German dictator Adolf Hitler is believed to have killed himself at the end of World War II because he did not want the Western forces to catch him. However, documents declassified by the CIA show that the hunt for him continued for at least another 10 years, the Daily Mail reported. South American agents suspected that Hitler was still alive and so continued to look for him.

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According to the documents, the CIA tried to hunt him down just months after the Second World War ended. They suspected that he was living in South America under a false identity. The agency reportedly even found a photo in Colombia of a man who looked strikingly similar to Hitler.

Notably, in April 1945, Allied forces found a burnt body that was said to belong to Hitler. According to the documents, American officials weren't sure that it was Hitler and initiated a search for him.

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The search continued for the next 10 years till 1955. The CIA is said to be in contact with informants in hopes of uncovering Hitler's secret hiding place. The informants reportedly knew that Hitler had escaped in 1945 and was living somewhere in Argentina. This is where the paper trail ends, and it isn't clear what happened afterwards. 

Why would Hitler choose Argentina?

Reports suggest that Argentina was notorious for giving refuge to former Nazi party members. Hitler knew a family there that he is said to have lived with. Documents suggest that the owners of a spa hotel in La Falda, Argentina were Nazi supporters.

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They made monetary contributions to propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and were friends with Hitler. 

Hitler was friends with a family in Argentina

He spent time with the family on vacations at the hotel and so, the CIA was convinced that he would escape to Argentina and reunite with the family if he lost the war or was removed as leader of the Nazi party.

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The US War Department contacted the FBI and told them about the spa hotel in Argentina, which might have been his secret hideout. A  secret CIA document released in 2020 is accompanied by a photo that shows a man similar in looks to Hitler sitting with a friend in Colombia in 1954.

A photo of man resembling Hitler was found 

An October 3, 1955, report mentions a US intelligence operation that worked to confirm whether Adolf Hitler really died or survived and secretly escaped to South America.

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It talks about an informant known as CIMELODY-,3 who told a friend who served Hitler in Europe. The friend told him about a man named Phillip Citroen, a former SS trooper, who told him that Hitler was alive and living in Colombia. He said that he spoke to the Nazi leader regularly. The friend managed to steal the photo showing him with a man who resembled Hitler.

No other documents were available to suggest what happened to the investigation after 1955.