Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva (née Braun), committed suicide with him by ingesting poison. That afternoon in accordance with Hitler's prior instructions, their remains were carried up the stairs through the bunker's emergency exit, doused in petrol and set alight in the Reich Chancellery garden outside the bunker. The Soviet archives record that their burnt remains were recovered and interred in successive locations until 1970 when they were again exhumed, cremated and the ashes scattered.
There have been different accounts citing the cause of his death; one that he died by poison only and another that he died by a self-inflicted gunshot, while biting down on a cyanide capsule. Contemporary historians have rejected these accounts as being either Soviet propaganda or an attempted compromise in order to reconcile the different conclusions. There was also an eye-witness account that recorded the body showing signs of having been shot through the mouth but this has been proven unlikely. There is also controversy regarding the authenticity of skull and jaw fragments which were recovered.Further, the exact location of where Hitler's ashes were scattered also differs, depending on the historical source consulted.
