bag when he made his statement concerning his aerial reconnaissance activities over the South Pole:

"For the first time German planes flew over the Antarctic Continent. Under extremely difficult conditions, they landed in the vicinity of the South Pole and there raised the German flag designating the sovereignly of the Reich. Every 25 kilometers our planes dropped pennants with the colors of the Reich and thus marked the boundaries of their flights. We covered an area of about 600,000 square kilometers. Of these, about 350,000 were accurately photographed, thus yielding a suitable map of the region".

In other words, Ritscher had started out to study whales and had ended by staking out for the Reich some 600,000 square kilometers. Ritscher added: "There rises a vast plateau at an altitude of about 12,000 feet which extends toward the South Pole. And within this territory mapped by our planes there rise mountain ranges up to a height of an additonal 9,000 feet".

Soon after this the curtain rose on the tragedy of the Second World War. The little Nazi pennants dropped in the icy wastes of the South Pole were generally forgotten. But the Nazis had not forgotten. During the first phases of the World War, their submarines prowled the North Atlantic, inflicting terrible damage on Allied shipping. Yet they refrained from any hostile acts throughout the South Atlantic, where commentators thought their bases were along the extreme southeastern coast of South America.

Martin Bormann Seen in Chile

Martin Bormann was spotted in Chile in 1948 by a former acquaintance of the Deputy and for several years a refugee in South America. This man together with a party of friends was riding horseback in the vicinity of an Indo settlement when they met three other riders. These riders were dressed in the gaucho fashion and wore large-brimmed hats shading their faces. Pulling his gun the former friend approached the man in the center who seemed strangely familiar to him. It was Martin Bormann. Bormann recognized him, then turned to his party and cried: "At the gallop". Thereupon the party cantered off at full speed toward the Argentine frontier. Several days later it was learned that Bormann was living in Chile under an assumed name.

A Nazi refugee in Chile who made inquiries concerning Bormann reported; "In strict confidence, Bormann has returned to Europe. He is hiding in Spain until his hour should come. The conflict with Russia is inevitable and then Martin Bormann's day will come, too. His friends here have spread the rumor that he had died in the course of his flight from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin!"

Several days later, "Paris-Presse" published the following story:

"Bayonne: The Police Bureau of Identification has photographed the complete set of paintings recently found near the frontier. The set will be forwarded shortly for exhibition in the National Museum. One of the canvases bears on its back the inscription: Martin Bormann, Reichleiter, Munich, and speaks for itself. There are rumors that Martin Bormann, allegedly a refugee staying in a secret hiding place in Spain, might have tried to retrieve some of his belongings and that the consignee in Madrid might well have been one of the members of the secret organization known as 'Free Germany' with headquarters in Madrid.

"Objects of art of this kind are now being smuggled constantly by elements operating in the Franco-Spanish border region. It may be supposed that some of the German ships which now are engaged in transporting lumber from the port of Bayonne, may have dropped some such cargo in the Bay of Ilbarritz where they could be fetched later on by some mysterious party".

Actually, the Nazi sub lairs were located much farther south, most probably on the very shores of the Antarctic Continent. These bases were destined to play a double role. When, toward the middle of 1940, Nazi subs suddenly ceased to operate, these bases changed into depots for accumulating the vast stores of material required for the subsequent setting up of Hitler's refuge. Clothes, food, fuel and every other conceivable item necessary for survival and for comfort were stored here. For the transportation of these stores, submarines were used exclusively. Undoubtedly, Dönitz' cryptic remark about the "paradise on land" referred to that phase of submarine operation.

Then, in August, 1940, Dr. Wilhelm Rohn, Director of the Reich Institute for Metals, launched an appeal to German technicians for construction of nonferrous metal which could be safely exposed to temperatures below 60^o_..

We know that iron, when subjected to temperatures of less than 60^o becomes extremely brittle because its inner structure is subjected to fundamental changes. But where did the Nazis have any use for nonferrous constructions designed to resist low temperatures? Previously, some observers suggested Spitzbergen. Actually, it was the South Polar region where, since the middle of 1940, the Nazis had started to amass planes, tractors, sledges, gliders and all sorts of machinery and materials. 

Some things do not change over the years. Weather forecast is still an important piece of information for every army. Due to the loss of ships and planes on missions that were supposed collected meteorological information, the German started to build land-based weather stations in the Arctic circle.

The German historian and Second World War specialist Franz Selinger, explained: "Getting the weather from so far north was a priority during the war because the air over Iceland is critical in determining the weather patterns over the North Atlantic. If you have people in Spitzbergen, then you know what is on the way".

One of the chosen places to build weather stations was on Svalbard, also known as Spitzbergen, which was actually never occupied by the German forces in the Second World War. The war about Svalbard was about access to weather forecasts.

Operation Zitronella, also known as Operation Sizilien [Sicily], was an eight-hour German raid on Spitzbergen on 8 September 1943.

During the Second World War, the Svalbard archipelago was the scene of a number of military operations.

In August 1941, British, Canadian, and Free Norwegian Forces landed on Spitzbergen during Operation Gauntlet. This was aimed to destroy the islands' rich coal mines together with associated equipment and stores, it was correctly assumed the Germans intended to use. No attempt was made to establish a garrison, and the civilian population was evacuated.

In April 1942, a Norwegian force landed at Barentsburg in Operation Fritham, intended to establish a permanent presence in the islands. The operation met considerable difficulties, but by the summer of 1943, the Norwegians were well established.

Meanwhile, Nazi Germany had set up a number of manned meteorological stations in the Arctic to improve weather forecasts vital for the warfare against Allied convoys from the UK to the USSR. One of the first manned stations, "Knospe", was established in late 1941 in the inner part of Krossfjorden in the main island, commanded by H.R. Knöspel, following the evacuation of the Norwegian and Russian civilians that September.

The Kriegsmarine decided to evacuate the "Knospe" weather station during the summer of 1942, since the ice-free season made it vulnerable to Allied attack. The submarine U-435, under Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Strelow, was ordered to recover the six-man detachment, which it did on 23 August 1942 without Allied interference.

In September 1943, the German Naval Command decided to destroy Allied weather facilities and refuelling bases in the islands. Several settlements and outposts on Spitzbergen were defended by a garrison of 152 men from the Norwegian Armed Forces in exile. The assigned task force included the battleships 'Tirpitz' and 'Scharnhorst', plus nine destroyers.  

During the bombardment, 'Tirpitz' fired 52 main-battery shells and 82 rounds from her 15 cm secondaries. This was the first and only time the ship fired her main battery at an enemy surface target.

On 8 September, the ships landed a battalion of German troops, supported by naval gunfire, who seized the installations at Barentsburg. The rest of the Norwegians fled into the Hinterland. After destroying the coal depots and other facilities, the German forces withdrew. Norwegian Captain Morten Bredsdorff and 30 others were sent to Oflag XXI-C in Schildberg in the German-annexed Reichsgau Wartheland, joining 1,089 Norwegian officers already interned there.

Under cover of the attack, the Luftwaffe installed a weather station on Hope Island. Isolated for months by Nazi Germany's surrender in May 1945, the airmen on Hope Island gave themselves up in September 1945 to the captain of a Norwegian fishing boat.

Despite its success, Operation Zitronella/Sizilien was only a qualified success. It brought no lasting benefit, since the Allies quickly returned to Spitzbergen and re-established the weather station. On 19 October 1943, the cruiser 'USS Tuscaloosa' arrived at Barentsburg with relief and reinforcements for the Norwegian garrison.

Samuel Eliot Morison dismisses Operation Zitronella as a political move on the part of the Kriegsmarine, aimed at showing Hitler that the German surface fleet had some value. Morison evaluates the effort as disproportionate to the results, suggesting that the same ends could have been achieved more simply:

"Dönitz decided to justify the existence of this surface navy and give it a little exercise by wiping out the Allied installations at Spitzbergen. [...] One destroyer could easily have done the job".

