Did Hitler Live Before World War II: The Story of Doppelgangers and Theories Around Them

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Do rulers use doubles? Ever since the days of Ancient Rome and Byzantium, few have doubted the positive answer. But how far can the “role” of the ruler's double go and where does the copy go if the original dies? This is the question that gives rise to many conspiracy theories.

Non-Hitler and Non-Stalin

Most of all - in the historical aspect - people are worried about the doubles of two opposing dictators of the twentieth century, Hitler and Stalin. Many are even sure that instead of Hitler, his double died - since a man very similar to the late Fuhrer was seen later in Argentina. However, another version would be more likely to be true: after the death of the Fuhrer, the double was not at all able to remain in Germany, and he hid in the New World, trying to forget the Third Reich and lead an extremely inconspicuous life.

True, another cryptological version grows from here. As you know, many Nazis were hiding in Argentina. There are hotheads who claim that in one place they gathered in order to … arrange a "German coup" (there are quite a few Germans in the New World), using Hitler's double as a "miracle survivor" of the Fuhrer. But this version is not seriously considered, it seems, in general, not a single special service or a scientist who is deeply interested in the issue.

Whether the real Hitler was killed or only a double was a question that immediately arose before the Soviet Union. Stalin was determined to pursue the Fuhrer and get him out of the ground, if it turns out that he was still alive, in order to arrange a show of international court over him. Therefore, the remains from the bunker were studied and re-studied. It is known that Hitler's dentist first announced that she recognized his prostheses, and after her release, she recanted her testimony. In 2017, the French carried out an additional examination, again coming to the conclusion that it was Hitler who died in the bunker. Or, at least, the same person who was treated with teeth as Hitler and at the beginning of the war - because there is a completely crazy theory that Hitler was actually eliminated in 1938 and everything further happened without his participation.

As for Stalin, it is believed that he began to think about the selection of a double or several because of the assassination of Kirov. According to one of the conspiratorial versions, Stalin's main double - also with a damaged hand, an accountant from Vinnitsa - was secretly brought to the Moscow region, and his family was shot, just in case. He also (like other doubles) underwent plastic surgery - they inflicted smallpoints on his face and began to show him at all public events where too many had to see the leader close.

Opponents of conspiracy theories believe that if Stalin used his twins, then only where he stood as far from the public as possible - because close to an attentive person it would have been striking that the double's hand is healthy (it is very difficult to mutilate it in the right way), and pockmarks not so easy. The purpose of using doubles was both the fear of assassination attempts, for which a mass event is very convenient, and the relief of Stalin's load, who, in his old age, began to suffer from problems with blood vessels and tolerate noise worse.

The main doubles of the leader are called the Dagestani actor Dadaev, who played Stalin in the cinema, Christopher Golshtab and that very Vinnytsia resident Yevsey Lubitsky.

Another version with Stalin's doubles, expressed in the book "Stalin's Doubles" published in 1999 - that after 1934 it was impossible to find a single real photograph of the leader, since after 1934 he no longer existed - he was killed. From now on, the factions of the Communist Party, constantly fighting with each other, ruled, and Stalin was simply "presented to the people." This version does not fit well with the memories of Svetlana Alliluyeva about her father. It is hard to imagine that an eight-year-old girl at the time of the alleged murder could not distinguish a stranger's uncle from her father - Stalin often visited his family, talked with children, the double would be sure to be distinguished by some household trifle.

Why does Yeltsin need a double?

Journalist Anatoly Baranov argued that Yeltsin's counterparts were prepared with the help of plastic surgery (including removal of the phalanges of the fingers) and hypnosis, so that they really considered themselves Yeltsin. Those who did not succeed in conveying the president's facial expressions were killed as unsuccessful specimens, and cremated there. Yuri Mukhin, the author of the book "The Yeltsin Code", does not agree with him too much - he draws attention precisely to the different facial expressions of the twins and the original.

Both of them, however, agree that Yeltsin died before it was officially recognized. Baranov calls the date of death 1999, Mukhin - 1996. According to Mukhin, Yeltsin's daughter Tatyana Dyachenko personally prepared the twins. It is usually believed that they were needed for a while, while the oligarchs decide who will be officially the next president, but skeptics remind of Boris Nikolayevich's terrible alcoholism, the constantly associated embarrassment and are sure that the doubles were used during hard drinking or treatment after hard drinking under a dropper. And the famous phrase “I'm tired, I'm leaving” was nevertheless uttered by the real president.

Was Kennedy assassinated?

It is believed that many of the leaders of the twentieth century did not appear before the eyes of television viewers and reporters in person. For example, they claim that Kennedy and Saddam Hussein had doubles - guess if they killed the original or a copy. Moreover, according to the assurances of American intelligence, Hussein had about a dozen doubles, and forums in the United States are still discussing how they accidentally saw the aged Kennedy - though not now, when it would be possible to film him on the phone, but in distant childhood …

He used Mao Zedong's doubles - and, although the "Great Helmsman" died long ago, his doubles are still willingly appear before reporters, and the most similar is … a woman named Cheng Yang.

Some believe that Osama bin Laden's double was killed, and he himself became the president of the United States under the name of Barack Obama. It is not easy to prove the opposite right off the bat, because most of bin Laden's face was hidden by a beard, and it is easy to make the nostrils wider or already old cinematic

Substitutes of the Russian tsars

Nicholas I had a completely official double, whom he, without hiding, kept near him - for obvious reasons it was a Russified German, Vladimir Adlerberg. Vladimir and Nikolai were so similar that the first was even considered the illegitimate brother of the second. The double was used only when presented to the people at all kinds of gatherings. After the death of the emperor, he tried to publish a memoir about his service, but Alexander II forbade their publication.

By the way, Adlerberg's son was a double with the son of Nicholas (the very same Alexander II) and after his murder he left to live in Europe - which gave rise to rumors that the double was killed, and the king was simply tired and decided to start life from scratch, away from terrorists.

Nicholas's grandmother, Empress Catherine, surrounded herself with a large number of maids of honor and especially welcomed those who were very similar to her - fortunately, a thick layer of cosmetics, which was in fashion, as well as a corset and a wig, made it possible to make an amazing resemblance out of a strong resemblance. Allegedly, she sent these maids of honor in her dress to some of the politically influential lovers in order to encourage them to be close to the empress. The fact was that political influence came to men along with age, weight and shortness of breath, and Catherine liked younger men.

Not only the powerful have doubles: 15 star couples who are so similar that they could play each other in a movie.