Adolf Hitler’s remains were burned and dumped into an East German river by Soviet agents 25 years after the end of World War II, Interfax reported, citing Vasily Khristoforov, the Federal Security Service’s chief archivist.
The remains of Hitler, his companion Eva Braun and the family of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels were destroyed in April 1970 on the secret orders of then-KGB chief Yuri Andropov, the Russian news agency said today. Andropov went on to become Soviet leader from 1982 until his death in 1984.
The Soviets were concerned that graves of Third Reich leaders might one day attract Nazi sympathizers, Interfax said. The remains were burned and dumped into the Biederitz River, outside the eastern city of Magdeburg, according to the news service.
The Soviet army moved the bodies from near Rathenow, west of Berlin, and reburied them at a garrison in Magdeburg in 1946, Interfax said. When the facility was returned to the East German government in 1970, Andropov decided to destroy the remains.
Fragments of Hitler’s skull and jawbone are still in Russia, according to Interfax.
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