Peter David Orr - Hitler's Fingerprints

Hitler's Fingerprints
by

Peter David Orr

Many people are under the impression that Hitler's fingerprints are "on file" in a state or federal archive of Germany, the UK, Russia, or the United States. This is false.

Origins of the Myth

It is commonly believed that Scotland Yard has had copies of Hitler's fingerprints since 1934. That's because at the close of World War II, as the search for Hitler's corpse got underway, reporters combed their files for prior mentions of "Hitler's fingerprints" and found references from the mid 1930s to a 'scientist from Vienna' by the name of 'Dr. Josef Ranald' (real name Joseph Zinkler) who possessed plates of Hitler's palmprints that he had shared with Scotland Yard at the outbreak of the war.

While it is true that Ranald handed over a palmprint to Scotland Yard in 1940, it is untrue that he obtained the palmprint during an interview of Hitler for a 'reading' (palmistry forecast). Ranald's claim to have had a secret meeting with Hitler at the Hotel Kaiserhof in 1934 is a complete fabrication. In fact, the palmprint that Scotland Yard ordered him to fork over turned out to be his own.

Another reason for the persistent rumor about Hitler's fingerprints being "on file" somewhere is that advertisements and articles marketing Ranald's book described him as an expert whose prognostications came true. After all, his 'authoritative' and 'scientific' reading of Hitler's palm predicted Hitler would commit suicide. Of course, the selective memory of readers inflated his reputation, considering he also specified Hitler would be dead by the end of 1941.

An "ongoing investigation"

Readers of this article may have noticed that when representatives of government agencies, such as Scotland Yard or the FBI, are asked questions that might be awkward to answer, they often give a pat response: "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment at this time. The matter is an ongoing investigation." This certainly was the case in 1945. When asked about Hitler's palmprints in 1945, Scotland Yard neither confirmed or denied it.

There were two reasons for this:

They were still seeking Hitler's actual fingerprints. So were British and US intelligence and the FBI.
They wanted to avoid the embarrassment of admitting they'd been initially fooled by a charlatan.

In the fall of 1945, even after the governments of the US and UK issued official statements endorsing the results of Hugh Trevor-Roper's investigation into Hitler's death, investigators attached to the US Army's Judge Advocate General's office were still tracking down leads and conducting interrogations related to Adolf Hitler's death or possible whereabouts.

Much skepticism about the Soviet reports of Hitler's suicide remained. If the Soviets had Hitler's body, being able to compare the fingerprints "on file" with those obtained from a corpse was a good way to corroborate the Soviet account. The fact that 50 fingerprint experts from the US were involved shows the the investigation wasn't a passing fancy.

Western intelligence encouraged the Soviets to conduct a parallel investigation for Hitler's fingerprints in the German territories under their control but there's no record of it. One thing is for certain; the US failed to turn up fingerprints of Adolf Hitler on file anywhere in occupied Germany.

The search for Hitler's fingerprint files continued on a smaller scale between 1945 and 1964.

Dr. Victor Alexander Leonard

A notable example of an independent investigator during those years was Dr. V.A. Leonard, the head of the Department of Police and Science Administration at Washington State College. Leonard was also an associate editor for the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern University) and the Encyclopedia of Criminology.

In the summer of 1947, Dr. Leonard visited Scotland Yard and the Sûreté Nationale in Paris, and was shown copies of Mussolini's mugshot and fingerprints from his 1903 arrest in Bern, Switzerland (see below).

Thereafter, Dr. Leonard was determined to track down Adolf Hitler's fingerprints. Though fellow criminologists in London and France warned him that all previous efforts had been unfruitful, he scoured Germany for Hitler's fingerprints.

After three months, he left empty-handed.

Decades went by before the subject entered the public discussion again.

The Hitler Diaries

This infamous hoax was perpetrated in 1983. When these forgeries were being examined, it occurred to Simon Wiesenthal (and others) that if the diaries are genuine, Hitler's fingerprints should be all over them. Of course, sensible journalists asked: If fingerprints are found on the diaries, aren't Hitler's actual fingerprints needed for the sake of comparison?

In response, Wiesenthal posited that Hitler's fingerprints must have been taken when he was arrested in 1923, following the unsuccessful "Beer Hall Putsch".

Unfortunately, Wiesenthal's speculation was reported as fact, and the story went viral.

How Soon History is Forgotten

When the Hitler Diaries story broke it had been forgotten that searches for Hitler's fingerprints in the archives of the Munich police and Bavarian court system had been conducted right after the war and in the early 1960s, as attested to by this FBI document:

No Hitler fingerprints had ever been in the possession of the appropriate police archives and/or court repositories.

Was Hitler Fingerprinted in 1923?

Many assume he was. After all, fingerprinting at the time of arrest, or prior to incarceration, was already common practice by police, detectives, and incarceration induction officers.

The assumption is reasonable.

Did Hitler expunge the record of his fingerprints? If so, no record of such an order has come to light. That Hitler would destroy his fingerprints seems reasonable. On the other hand, we must recon with the fact that Hitler was proud of the Beer Hall Putsch. This failed coup was glorified, commemorated, and memorialized. Moreover, Hitler didn't have the court records of his trial (February 26 to April 1, 1924) destroyed even though he was found guilty of high treason. Hitler was proud of the attempted insurrection. The trial transcripts weren't suppressed during the Third Reich.

Incredibly, one obvious question has been missed over the years: where Hitler co-conspirators fingerprinted, such as Hess, Pernet, Weber, Frick, Kriebel, Ludendorff, Bruckner, Röhm, Graf, Maurice, Wagner, etc.?

The answer is either no, or Hitler had his and his conspirators' fingerprints destroyed. Since there is no evidence of the fingerprinting of these men, or a massive purge of their fingerprint cards, we are left with only the former possibility.

History or Hollywood?

In the end, the only 'Hitler' who we know for certain was fingerprinted is pictured, below. Norwegian-born actor, Carl Eckberg, portrayed Hitler several times in the movies. His contract with RKO Studios required it.