[HN Gopher] Hitler's Teeth Confirm He Died in 1945 (2018)
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Hitler's Teeth Confirm He Died in 1945 (2018)
        
       Author : rmason
       Score  : 56 points
       Date   : 2022-04-14 19:01 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
        
       | TazeTSchnitzel wrote:
       | I was expecting this to be about radionuclides somehow.
        
       | ComradePhil wrote:
       | Russia is lying about Ukraine at the moment but the Soviet Union
       | was telling the truth and only truth when it was attacking
       | Germany in 1945? OK.
        
         | sofixa wrote:
         | It certainly fits all that we know about Hitler and his his
         | last days, and the Soviets had zero reason to lie about Hitler,
         | they hated his guts.
        
       | endisneigh wrote:
       | I've always wondered about these sort of studies. If I gave these
       | people a tooth they'd be able to figure out my current age
       | accurately?
        
         | fnordpiglet wrote:
         | They used chain of custody of the teeth to establish time of
         | death. They used the dental records to establish they were the
         | same teeth as Hitlers.
        
           | WJW wrote:
           | Not that I have any reason to doubt it, but is there a chain
           | of custody for the dental records too? Also do we have a
           | chain of custody proving the keepers of the chain of custody
           | were themselves trustworthy? etc etc etc
           | 
           | A fool can ask more questions than even the wise can answer,
           | which is why conspiracy theories are so persistent.
        
       | DoreenMichele wrote:
       | Eh, the bodies were burned on purpose to prevent public
       | desecration. Then officials apparently seeded the idea of his
       | escape.
       | 
       | This will never be put to rest. It's a little like that scene in
       | Terminator where the shrink says something like "It's brilliant.
       | It doesn't require a shred of proof!"
        
       | pastor_bob wrote:
       | Apparently Russians have his skull. Can't they just do DNA
       | analysis?
        
         | andai wrote:
         | I seem to recall DNA analysis on Hitler's skull (in Russia?)
         | showed the skull belonged to a woman.
         | 
         | https://phys.org/news/2009-09-hitler-skull-woman-scientists....
        
         | jjtheblunt wrote:
         | They would need a family member to compare similarity with;
         | does such exist?
        
           | lb1lf wrote:
           | I believe Hitler's relatives made an oath to let the family
           | die out, not having any children - but presumably there are
           | remains to be dug up if you really want to put the case to
           | death (pun intended).
           | 
           | Additionally, surely there must be objects with excellent
           | provenance containing Hitler's DNA?
        
             | mardifoufs wrote:
             | Why would they do that assuming it's true? That's a bit
             | fucked up to be honest but I guess the feeling of guilt can
             | be overpowering. And I can't really imagine a better reason
             | for feeling guilty than being related to Hitler (even if
             | it's irrational, considering at least some of his family
             | members barely had any contact with him)
        
               | sammalloy wrote:
               | > Why would they do that assuming it's true? That's a bit
               | fucked up to be honest but I guess the feeling of guilt
               | can be overpowering.
               | 
               | This kind of agreement is incredibly common in families
               | with histories of mental illness, drug abuse,
               | criminality, and other major issues. I know dozens of
               | people who have all agreed to never have children for
               | this and various other reasons, and half of them are in
               | long-term, committed relationships or married. I don't
               | see it as "fucked up" at all; these people are trying to
               | be socially responsible for their progeny, some of which
               | may have a genetic predisposition towards bad behavior.
               | The philosophy of movements like antinatalism and
               | childfree are rooted in these ideas and seek to make the
               | world better with less humans.
        
           | rightbyte wrote:
           | He had a half-brother, Alois Hitler, that has living
           | descendants.
        
       | The_rationalist wrote:
        
       | andai wrote:
       | (2018)
        
       | 8bitsrule wrote:
       | Hitler's _body_ died in 1945. Ideas can live longer.
        
         | hatware wrote:
         | What about CLONES?
        
           | The_rationalist wrote:
        
           | jjtheblunt wrote:
           | A technology that came fifty years later?
        
             | beej71 wrote:
             | Or _did_ it?
        
               | jjtheblunt wrote:
               | :)
        
       | archhn wrote:
        
         | DoreenMichele wrote:
         | _I 'm sure my comment will be deleted because only offical
         | narratives are permitted here._
         | 
         | It might get flagged to death by users but unless _you_ delete
         | it, it 's unlikely to be deleted.
         | 
         | You might try using your "I see dead comments" goggles to fact
         | check this assertion.
        