Here, then, was to rise the Führer's new Berchtesgaden. For the next four years, Nazi technicians and workers built here the Führer's Shangri-La. They scooped out an entire mountain and constructed a facsimile of the hollow mountain of Berchtesgaden, Hitler's ill-famed Eagle's Roost in the mountains of the South Bavarian Alps. The new refuge was practically impregnable and completely camouflaged. With the ingenuity of modern construction science, the Nazi engineers built a number of shelters completely protected against cold. Inside his magic mountain Hitler and his staff were able to grow their own vegetables and fruits in artificially-heated beds of black soil, also imported from the Reich. They could raise their own poultry and cattle. No doubt the Nazis had stored here thousands of tons of oil, naphtha, clothing, linen, medicines, canned foods, vitamin tablets, distillation apparatus, planes, tractors, arms, radio station equipment and all other things. In brief, everything so as to make it possible for Hitler and his aides to live here, if necessary, dozens of years.
 

Is Hitler Still Alive?
The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal [NSW] 
10 October 1947

This article was specially written for the "Flak," March 1947 edition, by a well-known journalist who recently toured Europe and South America for Australian newspapers.

There is a 50-50 chance that Hitler is still alive. That is no wild guess. It is not an irresponsible statement more fitting for sensation-loving readers of the American "yellow press" than thinking ex-servicemen. It is the authoritative opinion of the Intelligence Section of the US. Army, of many British investigators, and most definitely of the Russians, who are positively convinced that Hitler and his Deputy, Martin Bormann, are alive and working for the rebirth of Nazism.

U.S. Intelligence officers are working on a theory that Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, are hiding with Bormann in the Bavarian Alps, directing the resurgence of Nazi activities that is now troubling Allied occupation of Germany. Recently, the Allies issued a statement stressing the seriousness of these activities. This theory is based on the testimony of an S.S. prisoner of the U.S. Army, Captain Hans Wolff, found In the Dachau Concentration Camp In 1945.

Wolff has testified he saw Hitler and his wife leave Berlin by plane on 29 or 30 April, with Hans Baur as pilot.

During the last days of the war, Hans Baur was with Hitler in the Führerbunker. Baur had devised a plan to allow Hitler to escape from the Battle of Berlin; a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, a common German liaison airplane which required very short landing and take-off distances, was held on standby which could take off from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten, near the Brandenburg Gate. However, Hitler refused to leave Berlin. On 26 April 1945, the improvised landing strip was used by Hanna Reitsch to fly in Colonel-General Robert Ritter von Greim, appointed by Hitler as head of the Luftwaffe after Hermann Göring's dismissal. During the evening of 29/30 April, Reitsch flew von Greim out on the same road-strip and Hitler suggested to Baur that he evacuate himself and Martin Bormann the same way,  since Bormann had to get out of Berlin safely with some important papers that Hitler had placed in his care.

After Hitler's suicide, Baur found the improvised road-strip too pot-holed for use and overrun by the Soviet 3rd Shock Army .

Baur never made any attempt to fly Bormann to Dönitz, although the traditional history suggests the topic was discussed by Göbbels and Baur on 1 May, long after Bormann apparently was gone and a flight out of Berlin was no longer possible.

James P O'Donnell in his book "The Berlin Bunker" cited Albert Speer saying that Baur had serious plans to fly Hitler out on 23, 28 and 29 April 1945. He also quoted Baur himself saying "right up to the last day I could have flown the Führer anywhere in the world".

Hans Baur, in "Ich flog Mächtige der Welt, [K W Schütz Verlag, Preussisch-Oldendorf, 1973], wrote:

"Early on 30 April 1945 I was appointed Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant after von Below left the Reich Chancellery...I was summoned on several occasions to the Führerbunker...in his living room on the last occasion Hitler took both my hands and said, "Baur, I have to take my leave of you". In a state of great excitement I said to him, "You are not going to end it?" Hitler: "We have gone as far as we can. My generals have betrayed me and sold me out, my soldiers do not want to carry on and I cannot take any more!" I argued with Hitler that aircraft were available to fly him to Argentina, Japan or one of the Sheikdoms, where he could vanish.....Hitler then gave me his reasons why he wished to stay in Berlin and die there...."

This statement seems to suggest that a refueling network existed at that time enabling long-distance Luftwaffe aircraft to fly virtually wherever they wanted. Under the exigencies of Bormann's plan "Operation Feuerland" one suspects that the opportunity would have been taken to shift out more cargo abroad as soon as the Führer was beyond using the aircraft in question.

Aide Who Saw Hitler Die
The Canberra Times [ACT]
18 October 1955

S.S. General Hans Baur, Hitler's personal pilot, told reporters "I saw Hitler shoot himself".

Baur, one of the few surviving Hitler aides who remained with the Führer in the Bunker to the bitter end, on 30 April 1945, arrived in West Berlin on 7 October among a group of prisoners of war released by Russia.

Russia and Britain, on the other hand, believe that Hitler is in either Argentine or Spain, with Argentina the favourite. Investigators of these Allies don't base their opinion on wild-cat rumours or the gossip of newspaper writers. They are building up a wall of fact to back their beliefs. Unlike Britain and the U.S., Russia has never believed that it was either Hitler or Eva Braun found burned beyond recognition in the ruins of the Reichschancellery. Since the night in April, 1945, when Berlin fell, Soviet investigators have been unobtrusively searching the world for Hitler, and significantly concentrating on Argentina. Moscow will not comment officially, but makes no secret unofficially that Hitler will be found alive and very active, in South America.

In the face of facts being lined up, British opinion is lining up alongside the Soviet. Here are a few of the concrete facts — not rumours — that the Allies have added to their file on the probable hiding place of Hitler.

1. No satisfactory identification of the charred bodies found in the Reichschancellery has been possible. With the vast amount of information on Hitler from medical and dental experts, it should have been easy to identify even his badly-charred body.

2. Elaborate plans were prepared to evacuate Hitler from Berlin at the last minute, and there is no proof that they were not put into operation.

Hitler Planning Escape
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW)
17 November 1943 

LONDON - Hitler and other German leaders are reported to be planning to escape to Japan by U-Boat and continue the war from there in the event of a German collapse, states a Swedish correspondent quoting the Swiss newspaper "Die Tat".

3. Germany had prepared plans for a trans-Atlantic aeroplane, and there is testimony that a prototype was built by the Junkers company. It was not found by the Allies.

The Junkers Ju 390 was a German aircraft intended to be used as a heavy transport, maritime patrol aircraft, and long-range bomber, a long-range derivative of the Ju 290. It was one of the aircraft designs submitted for the abortive Amerika Bomber project, along with the Messerschmitt Me 264, the Focke-Wulf Ta 400, and by February 1943, the Heinkel He 277.

Two prototypes were created by attaching an extra pair of inner-wing segments onto the wings of basic Ju 90 and Ju 290 airframes, and adding new sections to lengthen the fuselages.

The first prototype, the V1, was modified from the Ju 90 V6 airframe from July 1940 to April 1941, then to the Luftwaffe from April 1941 to April 1942, then returned to Junkers and used for Ju 390 V1 construction . It made its maiden flight on 20 October 1943 and performed well, resulting in an order for 26 aircraft, to be designated Ju 390 A-1.

The second prototype, the V2, was longer than the V1 because it was constructed from a Ju 290 airframe.

The maritime reconnaissance and long-range bomber versions were to be designated the Ju 390 B and Ju 390 C, respectively.

The V1 was constructed and largely assembled at Junkers' plant at Dessau, Germany, and the first test flight took place on 20 October 1943. Its performance was satisfactory enough that the Air Ministry ordered 26 in addition to the two prototypes. None of these were actually built by the time that the project was cancelled [along with Ju 290 production] on 20 June 1944, and all work ceased in September 1944.

On 26 November 1943, the Ju 390 V1 – with many other new aircraft and prototypes – was shown to Adolf Hitler at Insterburg, East Prussia.

According to former Junkers test pilot Hans-Joachim Pancherz' logbook, the Ju 390 V1 was brought to Prague immediately after it had been displayed at Insterburg, and while there took part in a number of test flights, which continued until March 1944, including tests of inflight refueling.

The Ju 390 V1 was returned to Dessau in November 1944, where it was stripped of parts and finally destroyed in late April 1945 as the US Army approached.

Different sources present different accounts of the history of the Ju 390 V2.

Historians Karl Kössler and Günther Ott state that the Ju 390 V2 was completed during June 1944, with flight tests beginning at the end of September 1944.

