Bodies found under the home of Nazi Hermann Göring, during excavations at the “Wolfsschanze”

GERMANY – A risky but particularly macabre discovery. It was in the north-east of Poland that a team of German-Polish researchers made a terrifying discovery at the end of April, under the house occupied by top Nazi lieutenant Hermann Göring within the ” Wolfsschanze.” The most important headquarters of the Third Reich during the Second World War.

As told Der Spiegelfive human skeletons were found in the ruins of the house of this Nazi leader, close to Adolf Hitler, during excavations carried out by amateur historians and archaeologists.

Among the bodies found, three belonged to adults and one to a teenager. The last body found was that of a newborn, according to data collected during forensic expertise. A more singular detail attracted the attention of researchers during this macabre find: the five bodies were devoid of hands and feet.

Corpses in the closet

The discovery of these bodies is all the more surprising since the team of researchers, led by Oktavian Bartoszewski, editor-in-chief of the magazine Religion of the Geschichte (“ Relics of history », in French) was convinced that this residence located near the village of Kętrzyn had already been explored from top to bottom.

It was upon discovering the remains of an old wooden floor that curiosity pushed them to explore the place further. It was then necessary to dig only 10 cm below the surface to come face to face with a human skull. A discovery sufficient to allow the intervention of the police, the opening of an investigation and the exhumation of the five bodies.

“ They were all lying next to each other, facing the same direction. », Explains the editor-in-chief, who adds that the remains were devoid of clothing and other personal effects. Enough to make the identification of the bodies even more difficult.

Whole mystery

At this stage, it is still too early to determine whether these human remains were placed here during the period when the Wolfsschanze (“Entrenchment of the Wolf », in French) served as HQ, or if the bodies were placed there after the end of the war for example.

However, the discovery of the first skull, near water pipes, suggests that ” those who laid the pipes should have otherwise discovered the human remains”underlines Oktavian Bartoszewski to the German newspaper.

Hermann Göring, one of the highest-ranking officials of the Third Reich, was tried at the Nuremberg Trials a few weeks after the end of World War II. Sentenced to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity in particular, the creator of the Gestapo finally committed suicide in prison in 1946, using a cyanide capsule.

As for his residence, located to the east of this immense headquarters lost in the middle of the woods, it had been burned and destroyed at the same time as the rest of the complex by the Germans at the beginning of 1945. The site is today Today preserved as a place of memory which it is also possible to visit.

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