Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945 is considered an indisputable fact. However, from time to time, publications appear in which it is argued that the greatest villain of all times and peoples safely escaped death and hid in one of the South American countries, where he died surrounded by his loving wife and children. Let's consider this version not from the position of "it was or was not", but from the perspective "could this have been?"
Operation Seraglio
According to the version walking on the Internet, an operation codenamed "Seral" was developed and carried out in May 1945, the purpose of which was to organize the escape of Hitler and his wife from besieged Berlin. The fugitives were taken to Spain, where a submarine was already waiting for them (according to some versions, even three!), On which Hitler and Eva Braun safely reached Patagonia. After living for several years in Argentina, Hitler moved to Paraguay, where he died in 1964.
The version doesn't seem crazy. Flooded with blood on the floor of Europe, calling on teenagers from the Hitler Youth and old men from Volkssturm to die for the Fuhrer and the Reich, the bosses themselves were in no hurry to rush with grenades under Russian tanks. Changing their appearance, with documents in a false name, "rat paths" they made their way to the edges where the hand of justice could not reach them. If any of them made the decision to leave the other world ahead of schedule, then only if the ghost of the rope noose acquired quite real outlines (Goering, Himmler, Lei). Was it so or not?
Technical aspects
Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Germany was prohibited from having a submarine fleet. Without openly violating the terms of surrender, Germany, nevertheless, managed to maintain a production base for the construction of submarines, to train personnel. At the shipyards of the Weimar Republic, submarines were built for the minor naval powers, the officers of the Reichsmarine constantly traveled to colleagues in neighboring countries, where they accumulated experience for future campaigns. Therefore, when in March 1935 Hitler openly refused to fulfill the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and gave the go-ahead for the construction of the submarine fleet, neither industrialists nor the German Navy was taken by surprise.
Karl Doenitz was a fanatic of the submarine fleet and made every effort to develop and strengthen it, even to the detriment of the surface forces. Having entered World War II with 57 submarines, after 2 years Germany launched up to 2 dozen submarines every month. In 1938 Germany began building ocean-type submarines. In 1938-1939, series IX submarines with a displacement of 750 tons and a cruising range of 8100 nautical miles began to enter service with the Kriegsmarine. The Doenitz Wolves settled in the North and South Atlantic, acquired the skills of long voyages (U196 - 225 days, U181 - 206 days, U198 - 200 days), sunk ships (and died themselves) in the coastal waters of North and South America. So the passage from Germany to Argentina was a difficult, but already mastered route for the Doenitz submariners.
Organizational aspects
Was Doenitz himself ready to take part in Operation Seral? Without his knowledge and direct participation, it was impossible to prepare a boat for a long cruise, it was impossible to find an experienced crew. As the commander of the German Navy (since 1943), he could well, by pressing the levers in the department under his control, nullify all efforts to prepare such a significant operation.
This question can be answered quite unambiguously. Not being a member of the NSDAP (yes, it is!) Doenitz was a staunch Nazi, loyal to Hitler to the end. Having received a gold party badge from the Fuhrer, he always wore it on his tunic. Becoming Reich President on April 30, 1945, in his address to the people on 1945-01-05, he called Hitler "a heroic person", and the life of the deceased Fuhrer - "an example of serving the German people." In Nuremberg, when the lawyer asked whether he was a party member, instead of the expected “no” by the defender (for which the question was asked), he replied that having accepted the gold party badge from the Fuhrer, he became an honorary member of the NSDAP. He did not repent of his crimes, did not plead guilty. So someone who, but Doenitz, would have made every effort to save Hitler and would not have bought indulgence from the allies with the head of the leader.
And the divers themselves? Did Doenitz have real power over his subordinates? Were they ready, risking their lives, to save the Fuhrer? Until the end of the war, the submariners remained a model of loyalty to the oath and discipline. Doenitz's authority among them was indisputable. (And this despite the fact that every third submarine died, the loss of submariners was 75-80%.) Berlin had already fallen, the Wehrmacht had surrendered, and the "Doenitz wolves" were still prowling through sea communications, refusing to believe in the death of the millennial Reich … U-530 surrendered on July 10, 1945, U-977 on August 17.
And what about Argentina?
