The FBI document on the right claims Hitler fled to Argentina[PA]

An amazing cache of files shows that J Edgar Hoover’s FBI took claims of Hitler’s survival seriously and a team was assigned to exploring scores of tip offs.



The astonishing documents detail how an Argentinean fugitive claimed he helped Hitler, two women and other Germans disembark from a submarine in the South American country approximately two and half weeks after the fall of Berlin in April 1945.



Hitler and his companions then went by horse pack to the foothills of the southern Andes, and the plan was for the 50-strong group to move in with German families in villages in the area.

The first page of the FBI files [FBI]

If you will go to a hotel in San Antonio, Argentina, I will arrange for a man to meet you there and locate the ranch where Hitler is. FBI informant

The Argentinian informant, who gave the information over to the US authorities hoping to get asylum in return, is not named in the papers.



But he does give a description of Hitler to a journalist for the Los Angeles Examiner on July 29 1945, saying the Nazi "is suffering from asthma and ulcers, has shaved off his moustache and has a long 'but' on his upper lip".



The informant even gave directions to Hitler's whereabouts, and said: "If you will go to a hotel in San Antonio, Argentina, I will arrange for a man to meet you there and locate the ranch where Hitler is.



"It is heavily guarded of course, and you will be risking your life to go there."



The information found its way to legendary FBI chief J Edgar Hoover, who forwarded it the War Department.

Another document from the FBI files [FBI]

But in a file dated September 21, 1945, and marked “Hitler Hideout” agents concluded: “Because of the lack of sufficient information...it is believed impossible to continue efforts to locate Hitler with the sparse information to date.”



Other tip-offs to the FBI suggested Hitler was actually living in New York City, again without his moustache, while some suggested he was hiding with Nazi sympathisers in the German speaking part of Switzerland.

The grainy image said to show Hitler with his lover [ Globo]