Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The results, set to air in a new documentary, draw on material gathered in the chaotic final moments of the Second World War.
Fresh scrutiny is falling on Adolf Hitler’s medical history as scientists prepare to reveal DNA findings derived from what is believed to be his blood.
The results, set to air in a new Channel 4 documentary, draw on material gathered in the chaotic final moments of the Second World War.
The sample at the centre of the research comes from a cloth lifted from the Führerbunker by Colonel Roswell P Rosengren, a U.S. Army press officer under General Dwight D Eisenhower.
Experts later identified bloodstains on the fabric and used them to conduct an extensive genetic examination.
Channel 4 will detail the analysis in Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator, scheduled for broadcast on Saturday.
Challenging Hitler’s ideology
According to Express, Professor Turi King, who led the genetic inquiry, told Channel 4 that the results stand in stark contradiction to Hitler’s racial doctrines.
“If he was to look at his own genetic results, he would have almost certainly have sent himself to the gas chambers,” she said.
King said the responsibility of undertaking such research weighed heavily, noting: “I agonised over it. But it will be done at some point and we wanted to make sure it’s done in an extremely measured and rigorous fashion. Also, to not do it puts him on some sort of pedestal.”
Interpreting the findings
According to the documentary, the scientific team will soon publish a paper outlining evidence that Hitler had Kallmann syndrome, a condition that disrupts the normal onset of puberty and sexual development.
King stressed that nothing in the DNA analysis lessens Hitler’s responsibility for the crimes of the Nazi regime.
“The genetics can in no way excuse what he did,” she told the programme. “He could have had the most boring genome on the planet. But he didn’t.”
Revisiting historical records
A medical examination carried out on Hitler in 1923 – a document that only emerged publicly in 2015 – recorded that he had an undescended testicle.
The newly reported diagnosis could also align with long-circulated claims that he had a micropenis, though such allegations remain disputed among historians.
Researchers say these findings help contextualise earlier documentation without altering its established content.
Understanding the political impact
Alex J Kay, a historian at the University of Potsdam and contributor to the documentary, told The Times that the disorder may shed light on the dictator’s highly unusual personal circumstances.
“This would help to explain Hitler’s highly unusual and almost complete devotion to politics in his life to the almost complete exclusion of any kind of private life,” he said.
He added that other senior Nazis maintained families or relationships, while Hitler lived in an isolated manner. “Therefore, I think that only under Hitler could the Nazi movement have come to power,” he said.
Sources: Channel 4, The Times, Express
This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation
