Possible monorchism of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler in 1932

Claims that Adolf Hitler had only one testicle (monorchism) have been scrutinized by historians. A 1923 medical report from Hitler's arrival to prison after his failed Beer Hall Putsch states that his right testicle was undescended – for which he may have had a predisposition, according to 2025 DNA analysis. Although Hitler often refused to fully undress for exams, his doctors denied that he was monorchid.

During World War II, a song maligning Hitler as monorchid was popularized. Subsequently, some secondhand accounts about Hitler's genitals were shared relating to his time as a soldier during the First World War. An alleged Soviet autopsy published in 1968 claims that Hitler's left testicle was missing, but the report is most likely disinformation; only Hitler's dental remains have been positively identified.

Evidence

Nazi era

Documents from Landsberg Prison (where Hitler was held after his failed Beer Hall Putsch) were released by December 2015. A note in the Aufnahmebuch (book of arrivals at prison) by prison doctor Josef Brinsteiner, who reportedly examined Hitler in 1923, states that he had cryptorchidism (an undescended testicle) on the right side.[1][2][3] In 2025, Hitler's DNA was analyzed, with the results suggesting that he had genetic markers for Kallmann syndrome, which hinders puberty and increases the chance of cryptorchidism[4][5] (although Hitler's facial hair and relatively deep tone in the only known recording of him speaking regularly imply that he entered puberty).[6]

Although Hitler often refused to undress fully for exams,[7] his doctor Erwin Giesing [de], personal physician Theodor Morell, and childhood doctor Eduard Bloch stated that Hitler's testicles were normal.[8][9] During World War II, the British song "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" maligned the dictator and other top Nazis as having substandard genitalia.[10]

In his 1957 book, Hitler's former friend Ernst Hanfstaengl claims that a story was often told that "Hitler's old army comrades, who had seen him in the wash-house ... noted that his genital organs were almost freakishly underdeveloped."[11]

In the 1960s (although not published until 2008), Polish priest Franciszek Pawlar recorded the alleged account of former German Army medic Johan Jambor, who claimed that he helped bring Hitler to safety after he was injured by bomb shrapnel in October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.[12][13] Jambor purportedly stated: "His abdomen and legs were covered in blood. Hitler was wounded in the abdomen and had lost a testicle. His first question to the doctor was: 'Can I still father children?'"[13] According to historian Ian Kershaw, the wound was to Hitler's left thigh.[14]

Alleged Soviet autopsy

See also: Death of Adolf Hitler

In 1968, Soviet journalist Lev Bezymenski published his book The Death of Adolf Hitler. Bezymenski describes a purported Soviet forensic examination and published the alleged autopsy led by Faust Shkaravsky.[15][16][17][18] The book states that:

The autopsy performed by the Red Army pathologists on Hitler's body... [produced clear] findings: The left testicle could not be found either in the scrotum or on the spermatic cord inside the inguinal canal, or in the small pelvis ...

Although Hitler's 1923 prison examination (only released in 2015) states that his right – not left – testicle was undescended,[1][3] the Soviet report prompted psychohistorian Robert G. L. Waite to write in 1977 that he found it likely that the dictator was monorchid, citing the identification of the dental remains.[10] However, only Hitler's dental remains were positively identified, similar to those of Eva Braun – with any remainder of his and Braun's corpses subject to debate (helping fuel survival theories).[19][a] Meanwhile, the Soviet book's claims that Hitler died by cyanide poisoning or even a coup de grâce, contrary to eyewitness reports, have exposed it as propaganda,[b] as Bezymenski admitted in 1992.[26][15][27][23] In 1998, American journalist Ron Rosenbaum suggested that the missing testicle was a similar falsified detail to portray Hitler as a coward,[28] which historian Sjoerd de Boer agreed with in 2022.[29]

See also

References

Citations

Footnotes

  1. ^ Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper wrote in 1947 that the bones should have been found intact, as they would not have been destroyed by open-air burning (in line with certain scientific studies).[20][21] Contrarily, in 1950, American jurist Michael Musmanno argued that the remains would have been reduced nearly to ashes,[22] which was repeated in 1995 by historian Anton Joachimsthaler and later by others.[23][24]
  2. ^ This was part of a line of disinformation starting with Joseph Stalin's 1945 claim that Hitler had escaped.[25]

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Hitler really did have only one testicle, German researcher claims". The Guardian. 19 December 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  2. ^ "Hitler really did have just one ball: historian". TheLocal.de. 18 December 2015. Archived from the original on 25 April 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b Jordans, Frank (22 December 2015). "Records show Hitler enjoyed special treatment in prison". Associated Press. Retrieved 15 November 2025 – via Seattle Times.
  4. ^ Evans, Holly (12 November 2025). "Hitler had a genetic sexual disorder, new DNA analysis reveals". The Independent. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  5. ^ "Kallmann syndrome". Genetics Home Reference. US Library of Medicine. National Institutes for Health. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  6. ^ Turi, King (22 November 2025). Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator. Episode 2. Channel 4.
  7. ^ Fuchs, Thomas (February 2000). A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler. Penguin. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-101-12737-7.
  8. ^ Waite, Robert G. L. The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler, Basic Books, N.Y.C., 1977, pp. 150–152
  9. ^ John, Tara (23 February 2016). "The Immortal Myth of Hitler's Deformed Genitals". Time. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  10. ^ a b Waite, Robert G. L. (1993) [1977]. The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 150–152. ISBN 978-0306805141.
  11. ^ Hanfstaengl, Ernst (1957). Unheard Witness. Lippincott. p. 143.
  12. ^ German Medic's Account Confirms Hitler Had Only One Testicle The Sun (19 November 2008)– via Fox News. Retrieved on 13 November 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Adolf Hitler: Sein Lebensretter lebte Jahrzehnte in Angst, weil er von der peinlichen Hodenverletzung wusste". Bild (in German). 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  14. ^ Kershaw 1999, pp. 94–95, 636.
  15. ^ a b Eberle & Uhl 2005, p. 288.
  16. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 955.
  17. ^ Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 160–182.
  18. ^ Fest 2004, pp. 116, 163–164.
  19. ^ Multiple sources:
  20. ^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh (2002) [1947]. The Last Days of Hitler (7th ed.). London: Pan Macmillan. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-330-49060-3.
  21. ^ Multiple sources:
  22. ^ Musmanno, Michael A. (1950). Ten Days to Die. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. pp. 231–32, 234, 236, 238–39, 242–43.
  23. ^ a b Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 252–253.
  24. ^ Daly-Groves 2019, pp. 157–158.
  25. ^ Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 22, 23.
  26. ^ "Hitlers letzte Reise". Der Spiegel (in German). 19 July 1992. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  27. ^ Kershaw 2001, p. 1037.
  28. ^ Rosenbaum, Ron (1998). Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil. New York: Random House. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-679-43151-0.
  29. ^ de Boer, Sjoerd (2022). The Hitler Myths: Exposing the Truth Behind the Stories about the Führer. Frontline Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-39901-905-7.

Bibliography

  • Daly-Groves, Luke (2019). Hitler's Death: The Case Against Conspiracy. Oxford, UK: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-4728-3454-6.
  • Eberle, Henrik; Uhl, Matthias, eds. (2005). The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-366-1.
  • Fest, Joachim (2004). Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-13577-5.
  • Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999) [1995]. The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. Translated by Helmut Bölger. London: Brockhampton Press. ISBN 978-1-86019-902-8.
  • Kershaw, Ian (1999) [1998]. Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04671-0.
  • Kershaw, Ian (2001) [2000]. Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-027239-0.
  • Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possible_monorchism_of_Adolf_Hitler