Did Adolf Hitler actually survive World War 2 and flee Germany to start a new life? That’s the big question that the team hopes to answer definitively as Hunting Hitler returns for its third and final season on History.
It’s commonly believed that the dictater committed suicide by shooting himself in his Führerbunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945. But some speculate that he along with other members of his Nazi regime managed to escape the country when the war came to an end and began new lives overseas under new identities.
The end of last season saw CIA veteran Bob Baer and his team of investigators uncover a possible Nazi community in Chile known as Colonia Dignidad.
Season 3 sees Baer bring in a new team member to help in the hunt, Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst and one of the world’s most foremost terrorist targeting officers.
She puts into play a technique known as asset mapping, which she used in the CIA to great effect as part of the team that led to the demise of Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the founder of ISIS.
In the premiere, titled The Final Hunt Begins, the team uncover two planned escape routes for Hitler out of Germany, one heading north and one south.
As the team follows the new leads, they uncover a huge Nazi compound along the northern escape routes that is hidden under an inconspicous disguise. Meanwhile, on the southern route a vast system of tunnels is found under Hitler’s home.
Next week sees a startling discovery emerge in a sabotaged aircraft hanger in northern Germany, while a lake in Austria is searched for a large cache of secret Nazi documents.
Hunting Hitler airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on History.