Hunting Hitler on the History Channel

[V.C. Brunswick]

Sadly, one of the authors of the book Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler, on which Hunting Hitler is based, is Simon Dunstan, a respected military historian. However, Dunstan is an expert on tank warfare, so how he was persuaded to go out of his depth and take part in this project I have no idea. Co-author Gerarrd Williams appears in Hunting Hitler.

 

[Peacoat]

Blackjack: Wow! Thats all I can say in response.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Riddle solved. So much for that theory. The U-3523 did not escape to Argentina in May 1945.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/german-nazi-submarine-u-boat-u-3523-mystery-denmark-museum-argentina/

 

[AmateisGal]

I can't believe this show is still on. Make it stop!

 

[MikeKardec]

Prayers Granted!

 

[AmateisGal]

Prayers Granted!

Are they going to stop making it? I hope so!

 

[MikeKardec]

Are they going to stop making it? I hope so!

I think the current season is the last. There's occasionally something interesting in this style of show and there is some nice "travel footage" of places I'll never go. But you can generally just buy the final episode of each season on iTunes and fast forward through the content of the whole season.

Like with anything, my take is that books, movies, internet posts, even bad documentaries, are really valuable not for what they say or whether they are "right" or not but for what they make you think. Your belief or endorsement in their point of view is really unimportant.

From points of view like yours and mine (writers, I mean), it's not a bad thing that we get to see some footage of Patagonia or of Heumul Island and the like. I'd seen photos but it was great seeing moving pictures which show more of the entire landscape. Skipping the Hitler part, wouldn't you love to know the actual history of the dissipation and demise of the German organizations in South America. They seem to have devolved into the general political landscape but, given the heights they came from, that process must have been interesting ... and blackly amusing. Like an evening's entertainment transitioning from The Ring Cycle to Burlesque.

The Huemul Island project is fascinating in itself. Was Ritter a con man, or did he believe like many others that Fusion (if that's what he was after) was going to be easy?

I come back to a question I asked earlier or on some other thread: If Hitler survived, so what? If he never actually did anything else, why does it matter. Interesting fiction, boring non fiction. There's a similar question in the fate of all the post war Nazis. Did they do anything that mattered? It's a different answer, bizarrely, they fought the Soviets (a consistent goal they held from the 20s on), they helped send a man to the moon, very likely they were mid level facilitators in a bunch of second rate dictatorships, and -- oddly -- at least in the case of Otto Skorzony, they may have even served as clandestine operators for Israel. A general program on the ironic fates of post war Nazis would have been as interesting as Hunting Hitler was sophomoric.

 

[Big J]

I have absolutely no doubt that Hitler died in Berlin in '45, but...

Having watched the show, I'm wondering if escape was possible, why didn't he? Like Josef Mengele, he could have gone to South America and hid out for years. Why didn't he?

In pretty much the same way, I always wonder why having bank-rolled the American War of Independence, why didn't Napoleon flee to the U.S. or at least French colony of Haiti?

 

[LizzieMaine]

As far as the postwar Nazis who escaped -- more than a few under the protection of the good old USA, and they weren't just cuddly rocket scientists -- the main thing they escaped was a just retribution for their deeds. The blood of the SS runs thru the veins of the CIA.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

There's a new History Channel series called The Tesla Files which claims that Nikola Tesla was murdered on orders from Hitler by none other than Otto Skorzeny who apparently slipped into America in 1943 (along with Reinhard Gehlen) to carry it out but also faked his death and lived out his final years in Florida where he died in 1996 (he died in Madrid in 1975). It doesn't get any better!

 

[Taz-man]

This is a great tv show. It Really makes you wonder what really happened.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Okay, I’ll bite.
Why on earth would Hitler want Tesla dead?

Btw: I recently wrote a short piece on Otto Skorzeny. Although he died of natural causes in Madrid in 1975, his remains were later moved to the family plot here in Vienna. As part of my research I visited the grave last year. Nothing too remarkable. You can see Skorzeny’s Madrid funeral on YouTube. In 1975 (!) the number of straight-armed salutes that were given at his funeral is still a little disturbing to see.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Okay, I’ll bite.
Why on earth would Hitler want Tesla dead?

