The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. (transl by Helmut Boegler). Did Hitler die in the bunker? Despite thousands of pages of evidence made public by a German federal court that spent four years investigating the circumstances surrounding Hitler’s death, the mystery of exactly what took place in the Fuehrer’s final hours continues to intrigue and puzzle many. What was his actual mental and physical state at the time? Did he fear that Himmler, who had begun negotiations with the Allies, planned to turn him over to the enemy? Could a double have really existed, allowing Hitler to escape? Time is running out for one last attempt to assess the eyewitness evidence. This expert has interviewed most of the still-living witnesses who testified at the inquiry and has studied records from Russia that were unavailable in the 1950s. The result is a careful re-examination of the state of the bunker, the corpses found at the site, the evidence of gunshots and of suicide, the attempts to make identification difficult, and the all-important dental records. Unprecedented depths of research and investigation have achieved the definitive story of the events of April 1945. This exhaustive reassessment may enable the debate to be closed after fifty years of dispute. WORLD WAR II Second World War