Did Hitler actually spend his final days here?

Bariloche is an idyllic little town and the gateway to Argentina’s Patagonia region. But there are rumours it hides a dark and evil secret.

Written by Michael Turtle

Michael Turtle is the founder of Time Travel Turtle. A journalist for more than 20 years, he's been travelling the world since 2011.

Michael Turtle is the founder of Time Travel Turtle and has been travelling full time for a decade.

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Hitler in Bariloche, Argentina

There is a rumour oft-repeated that Adolf Hitler did not die in that bunker in Berlin. As the story goes, he and Eva Braun fled to an idyllic Argentinian town after the Second World War and died there of old age.

They spent their final years on a farmstead, watching the cows graze, perhaps taking occasional strolls through the forests, and remembering the good times back in Germany when Adolf was Fuhrer.

The rumour has been written about in books as fact – published with a legitimacy most people feel is undeserved. In fact, it is actually quite ludicrous and there are many historians who have proven it to be complete nonsense.

When you’re in that town yourself, though, you can start to understand why the rumour may have started.

bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler

Bariloche (officially called San Carlos de Bariloche) is a gateway to Patagonia. It’s in the heart of Argentina but, standing there on the main streets, you could be mistaken for thinking you were somewhere in the Alps.

The city on a lake, white-capped mountains on the horizon, chocolate shops, beer taverns and a crisp fresh taste in the air. The only thing missing are the yodellers.

It’s no surprise Bariloche has been dubbed ‘Little Switzerland’.

bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler

Bariloche: Gateway to Patagonia

The mood of the town is no accident. In the 1930s, the Argentinian authorities wanted to lure more European tourists to the country. So, they established Bariloche as a hub for skiing and other mountain activities.

To make it feel more comfortable for the Europeans, they changed the architecture styles to feel more like home. The wood and stone of the towns in the Alps were replicated in the town of the Andes.

bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler

The plan worked and the area blossomed as a tourism destination. It helped that many of the residents were already from Austria and Germany.

The region began to feel like a little slice of Europe, tucked away in the middle of South America. It’s for this reason that many Nazis did find refuge here after the war and the rumours of Adolf and Eva began.

Even today, with tourists from all over the world, the European façade remains.

Signs for the local beer have cresting snow drawn over the tips of the logo; souvenir shops sell dolls of lederhosen-clad hikers; and chocolate shops name their wares with French or German names.

Scratch below the surface, though, and Bariloche is actually just as Argentinian as anywhere else in the country.

bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler

The real highlights of the town are the nearby mountains and national parks. Some of the best views of the region are from the nearby peaks.

The lakes and the islands they create fan out for 360 degrees and the scenery looks like it’s straight out of a painting. Hence my stylising of the following photos. Enjoy.

bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler
bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler
bariloche, argentina, san carlos de bariloche, adolf hitler

THE BEST ACCOMMODATION IN BARILOCHE

Although accommodation stretches out along the water to the west, I think it’s more convenient to stay in the centre of town.

BACKPACKER

Along with a waterfront view, Hospedaje Penthouse 1004 has comfortable rooms, a welcoming vibe, and a free breakfast.

BUDGET

Right next to the lake, Bella Vista has a beautiful view and wonderful staff to look after you while you enjoy it.

APARTMENT

If you would like your own space, Center Suites Bariloche has a one-bedroom apartment with a stunning view and attentive host.

LUXURY

With both lake and mountain views, Alma Del Lago Suites & Spa has comfortable beds, an indoor pool, and a free breakfast buffet.

42 thoughts on “Did Hitler actually spend his final days here?”

  1. Bariloche is one of the great names, I think – sounds so romantic and remote. With your stylised photos (and they are gorgeous), it actually looks a bit like home (Norway) 🙂

    Reply
    • The DNA test performed on Mr Hitler was that of a female. No DNA, no crime, suicide or body. When Martin Bormann was found in Berlin in 1971. Why were the clay samples from his corps not of Germany, but of Paraguay? Berlin has O red like clay that matched. There has never been a debate as to where Dr. Mengele escaped too. Or Eichmann. Sophie, the winners of any war write the history. With Hitler’s body doubles, don’t you think his dentist would replicate his mouth. The Germans were very smart and deceiving. Until DNA proves that either A.Hitty or Eva were in the bunker. Don’t believe it. The US committed war crimes by bombing Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They will civilian sites. But we get to write the history. IDC what the Germans did. Two wrongs never make a right.
      Dr Theodor Morrell stated until his last dying days that Hitler was a Sociopathic Narcissist who only cared about himself . Hitler could not not conceive killing himself said Dr Morrell. We listen to Drs all of the time unless that Dr serves a Dictator.It’s just my take. WHY HASN’T ANYONE QUESTIONED THE LACK OF DNA? Maybe, it’s easier to forget instead of reopening old wounds. I’m American by birth. But I’m both Bavarian and Sicilian. I will tell you this. Hitler misused the Jews. They were as German as he was Austrian. They should have been with the Wehrmacht in France,Poland and Russia pointing guns instead of being victims.. I blame the loss of WWI on The Kaiser and anyone else that capitulated and surrendered. THE FRENCH SHOULD HAVE BEEN CRUSHED INTO THE GROUND in WWII for Napoleons attack of Gefrees in the early 1800s and The Versailles treaty after WWI that humiliated Germany. Talk about liquidation. I would have crushed that country and later England. The Jews will always be persecuted because they are Gods chosen people. History repeats itself I do believe this

