History loves to joke.
- said Lao Cui
Secret documents show that British and American spies hunted Hitler for a decade after World War II for fake sightings in South America
Declassified documents show that Britain and the United States hunted Adolf Hitler for 10 years after the end of World War II because they feared he was still alive.
Spy documents from CIA and FBI archives unearthed online by The Sun reveal shocking clues about their very real fear of Hitler escaping from his bunker in Berlin.
The top-secret documents were unsealed, Hitler did not commit suicide, and the United States and Britain even pursued them for another decade
1. Adolf Hitler died in 1945 - but the hunt for him continued until the 1950s
Historians now know that the Führer shot himself during the last days of World War II, when the Allies attacked in Berlin.
But in the confusion of dividing the map between the West and the USSR, spies from the United States and Great Britain carried out a massive investigation into Hitler's fate.
Secret documents show an investigation into claims that Hitler witnessed a U-boat in Argentina and claim that Adolf was photographed alive in Colombia.
As you all know, in response to the collapse of the Third Reich, some Nazis hid escape routes by calling it the "rat line". Fleeing Germany, some, even in South America, found a shelter.
Various clues and reports of events that Hitler may have witnessed were handed over to the intelligence agencies. Many were passed on to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover。
The hunt lasted at least ten years, with documents dated as late as 1955. Some of the most egregious claims about dictators can be revealed from these fascinating former top-secret documents.
2, Hitler "lived in 1955"
The notorious photo of the so-called "Hitler" was sent to the CIA
3. Declassified documents show that Hitler was alive in 1955
In 1955, CIA agents received a photograph of a man claiming to be Adolf Hitler.
Judging from the photographs kept in the archives, this person resembled Hitler. Especially that iconic beard.
Philip is said to have told the informant that Hitler hoped he could no longer be prosecuted as a war criminal as a decade had passed since the end of World War II.
The document, saved on the CIA website, was telegraphed by the CIA director in Caracas, Venezuela.
It was sent to the head of the Western Hemisphere Division of the spy agency, who at the time was supposed to be Joseph Caldwell King.
4. The landing site of the Nazi U-boat "found in Argentina"
There were fears that U-boats would be used to transport the Nazis to South America
5. FBI radiographs show fear of Nazi "secret landing"
Top secret documents show that police continued to search for U-boat landing sites along the coast for fears of high-ranking Nazis landing in Argentina.
FBI radiographic photos show they are looking for a "secret landing" from the submarine U-530 and "other similar vessels."
The U-530, a Kreigsmarine vessel, has been the subject of various rumors and conspiracy theories about Nazi fears of flying to South America.
It surrendered to the Argentine Navy in October 1945, but was found to have deck guns, its ship's log was lost, and the crew had no identification.
The ship spent two months at sea after escaping from Europe, and the voyage remains riddled with mysteries, with contemporary reports suggesting it came from Japan.
There were rumors that the U-530 was transporting high-ranking Nazis to South America, but there is no evidence of this.
6. Hitler and his lover Eva Braun died together in Berlin in 1945
7. The agents received intelligence that Hitler and 50 other Nazis were hiding in the Andes
8. It is alleged that secret Nazi communities have sprung up in the mountains
Another clue pursued by the Allies after the end of World War II was the claim that Hitler and Eva Braun arrived in Argentina in a U-boat with about 2 other Nazis.
The fugitives were then allegedly taken to the Andes, where three secret communities were established for the Nazis.
Hitler is said to have shaved off his famous mustache and suffered from asthma and ulcers.
Other claims in the badly faded documents include details told by a secret agent Hitler and Braun in Argentina.
The documents claim that "footprints" and "tire marks" were also found at a suspected U-boat landing site near St. Julian's.
However, FBI agents questioned whether their source was "telling the truth" and argued that it "lacked sufficient information."
9. Hitler allegedly underwent plastic surgery to hide himself
In one of the most outrageous reports, one came from Dayton, Ohio, where an FBI informant claimed to have met "true Hitler" in Buenos in the 1950s.
According to a report dated 2 September 19, 1955, the man claimed that Hitler had a physical stand-in who took his place in the last days of World War II.
He claimed that the "real" Fuhrer underwent "quite a sizable plastic surgery", so he looked much younger.
However, the man claimed the giveaway was his arms and legs - with the "appearance of a 65 or 70-year-old".
FBI agents sent the report to Hoover, and their mole admitted he was afraid to tell them the story because they might think he was a "weirdo."
Hoover forwarded the report to the CIA, which requested an interview — and then the man claimed he didn't remember his claim because of the car accident.
10. Fleeing Nazis
Historians know that Hitler died in his bunker after shooting himself – but some Nazis did flee to South America.
Adolf Eichmann
The evil mastermind behind The Final Solution fled to Argentina in 1950 after going into hiding in Austria.
He was captured by Israeli agents in 1960 and then hanged as a war criminal — the only time Israel used the death penalty.
Joseph Mengele
Known as the "Angel of Death," Mengele was an SS officer who experimented and tortured prisoners at Auschwitz.
The evil beast fled to Paraguay, then Brazil, and drowned after suffering a stroke while swimming in 1979.
Walter Rauf
An SS colonel behind the mobile gas chambers that killed at least 1 million people during World War II.
Before fleeing to Chile, he managed to escape from a prison camp, where he spent until 1984 under the protection of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Franz Stengel
He became known as the "White Death" for his white uniform and worked to kill those with mental and physical disabilities.
Fleeing to Brazil in 1951, he was eventually arrested and brought back to Germany in 1967 – convicted of mass murder of 9 million people. He died in 000.
Gerhard Born
He led a program to help "purify" the Aryan race, which oversaw the massacre of 2 million people suffering from incurable diseases.
After fleeing to Argentina in 1949, he went into hiding in Argentina, but was arrested when he returned to Germany in 1963. He fled to Argentina again while on bail but then became the first Nazi extradited by Buenos Aires — who died in 1981.
Conspiracy theories about Hitler's death are still rampant even some 76 years after he shot himself in the Führer's bunker.
The fascination with his alleged escape was fueled when the Iron Curtain fell in the final days of World War II.
Soviet officials helped sow conflicting messages, with some reporting that the bodies found in Berlin were "very bad physical stand-ins."
Joseph Stalin himself even outright denied that Hitler was dead when asked by US President Harry Truman.