Historians Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dressel state that the Ju 390 V2 was assembled in Bernburg and first flown in October 1943. This would place its construction and first flight at nearly the same time as that of the Ju 390 V1. They further said that it was configured for a maritime reconnaissance role. Its fuselage had been extended by 2.5 m [8.2 ft], and it was said to be equipped with FuG 200 Hohentwiel ASV [Air to Surface Vessel] radar and defensive armament consisting of five 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon. Historian Green claims different armament, specifically four 20 mm MG 151/20s and three 13 mm [.51 in] MG 131 machine guns.

Ju-390 project pilot Hauptmann Hans Pancherz claimed after the war that only one Ju-390 was ever flown. At a hearing before British authorities on 26 September 1945 Professor Heinrich Hertel, chief designer and technical director of Junkers Aircraft & Motor Works also asserted the Ju-390 V2 had never been completed.

German author Friedrich Georg claimed in his book that Test pilot Oberleutnant Joachim Eisermann recorded in his logbook that he flew the V2 prototype [RC+DA] on 9 February 1945 at Rechlin air base. The log is said to have recorded a handling flight lasting 50 minutes and composed of circuits around Rechlin, while a second 20-minute flight was used to ferry the prototype to Lärz.

A Ju 390 is claimed by some to have made a test flight from Germany to Cape Town in early 1944. The sole source for the story is a speculative article which appeared in the "Daily Telegraph" in 1969 titled 'Lone Bomber Raid on New York Planned by Hitler', in which Hans Pancherz reportedly claimed to have made the flight in question. Author James P. Duffy has carried out extensive research into this claim, which has proved fruitless. Authors Kössler and Ott make no mention of this claim either, despite having themselves interviewed Pancherz.

The first public mention of an alleged flight of a Ju 390 to North America appeared in a letter published in the November 1955 issue of the British magazine "RAF Flying Review", of which aviation writer William Green was an editor. The magazine's editors were skeptical of the claim, which asserted that two Ju 390s had made the flight, and that it included a one-hour stay over New York City.

In March 1956, the "Review" published a letter from an RAF officer which claimed to clarify the account. According to Green's reporting, in June 1944, Allied Intelligence had learned from prisoner interrogations that a Ju 390 had been delivered in January 1944 to FAGr 5 [Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5], based at Mont-de-Marsan near Bordeaux, and that it had completed a 32-hour reconnaissance flight to within 19 km [12 mi] of the U.S. coast, north of New York City.

This was rejected just after the war by British authorities. Aviation historian Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell states that the story of the flight originated in two British Intelligence reports from August 1944 which were based in part on the interrogation of prisoners, and titled "General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment"; the reports claimed that the Ju 390 had taken photographs of the coast of Long Island, but no photos or other evidence for the existence of such photos has ever been found.

Werrell later examined the available data regarding the Ju 390's range and concluded that although a great circle round trip from France to St. Johns, Newfoundland was possible, adding another 3,830 km [2,380 mi] for a round trip from St. Johns to Long Island made the flight "most unlikely".

Authors Karl Kössler and Günther Ott, in their book "Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, 90, 290, 390. Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie" [The Big Dessauers... History of an Aircraft Family], also examined the claimed flight, and debunked the flight north of New York. Assuming there was only one such aircraft in existence, Kössler and Ott note it was nowhere near France at the time when the flight was supposed to have taken place. According to Hans Pancherz' logbook, the Ju 390 V1 was brought to Prague on 26 November 1943. While there, it took part in test flights which continued until late March 1944.

They also assert that the Ju 390 V1 prototype was unlikely to have been capable of taking off with the fuel load necessary for a flight of such duration due to strength concerns over its modified structure; it would have required a takeoff weight of 72 tons, while the maximum takeoff weight during its trials had been 38 tons Another explanation for this is that prototypes are never flown at maximum gross weight for their maiden flight until testing can determine the aircraft's handling characteristics. According to Kössler and Ott, the Ju 390 V2 could not have made the US flight either, since they indicate that it was not completed before September/October 1944.

In his book, "The Bunker", author James P. O'Donnell mentions a flight to Japan. O'Donnell claimed that Albert Speer, in an early 1970s telephone interview, stated that there had been a secret Ju 390 flight to Japan "late in the war". The flight, by a Luftwaffe test pilot, had supposedly been nonstop via the polar route. O'Donnell is the sole source for the story. Speer never mentioned the story in any of his writings or other interviews. Kössler and Ott make no mention of the claim.
 

The Ju 390 and the Ju 290

The  Ju-390 is an exceptional long range aircraft flown by Nazi Germany in many special missions to New York, Cape Town, Buenos Aires and Tokyo.

It traces it's lineage through the Ju-90 airliner, but discussion of this aircraft in various historical forums, on Wikipedia and so forth is suppressed or censored.

Two prototype Ju-390 aircraft V1 & V2 were flown. Historians advise us  that a third prototype was built but scrapped in the factory: Indeed Junkers received payment from the Luftwaffe Quartermaster General on 29 June 1944 for 7 completed prototypes. Hearsay evidence by a US sports diver indicates the wreck of a fourth aircraft lies on the seabed near Owl's Head Maine USA. We would not even know a second prototype flew except that a British Merchant Marine sailor in the Mediterranean in 1943 snapped a photo of the aircraft wearing the Afrika identification waistband attacking his ship, commonly known by its Stammkenzeichen registration, RC+DA. Such was the long range capability of the Ju-390 that it quickly found a niche in special missions.

The existence of a second Ju-390 prototype is highly disputed and dismissed by many historians, however strands of evidence for its existence cannot be explained by conventional historians who simply shout down the facts, or dispute out of hand anything put to them.

The fate of this second prototype is shrouded in mystery and remains at the heart of many conspiracy theories. Long after World War 2, the secretive Argentine Government was compelled at congressional hearings to declassify some of it's wartime dealings with Nazi Germany. Out of this tumbled the fact that a large multi engined German aircraft flew to El Palomar airbase Buenos Aires on 2 May 1945 from Villa Cisneros [now known as Daklha] and unloaded a device simply called the Bell. [1]{2]

The so called Bell itself is another aspect of history shrouded in disinformation. It  was a spherical Tokamak style particle accelerator possibly used to transmute Thorium 232 into Uranium 233 for the Nazi Atomic weapons program. When Argentina created its own nuclear program in 1947, the first laboratory was established at an Argentine air base in Cordoba. This was targeted by a clandestine British bomb attack. This attack forced the nuclear project to relocate to remote Lake Nahuel Huapei, close to the Nazi expatriate town of Barriloche. The Bell device destroyed at Cordoba was the same device offloaded from the Ju 390 at El Palomar used by Dr Ronald Richter's laboratory. Information that the Bell was a particle accelerator comes in part from the 1956 job application by Dr Ronald Richter to work for the US Air Force. A job application which apparently was so sensitive that it remained classified by America's USAF & NSA until 1999.  

This flight to Argentina challenges historians who argue there was only ever one Ju 390 flying. The first Ju 390 aircraft was left derelict at Dassau airfield  in November 1944 whilst a second aircraft continued to be flown, mentioned, or sighted by several individuals during 1945.

Sightings of a Ju 390 in 1945 after the V1 prototype was scrapped pose a dilemma for historians who deny the existence of a second prototype. At least one Ju 390 kept flying after the V1 aircraft was retired from flying in October 1944 stripped of propellers and sat derelict at Dessau until destroyed by fire in January 1945.
 
Reluctantly Kessler and Ott the authors of a notable book about the Ju-290 family had to alter their previous denials to accommodate emerging new evidence for this other aircraft which they previously denied with new claims that V2 was not completed until September 1944, which is probably just as incorrect as their original flat denial. After Kessler and Ott seem to be making up their account as they go.

Classified Intelligence reports from Argentina which only came to light at an Argentine Congressional hearing in 1993, now suggest on 2 May 1945 a Ju-390 arrived at El Palomar airbase and then was flown to a jungle airstrip in Entre Rios province Argentina. [2] From there it is claimed the aircraft flew to a German owned ranch in Uruguay near Paysandu. [3][4] To cover the embarrassment of the aircraft's existence in Argentina as the Third Reich collapsed, it was broken up with parts dumped into the Rio Pirana.

How do we know this aircraft which arrived in Argentina on 2 May 1945 was a Ju 390 and not some other type?

The Berlin Document Centre has the interrogation report of SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Rudolf Schuster who witnessed the Bell device being loaded into a Ju 390 at Bystrzyca Klodzka airfield in April 1945 for an evacuation from Germany.