      Reply
      • He died in Berlin. Hitler’s dentist was captured after the war by the Americans. Two of his dental techs were captured by the Russians. Each independently reconstructed the details of Hitler’s dental work from memory. Their reconstructions meshed completely, and they fit with the details of the dental work on the jaw fragments attributed to Hitler AND to the skull X-rays taken of him by his doctor after the July 20 bomb attempt. Bottom line, there is solid forensic proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hitler died in Berlin. For a detailed account of the forensic exam go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b61M0H147f6RujzYQEPfE65epcoNXFN3/view?pli=1

        Reply
  2. I’m sure speculation of Hitler escaping to South America is also fuelled by the fact that many top-ranking members of the Nazis did escape to the Americas with false-documents and sometimes the help of governments like the United States to stay ahead of the Soviets. I believe Dr. Mengele was one of those escaping to South America – frightening!

    Bariloche is definitely a nice place to visit when you’re in Patagonia. I think it would have been a bit more fun to be there during ski season (we were late for that) – maybe a bit more exciting. But we had some great meals there and the surrounding areas are great for hiking if the weather is right.

    Reply
    • It’s definitely geared towards skiing. It would be great to go there in winter and hit the slopes – and then grab one of the delicious hot chocolates afterwards!

      Reply
  3. Ah, an added intrigue to this beatiful place. I can’t wait to get here and see it for myself. But I’d hope Hitler did not die here. Its too nice of a place to enjoy for a person with such a tainted history.

    Reply
  4. It’s crazy to see images of the Alpine countryside in the Andes, then again we have Helen in Georgia. Helen is an Alpine village in on the foothills of the Blueridge Mountains. I guess people will do anything for tourism!

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  5. Bariloche is sweet. I spent a week there in early January 2013. It is one hell of a place to hide. It has to be one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. I can hardly wait to go back to that area. Next time I will head southwest into Pampa Linda.

    Reply
  6. is a wonderful city with lot of social problems.
    very beautiful landscape,
    has a very old volcano CALLED CERRO LEONES that looks like a dog sleeping in the end of the lake,
    people talk about nazis ,but i saw a big picture of rabbi menachen szneerson in 2012.
    BARILOCHE IS VERY NICE .
    ONE DAY I WILL LIVE THERE.

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  7. There’s more legitimacy to the claim that Hitler lived out his life in Argentina than most want to believe. Argentinian journalist Abel Basti has written a book documenting his research on the subject. He came across at least a dozen credible eye-witnesses. His book is available in a few languages, but not yet in English. Author Harry Cooper has also published the book “Hitler in Argentina” documenting the findings of his research. Truth is stranger than fiction.

    Reply
  8. I spent several days exploring the Bariloche area, about 11 years ago, when my daughter lived in Buenos Aires. The entire area is absolutely gorgeous.

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  9. read “Grey Wolf” by Simon Dunstar and Gerrard Williams and you will get undeniable info about Hitler’s escape to Argentina

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  10. My dad told me Hitler lived here. He mentioned it many times. He said he wanted to visit family here before he died. we went to Buenos aires but never went to Bariloche. I never really believe him but he made a convincing case. He said that he died in 1962 and that the FGBI knew he was there. He said that in exchange for the atom bomb, they let him escape. I don’t know what to think but it was the war and anything was possible. Many other high ranking animals of the Hitler group seems to have survived, so why not Der Fuhrer? Whatever happed, the monster is dead!

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  11. Argentina is so much unlike other countries when it comes to migrating because back in the forties and fifties, there weren’t visas necessary to enter the country. This may be one of the reasons Nazi Germans had such an easy way entering the country. A number of them did so w/a Vatican City passport.

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  12. Why is it crazy that SOB made it to Argentina? The soviets always kept any facts of that “suicide” a mystery. In fact some say those bodies were NOT of that SOB. IF other top nazis made it, why then not the SOB himself ????

    Reply
    • It is logical that he would commit suicide. Hitler saw himself as the central figure in a real life grand Wagnerian opera. He believed that his & Germany’s fates were inextricably bound, he WAS Germany and vice versa. Both would either emerge from the war in glorious triumph or go down together in a grand blazing spectacle of ashes, ruin, and death. This was his Götterdämmerung. All or nothing, he wouldn’t live without Germany and he believed that Germany should not exist without him. Like the possessive psycho ex-husband/boyfriend who doesn’t want to live without his wife/girlfriend and doesn’t want her to live without him.

      He was never going to find the kind of power he’d had in Germany anywhere else. He was on top of the world for a time, where do you go from there? What was there for him to escape to? Hiding out in some South American backwater, fearing for his life? At some point he would have had to make a choice: live in fugitive exile as an impotent remnant of the conqueror he once was, watching the world leave him behind, or die s the Fuhrer of Germany.. Is that so hard to accept?

