Why didn’t someone kill Adolf Hitler? The world might have looked very different in 1945 if Hitler had been taken out a decade earlier. In fact, there were at least 42 Hitler assassination attempts, and many more plots to kill Hitler that have never been uncovered. And just like the wild plots to take out Fidel Castro, some of the Hitler assassination plots were incredibly creative.
The best known failed attempt was the 1944 plot that blew up his Wolf's Lair command center. But there were many other attempts, some of which should be on the list of the most bizarre assassination attempts in history. One assassin gave Hitler a rabid puppy. Another threw deadly roses at the Führer. After so many near misses, Hitler was paranoid about assassination attempts. The Führer had his food and water was tested for toxic substances every day.
The greatest danger came from Hitler's own countrymen, as German citizens and even Nazi officers plotted against him. Several plots to blow Hitler up nearly succeeded, like when a disgruntled German officer snuck an explosive device onto Hitler’s plane, disguising it as two bottles of brandy.
So how did Hitler die? It wasn’t the explosives in his speaker’s podium or the shot into his car. In the end, Hitler took his own life. After Hitler’s passing, his chauffeur siphoned gas and burned the Führer’s body. Sadly, many lost their lives in the dozens of attempts to terminate Hitler.