By the beginning of World War I, the German colony in Argentina numbered more than 100 thousand people. On such a basis, creating a widely ramified agent network was a piece of cake. After the defeat of Germany, the ties of the Argentine Germans with their ancestral home weakened, but did not end. The Nazis, having come to power, began to actively strengthen their positions in a distant exotic region. Argentina very organically fit into their plans for world domination. A separate South American sector functioned in the Schellenberg department, and there were even two of them in the Abwehr. The Argentine elite openly sympathized with the Nazis. In Buenos Aires, German agents felt at home.
During World War II, Argentina, having officially declared itself neutral, constantly provided Germany with explicit and covert support. Under the pressure of objective reality, on 1945-27-05 Argentina declared war on the Third Reich, but it was just a political gesture. The sympathies of the Argentine elite for the Nazis did not disappear anywhere, the local agents survived, so after 45, many fugitives from the defeated Reich found food and shelter on Argentine soil.
So, it seems, all the prerequisites for the implementation of Operation Seraglio are on the face. But!
A submariner's hike is not for weaklings
A submarine journey from German to Argentine shores is a little different from a sea voyage along the same route on an ocean liner. The submarine is terribly crowded, crowded, lack of fresh air, normal food (solid canned food), basic amenities, and even plain water is in short supply. Look at the German chronicle - the fashion for unshavens appeared among submariners not from a good life. There were not enough beds for everyone, they slept on them in turns, and even a trip to the latrine should not be postponed until the last minute - it is not a fact that at the right time it will be free.
A submariner's trip is a constant mental stress, a readiness to attack or be attacked at any second. “Papa Karl” (as the submariners called Doenitz among themselves) knew all these nuances very well, so he issued an order, according to which a submariner who had served 12 years was obligatory written off to the shore. A long journey on a submarine required a huge supply of mental and physical strength from a person.
But Hitler just did not have these forces!
Hitler's physical condition by 1945
In 1940, Hitler underwent a comprehensive medical examination. Doctors recognized the Fuhrer's health as satisfactory (with a discount for minor ailments inherent in age). Hitler did not drink, did not smoke, was a vegetarian, did not drink coffee and tea, preferring herbal teas. But military failures seriously crippled his health.
The first blow was struck by a counteroffensive near Moscow in December 1941. Hitler began to complain of sweating, nausea and chills. Stalingrad disrupted the coordination of movements and brought the first nervous breakdowns. After Kursk, Hitler slouched over and began to walk more and more often, leaning on a stick. On July 20, 1944, he survived, but received a shell shock. After the advance of the Red Army in Belarus, Hitler fell ill with a heart attack. The failure in the Ardennes and the breakthrough of the Eastern Front on the Vistula took away the last remnants of his vitality.
Hitler was constantly losing his balance and could no longer walk more than 25-30 meters. Making his way from the bunker to the meeting room, he constantly sat down on one of the benches that were placed along the corridor. An officer who saw Hitler after a 5-year hiatus wrote that the 56-year-old Fuhrer looked like a 70-year-old man. The decrepit Hitler simply could not afford the transatlantic passage in difficult conditions of diving. Submariners loyal to the Fuhrer could only deliver his corpse to the shores of Argentina!
Die in Berlin!
And how did Hitler himself feel about the idea of escape from Berlin? The question is more than pertinent, because Operation Seraglio could only take place with his personal consent to carry it out. But Hitler himself was not going to run anywhere! In rare frank conversations, he often repeated that he was afraid not so much of death as captivity. The fear of becoming an exhibit at the Moscow zoo was his phobia. Fleeing Berlin means placing your fate in the hands of unfamiliar and even completely unfamiliar people.
But who could Hitler trust? In July 1944, he was betrayed by the generals (Stauffenberg's conspiracy), and as the Soviet troops approached Berlin, one after another, the loyal Partyigenosse began to break away. Congratulating the beloved Fuhrer on his birthday on April 20, in the evening of the same day, his loyal associates left him. Goering, Himmler, Ribbentrop hurried through the remaining corridor to leave the doomed city. On April 23, Hitler learned of Goering's betrayal. The traitor was removed from all posts, stripped of all titles and awards, expelled from the party. On April 28, Reuters reported that Himmler was trying to establish contacts with the Anglo-Americans. "Faithful Heinrich" also betrayed the beloved Fuhrer!
On April 29, Hitler learned about Mussolini's fate: while trying to escape, the Duce and his girlfriend Clara Petacci were captured by Italian partisans and shot. Their bodies were hung upside down in a square in Milan, and Italians spat on them and beat them with sticks. The corpses then lay in the gutter for several days before being buried.
