After Vladimir Putin’s trip to Mariupol on March 18, a photograph of Adolf Hitler with the caption “Führer in Mariupol, 1941” began to circulate on social networks. We decided to check whether Hitler really went to Mariupol and whether the photograph corresponds to this.

Two visits to occupied Mariupol - Vladimir Putin in 2023 and Adolf Hitler in 1941 - were often compared on Twitter - for example, a publicist has a tweet about it Andrey Piontkovsky and former co-owner of YUKOS Leonid Nevzlina. There are references to Hitler's trip to YouTube. The photo was circulated so widely that some Ukrainian websites collections the brightest comments from the Internet.

Mariupol was occupied by German troops on October 8, 1941, when units of the 3rd Tank Corps of the 1st Tank Group of the Wehrmacht (Army Group South) entered the city. This period of occupation of the city lasted almost two years, until September 15, 1943. Thus, statements the alleged first visit of Hitler to Mariupol in August is not true.

But about Hitler’s trip to occupied Mariupol in December 1941 is known from several sources. The Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces, Franz Halder, did not directly name Mariupol in his diaries, but in some detail described the situation around this visit. The German army in this direction found itself in critical situation, and the command decided to leave previously occupied Rostov-on-Don and retreat to the line of fortifications on the Mius River. The commander of Group South, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, was relieved of his post on December 1 for this decision, but Walter von Reichenau, who replaced him, confirmed the order to retreat. Halder’s diary for December 3, 1941 states: “The Fuhrer, while in Army Group South, told the commander of Army Group that neither he nor the command of the Panzer Army were innocent in the current development of events.” The command of the “South” group was located at that time in Mariupol.

He spoke in more detail about the trip itself in his memoirs the Fuhrer’s personal pilot Hans Baur: “During one flight to Mariupol - on the coast of the Sea of Azov - Hitler, his adjutant Major General Schmundt and a doctor were on board the plane. Having departed from Rastenburg, we made an intermediate landing in Kyiv. From there they warned the general in charge of this sector of the front by telephone about our imminent arrival. <…> In Mariupol, Hitler was met by Field Marshal Leeb and SS General Sepp Dietrich, the head of his personal guard.”

Another evidence - materials interrogation Soviet counterintelligence of Hitler's personal security chief Hans Rattenhuber. He said that on December 2, 1941, Hitler flew to Mariupol to understand the situation on the spot: “With the assistance of the secret field police, I carried out the necessary security measures in Hitler’s immediate apartment, such as: enhanced patrol service, internal and external guards, closing the entire surrounding area to outside traffic. I did not carry out broader security measures, as this could cause unnecessary fuss. As a result of these minimal measures, Hitler’s presence in Mariupol remained unknown to local residents.”

Thus, judging by the testimony of representatives of Hitler’s inner circle, he actually visited Mariupol, and this happened on December 2, 1941.

A separate analysis is also necessary for photography, which has become popular recently. She's not in Bundesarchiv, but traces of the photograph were found on one of military-historical forums. At the top of the photograph there is the inscription “Fuhrer in Mariupol” and the date. This is exactly what bloggers had difficulty with: at first glance, the photo says 16.082.1941. Apparently, because of this, erroneous information appeared about Hitler’s trip to Mariupol in August. But the reverse side of the photograph, also published on the forum, helps solve this problem.

Here the date is repeated once again, and this time it is obvious that it is not 082, but DEZ - an abbreviation for the German Dezember.

In addition, on the reverse side there are explanations of who is marked with crosses in the picture: the lower cross is located under the field marshal’s feet Walter von Reichenau (in his right hand he has a field marshal’s baton), the top one is above the general’s head Ewald von Kleist. The first led Army Group South at that time, the second led the 1st Tank Army.

On the right is Field Marshal von Reichenau. Warsaw, 1939. Source: Bundesarchiv

In the Mariupol photograph of 1941, everything is the same: it is obvious that it was taken in the cold season (this follows from the uniform), Hitler is accompanied by military leaders, who at that time were supposed to be on the southern sector of the front. The only discrepancy is in the date indicated in the photo - December 16th. But it can be assumed that the inscription was made later, and its author forgot some details. In addition, there is another photographic evidence from Mariupol - a photograph depicting Hitler and Alexander Lehr, commander of the 4th Air Fleet. This photograph was exhibited at online auction in Germany.