World War II is the bloodiest conflict in human history as it led to the deaths of tens of millions of people. As the war was conducted on such a vast scale, it is inevitable that there are a number of unsolved mysteries. In this article, I will look at 6 World War II mysteries although one of them is probably a myth. Continue reading to find out more about missing people, treachery, a ghost plane, possible UFOs and more.
1 – Hitler’s Missing Globe
The official name given to Hitler’s Globe is the Columbus Globe for State and Industry Leaders. It was a special globe specifically designed for Hitler and the Nazi Party, and it was made in Berlin in the 1930s. There were two limited edition globe designs; one was given to the Nazi Party while Hitler received the other and kept it in his office. Other versions of the two designs were created and given to high-ranking party members. While the Nazi Party globe was made from standard wood and had no defining features, Hitler’s edition was an expensive product that was almost the size of a standard Volkswagen car. In it, Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) was changed to Italian East Africa.
The Fuhrer’s Globe gained international recognition when depicted in Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’ movie in 1940. The legendary comedian used an inflatable version to mock Hitler’s megalomania, and the real version was moved to the new Reich Chancellery in 1939 where it stayed until the Russians took the building in April 1945. Photos from the end of World War II show Russian soldiers standing beside Hitler’s globe in triumph. It is assumed that one of the soldiers put a bullet through Germany on the globe and for decades, the globe with the bullet hole in a museum in Berlin was believed to be the real one.
However, in 2007, a retired cartographer named Wolfram Pobanz is convinced that the globe in the German Historical Museum in Berlin is not the same one received by Hitler. There are three globes in Berlin, two more in Munich and a few more dotted around the globe with a few strong candidates in Poland. According to Pobanz, the version in the German Historical Museum has a unique base that suggests it was made for Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi’s foreign minister.
Pobanz’s search is made difficult by the fact that there is no way of knowing how many globes were produced. The Columbus factory and its archives were destroyed during air raids in 1943. In 2007, an entrepreneur named Bob Pritikin from San Francisco purchased one of the globes for $100,000. He bought it from John Barsamia who found it in the ruins of the Eagle’s Nest in 1945 during World War II. However, it is unlikely that it is the original Hitler Globe and its whereabouts remain a mystery. Even Pobanz is stumped and has suggested that it could be in Moscow.