“The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives”, by Ada Petrova and Peter Watson

 

 180 pages, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN-13: 978-0393039146

There’s just no getting away from this son of a bitch, is there? Ah, well, here we go again: with The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives, Ada Petrova and Peter Watson were the first writers to investigate and write a book based on the then-opened Soviet archives and the “Operation Myth” files (but not the final dossier, file no. 462a, put together for Stalin and now known as “The Hitler Book”). They were the first to state in detail how the remains of Hitler, Eva Braun and the Goebbels family were disposed of by the KGB after years of speculation; they even have a chapter claiming to know who the leak was in the Berlin Bunker and go so far as to identify that person (although their conclusion may or may not be correct). The Death of Hitler was the first to show the photos of the remains of Hitler’s so-called skull (however, we now know the skull fragment is that of an unknown female).

Okay, so that was the good news. Now, then…Although The Death of Hitler is impressively packaged and appears authoritative, it’s anything but. Petrova and Watson appear to be pop historians who specialize in fiction and their weaknesses show throughout, as there is almost no basic understanding of Hitler, his life, his personality or his place in the proper historical context. The author’s arguments are poorly stated, disjointed, repetitive and not particularly convincing, and overall there’s a rushed, let’s-get-this-one-together-fast-and-have-a-vodka feel to the book. Essentially, what we’ve got going here is a refresher course on what happened in the Bunker during Hitler’s last several days. Interesting enough, but the billing on the dust jacket far exceeds what’s delivered between the covers.