On May 1, at 9.30 pm, Hamburg radio warned the German people that "a grave and important announcement" was about to be made. Several pieces from some of Wagner's operas and the slow movement of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony immediately followed. Then at 10.20pm the voice of Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Commander in Chief for Northern Germany, was heard. In sombre tones he announced Hitler's death and his succession as Führer of the Reich. Hitler had fallen "this afternoon", he said, fighting "at the head of his troops". Many believed this statement. The next day the Times of London published Hitler's obituary. Irish President Valera sent his condolences to the German ambassador in Dublin. But it wasn't true. Hitler, as was later told to the world, had died the day before and had not fallen into action, like a heroic martyr, but had committed suicide without leaving the bunker under the Reich Chancellery where he had been since 16 January 1945. Donitz perhaps had more of a reason to publish the story he did. He may not have been aware of all the facts, but in any case he must have wondered how the German troops would react if they knew that their leader had not died a glorious death but had taken his own life. Whatever the reasons of Donitz, this erroneous story, combined with absolute silence on the part of the Russians about what they had or had not found in the Reich Chancellery and the absence of a corpse – whether that of Hitler or that of Eva Braun – did not convince many people. On the contrary, throughout the summer of 1945 rumors that Hitler was still alive intensified. The sightings were numerous. Among the first, it was reported that Hitler had been seen living as a hermit in a cave near Lake Garda in northern Italy. Another report said he was now a shepherd in the Swiss Alps, a third said he was a croupier in a casino in Evian. It has been seen in Grenoble, St. Gallen and even off the coast of Ireland. Viewed from this distance, each of these accounts appears fantastic and incredible. But that wasn't how they were seen at the time. Not all reports were so fantastic. In July 1945, the US Bureau of Censorship intercepted a letter written by someone in Washington.