Round and Round Hitler's Grave: Exploring the Curious Afterlife of the Nazi Dictator - Seminar with Dr Caroline Sharples (Roe)

Abstract:

Eighty-one years ago, Adolf Hitler retreated into the study of his Berlin bunker and shot himself in the head. Yet, despite the efficacy of that bullet, his fate has been shrouded in speculation and mythmaking. A protracted search for definitive proof of death has helped keep him very much 'alive' in the public imagination, and there have been various efforts to reenact, or reimagine, Hitler's demise across popular culture. As one film critic once put it, 'every decade or so... the dictator has to be hauled out of the ground, propped up and slain again, just to make sure he's [truly] dead'.

This talk explains the persistence of public discourse around Hitler's death. Using the recurring metaphor of Hitler's grave, it examines how his demise was anticipated by Allied audiences during the Second World War, mourned by loyal National Socialists in 1945, and subsequently represented in postwar popular culture. In the process, it demonstrates how applying a cultural history lens to this topic exposes the emotional investment that 'ordinary people' had placed in the prospect of Hitler meeting a 'fitting end' - and the meanings that his death held for different audiences.

Dr Caroline Sharples is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Roehampton. Her research focuses on memories of National Socialism and the representation and commemoration of Holocaust perpetrators. This talk stems from her latest book project - The Long Death of Adolf Hitler (Yale University Press, 2026)

Everyone is welcome to attend - if you would like any further information, please email BFrank@lancashire.ac.uk. Visitors will be welcomed at the entrance to Livesey House and shown to the room via lift or stairs - please arrive by 4:50.

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