Buruma, Ian (18. mars 2005). «God and monsters». Financial Times. «Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/69dfc1f6-95e7-11d9-ae9d-00000e2511c8 The first writer to describe Hitler’s end was the British historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper. His book, The Last Days of Hitler, published in 1947, was commissioned by British intelligence in an attempt to demystify the circumstances of Hitler’s demise. The Soviets, who conquered Berlin, were being deliberately vague about it. Trevor-Roper guessed that they were afraid that Hitler’s suicide by shooting would seem too heroic, a soldier’s death, and thus a potential source of glorification. The bunker, they seem to have worried, might easily become a place of pilgrimage. And so the Oxford historian was asked to cast his sober analysis on these matters and make sure that Hitler was truly dead, as a murderous leader and a figure of myth.»
