Jones, Cyril The Hunt for Hitler

How I Discovered the True Story of The Führer’s Fate

Why did the Soviet Union withhold the facts surrounding Adolf Hitlers death at the end of World War II? Australian documentary filmmaker Cyril Jones offers a fascinating insight into how one woman found the courage to defy the Soviet bureaucracy and bring the truth to the Westand how his groundbreaking documentary on the "Führers" death made this possible. The Soviets were hesitant and reluctant to release information about the events inside the Berlin Reich Chancellery bunker in 1945; it was Elena Rzhevskaya who unlocked the archives. As a Russian military interpreter, Rzhevskaya was the first to speak with the people remaining in the bunker just minutes after Soviet soldiers had captured it. Her first question to them was: "Where is Hitler?" When told he was dead and his body had been burned, she demanded to know the location of the remains. She set out to solve the mystery of the "Führers" death, but no sooner had she uncovered the full story than the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered her to "keep her mouth shut." He wanted to keep the secret to himself. Consequently, the Western Allies were fed lies; it was even claimed that Hitler might still be alive. It took another twenty years of research for the truth to come to light. Rzhevskaya herself played a pivotal role in this; she made it her mission to unravel the mystery and inform the world of Stalins duplicity. In this book, Cyril Jones recounts how he managed to obtain previously unpublished footage from Soviet and Russian archivesmaterial that helped clarify the facts. The author also shares details of his conversations with Elena Rzhevskaya and sheds light on the path she took to tell the true story. "The Hunt for Hitler" expands our understanding of those momentous days following the end of World War II and offers a compelling insight into the circumstances surrounding the fate of Hitlers remains, as the Cold War descended upon Europe with icy severity.