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The Last Remains

© Roxanne Nelson

Here's a moment in history which coincides with a bizarre exhibit in Moscow. For WW II buffs, I don't need to explain what happened on April 30, 1945, but for the rest of us...today is the 55th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's suicide. Effectively, from the moment that Hitler took his last breath, the Third Reich died and WW II (European Theater) was over.

But for over 45 years, Hitler's death was shrouded in mystery. The Russians arrived in Berlin first, and rushed into Hitler's bunker, no doubt in high hopes of finding him alive and well. What happened from there was anyone's guess. Rumor had it that he had committed suicide, and indeed, the scorched remains bodies of the Goebbels family was found in Hitler's bunker. On May 1, 1945, he was the only one of the original Nazi leaders to remain with Hitler in the besieged bunker in Berlin, and after poisoning their six children, Goebbels and his wife took their lives. The day before, he had been named chancellor of the Reich in Hitler's will.

But Hitler's remained, charred, scorched or otherwise, never surfaced. The Russians claimed various stories, but did not produce a body for the world to view. So for the next few decades, incredible stories would emerge about the whereabouts of Adolf Hitler-my personal favorite is that he had gone to the Antarctic and was reorganizing the Reich from the South Pole.

The Russians had a lot of secrets. Of course, so did the Americans, but then, that's another story. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, after the demise of the Soviet Union, the full truth about Adolf Hitler was revealed. Yes, the Russians had indeed found his body.

Following Hitler's wishes, two assistants burned his remains and buried them in a shallow grave near the rear entrance to the bunker, along with longtime mistress and wife of one day, Eva Braun. Soviet troops discovered the grave May 4, 1945, and was positively identified by comparing his dental work to drawings made by his dentist and various assistants.

His body got moved around a few times, and was finally cremated a little more thoroughly in 1970 and dumped into a river. All that remained was skull and jaw fragments. These have now been put on display in Moscow, at Russia's State Archives. So for anyone who needs final proof that the Fuehrer is dead, the bits of bone are lying on black velvet, safe and secure in Moscow.

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