days later Karen received the personal file on Jenny from the human resources department and called me back to London to look at it. It would have been so much easier if everything was computerised as things are today, it would have save me so much travel. I read it briefly as there wasn’t much I could do alone. I took it to a specialist department that could do an even more thorough job at checking her out. I requested under the strongest terms that their investigations came to me and only me first, which they agreed, with little explanation from me as to why I was asking. There could be multiple reasons for this and it wasn’t their job to ask, only to do the work I requested and give me the completed work. I didn’t know why but I had a hunch, a huge hunch, that Jenny wasn’t all that she appeared, lovely as she was.
I went with Karen to the in-house library. This was more of a depository of knowledge and data rather than a reading library. Two people working together could find far more information than one and Karen knew her way around this place far better than me. I wanted all kinds of stuff, Argentinian census results, maps, anything demographic to try to figure if new villages or towns had sprung up in the period from 1943 to more recent times. I wanted anything on the Argentinian scientific development, I knew some Germans had gone to live there by invitation to work on rocket development.
Picture 2. A typical document I had to read and collate information from to form a coherent database.
We found documentation on Operation Paperclip and Operation Overcast. There was a Project Safehaven which seemed to be tied into what we looking for. All in all, it became apparent there was plenty of reading for me to do and learn. None of this stuff was likely ever taught in Rickmansworth Grammar School lessons that I attended. After a few hours, we had a trolley loaded with documents, reports, papers, and books. All this would take a while to sift through and Karen kindly volunteered to help day and night.
I have to stress that I treated this project as a side-line and worked on this in whatever spare time I could find. I continued to work on my normal activities and I did not allow this to interfere with the work I was doing at that time. But for the purposes of this book, my normal work is not of any relevance to this story so I do not include it here.
Very soon it was clear to me many Nazis were running and hiding all over the world, I suppose that is a natural thing to do to escape trial or whatever they thought may happen if they stayed in Germany. Their escape was via what has been called “Ratlines”.
"Ratlines" were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in Southern America, particularly Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States and Switzerland.
There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome to Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together. The ratlines were supported by clergy of the Catholic Church, and there are claims this was supported by the Vatican. Indeed evidence would soon arrive to confirm this.
The important realisation to me was that we could find so many records regarding this topic in MI6 archives. To me, this meant whatever happened after the war British Intelligence knew full well of it. If there were any clues, I became more determined to find them and cross-check by other means, to confirm the truth rather than rely on what may be false news or information. At this point, I had no idea how I would make the cross-checks, but I was hoping to come across actual witnesses that may be in a position to talk, if not to me but through an agent I would set up if necessary.
Soon, I decided as we were finding so much information, we had to narrow the spectrum and refine the search to just Hitler, or our work would become endless because there was just too many escaped Nazis.
So, before I get too deep into my work to find Hitler, in case you are not aware of the official story I’ll give you a short history lesson as we know it.
The Alleged End to Adolf Hitler
By early 1945, Germany was on the verge of total military collapse. Occupied Poland had fallen to the advancing Soviet Red Army, who had crossed the River Oder to capture Berlin. German forces had recently lost to the Allies in the Ardennes Offensive, with British and allied forces, mainly Canadian, crossing the Rhine into the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. American forces in the south had captured Lorraine and were advancing northwards. German forces in Italy were withdrawing north, as they were pressed by the American and Commonwealth to advance across the River Po and into the foothills of the Alps.
Hitler retreated to his Führerbunker in Berlin on 16th January 1945. It was clear to the Nazi leadership that the battle for Berlin would be the final battle of the war in Europe. Some 325,000 soldiers of Germany's Army were surrounded and captured on 18th April, leaving the path open for American forces to reach Berlin. By 11th April the Americans crossed the River Elbe, 62 miles to the west of the city. On 16th April, Soviet forces to the east crossed the River Oder and commenced the battle for Berlin on that side. By 19th April, the Germans were in full retreat, leaving no front line. Berlin was bombarded by Soviet artillery for the first time on 20th April, which was also Hitler's birthday. By the evening of 21st April, Red Army tanks reached the outskirts of the city.
At the afternoon situation conference on 22nd April, Hitler suffered a total nervous collapse when he was informed that the orders he had issued the previous day to counterattack had not been obeyed. Hitler launched a tirade against the treachery and incompetence of his commanders which culminated in a declaration that the war was lost. Hitler announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself. Later that day, he asked his SS physician about the most reliable method of suicide. It was suggested the "pistol-and-poison method" of combining a dose of cyanide with a gunshot to the head. Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring learned about this and sent a telegram to Hitler asking for permission to take over the leadership of the Reich following Hitler's 1941 decree naming him as his successor. Hitler's secretary Martin Bormann convinced Hitler that Göring was threatening a coup. In response, Hitler informed Göring that he would be executed unless he resigned all of his posts. Later that day, he sacked Göring from all of his offices and ordered his arrest.
By 27th April, Berlin was cut off from the rest of Germany. Secure radio communications with defending units had been lost; the command staff in the bunker had to depend on telephone lines for passing instructions and orders, and public radio for news and information. On 28th April, Hitler received a BBC report, the report stated that Heinrich Himmler had offered to surrender to the Western Allies. The offer was declined. Himmler had implied to the Allies that he had the authority to negotiate a surrender, and Hitler considered this treason. That afternoon, Hitler's anger and bitterness escalated into a rage against Himmler. Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest.
By this time, the Red Army had advanced to the Potsdamer Platz, and all indications were that they were preparing to storm the Chancellery. This report and Himmler's treachery prompted Hitler to make the last decisions of his life. Shortly after midnight on 29th April, he married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the Führerbunker. Hitler then hosted a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife, after which he took Secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament.
On the afternoon of 29th April, Hitler learned that his ally, Mussolini, had been executed by Italian partisans. The bodies of Mussolini and his mistress had been strung up by their feet. The corpses were later cut down and thrown into the gutter, where they were mocked by Italian dissenters. These events may have strengthened Hitler's resolve not to allow himself or his wife to be made a spectacle, as he had earlier recorded in his testament. Doubting the efficacy of the cyanide capsules distributed by his SS physician, Hitler
