Adolf Hitler killed himself by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin.[a][b][c] His wife Eva (née Braun) committed suicide with him by taking cyanide.[d] That afternoon, in accordance with Hitler's prior instructions, their remains were carried up the stairs through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol, and set alight in the Reich Chancellery garden outside the bunker.[1] Records in the Soviet archives show that their burnt remains were recovered and interred in successive locations[e] until 1970, when they were again exhumed, cremated, and the ashes scattered.[f]
Accounts differ as to the cause of death; one states that he died by poison only[g] and another that he died by a self-inflicted gunshot while biting down on a cyanide capsule.[h] Contemporary historians have rejected these accounts as being either Soviet propaganda[i][j] or an attempted compromise in order to reconcile the different conclusions.[h][k] One eye-witness recorded that the body showed signs of having been shot through the mouth, but this has been proven unlikely.[l][m] There is also controversy regarding the authenticity of skull and jaw fragments which were recovered.[n][o] In 2009, American researchers performed DNA tests on a skull Soviet officials had long believed to be Hitler's. The tests and examination revealed that the skull was actually that of a woman less than 40 years old. The jaw fragments which had been recovered were not tested.
