New DNA analysis has revealed Hitler had a shocking genetic sexual disorder.
Historical figures cast long shadows, but few loom as darkly as Adolf Hitler. For decades, historians, psychologists, and scientists have attempted to understand what drove one of history's most monstrous figures, searching for explanations in his childhood, his political ideology, his psychology, and even his biology.
Now, modern genetic science has provided some surprising answers about the Nazi dictator's biology and how it may have shaped his life.
According to new DNA analysis that's been conducted using advanced genetic testing techniques, Adolf Hitler had a hidden genetic disorder that would have severely hindered the development of his sexual organs.
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The Nazi dictator suffered from Kallmann syndrome, a genetic condition that impacts the normal progression of puberty. As such, the findings suggest it's highly likely he would have struggled to form sexual relationships.
The findings are set to be revealed in the Channel 4 documentary Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator, which also tackles several long-standing myths about the Nazi leader.
For the research, scientists were able to build Hitler's DNA profile from a sample of blood-stained cloth that a US Army colonel had cut from the fabric of the sofa where Hitler took his own life in 1945.
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Professor Turi King, who previously gained fame for identifying the remains of King Richard III, admitted she had reservations about the project.
“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,” she explained. “If he was to look at his own genetic results, he would have almost certainly have sent himself to the gas chambers.”
Stories from the First World War suggest Hitler had been bullied over the size of his genitalia. With Kallmann syndrome now confirmed, this makes more sense - the genetic condition gives affected individuals a one-in-ten chance of having a micropenis. More concrete evidence came from a 1923 medical examination uncovered by researchers in 2015 which showed that Hitler did indeed have an undescended testicle, a condition called cryptorchidism.
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Alex J. Kay, a historian at the University of Potsdam who specialises in Nazi Germany, told the documentary that Hitler's sexual disorder could help explain his 'highly unusual and almost complete devotion to politics in his life.'
He said: “Other senior Nazis had wives, children, even extramarital affairs. Hitler is the one person among the whole Nazi leadership who doesn’t. Therefore, I think that only under Hitler could the Nazi movement have come to power.”
The possibility of having one or more neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions was also not ruled out by the DNA analysis. The research found that Hitler's genetic profile placed him in the top percentile in terms of risk factors for autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.
“I think it’s fair to say that his biology didn’t help. I don’t think any clinical term applies here. We can’t know, we can’t diagnose," said Dr Alex Tsompanidis, an autism researcher at the University of Cambridge. "The cognitive process is likely to have been affected, but I use his behaviour as much as genetics when I say that.”