           | hatware wrote:
           | I can't see what they've typed.
           | 
           | Pretty eerie.
        
             | Sanzig wrote:
             | Go to your user profile -> showdead=yes -> update.
             | 
             | You're not missing much in this case.
        
           | archhn wrote:
        
             | [deleted]
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | > "The teeth are authentic, there is no possible doubt. Our study
       | proves that Hitler died in 1945," Philippe Charlier, lead author
       | of the study in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, tells
       | AFP. "We can stop all the conspiracy theories about Hitler. He
       | did not flee to Argentina in a submarine, he is not in a hidden
       | base in Antarctica or on the dark side of the moon."
       | 
       | It's pretty naive to think that a study like this one will do
       | anything to shut up conspiracy theorists. You verified the dental
       | records? Well teeth on the body could be easily altered. How are
       | you sure of the records in the first place? Hospitals didn't have
       | good record keeping in the early 1900s, so chances are you don't
       | have the original data. Oh and why should we trust this "expert"?
       | He's probably working with the establishment.
       | 
       | And so on and so forth..
        
         | oh_sigh wrote:
         | The fact that the records are so well known would also mean
         | someone could create a fake set, using teeth and materials
         | scavenged from the time
        
           | braziljunge wrote:
           | Alternatively, one could assume a false record for dentistry
           | matching to someone else.
           | 
           | At a nation-state level, this would certainly be a reasonable
           | level of "attack." Could come either from German or Soviet
           | assets, both having possible motive.
           | 
           | One wonders how the Bin Laden disposal will play in the
           | future. Perhaps similarly...
        
         | TeeMassive wrote:
         | Why Hitler escaping a "conspiracy theory"? A leader of a losing
         | country fleeing for his life is not a far fetched hypothesis,
         | especially given how the US actively recruited Nazis through
         | Operation Paperclip and Operation Gladio for scientific and
         | non-scientific purposes.
         | 
         | I understand and agree that this study seems to put this
         | question to rest (I would like to read the actual study tho)
         | but just using the label "conspiracy theory" is simply
         | intellectual laziness and doesn't advance the conversation.
        
           | krapp wrote:
           | It's a conspiracy theory because it's a theory about a
           | conspiracy.
        
             | pessimizer wrote:
             | "Conspiracy theory" is a pejorative directed at theories
             | about conspiracies that implies irrationality or mental
             | illness.
        
               | krapp wrote:
               | Do you believe that's because there are established links
               | between mental illness and belief in conspiracy theories,
               | and many such conspiracies are irrational, or because
               | it's all a campaign by the CIA to discredit truth-seekers
               | who threaten the establishment order?
        
           | sofixa wrote:
           | Because the proof was overwhelmingly pointing at the other
           | direction. It ranges from his defeatism earlier on, multiple
           | eyewitness accounts from his last days, including his
           | refusals to evacuate (including people _begging_ him to join
           | them in running away), the official Soviet accounts, etc. And
           | around zero proof that anything else happened and he somehow
           | miraculously escaped from the surrounded Berlin. So it 's a
           | baseless conspiracy.
           | 
           | Now, what happened to the Gestapo Heinrich Muller is a
           | mystery and warrants a conspiracy theory. Highly skilled man,
           | ideologically flexible, didn't tell anybody he'd rather die,
           | and no body has been linked to be his. He's probably in a
           | mass grave in Berlin, but it's at least _plausible_ he might
           | have escaped.
        
           | Someone wrote:
           | > Why Hitler escaping a "conspiracy theory"?
           | 
           | No, but claiming Russia and/or the USA lie about his death
           | is. They likely had the the opportunity and the means to do
           | that, but what would be their motive?
        
