Editing Hugh Trevor-Roper (section)

==Investigating Hitler's last days==
In November 1945, Trevor-Roper was ordered by [[Dick White]], then head of counter-intelligence in the British sector of [[Berlin]], to investigate the circumstances of [[Adolf Hitler's death]], and to rebut the Soviet [[Conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler's death|propaganda that Hitler was alive]] and living in the West.<ref>MI5 Security Service (2005) [https://www.mi5.gov.uk/home/about-us/who-we-are/mi5-history/world-war-ii/hitlers-last-days.html Hitler's last days]</ref> Using the alias of "Major Oughton", Trevor-Roper interviewed or prepared questions for several officials, high and low, who had been present in the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' with Hitler, and who had been able to escape to the West, including [[Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven|Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven]].<ref>''In The Bunker with Hitler'' – Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven with Francois d' Alancon – Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Orion Books – 2006 {{ISBN|0-297-84555-1}}</ref> Although he cites eyewitness accounts of the burning of Hitler's body, Trevor-Roper notes that bones are understood to withstand burning (science supported by subsequent studies).<ref>{{cite book |last=Trevor-Roper |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Trevor-Roper |url=https://archive.org/details/lastdaysofhitler0000trev_j2d4/ |title=The Last Days of Hitler |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-330-49060-3 |edition=7th |location=London |page=182 |orig-year=1947}}</ref><ref>Multiple sources:
* {{Cite journal |last=Benecke |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Benecke |date=2022-12-12 |orig-date=2003 |title=The Hunt for Hitler's Teeth |url=https://home.benecke.com/publications/the-hunt-for-hitlers-teeth |access-date=2024-03-04 |via=Dr. Mark Benecke |website=[[Bizarre (magazine)|Bizarre]]}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Castillo |first1=Rafael Fernández |last2=Ubelaker |first2=Douglas H. |last3=Acosta |first3=José Antonio Lorente |last4=Cañadas de la Fuente |first4=Guillermo A. |date=2013-03-10 |title=Effects of temperature on bone tissue. Histological study of the changes in the bone matrix |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073812005300 |journal=Forensic Science International |volume=226 |issue=1 |pages=33–37 |doi=10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.11.012 |pmid=23287528 |issn=0379-0738 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10481/91826}}
* {{Cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Tim |last2=Gowland |first2=Rebecca |author-link2=Rebecca Gowland |title=What Happens to Human Bodies When They Are Burned? |url=https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=[[Durham University]] |language=en-US |via=[[FutureLearn]]}}</ref>

For the most part Trevor-Roper relied on investigations and interviews by hundreds of British, American and Canadian intelligence officers.<ref name="Parker 2014">Parker (2014)</ref><ref>Douglas (2014)</ref> He did not have access to Soviet materials.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Working rapidly, Trevor-Roper drafted his report, which served as the basis for his most famous book, ''The Last Days of Hitler'', in which he described the last ten days of Hitler's life and the fates of some of the higher-ranking members of the inner circle, as well as those of key lesser figures.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} Trevor-Roper transformed the evidence into a literary work, with sardonic humour and drama,{{according to whom|date=January 2025}} and was much influenced by the prose styles of two of his favourite historians, [[Edward Gibbon]] and [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Lord Macaulay]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

The book was cleared by British officials in 1946 for publication as soon as the war crimes trials ended. It was published in English in 1947; six English editions and many foreign language editions followed.<ref name="Parker 2014"/> According to American journalist [[Ron Rosenbaum]], Trevor-Roper received a letter from Lisbon written in Hebrew stating that the [[Stern Gang]] would assassinate him for ''The Last Days of Hitler'', which, they believed, portrayed Hitler as a "demoniacal" figure but [[Myth of the Clean Wehrmacht|let ordinary Germans who followed Hitler off the hook]], and that for this he deserved to die.<ref>[[Rosenbaum, Ron]] ''[[Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil]]'', (1999) p. 63</ref> Rosenbaum reports that Trevor-Roper told him this was the most extreme response he had ever received for one of his books.<ref>Rosenbaum, Ron ''Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil'', (1999) pp. 63 & 66.</ref>

Trevor-Roper also showed that Hitler's dictatorship was not an efficient unified machine but a hodge-podge of overlapping rivalries. With numerous editions, the book was Trevor-Roper's most commercially successful.