Nazi SS General Hans Kammler was in charge of Hitler’s advanced weapons from 1944 onward including the Me-262 jets, V-2 rockets, and more exotic weaponry. After WW2 he “disappeared” as in off the face of the planet! No one is quite sure just what happened to him but neither he nor his remains have ever been found anywhere on the planet. Theories about what happened to him range from suicide to escaping to Argentina, hiding out at a secret Nazi base in Antarctica, to using the Nazi Bell to get to another planet. Some theories suggest that he may have been part of the US Operation Paperclick which brought Nazi scientists to the US after the war such as Werner von Braun. I’ll address these theories later but for now let’s take a look at just who Kammler was.
Kammler was a long-time Nazi. He rose through the ranks and ended up in the Office of
Economics and Administration (WVHA) of the SS. In that position he was placed in charge of designing and constructing concentration camps and, indeed, that’s how he first came to the attention of Hitler and Goering. Kammler had hand drawn plans for an extermination camp and those plans were shown to Hitler and Goering who ordered him to build it. And he did. Kammler was a university educated engineer and he joined the SS in 1942. He was placed in charge of designing extermination camps including gas chambers and crematoria. He later became a deputy of Oswald Pohl in the WVHA which oversaw the administration of the death camps. Following the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 Kammler was put in charge of overseeing the demolition of the ghetto in retaliation toward the Jewish people there for their uprising.
Kammler was also put in charge of constructing facilities for various Nazi secret weapons projects which included manufacturing plants and test stands for the Messerschmitt Me 262 and V-2. After the allies bombed Peenemunde, Kammler was given the task of moving this weapons production plant underground. The facility then became known as the Mittewerk plant which also contained a concentration camp complex for housing slave labor used for production and construction. Kammler also designed and constructed the facilities at Jonastal and Riesengebirge used for nuclear weapons research and the facility at Ebenee used to develop a reported V-2 being modified into an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) which would have been able to reach the United States.
In 1945 Hitler put Kammler in charge of all missile projects and a month later he was placed in charge of all Nazi aerospace programs as well. Kammler was one of the main players who made the Holocaust possible and he was also one of the main players who made Nazi Super-weapons possible. Kammler was also the man who designed and oversaw the construction of the massive gas chambers at the Nazi death camp known as Auschwitz.
One might say Kammler was the SS version of Albert Speer! Kammler was known to be a somewhat ruthless and
highly ambitious man eager to get to the center of Nazi power. He was along with Himmler (chief of the SS) when Himmler visited Auschwitz in 1942. He was the man who explained to the SS Chief how the death camp would be expanded and how gas chambers at neighboring camps would also be expanded. It was perhaps during that visit that Kammler learned rather quickly that Himmler was not a man who liked to be bothered by difficulties but one who wanted “positive and optimistic” reports. In April of 1945 Hitler considered making Kammler head of the Luftwaffe (Nazi air force) but there was one problem. By 24 April 1945 SS General Hans Kammler had already disappeared and was nowhere to be found!!
Kammler had a reputation among the scientists working under him for being somewhat ruthless, to say the least. Nazi rocket scientists like Werner von Braun were thrilled when Kammler disappeared but they worried that Kammler might be up to something sinister. They even thought at one point Kammler was going to have them all executed so they wouldn’t be captured by Allied Forces! Let’s face it….the Nazi scientists feared Kammler and they knew well how evil he could be!
There are several versions of what happened to Kammler after WW2 but they are all speculation as no one really knows what happened to him. One thing we do know is that he had “disappeared” by April 24, 1945 as Hitler was considering him for head of the Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe). Had Kammler already made his escape from Germany seeing the Nazi defeat clearly? Had Hitler or one of his henchmen already take care of Kammler as in planting him 6 feet under?
Of course there are also many “witness” reports of Kammler being seen in various places but these reports are all contradictory. In May of 1945 he was said to be in Prague but these reports have never been verified either. According to some researchers Kammler was working on nuclear weapons for the Nazi Reich. He was also working on a new and powerful explosive known as N-Stoff which was put on V-2 rockets for delivery. They’ve speculated that Kammler could have traded this new and powerful explosive for his own freedom and survival.
Kammler and his scientists were brilliant, in fact. Dr Konrad Zeus who worked under Kammler had developed a digital computers 20 years ahead of their time! Zeus and other of Kammler’s scientists were also developing liquid air bombs among other weapons of war. Kammler’s headquarters was in Czechoslovakia at the time and he did speak the Czech language. He used the Skoda Industries and research facilities there to design and build prototypes and weapons for the Nazi regime. It’s also known Kammler was very paranoid when it came to his security precautions and that he employed no less than three intelligence units! Not even the Soviets could penetrate these units.
Kammler was also ruthless and merciless at times. He had 6000 prisoners killed at the Nordhausen Concentration Camp whom he deemed to weak or ill to work. He is also known to have ordered a V-2 rocket fired at a concentration camp at one time!
One story relating to what happened to Kammler centers around the OSS which was the forerunner to the CIA. This account says Kammler was flown to Barcelona, Spain after the war and was given aid by Spanish dictator Generalissimo Franco. Another story says Kammler was brought to America as part of Operation Paperclip. This operation brought numerous former Nazi scientists and other Nazis to the US after the war and the American public was NOT told about it until well after the war. This story says Kammler was given a new identity and lived the remainder of his life in the US. In my mind this story is very plausible, however, Kammler was detested by many of the scientists working under him including Werner von Braun who ended up as head of NASA. I would think that some of these scientists including von Braun would have rated Kammler out had he been brought to the US as part of Operation Paperclip. But perhaps not.
We know that there were many Nazis who found refuge in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and a host of other South American nations. In Argentina, dictator Juan Peron provided these former Nazi’s with everything they needed and judging from the evidence I’ve seen on the television show “Hunting Hitler” it’s pretty clear these Nazis were doing their best to build the 4th Reich! They were working on nuclear weapons in Argentina. They were testing and manufacturing weapons of war after WW2. The evidence submitted by the crew of “Hunting Hitler” is pretty compelling in fact. And it is highly likely that Hitler himself ended up in Argentina and the so-called “suicide” of Hitler in the bunker was one of his several impostors that he often used especially in the last months of the war. I can envision Kammler living quietly incognito in Argentina or Chile or even in Paraguay for the rest of his life working quietly behind the scenes helping the Nazis build a 4th Reich there after the war. But, I can also envision Kammler living out the remainder of his life in the US with a new identity after having given the US government his many, many secrets and perhaps even helping the US to make many of his ideas realities! Politics makes strange bedfellows but war makes even stranger bedfellows many times!
References:
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/237810-what-happened-to-ss-gen-hans-kammler/
http://greyfalcon.us/restored/KAMMLER.htm
http://boyerwrites.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/what-happened-to-ss-general-hans-kammler/