      He died in Berlin. Hitler’s dentist was captured after the war by the Americans. Two of his dental techs were captured by the Russians. Each independently reconstructed the details of Hitler’s dental work from memory. Their reconstructions meshed completely, and they fit with the details of the dental work on the jaw fragments attributed to Hitler AND to the skull X-rays taken of him by his doctor after the July 20 bomb attempt. Bottom line, there is solid forensic proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hitler died in Berlin. For a detailed account of the forensic exam go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b61M0H147f6RujzYQEPfE65epcoNXFN3/view?pli=1

      Reply
  13. The British newspaper “Daily Mail” said that supporters of the “conspiracy theory,” which is of course the Jews” about the escape of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to Argentina, should reconsider their belief and review their information. Supporters of this theory believe that on April 30, 1945, Hitler escaped from his hiding place in Berlin and arrived in Argentina, where he remained hidden on a farm. And the British newspaper stated that millions of people from different countries of the world believe this “lie,”  which is derived from the famous history book “The Escape of Adolf Hitler,” which was based on the promotion of this idea by the Jews, of course.

    There have been many TV shows and books that have treated this hypothesis as historical fact, including the documentary “Hitler: The Great Escape” and the movie “The Truth about Hitler’s Escape from Berlin.” This theory prompted a team to investigate the matter, including a former CIA officer, a war crimes investigator, and a historian of World War II events.

    A recent book by its author (Luke Daly Groves) revealed the truth of this theory, after examining hundreds of American and British intelligence files. The author came to the expected conclusion: Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and did not visit any of the countries he promoted.

    The book says that the Russians took the lead in investigating Hitler’s suicide after discovering the remains of two charred bodies.
    Autopsies revealed that one of the bodies belonged to a male between the ages of 50 and 60, while the second body belonged to a female (his wife), whose age ranged from 30 to 40 years. The doctors who supervised the operation later confirmed that the two bodies belonged to Hitler and his wife, denying the hypothesis that they had escaped to another country. But the Jews are still fabricating lies, rumors, and imaginary pretexts because of their entry into Argentina, and their goal is revenge, killing, and the liquidation of innocent, peaceful Germans.

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    • The skull fragment the Russians claimed belonged to Hitler was, in fact, NOT Hitler according to DNA analysis! Not Hitler!!

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      • That skull fragment was recovered from the vicinity of the burial pit a year after the war. It was not attached to a body, nobody involved in its recovery ever claimed it was his. It’s a red herring, it proves nothing.

        He died in Berlin. Hitler’s dentist was captured after the war by the Americans. Two of his dental techs were captured by the Russians. Each independently reconstructed the details of Hitler’s dental work from memory. Their reconstructions meshed completely, and they fit with the details of the dental work on the jaw fragments attributed to Hitler AND to the skull X-rays taken of him by his doctor after the July 20 bomb attempt. Bottom line, there is solid forensic proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hitler died in Berlin. For a detailed account of the forensic exam go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b61M0H147f6RujzYQEPfE65epcoNXFN3/view?pli=1

        Reply
        • Hey Jess, you sem to be on a sort of crusade regarding this. You use the same reference to support your argument. Can I ask what your qualifications are? Are they Scientific and/or History.
          Or are you just someone like most others here that has formed an opinion that you assume everyone else MUST believe? I have Science, Education and History qualifications, and a main idea with all of them is never close the mind. History and Science are only the best guess of what we know now. History is written by the victors and CAN be rewritten in the future when we gain more knowledge and understanding of the world around us.

  14. Rather racist comments there, Hitler died in 1945 but books etc about a possible escape are in testing and good for the tourist industry, lots of nazi’s did escape and that’s the real story and leave the Jewish people out of it!

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  15. Hitler had unlimited funds and a need for power. To think he just called it a day with that many resources to escape ANYWHERE in the world is hard to believe. There’s more evidence that he escaped to Argentina than there is he committed suicide in Germany. But then again, the Left have their own rules on what’s “fact” and what’s not, labeling anyone or anything that goes against THEIR opinion as “conspiracy”. I’ve come to the point that ANYTHING the Left says is fact, is actually false.

    Reply
    • He died in Berlin. Hitler’s dentist was captured after the war by the Americans. Two of his dental techs were captured by the Russians. Each independently reconstructed the details of Hitler’s dental work from memory. Their reconstructions meshed completely, and they fit with the details of the dental work on the jaw fragments attributed to Hitler AND to the skull X-rays taken of him by his doctor after the July 20 bomb attempt. Bottom line, there is solid forensic proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hitler died in Berlin. For a detailed account of the forensic exam go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b61M0H147f6RujzYQEPfE65epcoNXFN3/view?pli=1

      Reply
  16. Once upon a time , Bariloche was an incredible place…until kirchnerismo and their false mapuches made it a war zone.
    Marxism “soldiers” has occupied this territory , with the approval of the government.

    Reply
  17. The Catholic Church gave documents that allowed Nazis to escape to to South America. A Church in the western United States was hiding a person from Peru that looked exactly like Adolf. I believe it was about the money.

    Reply

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