An old guy from Salta, Argentina, claims to be Adolf Hitler, the famed German dictator, and that he has been hiding for the last 70 years.
The naturalized German immigrant says in an interview with the ultra-conservative journal El Patriota that he came in the nation in 1945 with a passport identifying him as Herman Guntherberg.
He says that his passport was forged by the Gestapo at the end of WWII, and that he is truly Adolf Hitler, the former Nazi leader.
He claims he has chosen to come out of hiding after Israel's secret services announced last year that they will no longer pursue former Nazi war criminals.
“I’ve been blamed for a lot of crimes that I’ve never committed. Because of that, I’ve had to spend more than half of my life hiding from Jews, so I’ve had my punishment already.”
The elderly man claims he’s preparing to publish his autobiography in order the restore his public image.
“I’ve been depicted as a bad guy only because we lost the war. When people read my side of the story, it will change the way the perceive me.”
He claims that his book, which will be authored under the name Adolf Hitler, will be released in September.
Many people believe Herman Guntherberg isn't actually Adolf Hitler and is suffering from dementia, including his 55-year-old wife, Angela Martinez.
Ms. Martinez alleges that her husband never mentioned Hitler until he began to exhibit indications of Alzheimer's illness roughly two years ago.
“Sometimes, he would forget who I was and where he was. He looked like he was in trance, and he would start talking about Jews and demons. Then he’d come back to normal.”
She believes her husband may possibly have been a Nazi and that he may feel guilty about his past, but she’s convinced he’s not Hitler.
Even though the old man's allegation appears to be dubious, it has generated a lively debate in Israel and among American Jews about the fate of surviving Nazi war criminals.
Mossad had previously demonstrated its ambition and worldwide reach by apprehending Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960, but it has since abandoned this objective.
In March, the Wiesenthal Center, which is still looking for and prosecuting Nazi perpetrators, publicly chastised Israel, claiming it was just 'barely complying' with its goal.
Few nations and organizations are still searching for and prosecuting surviving Nazis more than 70 years after World War II ended, and the vast majority of them will undoubtedly die without ever being held accountable for their crimes.
