New History Channel Series "Hunting Hitler"

[Lauren Johnson]

I saw it. Frankly, I was a bit underwhelmed. They look like a bunch of serious guys: a Nazi hunter, some Special Forces guys (I think one of them was the "I shot Bin Laden" guy), a couple historian/researchers. But they didn't really give any worthwhile background. Some magical software thingy sieves through 700 pages of declassified FBI "Hitler sightings" docs and out pops a location, so they go there.

The baffled locals deny there are/were Nazis around, and the investigators conclude "they are still too scared to talk after 70 years." (I was kinda thinking that verb tenses are the first thing that gets lost in English/Spanish translations.) They found a school with a Nazi Eagle painted on it, and a Nazi former administrator; so this 80 old guy talks in Spanish about being forced to march around...but he uses the words, "eins, zwei, drei..." so it is apparent that he actually heard a German guy marching people around the school. (That was actually the high point of the show for me, but the investigation team didn't make any apparent note of that.)

They found a small concrete underground "bunker" (or "root cellar", depending on who's describing it), that may, or may not, be a common feature of Argentinian rural architecture. Previews indicate finds of larger structures, scuba diving for planes or subs, etc. It has been known for 70 years that many ex-Nazis did, in fact, take root in Argentina after the war. And the show has indeed proven that the FBI kept an open file on Hitler sightings. However, there was not a shred of anything specific to Hitler (beside the aforementioned FBI documents) in the footage.

I'm going to follow it for a while longer. Perhaps future shows will flesh out any more official or unofficial "Doubting Thomases" about the death (chief among whom appears to be Stalin himself, that bulwark of bourgeoisie credibility), and past fact-finding efforts by anyone more reputable.

Now that Hitler's alleged skull is that of a woman, it is anybody's guess. Yah, he might have made it out. There are a lot of weird things post-WWII. One of them of course was the expedition to Antarctica that went wrong.

But having said this, the show has all the makings of the Ghost hunter shows that are out now. They are a big tease designed to rope in the bored viewer. "Do you think that was a ghost?" " I don't know man, but I've got the chills like never before and my leg sure hurts." "Yah, and look at the readings on that ultra red plasma energy censor. Off the charts!!"