Sources:

Classified Intelligence report of Argentine Economic Ministry 1945 only declassified 1993
Abril Basti, author 2004 tourist guide "Nazi Barriloche"
[ 3 ] Report of sighting by the son of a Polish diplomat in 1945 only declassified in 1998 revealed by author Igor Witkowski
[ 4 ] Author/researcher of several books on Luftwaffe and German document translator Geoffrey Brooks

© Simon Gunson content may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without author’s permission

Ju-390 New York flight

The Evidence

A captured Photographic technician, Unteroffizer Wolf Baumgart, was interrogated by the US Ninth Air Force and his testimony was recorded by the A.P.W.I.U. Report 44/1945. In that report Baumgart is quoted claiming that a Ju-390 flew from Mont de Marsan, France,  to within 12 miles of New York city. He further stated that photographs were taken of the city's skyline. The same A.P.I.W.U report also references corroboration by a more senior Luftwaffe officer, who added that the Ju-390 had an in-flight endurance of 32 hours.

On 11 November 1955 when Green was editor of the "RAF Review" he referred to two British Intelligence reports dated from August  1945 entitled "General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment." This British Intelligence report drew from British and not  US sources. It also drew from various wartime Enigma decrypts which in 1955 were classified. in fact because the British Government re-sold captured Enigma machines to many African nations, it had to keep Enigma classified well after the war because it continued to provide Intelligence long into the Cold War era. Enigma was not declassified until 1996, so Green was unable to identify Enigma decrypts as a source for RAF Intelligence reports. The reports however became the basis of Green's claims for a flight to New York in 1944

What is known of William Green, is after quoting from the British Intelligence reports an unidentified former German serviceman began a lengthy correspondence with Green which later formed a basis for many of Green's claims about the New York flight in his book.

Capacity of the Ju-390 to perform such a flight

The fuel consumption of the Ju-390's BMW801D/E engines are well known and documented. From that and knowledge of the aircraft's fuel load it can easily be deduced what the range would be for a range of power settings and altitudes. At 232 knots the Ju-390 could theoretically fly 7,400 nautical miles. The aircraft had a very low ground footprint with an ACN of 7.5 enabling it to fly from dirt airstrips at gross weight. Merseberg where one of the Ju-390 aircraft made it's first flight had a dirt airstrip of less than 1,000 feet. The Ju-290A-7 'Alles Kaput' first landed at Merseberg to surrender to Watson's Whizzers.  

That such a flight could have taken place was quite logical. The Ju-390 was built entirely in response to a RLM request for an "Amerika" bomber capable of reaching New York and returning. In fact the Junkers Ju-290 had been developed from the Ju-90 in response to the EF-53 project in 1940 for a four engined airliner to reach New York from France.

The six engined EF-100 project was based upon the four engined EF-53 project. The EF-100 was a military project in response to an RLM request for a long range maritime patrol aircraft able to reach America and back. The EF-100 led directly to the Ju-390 design. That 1942 contest resulted in proposals for the Messerschmitt Me264; the troubled Heinkel He-177 and the unbuilt Focke Wulf Ta400. RLM eventually favoured the Ju-390.

Common Objections by Skeptics

Critics of the New York flight routinely make the same objections. One is that the Ju-390 lacked the fuel, or else had too high a fuel consumption to make a round trip. Fuel consumption is addressed on one of the other pages on this website. To recap however, about 53,000lb of fuel were required to provide take off power and then cruise at 12,000 feet for 32 hours endurance. This was sufficient to permit a return flight with a 10,000kg payload.

For it's maiden flight in August 1943 the Ju-390 was limited to a 38,000kg Maximum Take Off Weight [MTOW]. It subsequently emerged that the Junkers company simply set this as an arbitrary limit based on the earlier Ju-90 whose abilities were well known.  As test flights expanded the aircraft's performance envelope, the Ju-390 V1's MTOW was first certified at 75,500kg and later in May 1944 after shedding 5,000kg of equipment was recertified at 80,500kg.

Another common criticism is that the Ju-390's wings were too weak. Two aspects explain this problem. Firstly following July 1944's Bomb plot against Hitler, RLM was taken over by the SS. The SS were less interested in the Ju-390 than had been the Luftwaffe. The SS were more interested in developing the winged A-4b with a boosted take off for a mission similar to the Sänger-Bredt ['Silberrvogel'] sub-orbital bomber. The Ju-390 was considered redundant by the SS.

Author and co-author on various books about the Luftwaffe, in addition to being a research translator, Geoffrey Brooks informed in 2008 what the genesis of this claim was. The Ju-390 was capable of long range flight and the wings were strong enough for long range flights. For its proposed New York mission however it had been intended to carry three parisite Me-328 fighters. In September 1944 however, RLM announced that the Ju-390 wings were too weak for the Amerika Bomber mission. One photo survives of a Ju-90 model used for windtunnel testing of the parasite concept. Of interest the aircraft model pictured had tailfins peculiar to the Ju-90 V7 and V8 which helps identify the likely date when testing commenced.

Contemporary Comparisons

Authors Kessler and Ott claim the Ju 390 could not possibly have taken off at this maximum gross weight, but their argument does not gel with the facts. For its maiden flight the Ju 390 was limited to the maximum certified take off weight of the Ju-90 V6 from which it was converted. as with all aircraft which are up rated and re-certified trials are used to prove such things as stall speeds, never exceed speeds, minimum control speeds and various permissible weights. It proves nothing to claim that the maiden flight was limited to a known airframe.

A case in point is that the Boeing 737 has grown from a short range airliner barely capable of carrying a hundred passengers with the B737-100 series through various modifications to the B737-900 capable of flying 200 passengers twice the original distance. At each maiden flight of a new type the test was begun limited to the previous type's certified limits.

The Ju-290 had approximately 20% more horsepower for its gross weight than the American B-29 and it had wings with approximately 80% more wing area, yet nobody questions the B-29's ability to perform similar range missions.

If scaled up, the Ju-290 had more in common with the Convair B-36 Peacemaker. Depending on which variant the B-36 could take off in just 1,500 metres at full load. Later B-36 models could manage take off in under 1,400 metres. The point is not exactly which B-36 one compares the Ju-390 with. The point is that the B-36 proves size and weight themselves do not prevent a relatively short take off run.Wing loading and power to weight ratio determine take off roll. In that respect the Ju 390 was superior to the B-36.

The EF100 was in effect developed as the Ju-390. Predicted performance of the EF100 compiled by Junkers provided information about the Ju-390's performance which had not survived through Luftwaffe records. Most importantly, wind tunnel tests predicted the Ju-390's take off performance at Gross weight as 550 metres.
 
Anna Kreisling's claim by James Newsom

A correspondent to a discussion on the Aviastar website naming himself James Newsom confidently asserted in March 2007 that his neighbour Anna Kreisling co-piloted the Ju-390 from Norway to Ohio, then back out to sea past New York to France.

 Newsom also asserted in 2007 that six Ju-390 were built. This was similar to a claim privately asserted by an author and co-author of several WW2 books, who requests his name be witheld. That author asserted that he had sighted archival material suggesting Junkers was compensated by RLM on 29 June 1944 for construction of seven Ju-390 airframes which it is alleged were scrapped due to cancellation of the Ju-390 order on 20 June 1944 in advance of the Emergency Fighter Program on 2 July 1944.

 Shortly after posting his claim Newsom declined to answer further questions at Aviastar about Kreisling's identity.

Subsequently in 2010 the Aviastar website was bombarded with a variety of unlikely claims that the New York flight occurred on 28 August 1943. The Ju-390 had barely made its first flight by this date and likely had not completed its certification test flights by the end of August. Russian websites often cite the Ju-390's maiden flight in August 1943 made by Hans Werner Lerche at Bernberg.

If the Anna Kreisling mission did take place then the real Anna Kreisling should come forward and put the record straight rather than take this gem of history to the grave. Not one credible source has come forward, so the Kreisling claims are suspicious. If true then it would suggest more than one Ju390 flight to New York.

Were there 7 actually aircraft built?

Skeptics mockingly suggest one would need a time machine for the Ju-390 to be at two places at the same time. in reference to a Ju-390 being both at Mont de Marsan with FAGr.5 and at Prague in early 1944.

It could just be however that the simplest explanation is that indeed there was more than one Ju-390 aircraft flying.

