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A review by hhiggison
The Death of Hitler: The Final Word by Jean-Christophe Brisard, Lana Parshina
1.0
A decidedly underwhelming book that does nothing to live up to its title.
Far from being 'the Final Word', or bring anything new to the table in general, it mostly rehashes the same information that can be found in any number of other sources, if not entirely ignores works (namely Petrova and Watson) that previously presented information Brisard is presenting as newly discovered, and additionally fails in any sort of critical engagement with the findings of Dr. Nick Bellantoni regarding the skull fragment. The narrative it provides of Hitler's final days is nothing new and can be found in any number of other works, while the narrative about the Soviet's investigation and lack of cooperation with the Western Allies, from whom Stalin hid what they knew, is likewise mostly a rehashing of known information, and reveals nothing new of consequence.
The style is an often gratingly written personal narrative of the authors' journey within the Russian archives (and I'm told the prose is just as purple in the original French, so we can't blame the translator), and in the end, the refusal of the Russians to allow any testing beyond morphological examination critically undercuts any pretense of the book's subtitle. This is particularly fatal with the skull fragment. Although Brisard is not blind to the the fact he is essentially being used by the Russians, who deny that Dr. Bellantoni ever handed the skull in the first place, in agreeing to conduct only a morphological examination, and forbidden from taking samples to replicate Dr. Bellantoni's work which determined the skull to be female, Brisard does nothing except stoke and keep alive a controversy that could be quite easily settled.
So what, if anything, does this book bring to the table? If it has any actual merit it is in providing some slight bit of additional backing to the conclusions already reached by Dr. Sogganes back in the 1970s. His analysis of the dental remains of Hitler had already provided reasonable assurance that they had, in fact, belonged to Hitler, the only shortcoming being that he had to work off photos and an autopsy report of the remains, being unable to access them himself. Brisard's medical expert, Dr. Charlier, used the same radiographies that Sogganes did in his own evaluations, the only difference being that he was able to see the actual remains himself. It puts to rest any possible lingering concerns that the remains themselves were fakes, which Charlier categorically rejects, but otherwise it is in no way revolutionary or otherwise changes what we know (Hitler is dead!).
In sum, the book confirms something that we already knew (the jaw fragment is real), and muddies the waters further on the question that most critically remains (whose skull is it?). Far from providing the Final Word, if anything, it is a step-backwards, playing directly into the hands of Russian propaganda that wishes to continue to assert they have Hitler's skull, and providing further ammunition to conspiracy theorists who, already comfortable ignoring the dental remains anyways, can gleefully point to the continued controversy over the skull.
Far from being 'the Final Word', or bring anything new to the table in general, it mostly rehashes the same information that can be found in any number of other sources, if not entirely ignores works (namely Petrova and Watson) that previously presented information Brisard is presenting as newly discovered, and additionally fails in any sort of critical engagement with the findings of Dr. Nick Bellantoni regarding the skull fragment. The narrative it provides of Hitler's final days is nothing new and can be found in any number of other works, while the narrative about the Soviet's investigation and lack of cooperation with the Western Allies, from whom Stalin hid what they knew, is likewise mostly a rehashing of known information, and reveals nothing new of consequence.
The style is an often gratingly written personal narrative of the authors' journey within the Russian archives (and I'm told the prose is just as purple in the original French, so we can't blame the translator), and in the end, the refusal of the Russians to allow any testing beyond morphological examination critically undercuts any pretense of the book's subtitle. This is particularly fatal with the skull fragment. Although Brisard is not blind to the the fact he is essentially being used by the Russians, who deny that Dr. Bellantoni ever handed the skull in the first place, in agreeing to conduct only a morphological examination, and forbidden from taking samples to replicate Dr. Bellantoni's work which determined the skull to be female, Brisard does nothing except stoke and keep alive a controversy that could be quite easily settled.
So what, if anything, does this book bring to the table? If it has any actual merit it is in providing some slight bit of additional backing to the conclusions already reached by Dr. Sogganes back in the 1970s. His analysis of the dental remains of Hitler had already provided reasonable assurance that they had, in fact, belonged to Hitler, the only shortcoming being that he had to work off photos and an autopsy report of the remains, being unable to access them himself. Brisard's medical expert, Dr. Charlier, used the same radiographies that Sogganes did in his own evaluations, the only difference being that he was able to see the actual remains himself. It puts to rest any possible lingering concerns that the remains themselves were fakes, which Charlier categorically rejects, but otherwise it is in no way revolutionary or otherwise changes what we know (Hitler is dead!).
In sum, the book confirms something that we already knew (the jaw fragment is real), and muddies the waters further on the question that most critically remains (whose skull is it?). Far from providing the Final Word, if anything, it is a step-backwards, playing directly into the hands of Russian propaganda that wishes to continue to assert they have Hitler's skull, and providing further ammunition to conspiracy theorists who, already comfortable ignoring the dental remains anyways, can gleefully point to the continued controversy over the skull.