Hitler DNA Tests Show He Likely Had Jewish, African Roots, Daily Mail Says

Adolf Hitler may have been descended from both Jews and Africans, DNA tests are indicating, the Daily Mail reported.

Journalist Jean-Paul Mulders and historian Marc Vermeeren used DNA to trace 39 of the Nazi leader’s relatives earlier this year, the Daily Mail said.

The relatives included an Austrian farmer, indentified only as a cousin named "Norbert H," the Daily Mail reported.

A chromosome called "Haplogroup E1b1b," or Y-DNA, in the relatives’ saliva samples is rare in Germany, as well as Western Europe, the newspaper said.

"It is most commonly found in the Berbers of Morocco, in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia as well as among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews," Vermeeren said.

Mulders told Belgian magazine Knack that "[o]ne can from this postulate that Hitler was related to people whom he despised," the Daily Mail reported.

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Hitler Likely Had Jewish, African Roots, Daily Mail Says

Keystone/Getty Images

DNA shows Adolf Hitler likely to have had Jewish or African roots, reports Daily Mail.

DNA shows Adolf Hitler likely to have had Jewish or African roots, reports Daily Mail. Photographer: Keystone/Getty Images