A study found that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler likely suffered from Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes abnormal secretion of puberty hormones.
On the 13th, major foreign media including the British daily the Guardian reported that the Channel 4 documentary Hitler's DNA is set to air on the 15th and that the documentary revealed the results of an analysis of a blood sample believed to be Hitler's.
The production team analyzed a bloodstained piece of cloth that a U.S. soldier had cut from the sofa where Hitler died, discovered at a military museum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When Hitler's direct relatives refused to provide DNA, they used as a comparator a saliva sample from a male-line relative of Hitler collected by a Belgian journalist 10 years ago.
As a result, the Y chromosome of the two samples matched perfectly, indicating a very high likelihood that the blood was indeed Hitler's.
Genetic analysis found a defect in the PROK2 gene in Hitler's DNA, which plays a key role in sexual development. This mutation is often observed in patients with Kallmann syndrome, a disorder in which puberty hormones are not secreted normally, delaying or halting reproductive function.
Patients with Kallmann syndrome typically have low or unstable testosterone levels and may also exhibit cryptorchidism, where the testes do not descend.
After the failed Munich putsch in 1923, Hitler was reportedly diagnosed with "right-sided cryptorchidism" in the medical records of Landsberg Prison, which aligns with the genetic analysis.
Experts acknowledged that Hitler's physical defects or hormonal abnormalities may have influenced personality formation, but noted that linking this to the political violence or massacres he committed lacks scientific basis.
Turi King, director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said, "It is possible that the gene defect affected his biological traits, but we cannot conclude that Hitler's behavior or character was determined by genetic factors."
Historian Alex Kay said, "It is possible that Hitler's anxiety and deficiencies combined with a desire for control," but warned, "Attempts to explain his brutality through genetics or disease are a very dangerous form of biological determinism."
The documentary also refuted a long-standing rumor that Hitler had Jewish ancestry. The producers said that, after comparing the DNA of his relatives, there was no genetic evidence suggesting Jewish lineage.