The Hitler regime and the Third Reich is, without doubt, one of the darkest and most brutal organizations in history. It is also one of the most intriguing. Not least how many of those involved with the Nazi party of the 1930s and 40s would go on to influence the modern world. And, in turn, how events over half a century ago share connections to conspiracies still unfolding today. Just how far advanced were some of the Nazi scientists, for example? Where did that “advanced knowledge” come from? How much of it was utilized in such secret projects as Operation Paperclip, which saw multiple Nazi scientists, and their knowledge, offered refuge in the United States? What should we make of the occult and esoteric ambitions of many high-ranking members of the regime, including Hitler?

Perhaps the most intriguing of all of these conspiracies and suggestions is that Hitler himself managed to escape the ruins of Berlin, his suicide staged for the world and the official version of history, eventually finding a haven deep in the Patagonia region of Argentina? An area more than sympathetic to the Nazi regime and a sanctuary to several high-ranking Nazis. Juan and Eva Peron, for example, two of Argentina’s most influential people, had such Nazi sympathies and would provide safe passage to numerous Nazi officials. So, with all that in mind then, why would Hitler not attempt to escape?

Barring some admission or releasing of classified documents, it is a claim that is unlikely to be proven – at least outright. There is, though, compelling arguments that the leader of Third Reich didn’t die in the Bunker in Berlin. He wouldn’t meet his fate, according to some, until much later in the twentieth century, on the other side of the world.

The Secret Tunnel Systems Out Of Berlin?

Perhaps it is first worth looking at the numerous tunnel systems reaching out from the bunker where history tells us Hitler took his own life. These systems were intricate, well-planned, and maintained, and ran right the way underneath Berlin. It is claimed that while the Allied and Soviet troops were advancing into the city, itself crumbling under the constant barrage of artillery and shell fire, Hitler and a small team of most trusted confidants were making their way through these tunnel systems on a predetermined route.

It is thought they would emerge at what is today the Luftbruke Station. Some researchers, using sonar scanning, believe the remains of these tunnels are still under the station, now built over. From here, the small team made their way to the nearby Tempelhof Airport where a private plane awaited them. Official records, incidentally, do show “increased activity” at the airfield on 21st April. This was the day after the last official sighting of Hitler.

According to the court records of his trial, the pilot of the plane that took Hitler from Berlin was former Luftwaffe pilot, Captain Peter Baumgart. He would claim that as well as Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, he had transported several other high-ranking Nazi officials out of Berlin to Tonder on the Danish coast. From there, to the best of Baumgart’s knowledge and “rumors among the troops”, Hitler’s team were destined for Argentina in South America. Before he left, Hitler had given him a personal cheque for 20,000 marks and ordered him to return to Berlin.

While we will come back to this apparent journey under the vast stretches of the planet’s oceans in a moment. First though, why was Argentina a place of safety for some of the world’s most wanted people?

Why Patagonia? And “The Real” Perons

Patagonia, the alleged ultimate destination of Hitler following the fall of Berlin was, in truth, a safehouse of sorts for Germans since the start of the 1900s. The region had a huge German population, descendants of German immigrants decades before. And, as the twentieth century progressed, the belief and acceptance of the Nazi ideology also grew. Many local schools would even teach the same education policy as Germany in the run-up to and during the war.

As the outcome of the Second World War became increasingly clear, many Nazis began to settle in the area. Furthermore, much of the region was almost independent from the rest of the country. Supplies would arrive once a week, but aside from that, the region was a law unto itself.

Perhaps part of the reason for this was Juan Peron, who very much had Nazi sympathies and leanings. At best he would turn a blind eye to the Nazi presence.

According to much research since, however, the real Nazi-sympathy lay with Eva Peron, whose appetite for jewels and riches from high-ranking Nazi officials, many of which were stolen from Jewish families as they were herded into the ghettos and then, ultimately, the concentration camps, apparently knew no bounds. Furthermore, she had genuine close relationships with many such Nazi officials. Herself and her husband often boasting to have met with Hitler personally on several occasions. Her travels to Europe shortly after the war, are said by some, to have been to finalize escape plans to Argentina for many Nazi officials – including Hitler.

The fact that she is still celebrated today, particularly by those with apparent “far-left” ideologies, shows either willful ignorance or a dark underlying sympathy. Perhaps a sympathy lost on a great many people through political blindness.

A Carefully, Purposely Pre-Planned Journey

Following their arrival at Tonder, if we accept the testimony of Captain Baumgart, Hitler, Braun, and several other Nazis would depart the northern regions of Europe en route to Argentina. A journey that would take almost three months to complete. At first, they flew to Spain courtesy of a plane from Spanish military dictator, Francisco Franco. From there they would travel to Gibraltar before heading to the Canary Islands where they would board the waiting submarines. Hitler and Eva would travel on one vessel and the remaining officers on another.