Btw: I recently wrote a short piece on Otto Skorzeny. Although he died of natural causes in Madrid in 1975, his remains were later moved to the family plot here in Vienna. As part of my research I visited the grave last year. Nothing too remarkable. You can see Skorzeny’s Madrid funeral on YouTube. In 1975 (!) the number of straight-armed salutes that were given at his funeral is still a little disturbing to see.

The theory expounded by The Tesla Files is that Tesla was working on a supposed Death Ray weapon and that he sold the plans to both Germany and the Soviet Union, except that it couldn't be built because the plans were incomplete -- This is their theory, not mine. In the typical scholarly manner of the History Channel, they threw in everybody ranging from Skorzeny to Donald Trump's uncle who apparently was a government scientist involved in the disappearance of Tesla's secret files!

 

[Tiki Tom]

If that’s on History Channel, what are they showing on the Conspiracy Theory Channel?

 

[filfoster]

There's a new History Channel series called The Tesla Files which claims that Nikola Tesla was murdered on orders from Hitler by none other than Otto Skorzeny who apparently slipped into America in 1943 (along with Reinhard Gehlen) to carry it out but also faked his death and lived out his final years in Florida where he died in 1996 (he died in Madrid in 1975). It doesn't get any better!

That is one of the funniest theories/stories I ever read! It's almost like kids trying to top one another with the biggest made-up yarn.

 

[draws]

I have not watched the show, but are there any real historians or just guys that find some random clue in an old letter written in German and have solved all the mysteries of WWII?

 

[filfoster]

That's not far off. To date, none of the 'on air' folks has displayed much knowledge of Hitler, the circumstances of the final days in Berlin or much common sense. 'Superficial' is the byword.

 

[draws]

I am a History buff so do take interest in any investigations and theories, even though they may not have any merit. As for Hitler's demise, one thing I am certain of is that he is dead. I have been to Berlin Germany and, as identified in the series, the city is rifled with underground passages and buildings that have/have not been located. The one interesting part is just how elaborate the systems were/are and how very possible it was for many Nazis, if not even Hitler, could have escaped, especially the tunnels leading to Tempelhof airport and connected to entry points in the Berlin subway system. What is always intriguing was how deft the Germans were at concealing their activities throughout Europe and how many of them remain and yet to be charted. Whether they were used to help lead Hitler from Germany or escape themselves, we may never know but the Germans were masters at concealment and I find that part intriguing.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I have been to Berlin Germany and, as identified in the series, the city is rifled with underground passages and buildings that have/have not been located. The one interesting part is just how elaborate the systems were/are and how very possible it was for many Nazis, if not even Hitler, could have escaped, especially the tunnels leading to Tempelhof airport and connected to entry points in the Berlin subway system.

Interesting. Because I sometimes go to Berlin, this peaked my curiosity. I did a little searching and found this. I’ll definitely look into this tour on my next trip...

https://www.bordersofadventure.com/discovering-berlins-secret-underground/

 

[filfoster]

As far as the postwar Nazis who escaped -- more than a few under the protection of the good old USA, and they weren't just cuddly rocket scientists -- the main thing they escaped was a just retribution for their deeds. The blood of the SS runs thru the veins of the CIA.

The most interesting post-war 'disappearance' of an SS big shot is SS Obergruppenfuhrer (full general) DrIng. Hans Kammler, who at war's end, was in charge of the highest priority secret projects, including the V weapons. For a fun jump into a 'black hole' of mystery, pick up Nick Cook's 'The Hunt for Zero Point' which features a weird and interesting description of a Nazi project in high energy mercury compound centrifuge experiments that supposedly had some bizarre and fatal results. It was allegedly classified beyond anything else: "War Winning Decisive" or some such, obviously over-classified, since uh, they didn't win the war. Anyhoo, this thing was Kammler's baby and he supposedly bargained it for his freedom from prosecution. Like many of the bad guys, his end was subject to several stories, none verified. Maybe he owns the Cinnabon where 'Gene', aka Saul Goodman now works.
This centrifuge thingy was called 'Die Glocke' (the bell) because of its shape. UFO folks posit that it was the same thing that plowed up a wooded area in Kecksburg, PA back in the '60's. It just gets deeper from there. Take a flashlight and some string.