Documents found in the Junkers factory, dated 6 October 1944, relating to Licensed construction manufacturing in Czechoslovakia clearly indicate other components which do not belong to the Ju 390 V-1. There is actually no proof that only one Ju-390 ever flew. The reason why [other than for RC+DA] we only have photos for the Ju-390 GH+UK is because that aircraft was displayed to Hitler at Insterburg on 26th November 1943. RC+DA was photographed by a British Merchant seaman in the Mediterranean

 Claims that only one Ju-390 flew arise from the postwar testimony of two key people. At a hearing before the British, on 26 September 1945, Professor Heinrich Hertel, chief designer and technical director for Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works, stated the second Ju 390 prototype was neither completed, nor had it been flown. The same thing was said by the aircraft's Chief Test Pilot Capt Hans Joachim Pancherz. That however may have just been splitting hairs. Following the first prototype, RLM recommended to Milch dispensing with further prototypes and commencing production for the Ju 390-A series. Technically Hertel and Pancherz may not have been lying when they said the second prototype was not built. The British simply did not ask the right question.   

 Kreisling maintained as many as 11 Junker 390 aircraft were built and flown. Historians still debate whether two aircraft were flown 

An interesting corroboration of that particular Kreisling claim comes from a respected book about the Luftwaffe Manfred Griehl: "Luftwaffe over America", [Greenhill Books 2005] which was researched by the author in German archival material. Griehl essentially says that Junkers was paid by Riech Luft Ministerum [RLM] for seven completed aircraft on 29 June 1944.

Quote:
"In October 1943 at the suggestion of Major Hoffmann [GL/C/E2] was acted upon to commence a series production of the Ju 390 without having prototypes beforehand. The first aircraft of the series would be used for the usual tests. Milch then ordered the Ju 390 [ into ] series production without prototypes after Rechlin said they had no objections. This machine was demonstrated to Göring on 5 November 1943, and trials continued at Prague-Rusin..."

Quote:
"...On 1 December 1943 the Luftwaffe QM-General listed the first series aircraft Ju 390 V2 for October 1944. This machine would be available at the end of October, three more in November, five in December and so on into March 1946. Ju 390 V2 was expected to be ready by the end of September 1944 and flight tested in November. A report dated March 1944 indicates that Dessau was to turn out 26 Ju 390, another report from May 1944 that Junkers had no less than 111 on the order book..."

Quote:
 "...Because of the general situation, all work on the production was stopped in June 1944. On 29 June 1944 KdE Rechlin made a surprise announcement condemning the aircraft as unsuitable for long-distance work because the wing loading would be too great for the intended payload [various other drawbacks were also recited]. Shortly before the termination of all work Junkers received contracts in June 1944 to build Ju 390 V-2 to V-7, but this might have been done for accounting purposes..."

The Kreisling's claim would however explain one issue, why coastal radar stations did not detect an approaching German aircraft. If the aircraft approached from inland then it would not have been noticed.

New Evidence for a third Ju-390

Interesting new evidence from wreckage of a Ju-390 in North America might corroborate the existence of another Ju-390.

Wreckage was reported of a large six motor aircraft with very dark green and black paint in the sea off Owls Head Lighthouse, Maine about  17-19 September, 1944. Three bodies were found in area on 28 September 1944 and taken by the U.S. Coast Guard to Rockland Maine Station. One of the witnesses states he saw one body in German Luftwaffe Signal Corps Uniform, [grey-blue with yellow/brown collar tabs], which suggests the rank of Hauptmann [Luftwaffe Captain].

The FBI, US Secret Service, Military Intelligence etc are all reported by locals at the time having told those who had witnessed the crash that it was first a submarine, and then later that they better forget what they saw, but the witnesses insist it was no submarine but rather an aeroplane. Local Mr. Ruben P. Whittemore claims to have relatives who eye-witnessed this event.

A diver recovered a badly worn constructor's plate from this aircraft. It read:

RMZ WERKE Nb 135 #? 34 [Allgemeine]
JUNKERSMOTORWERKE [Agts: Haan]
FWU WERKE Nb 135 #? 34 [Gbs: Fliegeroberstkommando Rdt.]

Nobody has ever bothered to investigate this sighting and the US Government went to great lengths to silence all reports of it. Was this aircraft a Ju-390 which fell prey to improved radar surveillance after Kreisling's flight in 1943? 

Even more disturbingly Germany was working on a nuclear weapon invented by the scientists Eric Schumann and Walter Trinks for Heereswaffenamt [HWA]. Transcripts of conversations between German nuclear scientists at Farm Hall Cambridgeshire in 1945 revealed that in early July 1944 USA threatened Hitler though Lisbon that USA would drop a nuclear weapon on Dresden unless Hitler sued for peace within 6 weeks.

Was this Ju-390 flight in September 1944 Hitler's reply to the Allied ultimatum? 

Was there in fact a forerunner to 9/11 in September 1944 and was the world's first nuclear weapons attack hushed up? 

Ju-390 flight to Japan

Flights to Japan commenced before Germany's invasion of Russia in July 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. Stalin had been keen in fact to join the Axis Pact prior to this but Japan objected citing the anti communist anti Comintern Pact. Stalin however had been allowing use of the trans Siberia railway for trade between Germany and Japan prior to Barbarossa.

Early flights had involved the giant Blohm und Voss Bv222 V1 aircraft operated by Deutsch Luft Hansa from Kirkenes, in occupied Norway and later from an unknown date these flights departed Nautsi Air Base in Finland. Horst Zöller, a Junkers historian who maintains the Junkers website spoke of at least one confirmed BV222 flight to Sakhalin. Deutsche Luft Hansa is known to have proposed a Bv222 mission to Japan as late as October 1943.

Another aircraft prior to Operation Barbarossa [Nazi invasion of Russia] which was capable of flights to Japan was the Messerschmitt Me261. Outwardly it looked like a much enlarged Bf-110 twin engined fighter. In detail however it was much larger had an entirely novel airframe able to accomodate its crew and between 7-8 passengers. Its role was as a long range courier aircraft for important passengers and documents. The Me-261's first flight was 23 December 1940. It proved it's range on various closed circuit trials over Europe, but it is uncertain whether it ever actually flew to the Far East.  

One aircraft which did make flights to Harbin, Manchuria [Manchukuo] was the Fw200K "Kurrier" operated by Kommando Rowhel for the Abwher intelligence agency. It flew from Northern Finland in civil disguise as "D-AWCG." This aircraft began its career as the Fw200B V4 prototype and was subsequently rebuilt with two extra fuel tanks as the Fw200K V10 prototype. Missions were flown by Ob.Lt Wolgang Nebel. Upon the liberation of Allied prisoners at Harbin by the OSS Flamingo team in 1945, POWs recounted sightings of the aircraft throughout WW2 at Harbin  

From 1941 to 1943 Germany ran a highly effective fleet of surface blockade running freighters. Ships with famous names like 'Orsorno, Pietro Orseolo, Tannenfels, Weserland, Burgenland, Alsterufer and Rio Grande' maintained an effective shuttle of supplies and personnel to and from Japan, but by 1943, assisted by Enigma interceptions, the Royal Navy began to sink these vessels. U-Boats taking up to three month voyages maintained some sort of connection during 1944, but for high priority items and passengers a reliable air link needed to be created.

On 30 June 1942, a successful flight from Saporoshje [near Rostov] to Ninghsia [modern Ningxia] proved a link could be viable. The flight used a Savoia Marchetti S.75 RT [RT = Rome -Tokyo] trimotor aircraft. Its route was north of the Caspian and Aral seas then through the Altai Range past Lake Balkhash to Ningxia. The aircraft's navigator Dr Publio Magini was of the opinion that had they not been required to land at Ninxia, with the fuel aboard they could have continued on to reach Tokyo.

At that time the region around Ninghsia was largely controlled by Warlords, or Communists who co-operated with the Japanese Expeditionary Army out of self interest because their fight was with Chiang Kai Shek's Nationalist Army. Out of self interest they practiced a live and let live policy with the Japanese.

Ju-290 Flights to Manchuria

The original authority on flights to Manchuria was British author and aviation historian William Green in his book "Warplanes of the Third Reich", first published 1968. The most significant source for this story was the interrogation of a Luftwaffe photographer attached to the long range reconnaissance unit FAGr.5 at Mont de Marsan. Unteroffizer Wolf Baumgart, as a prisoner of war, was interrogated in August 1944 by the US Ninth Air Force, cited in A.P.W.I.U. Report 44/1945. Baumgart's accounts were apparently corroborated by a more senior Luftwaffe officer interrogated at the same time.

