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Although he had been living underground in Berlin since October —_ information which the Soviets had gleaned from Heusemann, but 1942—and was reportedly destitute by the time the Soviets had been withholding, reached the West at last. On 9 July, an entered Steglitz (the quarter of the city in which he had been article by William Forrest was published in the British News hiding) on 26 April 1945—Dr Bruck was placed in a position by Chronicle that incorporated information Dr Bruck had given Heusemann to take over Prof. Blashke's surgery less than a week Forrest on 7 July. Dr Bruck obviously wanted to ensure that after they had renewed their association. This was quite a coup, Heusemann's information entered circulation, whether the Soviets for the surgery was located in Berlin's most fashionable street. liked it or not. Dr Bruck's prior relationship with Heusemann offers the only Fourth, in 1947 Dr Bruck was very nearly arrested by the plausible explanation for this cosy arrangement. Heusemann had Soviets. At that time, the Americans warned him that the Soviets worked for Dr Bruck when he was a school dentist in her home had decided to arrest him. Had he not been warned in time, they town of Liegnitz (Silesia) in the mid-1930s. She moved to Berlin would surely have succeeded and Dr Bruck would have joined in April 1937 to work for Prof. Blaschke. It is possible that, Heusemann and Echtmann in Soviet captivity. Instead, Dr Bruck knowing he would probably never return, Prof. Blaschke gave emigrated to the United States and in 1952 acquired American Heusemann the rights to the surgery after he left Berlin on 20 citizenship. (He spent the last 30 years of his life living in New April; if so, she might have considered it a good idea to secure her York under the Anglicised name of Theodor Brooke.) right to the practice in the new post-Nazi era by placing it in the The thesis that best accounts for events, therefore, is that on 4 care of a Jewish dentist she knew and trusted. May Dr Bruck struck a deal with Heusemann to ensure that the What strengthens the likelihood that this scenario accords with Soviets would believe that they had found the remains of Adolf the facts is evidence that Dr Bruck was consciously playing arole —_ and Eva Hitler. In return for services such as ensuring that the in a hoax to authenticate the alleged remains of the Fuehrer and Soviets were able to locate Heusemann and Echtmann without his wife. First, it was Dr Bruck who told Soviet investigators difficulty, Dr Bruck appears to have been rewarded with Prof. about Heusemann and Echtmann. Blaschke's Kurfuerstendamm surgery. Having established on 4 May where When the Soviets sought to arrest she lived, he was in a position to lead him in 1947—the same year them straight to her when they Dr Bruck must have known Heusemann and Echtmann were arrived at the Kurfuerstendamm in advance that it was not apparently re-interrogated about their surgery on 9 May. For by that date, . . aps claims—the Americans intervened Dr Bruck had already taken over the a question of identifying and gave him refuge in the United surgery and moved into the apartment i States. connected to it. It was obviously an intact set of teeth. Where the plan went awry, I would extremely convenient for them that It was a slip that implies suggest, is that it was based on knowledge that Heusemann had only derived from studying Adolf and Eva Hitler's dental charts (or, more likely, charts she had assumed to be those of Dr Bruck was on hand to meet them ici 4 i H when they arrived. If the surgery had participation ina conspiracy been abandoned altogether, the to deceive the Soviets. Soviets would have had to go to a good deal more trouble to track down Adolf and Eva Hitler). It is easy to anyone who apparently possessed the see how Heusemann could have been necessary competence to evaluate the alleged Hitler dental encouraged to examine them. All Prof. Blaschke had to do was evidence. Things couldn't have been made any easier for them. leave the charts and X-rays of a man who had been selected to die Second, there is a puzzling instance of foreknowledge. When the __ in Hitler's place lying around in his surgery for Heusemann and Soviet investigators arrived at the surgery, Dr Bruck seemed to Echtmann to inspect. They would have had no idea that he had now why they had come. He asked them if they were seeking to done so with a view to misleading them. At any point between identify some "fragments" they had found.“ While it would not the date that the X-rays were made—apparently they date from ave taken much by way of brains to guess they were seeking to September 1944—and April 1945, the man would have been identify a corpse, Bruck's use of the word Fragmente—which has murdered and his body stored for use when Berlin fell. The charts the exact same meaning in German as it does in English (i.e., and X-rays would then have been destroyed—an act that would fragments)—seems quite a slip. What is sometimes referred to as have reinforced the belief that the charts had been authentic. All Hitler's jawbone (i.e., in the singular) is actually a collection of four _— this could have been done without Heusemann and Echtmann fragments. Dr Bruck must have known in advance that it was not _ realising that they were being used. a question of identifying an intact set of teeth. It was a slip that However the intrigue unfolded, there is one fact that cannot be implies participation in a conspiracy to deceive the Soviets. denied: so far as anyone knows, the only person to survive the Third is the striking fact that Dr Bruck was the first person to | war who genuinely possessed the expertise to identify Hitler's reveal to Western reporters that the Soviets had called on teeth was Prof. Blaschke himself. Heusemann to identify teeth they presumed to be Hitler's. After Heusemann and Echtmann vanished into Soviet prisons in mid- Reconstructing the truth May 1945, Dr Bruck never gave up trying to pass on information Having run into a brick wall with Heusemann and Echtmann, to the West that confirmed Western suspicions that the Soviets the Soviets must have been overjoyed when in July 1945 Prof. had found Hitler's body. On 5 July 1945, two days after the Blaschke turned up in an American camp for prominent POWs. Western Allies were allowed to enter Berlin, Dr Bruck began They promptly sent him a bag containing all the necessary scouting out foreign reporters to ask if they knew anything about — equipment and ordered him to reconstruct, as perfectly as his Heusemann's fate. Although there is no reason to doubt that he memory enabled him, the appearance of Hitler's jawbone. The felt genuine concern for her safety, Dr Bruck had the opportunity result, we are told, perfectly matched the jawbone Heusemann from such contacts with foreign reporters to ensure that the had identified as Hitler's.” a question of identifying _an intact set of teeth. It was a slip that implies participation in a conspiracy to deceive the Soviets. Reconstructing the truth Having run into a brick wall with Heusemann and Echtmann, the Soviets must have been overjoyed when in July 1945 Prof. Blaschke turned up in an American camp for prominent POWs. They promptly sent him a bag containing all the necessary equipment and ordered him to reconstruct, as perfectly as his memory enabled him, the appearance of Hitler's jawbone. The result, we are told, perfectly matched the jawbone Heusemann had identified as Hitler's.” NEXUS = 43 Dr Bruck must have known in advance that it was not DECEMBER 2007 — JANUARY 2008 www.nexusmagazine.com