Although there is no evidence that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler used look-alikes as political decoys during his life, some dubious stories propagated before his demise alleged his death and replacement with an imposter. Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet Union variously claimed that multiple bodies resembling the dictator were found. Contrarily, Western scholars conclude that the bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were burned to near ashes, with only their dental remains confirmed to have been found.
The most prominent evidence of any Hitler double is Soviet footage of a toothbrush moustache-wearing body identified as Gustav Weler ostensibly found in the garden of the Reich Chancellery. Weler was said to have worked in the Chancellery, perhaps as a cook. Conspiracy theorists have cited this body as an example of alleged evidence that Hitler escaped Germany.
Background
The 1939 book The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler alleges that the Nazi Party used four people as doubles for Hitler, including the author, who claims that the real dictator died in 1938 and that he subsequently took his place. The book was considered farcical in the year of its release and cannot be considered as being remotely reliable. In 1939, the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), while admitting that the book has "practically no direct evidence of authenticity", defended it by citing the purported 1938 death of Julius Schreck () as support for Hitler's use of doubles. The NEA claimed that Schreck was Hitler's chauffeur until 1934, and was riding in the back of a car being driven by Hitler, and took a bullet from a would-be Hitler assassin who did not expect Hitler to be driving. In fact, Schreck died in May 1936 after developing meningitis.
In late April 1945, Stockholm's "Free German Press Service" circulated a rumor that a Hitler double named August Wilhelm Bartholdy, supposedly a former grocer from Plauen, was called to Berlin to be filmed dying on the battlefield in Hitler's stead. The Germans émigrés stated, "He will act as Hitler's trump card, creating a hero legend around the Führer's death, while Hitler himself goes underground." Hitler died in Berlin on 30 April, with his dental remains subsequently being positively identified.
Supporting claims
On 9 May 1945, a week after the Fall of Berlin, The New York Times reported that a body was claimed by the Soviets to belong to Hitler. This was disputed by an anonymous servant, who stated that the body was that of a cook who was killed because of his resemblance to Hitler, and that the latter had escaped. On 6 June 1945, the United Press reported that four bodies had been found in Berlin resembling Hitler, purportedly burnt by the Red Army's flame throwers. One body was considered most likely to be that of Hitler. A few days later, on Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's orders, Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov presented the official narrative that Hitler had escaped, stating, "We have found no corpse that could be [his]." In mid-1945, a Soviet major told American sources that Hitler had survived and claimed his body was not found burned in the Reich Chancellery garden, "It is not true that Hitler was found there! Our experts have established that the man found here didn't look like Hitler at all. And we didn't find Eva Braun either!" During their Soviet captivity, Schutzstaffel (SS) valet Heinz Linge, SS guard Josef Henschel, and Hitler's pilot Hans Baur were interrogated about whether Hitler escaped by leaving a body double. From 1951 to 1972, the tabloid National Police Gazette ran stories asserting that SS physician Ludwig Stumpfegger had switched out a double for Hitler to help the dictator fake his death.
In 1963, author Cornelius Ryan interviewed General B. S. Telpuchovski, a Soviet historian who was allegedly present during the aftermath of the Battle of Berlin. Telpuchovski claimed that on 2 May 1945, a burnt body he thought belonged to Hitler was found wrapped in a blanket. This supposed individual had been killed by a gunshot through the mouth, with an exit wound through the back of the head. Several dental bridges were purportedly found next to the body, because, Telpuchovski stated, "the force of the bullet had dislodged them from the mouth". In his 1966 book, The Last Battle, Ryan describes this body as that of Hitler, saying it had been buried "under a thin layer of earth". Telpuchovski had said there were a total of three Hitler candidates which had been burnt, apparently including a body double wearing mended socks, which he described as being in "remnants". Ryan quotes him as saying, "There was also the body of a man who was freshly killed but not burned."