On 11 November 1955 the "RAF Review" published an article by the historical writer Kenneth Werrell claiming a Ju-390 flew within 12 miles of New York and photographed the skyline. Author William Green was an editor of the "RAF Review" at the time. Later Green also referred to the claim in his two books "Warplanes of the Second World War" [1968] and "Warplanes of the Third Reich" [1970]. Green asserted the Allies learned of the mission in June 1944, whilst Werrell claimed they originated with interrogations of two German POWs in August 1944. Werrell identified his source as two British Intelligence reports dated from August 1945 entitled "General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment". These in turn refer to Intelligence reports of the US IX Air Force Intelligence section.

It is possible that Green drew from various wartime Enigma decrypts prior to the interrogations of POWs. Enigma was still classified in 1955 and there may have been a mad scramble to cite POW reports to draw attention off Enigma decrypts. Because the British Government had re-sold captured Enigma machines to many African nations so it could read their diplomatic signals, any hint of wartime code-breaking had to be kept classified due to ongoing Intelligence concerns. Details regarding Operation Ultra and Station X were not declassified until 1989 and various reports about Alan Turing's Enigma code-breaking not until 1996, so Green was unable to identify if Enigma decrypts were the original source for his RAF intelligence reports. 

What is known of Green however is that after quoting from the British Intelligence reports an unidentified former German serviceman began a lengthy correspondence with him from New York which offered further background for Green's claims in his later books. 

In February 1944 when KG200 took over all long range special missions, Hitler tasked the head of his own VIP flight Hauptman Heinz Braun to form a Japan Kommando flying an air bridge to Japan. This unit was also known as 14/TGS.4 [or 14 Staffel/ Transportgeschwader 4].

A Ju-290 A-5 aircraft with the Stammkenzeichen codes KR+LA was requisitioned and modified at the DLH maintenance facility on Rusnye aerodrome at Prague, not at the nearby Junkers factory. Deutsche Luft Hansa pilot Flugkapitan Rudolf Mayr was placed in charge of  the Manchurian flight operation. Aircraft were stripped of armaments, military markings and were given civil DLH markings.

A War Ministry report [AIR 40/203] detailed in mid October 1944, a POW gave information under interrogation that since the beginning of 1944, there had been "regular air travel between Germany and Japan established for the transport of high officials flown by old experienced Hansa pilots".

Deutsche Luft Hansa pilots thought to have flown these missions to Manchuria included Flugkapitan Nebel, Flugkapitan Mattias, Flugkapitan Erich Warsitz, Flugkapitan Hermann Quenzler [Dornier Test Pilot], and test pilot Karl Patin. No record is available if flights terminated at Harbin or Shenyang where there was a major aircraft manufacturing plant. Given that Tachikawa was also involved in westbound flights with a Tachikawa Ki-77 aircraft to German held territory Shenyang was more likely. 

Trial flights began with Ju-290A-5 werke # J900170 Luftwaffe code KR+LA. This aircraft also had KG200 codes 9V+DH. It was destroyed by air raids at Rechlin in 1945. Its fuel capacity was increased and for long range operations, MTOW was increased from the Ju-290’s standard 41.3 tons to 45 tons.

In March 1944 three other Ju290 aircraft were transferred to Versuchsverband OKL carrying Luftwaffe codes T9+, thence they were stripped of all weaponry and civilianised for Deutsche Luft Hansa [DLH] service on flights to China. Modification included fitting fuel tanks for 23,800 litres. Each of the aircraft also then received civil registrations.

These three aircraft were Ju-290A-9  werke # J900183, former Luftwaffe code KR+LN. From February 1944 this aircraft became T9+VK. It was attacked on the ground at Finsterwalde in April 1944 and scrapped at Travenmunde in September 1944.

Also Ju-290A-9 werke # J900182, former Luftwaffe code KR+LM. From February 1944 this aircraft became T9+UK. This aircraft was lost whilst on the ground refueling to strafing fire by four Soviet flown Hurricanes near the village of Utta, near Astrakhan in July 1944. 

Ju-290 A7 werke # J900185, former Luftwaffe code KR+LP was the third conversion to become T9+WK. Later in it's career it was attacked over the southern eastern front in May 1944 and returned from the mission beyond all hope of repair.

On 2 September 1944 Ju-290A-3 werke # J900163 Luftwaffe code PI+PQ was ordered to be converted for a mission to China to carry VIP Ulrich Kessler, but work on the aircraft was interrupted by general anti Nazi uprisings in Bulgaria where the aircraft was to fly from. The aircraft was eventually blown up in May 1945 to prevent its capture.

Me-264 flights to Japan

In his book "Messerschmitt Me264, Amerika Bomber, The Luftwaffe's Lost Transatlantic Bomber," author Fobert Forsyth cites various sources for regular Me264 flights from a frozen runway on Lake Inari [Petsamo] in northern Finland to Tokyo carrying important persons, documents and cargo. Such flights became impossible after September 1944 when threatened with US bombing raids on Helsinki, Finland was forced to capitulate to Russia.

Prior to the Normandy landings, an earlier British interrogation of another Luftwaffe POW in April 1944 disclosed that the Me-261 had already made a flight to Tokyo in August 1943. This flight appears to have departed from Petsamo in Northern Finland.

J-390 flights to Japan

On Tuesday 23 May 1944 Reichsmarshall Göring convened a conference. It was attended by Minister for armaments and War production Albert Speer, Air Marshall Erhard Milch, General der Flieger Günther Korten, Petersen, Diesing, Knemeyer and Saur to confront the He-177's failings. Göring demanded other options for long range reconnaissance be developed urgently. From this meeting was set up a special long range reconnaissance unit, or Aufklärungsgruppe. It is noteworthy that following this meeting the Ju-390 and He-177 were no longer deemed available for long range reconnaissance and were already placed under control of KG200. 

With the fall of France, 2 Staffel, Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5 [2/FAGr.5] based at Mont de Marsan had been disbanded in August 1944   and reassigned to Kommando Nebel for development of long range reconnaissance and communications flights under the command of Hauptmann Georg Eckl. Hitler's new Luftwaffe chief of staff Generalleutnant Werner Kreipe recorded in his war diary that on 5 August 1944 that Hitler called for renewed efforts to prepare the Me-264 for a bombing raid on New York.

Aviator and pre-war explorer Hans Bertram was commissioned by RLM apparently in July 1944 to write a report called Ostasienflug [east Asian Flight Project] to plan for a regular courier service to Tokyo using the Me-264.The mission called for a duration of 33 hours flown at 188 knots. Two routes were proposed. The longest from Berlin to Linz, Hungary, Roumania, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tsitsihar in china and finally to Tokyo. The other route proposed was through northern India and Burma to Rangoon.

Evidence of a Ju-390 flight to Tokyo in 1944  

The first public hint of a Ju-390 mission to Japan arose in the memoirs of Hitler's former armaments minister Albert Speer "Inside the Third Reich" In his book Speer referred to Ju-390 flights to Tokyo "via the Polar Route" in 1945. Speer had little to gain by revealing these flights and in fact made the comment quite non-chalently almost in passing.

Speer also mentioned the Ju-390 flight to Tokyo being flown by civil test pilots which seems to identify them as Dornier Test Pilot Flugkapitän Quenzler, and test pilot Karl Patin.

The author Friedrich Georg has written about this Ju-390 flight. [Friedrich Georg is a false pen name, however the actual individual is said to have access to archival information provided in Germany on strict condition that it can't be cited without government permission. It seems that even more than 65 years after the War there are still matter too sensitive to release]. That author however claims the polar route led from Bardufoss, Norway to the Bering Strait and down to the island of Pamushiro along the Kamchatka Peninsula.  

Georg states that documents were found in Prague and several locations across Czechoslovakia relate to the Ju-390 which show trim test results for two entirely different Ju-390 aircraft, plus in addition, other reports describe live flight testing of heavy gun armaments and gun turrets on a Ju-390. As the aircraft marked GH+UK was unarmed this forces one to conclude, there was another Ju-390 flying.

