“We didn’t know what we were going to find. It could have been the most boring genome on the planet, but it turned out amazing.” As if the promise of new (and morbid) revelations about Hitler weren’t enough to grab the world’s attention, that phrase of Turi Emma Kinga famous geneticist, has helped the documentary ‘Hitler’s DNA’ generated a huge stir even before its premiere. Logical. After all, the work is based on scientific research that reveals that the Nazi leader suffered from a genetic disorder that affected his sexuality.
And that is just one of his many conclusions.
Yes, Hitler again. The 20th century was prolific in wars, milestones and historical figures, but probably few arouse the fascination of Adolf Hitler. For his disastrous role as fuhrer but also because of the enormous amount of conspiracy theories and hoaxes that surround his figure. About his death, your habits and tasteshis supposed Jewish ancestry and his equal alleged offspring So many pages have been written that they would cover (several times) the bunker in which he committed suicide on April 30, 1945 with a sip of cyanide and/or a bullet.
So it’s no surprise that any new revelation about him generates considerable excitement. Especially if it is one like the one that promises ‘Hitler’s DNA’a documentary produced by Channel 4 and which boasts of having thoroughly studied the DNA of the Nazi dictator. The piece premiered yesterday, Saturday, but its authors have taken it upon themselves to air their main conclusions in advance to warm things up. And although there are those who question their rhetoric or the solidity of some of their statements, one thing is clear: they have not done badly in their endeavor.
Adolf Hitler’s DNA? Exact. To understand how the producers obtained a genetic sample from Hitler, we must go back to May 1945, shortly after the Nazi leader’s suicide. Among the allied soldiers who were able to access the Führerbunker There was one especially clever one, Roswell P. Rosengren, who came up with an idea: Why not take proof of the very couch on which the dictator had taken his life? No sooner said than done. The American officer cut off a blood-stained scrap and took it home. The piece was guarded by his family until 2014, when it passed to the Gettysburg History Museum.
There the producers of Channel 4 found him, who had to face the following challenge: Was that really Hitler’s blood? Was there some way to establish the link, beyond Rosengren’s story? The answer was yes, although it forced them to take a new time jump (this much shorter one) to 2008, when the journalist Jean-Paul Mulders obtained a DNA sample from a relative of Hitler, a person with whom he shared paternal ancestors.
Mulders’ purpose was to investigate the rumor of an alleged illegitimate son of Hitler, but in the end it served the creators of the documentary to compare the sample with the blood on the couch. The result: a perfect match. Double check which reinforced the conviction that the cloth contained Hitler’s DNA.
“I thought about it a lot”. The next mission was to sequence that DNA to find out everything it hid about its owner, another far from easy task. Not so much because of the technical complexity itself but because of the enormous controversy that accompanies Hitler. In fact The Times assures that there were several laboratories that refused to collaborate in the documentary. Professor Turi Emma King, the lead geneticist on the research, also had her reservations when it was proposed.
“I thought about it a lot,” recognize to the British newspaper the scientist, known for identifying years ago the remains of King Richard III. If he decided to embark on the project it was for two reasons: first, why not do it when the DNA is already being used for historical research it would mean giving a prominent role to Hitler; second, by the conviction that sooner or later someone would do it. “We wanted to make sure it was done methodically and rigorously.” So King decided to join the other main expert in the investigation, Dr. Alex Kayexpert on Nazi Germany and professor at the University of Potsdam.
Clearing up unknowns. The experiment did not disappoint. As King acknowledges, the team risked not getting convincing results or anything substantial to justify the effort. Quite the opposite happened: the DNA analysis yielded some surprising conclusions that help debunk myths and expand the keys to understanding the Nazi leader. “We didn’t know what we were going to find. It could have been the most boring genome on the planet, but it turned out incredible,” relates.
One of their most interesting findings is that the rumors about Hitler’s Hebrew ancestry appear to be basically that: rumors. At the time, there was speculation that the dictator’s paternal grandfather could have been Jewish (Hitler’s father, Alois, was an illegitimate son), a theory so deep-rooted that in 2022 it came to light. share it publicly Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He was wrong.
Channel 4 analysis reveals that Hitler was of Austro-German descent and supports the family tree drawn up by the Nazis. “Confirms that the story of Jewish ancestry through his parents is false,” concludes King on CNN.
Kallman syndrome. If there is a revelation that has generated interest and grabbed headlines, however, it is the one that tells us about a much more personal aspect of Hitler: his physiology. Scientists claim to have found solid evidence that Hitler suffered from some form of Kallman syndromea genetic disorder that affects the development during puberty and of sexual organs.
The most common thing is that the syndrome causes hypogonadism (insufficient production of testosterone during adolescence), but as the British press has been responsible for reminding these days, it has another peculiarity: up to 10% of those who have the disorder have micropenis. Beyond the obvious morbidity of this revelation, the data is interesting because of the stories that circulated about Hitler at his time and what other documentary sources tell us about his physiology.
In 2015 historians discovered a medical report dated 1923 that assures that the dictator suffered cryptorchidismwhich means that only one of his testicles had descended. The document bears the signature of Dr. Josef Brinsteiner and was covered in the Bavarian prison where Hitler ended up after the failed coup d’état from Munich. At the time, rumors about the subject were already circulating and during the Second World War in England it even became popular. a satirical song which, he cries, in one of his verses: “Hitler only has one testicle, the other is in the Albert Hall”.
“A transcendental discovery”. For Professor Kay, the idea that Hitler suffered from Kallman syndrome is much more than just a lurid anecdote. In his opinion, it contributes “a transcendental discovery” which contributes to understanding it better. “It would help explain Hitler’s unusual and almost absolute dedication to politics in his life, to the exclusion of any kind of private life,” duck. “Other senior Nazi officials had wives, children and lovers. Hitler is the only one in the Nazi leadership who did not. Only under his command could the Nazi movement come to power.”
Schizophrenia and bipolarity? The documentary offers another glimpse of Hitler, one that is more diffuse and has turned out to be even more controversial. After the analysis, the experts conclude that the Nazi leader was in the top percentile in terms of the probability of having autism, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Is it a diagnosis? No. Just statistics. Predisposition at best. In no case is it conclusive proof about what the dictator was (or was not). In fact, there are experts who have participated in the documentary and influence that nuance.
“Polygenic risk scores for psychiatric conditions are currently only used in research settings,” explains Ditte Demontis, professor of psychiatric genetics at Aarhus University. “We can make statements at a group level, not an individual level. It is not a diagnosis and we want to emphasize that the score does not imply specific behavior or actions at all.” King adds that the documentary does not seek to “stigmatize” those who do have autism or bipolar and recalls that it is “rare” for these people to commit violent acts.
Lights and shadows. It is not the only warning about the study. His rhetoric, some of his statements and above all the fact that the findings have not been published in a scientific journal or reviewed by other academics have marked the premiere of the documentary. The analysis has supposedly been sent as paper to a prestigious medical publication, but the producer did not want to wait to launch the work, a decision that has also earned it reproaches.
“Considering that the show has been in production for seven years and its claims are of great historical significance, this decision remains surprising,” slide Philip Oltermann in Guardian. While waiting for more experts to speak out, one thing is clear: ‘Hitler’s DNA’ confirms that the Nazi leader (and all the rumors surrounding him) continues to generate fascination in the 21st century.
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