Adolf Hitler died in an Argentinian hotel room in 1962 rather than in the last days of the second World War, according to a South American writer.
Abel Basti, an Argentinian journalist has accused British authors of plagiarism after their 2011 book, Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler, was released and turned into a documentary. Basti has stated that he believes his research and work were unfairly used to back up the duo’s work, which was published by New York’s Sterling Publishing.
Gerrard Williams and Simon Dusntan have claimed that Adolf Hitler, and his wife Eva Braun, followed their fellow Nazis, Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, to South America. He was allowed to enter Argentina in exchange for Nazi war technology.
They then go on to state that he was able to live out his life in Patagonia, not even coming face to face with any further conflict or hassle, until he died at the age of 73 in 1962. It’s also speculated that Braun gave birth to two of Hitler’s daughters too.
Basti has now claimed that Williams and Dunstan actually held on to hoards of evidence that he had accumulated over numerous years. Sterling Publishing’s claims that the book is the result “of five years of traveling and interviewing eyewitnesses and piecing together a mountain of evidence,” have been dismissed by Basti as a “grossly misleading statement.”
Williams and Dunstan have insisted that these claims are false. Williams told the Observer, “Basti did in no way invent the idea of Hitler being alive in Argentina. Books on the subject existed as far back as 1953 and 1987. I have never plagiarised anyone’s work.”
He then went on to note his co-author’s prestigious history in the medium, stating, “Simon Dunstan, as the author of over 50 books on military history, hasn’t either. We’re both very aware of the law.”
Williams has confirmed that he was given help by Basti, but he has also stated that the Argentinian was just one of many writers, researchers and translators to assist him in his pursuit.
Basti has argued that when funding for the project was pulled back in September 2008, he asked for his work to be returned to him, but then he never got his research back. Alongside Basti, Ricardo D’Aloia, the editorial director of Ambito Financerio, is furious that he has been cited as the man who gave the author’s evidence that belonged to Basti.
Meanwhile, historian, Guy Walters, has remarked that claims Hitler lived out his life in Argentina are “2,000% rubbish.” He added, “It’s an absolute disgrace. There’s no substance to it all. It appeals to the deluded fantasises of conspiracy theorists and has no place whatsoever in historical research.”
Do you think Adolf Hitler died in Argentina?
[Image German Federal Archives /Wikimedia]