Georg goes on, however, to state that the third Ju-390 prototype was not broken up at all. Rather when production was abandoned in 1944 the completed third prototype was exported to Japan. Albert Speer does refer to such a flight on 28 March 1945, but makes no mention which Ju-390 aircraft was flown there.

In 1995 the radio operator from U-234, Wolfgang Hirschfeld wrote his book "Atlantik Farewell, Das Letzte U-Boot" [Atlantic farewell, The Last U-Boat]

In his book Hirschfeld notes that following a collision in the Kettegat between Denmark and Sweeden with another U-Boat, surfacing beneath her, U-234 was forced into a Norwegian port for repairs in March 1945.

Hirschfeld noted that urgently needed cargo had to be offloaded and flown on to Japan.

When U-234 was unloaded at Portsmouth New Hampshire in late May 1945 by the US Navy, there was a 70 ton discrepancy in cargo manifests with the cargo manifest at Kiel in March 1945.

Russian aviation historian Sergey Platov notes on his website that  Ju-390 production plans were accompanied by a Japanese military attaché from Berlin, Major General Otani all flown to Tokyo aboard a Ju-390 [No reference can be found to this Major General Otani mentioned by Russian historians, however ULTRA decrypts of diplomatic signals from Japan's embassy in Berlin concerning the voyage of Japanese submarine I-52 refer to a General Kotani in Germany requiring return passage in connection with transport back to Japan].

A Post war report by the War Department, entitled "NA/HW 13/47 - German Technical Aid to Japan" dated 31 August 1945 at pages 134-145, discussed how three Messerscmitt engineers with technical documents for Japanese construction of the Me 209; Me 309; Me 264, Me 262; Me 410 and Me 323 would be flown to Japan. Technical drawings would be accompanied by engineers. 

Luftwaffe Generalmajor Fritz Morzik, Chief of Air Transport for the Armed Forces in WW2 Germany wrote in an article for an official post war USAF study paper, that the Ju-390 was used for courier flights to Japan during the war.

A Magic decrypt of a diplomatic signal from the naval attaché  at the Japanese embassy in Berlin dated 21 March 1945 discussed an impending flight to Japan within the week, which Speer claimed occurred on 28 March 1945. 

Sources:

• "Messerschmitt Me264, Amerika Bomber, The Luftwaffe's Lost Transatlantic Bomber," by Fobert Forsyth
• "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer
• "Atlantik Farewell, Das Letzte U-Boot" by Wolfgang Hirschfeld

4. Becase of Allied pressure, the Argentine Government was forced to arrest a certain German, Frau Maximiliana Oschatz. In the winter of 1942, Frau Oschatz built a boarding house at San Clemente del Tuyu, a boarding house that took no guests and accommodated only Frau Oschatz and her gardener. They both had a peculiar hobby: Come hail or snow, fog or thunderstorm, they rode miles along the beaches every day. One day Frau Oschatz told an anti-Perónist that her husband was a U-Boat captain. On 17 July 1945, six weeks after the German surrender, two U-Boats were seen to surface not far from Frau Oschatz's seaside boarding house. Although it was mid-winter — and winter is cold in the Argentine — the German woman was on the beach waiting for them. Allied protests at the visit of these U-Boats forced the Argentine Government to arrest Frau Oschatz.

5. There is plenty of proof that Nazi officers and men are still training and wearing their uniforms in Argentina. One of their strongholds is the estate of Kurt Wasserman, head of the country's largest newsprint importing concern, who was threatened with black listing by the Allies. Wasserman admits his German birth, but at the outbreak of war claimed he was a democrat and anti-Nazi. In 1942, however, special investigators found Nazis in uniform drilling behind the high-fenced grounds of the Wasserman estate. Most Germans who landed in Argentine at that time, ultimately, were traced to the estate. Wassermau sold his newsprint to the pro-Nazi "El Pampero," which was edited by the nationalist leader, and alleged Nazi, Enriqu P. Oses. It is claimed that S.S. leaders and senior officers of the Nazi party are now sheltering at the Wasserman estate.

6. Investigators have also collected testimony from an officer of the Argentine State Fleet that under Government orders, his ship stood by and refuelled an outsize Nazi submarine a few weeks after Germany's collapse.

7. They have also discovered that Basillo Pertine, former chairman of the German Siemens Schuckert Argetina Company, and a pro-Nazi fanatic, received money from Germany on 3 June 1945, after Germany fell. The following day, at a dinner celebrating the rise of the Peron Government In Argentine, Pertine said: "I am glad to announce that our friends are safe at last".  

8. There are dozens of reports about the construction of industrial plants In remote parts of the Argentine, all of which are capable of munition production. Construction has been carried out by German engineers. They have the appearance of steel mills, but Allied investigators claim they could turn out robot bombs. These reports are tied to the fact that shortly before the surrender the Allies captured a U-Boat loaded with Uranium ore, and believed to be heading for the Argentine.

9. To cap all other reports, the Allies have signed statements by influential Argentinians, that they have seen a blond-haired, clean shaven man in the cafes of Buenos Aires, whose eyes are obviously those of Adolf Hitler.

They suggest the search should centre in the hilly area about 450 miles north-north-west of Buenos Aires, and in the province of Patagonia, where Germans hold about 270,000 square miles of ranches, bought with Nazi gold.
 

Argentina Harbours a Ghost
The Swan Express [Midland Junction, WA] 
26 November 1953

Translated from an Italian Paper by Louis De Waar

Of late years there has been a spate of book, written by Hitler's lieutenants and associate, who escaped conviction under the anti-Nazi laws and see a chance of cashing in on their exclusive knowledge of the "Great Dictator". But to the people of Argentina these accounts would smack of Anthony Hope and his imaginary kingdoms and the story of the last hours in the Bunker in Berlin as a piece from Wagner. For they don't believe Hitler is dead. They are sure that he is alive and in their country. Did not Hitler say: "They must not take me alive". Naively, these words have always been taken to mean that Hitler intended as a last resort to suicide. But did he?

Let us delve into a few of the stories which provide a basis for the Argentinans' belief that their country harbours a ghost— the ghost of a maniac who destroyed his country, ignorantly as any corporal given command of a Division of men.

In the second half of 1945, the legend goes, two U-Boats arrived during the early hours of one morning at the popular beach of the Mar del Plata, 240 miles south of Buenos Aires. Spectators affirm that large numbers of people were disembarked from the submarines on to the beach. Most of the men wore greatcoats tvpical of those of field marshalls and highly-placed staff officers of the German army. One of these men had a bad limp and an arm in a sling. By his bearing and stature he bore a strong resemblance to Herr Hitler just as a woman in the party resembled his wife, Eva Braun. The mysterious individuals were driven away at high speed in the waiting cars, the dispersed crowds came together again at the beach, curiosity unsatisfied and the newspapers were silent on the subject.

But that is not all. A young police agent, off duty, remained near the beach and got a close view of the embarkees. As the cars glided away he saw Hitler and Eva Braun plainly and went off, hot foot, to report the matter to his superiors. They in turn passed on the Iintelligence to higher levels. A few hours afterwards, the young msm called from his bed, was taken to police headquarters and charged with drunkedness while on duty. Later in the day he was dismissed and sent to his home under close arrest. The following morning, he was taken to home for incurable drunkards and is there to this day, practically buried alive.

Everyone places Hitlers home in the extreme southern portion of Argentina—Patagonia. This region is for the greater part deserted. battered by wind and rain, a melancholy land of sand, rock, and scrub, black lava and volcanic ash. Only on the eastern side is it irrigated and cultivated. In its desolate areas, here and there, one finds small flocks of sheep, remnants of a former German colony.

For an ex-Führer of "Ein Reich und Ein Volk," Patagonia must be an attractive refuge.

According to those who tell the stories, travellers in Patagonia have brought back tales of a vast Estancia enclosed by an electric fence. Behind the fence are ferocious hounds—an additional precaution against intruders.

Once a month a truck leaves the Estancia and proceeds some miles to the nearest village. Here, a dozen blond giants descend, swagger up and down the single street making purchases and without answering any questions, return in their truck at high speed to the Estancia. Then for another month nobody comes or go«s from the Estancia and the scene belongs to the dogs and their eternal barking. The men, a fanatical guard of honour, have sworn to defend the Führer till the day he dies.

