By Roland Puccetti
1973 Arrow Books
Paperback, 224 pages
First published in 1972 by St.
Martin’s Press (in hardcover!), this book wasn’t on my radar until I saw the
magnificent (and spoilery) Arrow paperback cover. Reading a few reviews forced
me to find the book (the Arrow edition, of course) and it has changed my life
for the better. Another death-bed-bookshelf tome. They saved Hitler’s brain,
all right, and had a lot of fun with it!
The story is told by an elderly
Karl Gisevius, who had been given private information that Hitler did not
commit suicide in his bunker, that the Russians had found his body, but without
a brain. So, twenty years after the war ended, in the interest of a spectacular
news story, Karl heads to Berlin to get into the bunker and have a look around.
Seems reasonable. Miraculously, he does get in and gets a clue as to who might
have taken the brain… his old pal/ rival Willi Tränger. Now, to find him.
Cut to the chase. He did. To get
into Tränger’s well-guarded castle, Karl has a motorcycle accident, and his old
pal recognizes him (this would be many years since they’d last seen each other)
and lets him convalesce in the castle. That’s certainly more good luck! There,
he meets a crazy cast of characters who refuse to let the Third Reich die,
including the hot Baroness. She is so attracted to Karl that they have a
romantic rendezvous in her room. While screwing, at the point of their
simultaneous orgasm, she screams “Ich ben der Führer!”. And then it starts to
get really crazy.
This sci-fi/ horror/ hysterical
history novel just keeps chugging along, with Karl performing the most amazing stunts,
including self-brain surgery, and he never gets flustered in the least.
Puccetti actually made me squirm claustrophobically a few times, like going
down the Bunker’s airshaft and climbing the castles’ chimney for espionage
reasons but I knew Karl was going to survive. He was telling the story. And
telling it in such a matter-of-fact way that it seemed that having his life in
danger was a mere inconvenience.
Stupid, hilarious, visionary and
actually pretty well-written (except for confusing time-lines), this book is a
gem of balls to the wall insanity. This is the kind of pulp novel that only
comes along once in a blue moon and you have to grab it, read it and treasure
it always. Now go listen to legendary Boston punk band Unnatural Act’s song
“They Saved Hitler’s Brain” and thank me later.
A much needed reprint is forthcoming from the great Fathom Press in 2026.
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