The fact that these pre-prepared “stops” were waiting and fully-supplied with fuel and other essentials, to some, demonstrates purposeful planning. Furthermore, and perhaps another nod of the hat to the influence of the Perons or the Nazi presence already in Patagonia, were similar fully-supplied make-shift ports nearer their final destination.

Incidentally, at the same time as this alleged secret mission to South America, what was left of the Nazi regime would send a small team of German submarines towards New York. Apparent intelligence would suggest this was an attempt to deliver the much-talked-about V2 weapon. The Allied Forces would monitor this group closely. All the while, paying little, if any attention, to the two submarines heading towards the south.

By the evening of 27th July 1945, three months after their “deaths” in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun would finally step off the cramped and confining submarine following its journey under the icy waves of the Atlantic Ocean, and make their way, with the assistance of a waiting German unit to the sands of Necochea Beach. The arrival, however, didn’t go completely unnoticed.

The Necochea Beach And The Secluded Farm Incidents

In the immediate hours following the alleged arrival of who at the time was arguably the world’s most wanted man, it would seem Argentinian authorities missed an opportunity to rewrite history. Or perhaps, given what we know of the country’s authorities at the time, maybe they were instructed to do so.

On the evening in question, the local police at Necochea would receive reports of “strange activity” on the beachfront. This involved flashing lights going back and forth from the beach to a little distance out on the water. They would arrest a German man on the beach. Allegedly using Morse Code to a mystery vessel off the coast. Following interrogation, the man would finally offer that the mystery vessel was a German submarine wishing to “unload” their contents.

Meanwhile, as the morning brought sufficient light, a follow-up police unit discovered suspicious markings. These would lead away from the beach suggesting that some kind of docking and unloading operation had indeed taken place. Even stranger, this unit would track this apparent arrival several miles inward and to a secluded farm. Upon entering the farm, four German soldiers, fully armed with submachine guns approached them. After a brief verbal stand-off, they would arrest the soldiers. A brief sent to the unit’s superiors requested further instruction. Remarkably, orders came back to release the prisoners, and to stand down from the property.

Might Hitler have been merely yards away at the time, inside the farmhouse? There was certainly a strong German military presence there, highly likely connected to the unloading operation on the docks. Given that weapons movements would do the regime little good, and they already have channels open to them for stolen riches, just what, or indeed who, was unloaded from the submarine that July evening in 1945?

The Eye Witness Reports

Whether Hitler did make it to Patagonia and begin a new life hidden away in the Nazi-friendly stronghold is open to debate. At least to some. There certainly are a wealth of witnesses claiming to have seen the one time Third Reich leader in the years following the war. In the book “Grey Wolf” by Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams – perhaps the most comprehensive and up to date accounts of the Hitler escape conspiracies – it recounts several of them.

For example, another transplanted Nazi supporter to Argentina from Europe was Ante Paveli. According to a carpenter working at one of Paveli’s building sites, Hernan Ancin, Hitler met with Paveli on several occasions that he witnessed in the early-1950s. Ancin would claim that Hitler no longer sported his famous mustache. And furthermore, his distinctly dark hair was now considerably greyer. In fact, the once powerful and captivating speaker of the Third Reich looked decidedly unwell and in general ill-health.

Another witness to Hitler’s post-war existence is Catalina Gomero. In the summer of 1945 she was fifteen-years-old and living another family supportive and sympathetic to the Nazi regime, the Eichhorns. She recognized the man who came to stay with them for several days as Adolf Hitler before Mrs. Eichhorn revealed their sudden guest’s identity. The young girl, fascinated by his presence, memorized his voice as he spoke to the Eichhorn family. So much so, that she feels strongly he continued to regularly call the Eichhorn property until as late as 1962. And that date, according to Williams and Dunstan’s research, is a key date in the Hitler timeline.

Did Hitler Actually Die In 1962?

As relayed in ‘Grey Wolf’, on 13th February 1962, at the age of 72-years-old and abandoned several years previously by his wife, Eva Bruan, and likewise by most of the one-time regime, Hitler died alone, in bed, in a room where Dr. Otto Lehmann would treat him over the final weeks of his life. It is from Lehmann’s medical notes that this apparent incident comes to light. According to these notes, Hitler’s health deteriorated rapidly in the January 1962. And would continue to do so until his death several weeks later.

Lehmann would claim to often hear cries of moans and anguish coming from inside the room. Cries not from pain, the doctor would suspect, but from utter despair. At what, he wasn’t sure, but he would rarely enter the room during these episodes. Hitler would eventually suffer a stroke on the 12th February causing paralysis and a comatose state. He would die less than twenty-four hours later.

Whether or not we subscribe to such claims is up to each one of us. The arguments, however, are compelling. And what’s more, several declassified documents and whistleblower statements would appear to corroborate the notion that Hitler did indeed escape war-ravaged Europe and live almost two decades away from the glare of the world in the picturesque settings of South America.

Check out the video below. It looks at the theories, claims, and conspiracies that continue to surround the one-time Nazi leader.