Files On Himmler 'Murder' Exposed As Fake

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-2-2005 | Ben Felton

[blam]

Files on Himmler 'murder' exposed as fake

By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 02/07/2005)

Documents from the National Archives used to substantiate claims that British intelligence agents murdered Heinrich Himmler in 1945 are forgeries, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today.

It seems certain that the bogus documents were somehow planted among genuine papers to pervert the course of historical study.

Himmler: Forgeries implicated Churchill in his 'murder'

The results of investigations by forensic document experts on behalf of this newspaper have shocked historians and caused tremors at the Archives, the home of millions of historical documents, which has previously been thought immune to distortion or contamination.

The allegation that the SS leader was murdered, with the knowledge of Churchill and War Cabinet ministers, appeared in Himmler's Secret War, published in May.

What made the claim stand out from other allegations over the years was that it referred to specific documents in the National Archives at Kew - usually an absolute guarantee of validity.

But after The Daily Telegraph, like other newspapers, was approached to publicise the book, the documents began to raise suspicions.

The improbability of allegations that flatly contradict the accepted fact that Himmler killed himself and the use of language in documents that read more like excerpts from a spy thriller than dry civil service memos prompted this newspaper to raise concerns with the National Archives.

Officials gave permission for documents to be taken to the laboratories in Amersham, Bucks, of Dr Audrey Giles, one of the foremost forensic document specialists.

She discovered that letterheads on correspondence supposedly written in 1945 were created on a high-resolution laser printer, technology not developed until at least 50 years later.

Signatures supposed to be those of Brendan Bracken, the minister of information and head of the Political Warfare Executive, which aimed to subvert the German war effort, were found to be written over pencil tracings.

Dr Giles also found that it was almost certain that letters from two different government departments were written on the same, authentically contemporary, typewriter.

She concluded that at least four of the five suspect documents were forgeries and probably the fifth.

The findings were communicated to the National Archives this week, where a spokesman said: "We are very concerned and have commissioned an official forensic examination of these papers."

Asked if there would be a police investigation, he said: "We are taking this one step at a time, but we are taking it very seriously."

There is no suggestion that the Archives could have prevented papers being smuggled in.

The forged documents suggest that Himmler was killed by a PWE agent called Leonard Ingrams, the father of Richard Ingrams, the former editor of Private Eye.

The assassination was the supposed idea of two senior Foreign Office men, John Wheeler-Bennett and Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart.

But it was allegedly supported by Bracken and the Earl of Selborne, the head of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the sabotage organisation set up by Churchill with the order to "set Europe ablaze".

Prof M R D Foot, the SOE official historian, said: "This story was twisting history and it will not do.

"It was obviously bogus, but I am very grateful that it has been proved to be so."

The findings of Dr Giles's examination were put yesterday to Martin Allen, the book's author. There is no suggestion that he was anything but a fall guy for the forgers.

"I think I have been set up," he said. "But I do not even know by whom. I am absolutely devastated."

He denied having anything to do with the creation of the documents.

[yarddog]

Is Himmler the one who was actually a KGB agent?

[ncountylee]

Rather strikes again!

Picks on a dead icon this time.

Churchill picked as the greatest Britt!

Realize that it wasn't Rather but it was from left field!

[skeeter]

Too bad. Somehow the thought of this punk being murdered, as opposed to choosing the means of his own end, was an appealing one.

[ReadyNow]

She discovered that letterheads on correspondence supposedly written in 1945 were created on a high-resolution laser printer, technology not developed until at least 50 years later.

Dan Rather in England!

[rbg81]

My thoughts exactly. His "murderer" deserves a medal.

[mainepatsfan]

I've heard allegations against Bormann but never Himmler.

[mainepatsfan]

The bastard deserved nothing less.

[yarddog]

I've heard allegations against Bormann but never Himmler.

I actually thought of Bormann when I wrote that but still Himmler sounded right. Not sure, but I am sure that one of the top Nazi's is now pretty much known to have been a Russian agent.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[CondorFlight]

"She discovered that letterheads on correspondence supposedly written in 1945 were created on a high-resolution laser printer, technology not developed until at least 50 years later."

Nevertheless, they are "fake but accurate"!

[editor-surveyor]

"Is Himmler the one who was actually a KGB agent?"

There was no KGB then, it was the NKVD (what's in a name?)

[knarf]

Amersham laboratories, Bucks
Dr Audrey Giles

Audie,

I know you're busy darlin', but I really need your help.

Look over these papers in an 'official' manner and especially the fonts used.
I think you'll find some interesting descrepencies.

Thanx love ... and ... oh yeah,
About Saturday night?
Pick y'up about eightish.
Dress for dinner, dancing and ... um ... later.

Buckhead.

[familyop]

...related:

Cruel Britannia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1434659/posts

[KneelBeforeZod]

[Logophile]

The allegation that the SS leader was murdered, with the knowledge of Churchill and War Cabinet ministers, appeared in Himmler's Secret War, published in May.

Murder is the unlawful killing of a person (usually with malice aforethought). Killing an enemy leader is wartime hardly qualifies.

[elcid1970]

Excuse me, let me get this straight. We are concerned, somehow, that this murdering Nazi pig was himself put to death!!!? Who, but who, gives a tinker's dam?

You mean, George W. Bush was somehow to blame? Oh, the humanity....!

[The Duke]

Himmler	Higgens
You make the call!

[catonsville]

We love conspiracies, particularly if they involved the Hitler and his henchmen.. There are still those who believe The Fuhrer escaped from his Berlin bunker.

Himmler is involved in another bizarre theory. About the recent book, "The Strange Death Of Henrich Himmler"

FROM AMAZON

On May 23, 1945, SS leader Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while in British custody, thus escaping trial and execution for war crimes. Or did he? British surgeon and forensics expert Hugh Thomas looks at the evidence and offers a surprising--and controversial--scenario.
Available evidence is sketchy, and it doesn't help that the British government is keeping the files on the Himmler case sealed until 2045. Still, Thomas suggests, on the strength of forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony, that Himmler's presumed corpse was in fact that of another person. And as for Himmler? It is unlikely, Thomas believes, that Himmler could have fallen by accident into Allied hands; Thomas suggests that he may have gone underground, aided by parties unknown, to direct the SS in its postwar guise, the stuff of Frederick Forsyth's novel, The Odessa File. Thomas's argument is plausible and sometimes persuasive, especially when he discusses the negotiations Himmler's agents conducted with the Allies, well before the war's end, offering to provide a Nazi buffer state against the Soviet Union in exchange for clemency. Highly speculative but well reasoned, Thomas's book should intrigue readers inclined to question received wisdom. --

[Revenge of Sith]

Hugh Thomas also said that the inmate the Allies had in custody as Rudolf Hess for forty-six years wasn't really Hess. Thomas examined him and concluded that it wasn't the same person.