''Hitlers Bombe'' (''Hitler's Bomb'') is a

nonfiction book Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with bei ...

by the German historian

Rainer Karlsch Rainer Karlsch (born 3 April 1957) is a German historian and author. Karlsch was born in Stendal. He studied economic history at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He graduated in 1986 as a Doctor of Economics. From 1992-1994, assistant to the H ...

published in March 2005, which claims to have evidence concerning the development and testing of a possible "nuclear weapon" by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1945. The "weapon" in question is not alleged to be a standard

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which the atomic nucleus, nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller atomic nucleus, nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma ray, gamma photons, and releases a very large ...

, but something closer to either a

radiological weapon Radiological warfare is any form of warfare involving deliberate radioactive contamination, radiation poisoning or contamination of an area with radiological sources. Radiological weapons are normally classified as weapons of mass destruction (W ...

(a so-called "

dirty bomb A dirty bomb or radiological dispersal device is a radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the dispersal agent/conventional explosion with ...

") or a hybrid-

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifest ...

weapon. Its new evidence is concerned primarily with the parts of the

German nuclear energy project The Uranverein ( en, "Uranium Club") or Uranprojekt ( en, "Uranium Project") was the name given to the project in Germany to research nuclear technology, including nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, during World War II. It went through s ...

under

Kurt Diebner Kurt Diebner (13 May 1905 – 13 July 1964) was a German nuclear physicist who is well known for directing and administrating the German nuclear energy project, a secretive program aiming to build nuclear weapons for Nazi Germany during World War ...

Summary

Under supervision of the SS, from 1944–45, German scientists in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

tested some form of "nuclear weapon", possibly a

(for the differences between this and a standard fission weapon, see

nuclear weapon design Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types: * pure fission weapons, the simplest and least technically ...

). Several hundred

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

are alleged to have died as a result. Karlsch's primary evidence are alleged vouchers for the atomic weapon attempts, a preliminary plutonium bomb patent from the year 1941 (which had been known about, but not yet found), and conducted

industrial archaeology Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, doc ...

on the remains of the first experimental German

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

Follow-up research

In February 2006, full tests on the soil at the proposed test site were released by the

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, with scientific and technical service tasks. It is a higher federal authority and a public-law institution directly under fed ...

(PTB), revealing no abnormal background levels of radiation after taking into account the already elevated background levels as a result of the

Chernobyl accident The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 nuclear reactor, reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainia ...

in 1986. The PTB release emphasized that while it could not necessarily rule out a German test conclusively, that soil analysis of that site revealed absolutely no evidence of it.

Criticism

Karlsch has been criticized for displaying "a catastrophic lack of understanding of physics" by physicist Michael Schaaf, who is himself the author of an earlier book about Nazi atomic research, while Karlsch himself has acknowledged that he lacked absolute proof for the claims made in his book.

Notes

References

* Rainer Karlsch - ''Hitlers Bombe'' (DE, DVA, March 2005) * Rainer Karlsch - ''Hitlers Bom'' (NL, Lannoo, November 2005) * Rainer Karlsch - ''Hitlers Bombe'' (DE, dtv, June 2007) * Rainer Karlsch - ''Hitlers Bombe'' (DE, Waxmann, October 2007) * Rainer Karlsch - ''La Bombe de Hitler'' (FR, Calmann-Lévy, October 2007)

External links