         | 1123581321 wrote:
         | No, it does make a difference to have more information and
         | especially more incisive and clear facts that are easy to
         | present.
         | 
         | I haven't had many arguments about Hitler's death, but I've
         | pulled people away from the moon landing conspiracy theory, and
         | a bunch of others. My success rate got much better once I was
         | able to walk them through the Apollo 11 mirror and the
         | detection of it from earth. It's not perfect, but it makes a
         | difference having a single clear piece of information you can
         | offer them, especially one they hadn't considered before.
         | 
         | Consider different types of conspiracy theorists:
         | 
         | 1. Ones who copy something they vaguely heard. New information
         | is a relief to them. They don't like being on the outside. Even
         | if you are only temporarily their new source of authority,
         | convincing them of the truth is a win and you can build from
         | there. Also, you can usually find someone they regard as an
         | authority who can present the information.
         | 
         | 2. Ones who want to have inside/obscure knowledge of something.
         | Telling them a fact most people don't know is exciting. They
         | may switch to the truth just to have one up over their fellow
         | theorists. They may become your best research partner.
         | 
         | 3. Ones who have put in work to adopt conspiracy theories but
         | are genuinely confused about the story. These can be won over
         | with an abundance of factual information and analysis. So not
         | only do you mention the dental records, you show them the whole
         | paper, review the other pieces of evidence, etc. They take time
         | but the effort genuinely pays off, likely for life.
         | 
         | 4. Ones who think anyone but their unhealthy brain or true cult
         | leader is trying to deceive them. You probably can't win here.
         | But they're far from most common and you generally know if you
         | have one of these on your hands.
        
           | kurthr wrote:
           | Yeah, once you can point them to something they could test
           | themselves it becomes a bit more real.
           | 
           | Flat earthers I'm not so sure about. There are so many things
           | just by looking at the horizon or up in the sky that make it
           | absurd. I've taken to simply stating that I don't believe
           | that they really believe in a Flat Earth. They're just faking
           | it... prove me wrong.
        
             | robonerd wrote:
             | The best way to cure most flat earthers of their apparent
             | affliction is to introduce them to even more obnoxious
             | methods of trolling people. Trolly irreverence to rational
             | conversation is the big draw of flat eartherism.
             | 
             | Play chess with pigeons and they'll shit on the board, just
             | to see you wince.
        
         | hatware wrote:
         | > do anything to shut up conspiracy theorists
         | 
         | Maybe it's worth contemplating what the conspiracy _truly_ is?
         | Why keep pushing out 'proof' when it's just to convince some
         | fringe minority?
        
         | laurent123456 wrote:
         | Conspiracy theorists believe in things like the Mandela Effect
         | and the existence of alternative realities. With this, you can
         | give them all the proofs you want and they can simply claim
         | that history has been altered.
        
           | shiftpgdn wrote:
           | Just because you believe in one theory that doesn't adhere to
           | the mainstream "theory" of history does not make you a
           | complete crackpot that believes all conspiracy theories. Come
           | on.
        
             | krapp wrote:
             | If you believe in one conspiracy theory, it is more likely
             | that you will believe others, yes. It's just a matter of
             | how "out there" the conspiracy you believe in is. That
             | forms the baseline for what you consider by default to be
             | plausible.
        
             | vlunkr wrote:
             | I would argue that believing in one conspiracy theory makes
             | you much more susceptible to others, because they all
             | require a flawed type of logic. Conspiracy theorists
             | overlook large bodies of evidence and laser-focus on tiny
             | contradictions and rely on their own intuition over
             | research or listening to other experts.
        
               | shiftpgdn wrote:
               | 15 years ago believing in the NSA fiber taps made you an
               | insane conspiracy theorist. Save your judgement for
               | something else.
        
               | kurthr wrote:
               | Perhaps you could argue that in the 90s, but no it was
               | already the opposite of a conspiracy theory by 2000. The
               | idea that not a single element of the tens of thousands
               | (many TLAs) dedicated to US national security and
               | monitoring was doing fiber taps (in SF or elsewhere)
               | would imply that not a single one who had means (they
               | were known to be doing it in other countries) motive
               | (because they wanted metadata if nothing else) and
               | opportunity (National security letters were a thing even
               | then) would do their jobs. I mean... maybe at Home Depot,
               | but not in the Federal Government where you take an oath
               | to the constitution!
               | 
               | Snowden changed a few people's minds, but not the elite.
        
               | [deleted]
        
         | pyuser583 wrote:
         | When the Soviets took Berlin, they grabbed the dental
         | assistants who worked on Adolf and Eva Hitler.
         | 
         | They were able to come construct the dental work done on Adolf.
         | 
         | Eva had a rubber bridge put it. That was much more helpful in
         | identifying the bodies than any of the actual work on teeth.
         | 
         | Adolf had X-rays taken of his teeth. I'm not sure if they
         | survived the war, my off the shelf books focus on Eva, as her
         | bridge was the "aha!"
         | 
         | But Soviet intelligence spent great effort trying to hunt down
         | the dental records of the Hitler and Goebbels families.
        
