A former CIA operative is renewing one of the most controversial theories of the postwar era: that Adolf Hitler did not die in his Berlin bunker, but instead escaped to South America with help from the Argentinian government.
Bob Baer, a 72-year-old former intelligence officer with 21 years of espionage experience, told The Daily Mail that he expects new evidence from Argentine archives to support claims that the Nazi dictator faked his death and fled to Argentina.
According to Baer, the forthcoming documents could reveal that the South American country not only provided sanctuary for fleeing Nazis but may have actively participated in plans to build a “Fourth Reich” in the region. He also believes the records will implicate Argentine officials in shielding high-ranking Nazi fugitives and facilitating the construction of hidden compounds, including one discovered during a 2015 archaeological excavation in the Misiones province.
“Lots of money was spent on a compound with plumbing and electricity in the middle of nowhere,” Baer told The Daily Mail, referencing the 2015 dig that uncovered German WWII-era coins and other Nazi memorabilia.
“If you were going to hide Hitler, that’s where you’d do it.”
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The claim that Hitler escaped and lived in exile is not new — but it has long stood in direct opposition to the accepted historical account. Historians maintain that Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, died by suicide in April 1945 inside the Führerbunker in Berlin. Their remains, partially burned and buried, were identified by Soviet authorities through dental records.
Still, conspiracy theories have endured for decades, alleging Hitler may have used tunnels to flee the bunker, or escaped via submarine after a detour through the Canary Islands. Those claims gained renewed attention in 2009, when a DNA analysis revealed that a skull fragment preserved for decades in Moscow — long believed to be Hitler’s — actually belonged to a woman between 20 and 40 years old.
Baer referred to that finding as “one of those great mysteries in history that we’ll never get a complete answer for.”
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Despite the speculation, the CIA has declassified documents affirming that Hitler died in the bunker. Baer, however, emphasized that the agency’s interest in postwar escape reports suggests the possibility was at least seriously considered.
“The CIA is not run by the curiosity of officers in the field,” he said.
“If 10 years after the end of the war the CIA is considering these reports, whether people believe them or not, it shows there was a belief in the executive branch of the US government that Hitler may have gotten away.”
Baer is now awaiting the release of the Argentine archives, which he hopes will shed new light on what he calls a persistent and unanswered historical question.