The stories about Hitler have permeated all Strata of Argentine society and who will guarantee their authenticity or deny them? Everywhere they are repeated and embellished. In that strange Land of the New World, controlled by the iron discipline of the Perón regime, supposed repository of atomic secrets as yet unknown to us, one is disposed to believe that not only does Hitler live but that he is a strong influence in the affairs of the country. For did not Perón start on his reactionary adventures shortly after the supposed arrival of the German leader and step by step, copy the very methods by which the Nazis gained control in Germany?

First he attacked the great labour unions, not by outright destruction but bv infiltration by agents until their submission, was complete. Next victim was the Press but here, sure of his power, he summarily shut down the greatest liberal newspaper of the Southern continent. This brought all the rest of the newspapers into line.

Countless persons claim that thev have seen Hitler and that he does not now confine himself to the isolation of his Patagonian ranch.

During a visit to the Mar del Plata, a friend of mine was invited to dinner at the home of a woman, the bearer of an old and honoured name and related to the most influential families of the pre-Perón days. During my friend's visit, she took him to another Estancia the owner of which bore one of those strange combinations of names very common in Argentina. He was called Ricardo Kelly. Coming back in the car they could see, in the distance, the curve of the coast made by the Mar del Plata where it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Kelly, who was with the party, asked, "Do you see that long beach down there? That is where the U-Boats arrived bearing Hitler and his party". My friend looked his disbelief -he had not then been very long in Argentina- but his hostess said: "I think it is quite true. It is said that he is in Patagonia".  

"One of Mussolini's sons flew down to lunch at the Plaza Grill at Buenos Aires with Fritz Mandl,"  Kelly told them. "Don't worry— the Nazi party isn't dead yet. There is a secret Danish society here which meets regularly and is coming out more and more in the open as an advocate of Nazi policy. Who would you think was behind it? Couldn't it be Hitler himself?"

Do you remember that rumour that Charlie Chaplin had been seen in Patagonia?" his cousin asked. "Yes and it was proved that Chaplin had never been near the place," Kelly said. "It was Hitler all right!" 

A little while after the Führer came up again as a topic of conversation in another place. My friend was staying at another Estancia, one of the most famous in the world. After a stroll round the grounds surrounding the house and a look over the private golf course, my friend went in for his first dinner in the luxurious house. He found his hostess very distressed. Her mother, an old lady of seventy odd, had gone for a drive in the car and had not returned after several hours To make matters worse a hail storm was sweeping in from the coast. The guests were on the point of making a search when the door opened and the old lady came in, her face reddened with the icy wind , and her clothes soaked. She was quite at ease nevertheless. Her daughter urged her to have a bath and go to bed but her mother was stubborn. "I'll have a Scotch and soda And tell you a story first," she replied, "Then I'll be a good child and whatever you want".  

Despite protests, the old lady remained and drank her whisky. Then she turned to my friend and s aid: "You're a stranger and probably don't believe that Hitler is living in Argentina as do the rest us". "Please, please, Mamma," expostulated her daughter. "Not now! He will think you're crazy" She turned appealingly to my friend. "I'm not crazy," her mother insisted, "The old have been known to be as wise as the young! This afternoon I was driving round the headland when the car stopped and I 1 couldn't make it work. I began to walk back and was quite enjoying the play of light and shadow as the clouds scudded over the face of the sun when suddenly a car came towards me. Then I saw him. He was sitting behind the driver".  "Who was?" demanded her son-in-law. "Hitler, you silly," the old lady answered. "If it wasn't he I am not standing here this minute! And I did not imagine it, either. He was never further from my thoughts. Well, I have finished my Scotch, recounted my story so now I'll have my bath".

Argentina to open its files on Nazis 
The Canberra Times 
Wednesday, 5 February 1992 

BUENOS AIRES: After decades of secrecy, the Government has displayed some of its files on Nazis who fled to Argentina after World War II, and declared that all would be made public soon.

"This is a debt Argentina is paying to humanity," President Carlos Menem told a news conference on Monday attended by Cabinet ministers, foreign ambassadors, Nazi hunters and reporters from around the world. Experts said the documents might shed light on some of history's dark corners, particularly on how former top Nazis vanished from Europe as the Third Reich collapsed and showed up months and years later in this South American nation.

The files are under lock and key of the Federal Police, the Immigration Department and other agencies. Mr Menem's decree removed them from protection by an official secrets Act and ordered their collection by the National Archives. They are to be turned over within 30 days and will be opened for public inspection as soon as they are put on microfilm.

Adolf Eichmann, the architect of Hitler's attempted extermination of Europe's Jews, found refuge here. So did Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death" at the Auschwitz concentration camp. There have been rumours of sightings of Martin Bormann, Hitler's top deputy, who many experts think died in Berlin in 1945.

"There are all types of stories about [escapes] with the co-operation of the Vatican and the International Red Cross," said Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust studies. "I think it's very important to prove what happened".

Eichmann was kidnapped by Israeli commandos in I960, taken to Jerusalem for trial, convicted and hanged. Mengele's family say he drowned in Brazil in 1979.

Mengele may be alive, say Israeli Police
The Canberra Times [ACT]
21 June 1991

JERUSALEM: Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp, may still be alive, despite claims that he drowned in Brazil in 1979, a never-published Israeli police report says. The report points to discrepancies in the medical findings that led American, German and Brazilian forensic experts to conclude jointly that the skeleton exhumed from a Brazilian cemetery was "within a reasonable scientific certainty" that of Mengele.

It was submitted to the Israeli Justice and Police Ministries in 1986, but was never published. An English version of the report was distributed this week to journalists by CANDLES [Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiment Survivors], which campaigns to continue the hunt for Mengele.

The 60-page report questioned several forensic findings from the bones at Embu cemetery. It said the skull was too small, one leg was shorter than the other, and the remains contained no trace of Mengele's boyhood bone disease. It also challenged the dental records used to identify the skeleton. The report pointed to testimony that suggested Mengele's family believed he was still alive after the alleged 1979 drowning. It cited a greeting Mengele's daughter-in-law wrote congratulating Mengele on his 68th birthday, even though he was supposed to have drowned one month before the birthday. It also mentioned the testimony of Dr Hans Münch, an Auschwitz staff doctor, that some time between 1980 and 1983 — after the alleged drowning — Mengele's step son asked Münch what Mengele's' chances were of acquittal if he stood trial.

Mengele, known as "the Angel of Death", is accused of sending about 400,000 people to the gas chambers and of conducting medical experiments on camp inmates. He fled to South America in 1949, and lived in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. In 1985 it was announced that Mengele had drowned six years previously, and his friends directed police to a grave marked "Wolfgang Gerhard" in the Embu cemetery near Sao Paulo.

The police report was written by Menacbem Russak, formerly Israel's chief police investigator of war crimes. In it, he says enough inconsistencies exist to "suggest an assumption that the body discovered ... is not that of Josef Mengele". The US Office of Special Investigations also has not published the findings, according to Ephraim Zuroff, head of the Israeli branch of the Nazi-hunting Wiesenthal Centre. Mr Zuroff said the Russak report raised questions. But he said he did not think it undermined the forensic evidence. Mr Russak confirmed the report's authenticity, but declined to elaborate on it. Miriam Zeiger, a survivor of Mengele's experiments and head of the Israeli branch of CANDLES, said the report was handed to her twin sister by an anonymous person at a Jerusalem conference earlier this year. She said the Israeli Justice Minister, Dan Meridor, met the group last month and rejected a request to publish the Russak report. The German Government has sought to clear up the controversy by asking Professor Alec Jeffreys to use the genetic fingerprinting technique he pioneered at Leicester University in England.

Josef Schwammberger, a commandant at labour camps in Poland, was extradited in 1990 and is now on trial in Stuttgart, Germany, for war crimes. Schwammberger, now 79, lived in Argentina under his own name. So did Mengele, who obtained a driver's licence and an identity card from police, the magazine "Somos" reported over the weekend, after apparently having had at least limited access to the Federal Police files.

Aides said Mr Menem was moved to act by requests from the World Jewish Congress and unfavourable publicity in newspapers for not doing so. The Interior Minister, Jose Luis Manzano, insisted that those who came did so on Red Cross passports and not — as has been reported — on Argentine passports issued by Perón. Samuels also discounted reports, never confirmed, that the Nazis smuggled tonnes of gold and a hoards of art.