# Did Hitler personally kill anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749 "2016-05-14T12:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/1 "2016-05-14T12:55:05Z")
This was another historical debate I was in. Yes, he was responsible for the holocaust, and all the deaths that caused. What I am asking is, did Adolf ever pull the trigger himself(Or use a knife, or turn on the gas, or plant the bomb). One of my friends thinks that the only victim of Hitler himself, as opposed to his minions, was Hitler’s own dog. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/2 "2016-05-14T12:57:09Z")
Well, he shot himself. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/3 "2016-05-14T13:05:59Z")
His WW1 service is probably the only time where he might have. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/4 "2016-05-14T15:41:19Z")
Hitler was a regimental runner in WWI and was mostly in relatively safe positions during the war. His regiment did get into a few nasty fights and it is possible that he killed a few men during those engagements. There are no documented kills attributed to him, though. There has been a lot of speculation that he killed his niece, Geli Raubal. It is known that she had some sort of relationship with Hilter, but it’s not clear what that relationship was. The claim is that she was actually his mistress and he either killed her or had her killed. Officially, her death was listed as a suicide and Hitler’s responsibility for her death is far from proven. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/5 "2016-05-14T16:25:31Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Hitler was a regimental runner in WWI and was mostly in relatively safe positions during the war. His regiment did get into a few nasty fights and it is possible that he killed a few men during those engagements. There are no documented kills attributed to him, though. I’m unsure if you mean being a regimental runner was a relatively safe position to be in during the war - it was not, it was one of the most dangerous jobs - or if you mean his regiment was assigned to relatively safe positions during the war. If so, again it absolutely was not; he fought at First Ypres, the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele. At First Ypres alone his regiment of 3,600 was reduced to 611; of his own company of 250 only 42 mustered at the end of the battle. He was twice wounded during the war, but I have never heard it claimed that he killed anyone in the war. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/6 "2016-05-14T16:34:30Z")
Regimental runners mostly run around behind the lines carrying messages back and forth. It’s a much safer job than say a battalion runner who spends most of his time running around on the front lines and getting shot at a lot more often. It’s also definitely a much safer job than a front line infantryman. To be fair, I also did say that his battalion got into some pretty nasty fights, and I was thinking of exactly the ones that you detailed when I wrote that part. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/7 "2016-05-14T16:46:56Z")
FWIW Albert Speer said the first time he met Hitler face to face (to get approval for some plans for the 1933 Nuremberg Rally), Hitler was cleaning his pistol. Which, as Speer noted decades later, proved oddly prophetic. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/8 "2016-05-14T22:27:40Z")
One may surely argue the general point one way or the other, but there’s no specific evidence that Hitler killed anyone in WWI. The name that has to be introduced into the thread, however reluctantly, is that of his niece Geli Raubal. For she’s certainly the person that people alleged that he’d murdered. Driven to her death by him seems the more likely conclusion. Offhand, I also believe that some contemporaries alleged that he’d personally offed Ernst Röhm during the Night of the Long Knives. More likely, he got someone else to do it, though he may very well have been in the immediate vicinity. > [@boffking](#): > > One of my friends thinks that the only victim of Hitler himself, as opposed to his minions, was Hitler’s own dog. He didn’t directly kill Blondi. He had someone else administer the cyanide capsule as the test, though I’m fairly sure there’s testimony that he did then view the dead body. ---
**Author:** ![GeorgiaEvertonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@GeorgiaEvertonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeorgiaEvertonian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/9 "2016-05-18T06:05:13Z")
in Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich, Shirer says that Rohm bellowed that Adolf should kill him personally but that offer was rejected and an SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer named Lippert shot him in the chest. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/10 "2016-05-18T13:14:49Z")
I could have sworn I read that Hitler did actually shoot someone during the _Night of the Long Knives_ purge, but apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/11 "2016-05-19T05:03:46Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Well, he shot himself. So the story goes but there is no evidence of this at all, that would pass in a court of law. ---
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/12 "2016-05-19T05:07:41Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’m unsure if you mean being a regimental runner was a relatively safe position to be in during the war - it was not, it was one of the most dangerous jobs - or if you mean his regiment was assigned to relatively safe positions during the war. If so, again it absolutely was not; he fought at First Ypres, the Somme, Arras and Passchendaele. At First Ypres alone his regiment of 3,600 was reduced to 611; of his own company of 250 only 42 mustered at the end of the battle. He was twice wounded during the war, but I have never heard it claimed that he killed anyone in the war. It was maybe him that worked to get his own lot killed. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/13 "2016-05-19T05:11:40Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > It was maybe him that worked to get his own lot killed. Got any evidence that would pass a court of law? