The Death of Hitler

The story of how Brisard and Parshina were allowed into Russian archives is as compelling as the evidence of Hitler's death they were shown.Admittance to the hallowed State Archives of the Russian Federation was primarily achieved by the fame of the Russian-American Parshina. Her major achievement--the last interview with Stalin's favorite daughter, Svetlana, who was hiding out in a hospice in the United States--made her a household name in Russia. Parshina's understanding of the complex wheels of the bureaucratic Russian machine helped the authors gain access to the secret, sensitive, and complex files. Throughout their adventure in the bowels of Russian secrecy, Brisard's French identity elicited hesitation, but Parshina's quick thinking and wit always seemed to alleviate the situation. Meetings were postponed, delayed, and cancelled during their quest, which ran from early 2016 to late 2017. Their first meeting was with the director of the archives. During that meeting, they were shown the skull remains said to be Hitler's. Along with that, there were some blood-stained table legs, photos, and documents from April 1945, which Brisard was allowed to photograph. The next step was to translate the documents, including memos written to Stalin regarding the discovery of Hitler's bunker and interviews with prisoners. The ever paranoid Russians spread information among three separate services, all of which hated and distrusted each other. The authors' perseverance paid off, as they eventually succeeded with all three and got permission for a forensic scientist to examine the remains. Alternating with the story of finding the documents, they reconstruct the tale of the last days in Berlin. Ultimately, the evidence shows that Hitler died in a bunker from a self-inflicted bullet wound; he did not escape. There are still questions unanswered, and who knows when they might be allowed to be asked.The new evidence presented here makes this a must-read for students of World War II.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

September 15, 2018
How do we not have universally accepted proof of Adolf Hitler's demise? Brisard and Parshina aim to put the whole mess to bed in their exciting, convincing, The Da Vinci Code-like investigation. For those not already obsessed, Russia has long claimed the Red Army found the burned corpses of Hitler and Eva Braun in Berlin and had the skull fragment to prove it. But entire gardens of doubt have been sowed since then. One scientist insisted the skull was a fake?not even male!?and how is it conceivable Soviet forces didn't snap a single photo? Coauthor Parshina cashes in multiple Russian-influence chips to gain access to a number of off-limits Russian vaults, where archivists are suspicious and belligerent, yet cough up the skull fragment (housed in a plastic diskette case!) . . . as well as bigger surprises. The book effectively shuttles between the authors' time-squeezed investigation and the tense last days of the F�hrerbunker, revealing longstanding interagency rivalries and Stalin's dastardly use of fake news. Do the authors find a definitive answer? Yes. A hint: teeth never lie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)