On April 30, the brave Hanna Reich, breaking through the fire of Soviet anti-aircraft guns in her Storch, landed opposite the Brandenburg Gate. She begged the Fuehrer to confide in her and fly from Berlin, but Hitler was adamant. The plane can be shot down, wounded or unconscious, he will be taken prisoner, Stalin will put him in an iron cage and will carry him around the cities to be shown to the Russian barbarians - no !!! Hitler did not want to run. Not trusting anyone, in captivity of his phobias, he preferred to stay in Berlin until the last day, hoping either for Wenck's army, then for Busse's army, then just for a miracle.
Berlin - a trap with no way out
Was there a real opportunity to leave blazing Berlin in late April - early May? Hardly ever. There was no system of underground tunnels, no squadrons of small planes that landed at night at the doors of the Reich Chancellery, no secret medical clinics that reshaped the faces of fugitives from the bunker. Let's leave aside the exotic version of a submarine, waterways penetrating into the very heart of fighting Berlin.
The "gray cardinal" Bormann, in his salvation, relied not on "rat trails", but on forged documents and a lucky break. But the documents were weak, and fortune turned out to be a lady with an obstinate character. As a result, the omnipotent Reichsleiter preferred to crack open an ampoule with potassium cyanide - the last gift from his beloved leader. (Fans of the secrets of the Third Reich, do not flatter yourself: the belonging of the found remains to Bormann was confirmed by DNA examination!) There was no reliable channel to leave Berlin.
Rare exceptions are not so much the result of deeply thought-out and prepared actions as a rare smile of luck, one in a million. Hannah Reich played Russian roulette twice, flew to Berlin and back, twice fortune was favorable to her, but she was the only one who was so incredibly lucky. The rest of the pilots who flew to Berlin did not return back, and most often did not reach the capital of the Reich. And Hannah herself was knocked out and flew to the Fuehrer on parole and on one wing.
Arthur Axman left the bunker on the night of May 1–2 and managed to get out of the city. But this is the rarest exception that only proves the rule. The neck of the Berlin sack was tightened very tightly.
Silent witnesses
It is interesting to estimate how many people should have been involved in Operation Seraglio?
1. Group of evacuation of Hitler from Berlin
2. The group that hosted him in Spain
3. The crew of the submarine
4. The personnel of the bases, officers of the Admiral Staff (the boat had to be prepared for the campaign: refuel, provide food, maps, carry out maintenance, etc.)
5. The group that hosted Hitler in Argentina and was engaged in the arrangement in the country of himself and the crew of the submarine
6. Radio operators and ransomware in Berlin, Spain and South America
7. Representatives of the political elite of Argentina, with the knowledge of which a high-ranking fugitive has settled in the country
The bill is well over a hundred, and that's not all!
Go to any bookstore and you will see shelves lined with memoirs about World War II. Not only field marshals, generals and heads of special services, but also figures of lesser rank, up to junior officers, left their memories. The business on the secrets of Nazi Germany turned out to be so profitable that a huge number of imitations and stylization of the memoirs of participants in the events of those years appeared. Only here from the saviors of Hitler, no one is in a hurry to share their memories. Absolute strangers act as witnesses to Hitler's life after 1945: the servant saw something, the gardener heard something, the neighbors suspect something … The direct participants in Operation Seraglio remain deathly silence.
Escape that did not take place
Probably the most complete answer to the question "Was there Operation Seraglio?" history itself gave it long ago. Almost none of the leaders of the Third Reich could disappear without a trace. The fate of most of them is known: who committed suicide, who was hanged on the gallows, who was awaited by a prison cell. The fate of the "Gestapo Pope" Mueller is unknown. But why not assume the most probable: that the head of the 4th branch of the RSHA shared the fate of the thousands of Germans who died then in Berlin? Yes, no one saw him dead, no remains were found, because Bormann's bones were also discovered by pure chance, and until 1972 he was repeatedly "seen" in Italy, Spain, Egypt, and Argentina.
With Hitler, everything is much simpler, there are witnesses, there are bones. Why not admit the obvious: the head of the Reich committed suicide (poisoned or shot himself - what's the difference?) On April 30, 1945 in the underground bunker of the Reich Chancellery.
And put an end to this.