         | bananamerica wrote:
         | Conspiracy theorists are usually impervious to evidence.
         | They'll simply adjust their stories.
        
         | happytoexplain wrote:
         | The word "naive" gets thrown around a _lot_ when dealing with
         | apparent expectations about apparent human irrationality. I
         | find it 's usually uncalled for. In this case, saying "We can
         | stop all the conspiracy theories" does not mean that he thinks
         | they _will_ stop.
        
         | legitster wrote:
         | The interesting thing here is there _was_ a conspiracy! At the
         | direction of Stalin, the Soviet Union knew that they had Hitler
         | 's remains but intentionally sowed the idea of his escape. And
         | we're not entirely sure why.
         | 
         | So it's a wrong conspiracy theory that has been debunked, but
         | because of a real conspiracy theory that we have evidence for.
        
         | qiskit wrote:
         | > And so on and so forth..
         | 
         | Or we could just take the word of the KGB/FSB who has lied
         | about everything. The same people who say we can't trust
         | anything from putin because he is/was a kgb/fsb agent are the
         | same ones saying we should trust their version of events
         | absolutely. Katyn massacre was rife with conspiracies too
         | because the official narrative was a lie.
         | 
         | The official narrative was that in 1970?, the kgb dug up their
         | bodies, burnt them, ground them up into fine powder and dump
         | them in a river so that nobody should visit their burial site.
         | Were there many people in the soviet union/east germany looking
         | to visit hitler's grave to pay homage? Of course not. Does that
         | kgb narrative make any sense to you?
         | 
         | Also, it's hard for me to believe that the kgb didn't keep some
         | dna material. After all, by 1970, dna was old news.
        
           | efficax wrote:
           | DNA was old news sure but using it to identify individuals
           | was only theoretical and hardly widespread knowledge, it
           | wouldn't be practical until the late 80s/early 90s...
        
       | nr2x wrote:
       | Can we get a look at Putins teeth?
        
         | trhway wrote:
         | Between his cosmetic surgeries and frequent usage of
         | doppelgangers in various situations (like even driving the
         | "opening" truck across the Crimean bridge, etc.) good luck
         | knowing whose teeth that would be. When we finally have
         | Nuremberg II for the Russian Nazism, unfortunately i'm sure
         | that would be not a real Putin there, while the real one will
         | be enjoying his billions somewhere else.
        
       | riffic wrote:
       | was this in dispute?
        
       | legitster wrote:
       | When I was younger, I loved the idea that Hitler secretly
       | escaped. I'm not sure why - it's certainly an interesting idea!
       | The theory was even mentioned often in some of my school books.
       | But even then I clearly understood that it was a pretty
       | outlandish "what if" scenario.
        
         | oscargrouch wrote:
         | i was born in a city near a german colony in the south of
         | Brazil where a lot of germans from the 20's, 30's and later
         | 40's arrived (which is unusual giving german colonies in Brazil
         | are mostly from people of the late 1800's).
         | 
         | Anyway my father swore that he saw "an old man that looked a
         | lot like Hitler without the mustache" in the 80's in that
         | colony.
         | 
         | And its funny because its like those stories about people that
         | have seen alien ships, you know is very unlikely but you never
         | stop to wonder, "what if..". Well now there's no doubt that it
         | was just a Hitler lookalike (poor man).
         | 
         | Also, one thing that always looked of in those theories is the
         | fact that a man with the psychology of Hitler would be able to
         | live a very simple life with such big regrets and big dreams
         | smashed, seeing how much he was hated (remember, he was a
         | narcissist) til old age. It always seemed unlikely to me, "not
         | like hitler", while the suicide seems much more believable.
        
         | mordechai9000 wrote:
         | This reminds of the classic Heinlein story, Rocket Ship
         | Galileo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Ship_Galileo
         | 
         | I remember the plot was a little outlandish to me even when I
         | 11 years old: All American kids team up with a brilliant
         | scientist and build a rocket to the moon, where they discover
         | and defeat a secret Nazi moon base.
        
       | rufus_foreman wrote:
       | I read somewhere that they saved Hitler's cock. Hid it under a
       | rock.
        
       | V__ wrote:
       | Thank god, I was really worried there for a second.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-04-14 23:02 UTC)