Hitler dead December 1941- could this change much

WI Hitler died after the declaration of War on the US in 1941- perhaps by a lucky bomb from an allied aircraft.

Is there any way a competent ruler (I am imagining Goebles and the front man and Speer as the decision maker) cause significantly greater problems for the allies than the loony did?

Also might the "Final Solution" have been postponed? (which would mean prevented had the Nazis lost.)
 

bard32

Banned
WI Hitler died after the declaration of War on the US in 1941- perhaps by a lucky bomb from an allied aircraft.

Is there any way a competent ruler (I am imagining Goebles and the front man and Speer as the decision maker) cause significantly greater problems for the allies than the loony did?

Also might the "Final Solution" have been postponed? (which would mean prevented had the Nazis lost.)

Himmler, maybe. However, at this time, Hitler's heir apparent was Hermann
Goering, the Reichsmarschall of the Luftwaffe. The same Hermann Goering who said the British would never bomb Berlin and if they did, the German people could call him Meir, which is the German equivalent of "You can call me
Mudd."
 
The only way that this would have worked would be if Hitler died on December 8 or any day before Germany did the stupid thing of declaring war on the US. If he had died in the summer of 1941 then there might have been a military coup. But if the nazi's remained in power then Goering is the next in line if Hess still flied to England.
 
Goering had been quite happy with the good life pre-WW II and tried to avoid a risky war, see e.g. his actions at Munich.
He was certainly ´evil´, but might have preferred the security of a negotiated peace ensuring his lavish lifestyle as the new Führer to continuing a risky war.
We are talking about 1941, prior to the Wannseekonferenz and the demand for unconditional surrender ... a compromise peace might be possible.
There were several peace initiatives by Stalin throughout the war, and the German army was still in the habit of winning battles ...
 
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