The Death of Adolf Hitler

The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives

Cover of the first edition
Author	Lev Bezymenski
Original title	Der Tod des Adolf Hitler: Unbekannte Dokumente aus Moskauer Archiven[a]
Language	German
Publisher	Wegner
Publication date	1968
Publication place	Germany
Published in English	1968
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	c. 134

The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives^[a] is a 1968 book by Soviet journalist Lev Bezymenski, who served as an interpreter in the Battle of Berlin. The book gives details of the purported Soviet autopsies of Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, their children, and General Hans Krebs. Each of these individuals are recorded as having been subjected to cyanide poisoning; contrary to the Western conclusion (and the accepted view of historians) that Hitler died by a suicide gunshot.

The book's release was preceded by various contrary reports about Hitler's death, including from eyewitnesses, who also contradicted themselves. Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviets both claimed that Hitler died from cyanide and that he escaped Berlin. Much of the information presented in the book about how Hitler died (namely by poisoning or a coup de grâce) has been discredited, including by the author, as propaganda. Some sources argue that Hitler's body was burned almost completely to ashes, leaving nothing to conduct an autopsy upon.^[b] Only the Soviet description of Hitler's dental remains, consisting of a golden bridge and a mandibular fragment with teeth, is regarded as reliable. The book includes previously unreleased photographs.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).