HIMMLER’S DEATH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 192, 28 May 1945, Page 3

HIMMLER’S DEATH

IDENTITY TESTS. MYSTERY OF SIGNATURE. SPECIMEN TORN TO SHREDS. (N.2. Press AssociAtion— Copyright.) (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, May 27. While Himmler is lying in a nameless grave on Luneberg heath, his two aides —a burly colonel and a slightly-built major of the Waffen S.S.—were flown in a British transport plane to FieldMarshal Sir Bernard Montgomery’s Headquarters, states a correspondent of the “Daily Express” at Luneberg. “With them went Himmler’s personal belongings, his fingerprints and also records of conversations with Himmler before his suicide,” says the correspondent. “The two S.S. officers do not know what was in the bags or parcels. They do not know that Himmler is dead and buried, and we do not know whether they, like Himmler, conceal in their mouths a tiny suicide phial which they will crush if we are too tough. We have net yet searched their mouths because first, if they have phials, they will crush them and die on our hands without divulging perhaps vital information; second, if thdy have not got phials, they will know we have discovered Himmler’s trick and that he is dead.” The correspondent added: “The men tried to learn about Himmler this morning when they asked for newspapers. These were given, but only to-day. Before Himmler’s death' they had already heen questioned, and will be again questioned at Field-Marshal Montgomery’s headquarters. Contact will be made with Himmler’s widow and brothei - , who are both in Allied hands.. Efforts are being made to trace Himmler’s dentist. “Supreme Allied Headquarters does not want any mystery cropping up later. It wants indisputable proof that it was Himmler who died. Identity so far established was by Himmler saying that he was Himmler, by his appearance, by comparison of his feat tires with photographs, by his replies to trick questions and, most important, by his signature; but here there is mystery. “Himmler was asked just before he took poison to write his signature on a piece of paper. He responded with- 1 out hesitation and was about to hand the paper back when suddenly he tore it up into 48 pieces. “British officers at the week-end pieced the paper together. It is now stated that the signature tallies with others in our hands, but why did Himmler, who had admitted his identity, tear up his signature? Possibly 1m feared that we might write something over it —such as a confession that he personally ordered the horrors at Belsen and Buchenwald camps.”