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/14 "2016-05-19T05:20:01Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Regimental runners mostly run around behind the lines carrying messages back and forth. It’s a much safer job than say a battalion runner who spends most of his time running around on the front lines and getting shot at a lot more often. It’s also definitely a much safer job than a front line infantryman. > > To be fair, I also did say that his battalion got into some pretty nasty fights, and I was thinking of exactly the ones that you detailed when I wrote that part. He served as an infantryman at First Ypres. He became a runner after that battle. His first wounding took place when the runners dugout was hit by a shell, the second when he and other runners were caught in the open during a gas attack. His Iron Cross were for dragging a wounded officer to safety (this is the award made by his Jewish CO, with the result that its often mistakenly said that he got it for saving a Jewish officer), the second for convincing a French fortification to surrender. And, BTW, runners, battalion or regimental were both in far more danger than an average infantryman as they were specifically targeted. As his first wound shows. The man has done enough to deserve opprobrium for the rest of history, without needing to denigrate his military service and by implication those blameless people who served in the same position. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/15 "2016-05-19T05:36:59Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > So the story goes but there is no evidence of this at all, that would pass in a court of law. Only because the witnesses are all dead, and could not now testify. Back at the time, when the investigators sought to find out what had happened in the final days in the Führerbunker, there were plenty of witnesses who could testify to what had happened. Nobody actually saw Hitler shoot himself because he did it privately (except possibly Eva Braun, but she died in the same incident), but numerous people could testify to seeing the couple enter Hitler’s study at 14:30 and close the door, to hearing a gunshot, and to finding the couple dead in the study at 15:30. But all those people are now themselves dead. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/16 "2016-05-19T05:42:33Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > So the story goes but there is no evidence of this at all, that would pass in a court of law. You mean, apart from all the witnesses that were in the bunker at the time, heard the shot, and saw the body? The Soviets captured and interrogated all of the bunker survivors. While it suited Stalin to suppress the evidence, that doesn’t mean there was no evidence. There is a story that someone else fired the shot after Hitler took the poison, but that isn’t supported by the majority of the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/17 "2016-05-20T01:46:23Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > You mean, apart from all the witnesses that were in the bunker at the time, heard the shot, and saw the body? > > The Soviets captured and interrogated all of the bunker survivors. While it suited Stalin to suppress the evidence, that doesn’t mean there was no evidence. > > There is a story that someone else fired the shot after Hitler took the poison, but that isn’t supported by the majority of the evidence. A invading army can’t even find the remains of Hitler f off that’s a joke ! What is it dads army, not to mention then all the BS, it’s just madness to try to swallow. I know all that spin, but people can be made to say what ever out of fear such as the bunker survivors, hell a lot of Aussies that were in WW2 say they don’t agree with all the spin put forward after the war and they had to shut their mouth about it and some did not but the media would reject their point of view. When I talked to Jimmy a good friend of our family who was of very high rank, he said as the years go by the more total BS comes out, especially in movies and he was angered by it all. The media hung shit on the head of the RSL bagging the shit out of him day in day out for years, trying to make him out as a idiot and a fool and a lot of people swallowed what the media said over any of his position. The media sure got on my goat at the time with all there rubbish, bagging the people who were in the ADF not to mention supporting spitting on them, even the poor blokes that were conscripted they hatted them as well. :mad: I remember that up to about 1990 anyone who claimed they were a socialist on TV the Australian people looked down on such a thing and the leaders of political party would fear saying that they were, but now in 2016 if you are not a socialist you have to fear not to offend the socialist on any point, because they claim they are correct and all others are wrong. ☹ Welcome to the world of Political Correctness, Nazi type trash and communist views everywhere, sure it’s different to the past but it will lead to the people being in slaved and spun just total BS.:o ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/18 "2016-05-20T04:03:57Z")
What is this, commentary filtered through timecube? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/19 "2016-05-20T04:15:16Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > I remember that up to about 1990 anyone who claimed they were a socialist on TV the Australian people looked down on such a thing and the leaders of political party would fear saying that they were, but now in 2016 if you are not a socialist you have to fear not to offend the socialist on any point, because they claim they are correct and all others are wrong. ☹ > > Welcome to the world of Political Correctness, Nazi type trash and communist views everywhere, sure it’s different to the past but it will lead to the people being in slaved and spun just total BS.:o **Moderator Note** **Commodore** , let’s leave the political commentary out of General Questions. No warning issue, but don’t do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749/20 "2016-05-20T21:05:57Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > The media hung shit on the head of the RSL bagging the shit out of him day in day out for years, trying to make him out as a idiot and a fool and a lot of people swallowed what the media said over any of his position. > The media sure got on my goat at the time with all there rubbish, bagging the people who were in the ADF not to mention supporting spitting on them, even the poor blokes that were conscripted they hatted them as well. :mad: For the record, Googling “RSL” throws up the [Royal Society of Literature](http://rsliterature.org/) as the main hit and “ADF” a Wiki disambiguation [page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADF). Nothing seems particularly relevant. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-hitler-personally-kill-anyone/754749.md?page=2)