A two-part documentary broadcast on Britain’s Channel 4 analyzes Adolf Hitler’s DNA and comes to controversial conclusions. Perhaps the biggest controversy is the question underlying the results. Can he explain why he led the town into its darkest moment of the 20th century?
“Hitler’s DNA: A Dictator’s Blueprint” begins with a piece of cloth belonging to a retired American soldier from the sofa on which the Nazi leader committed suicide.
The piece contains bloodstains, and the documentary team tried to confirm with the dictator’s relatives, but they refused to provide samples for comparison.
But they obtained one from a Belgian journalist who had managed to receive it from a male relative 10 years earlier, and they proved that it belonged to Hitler.
The first thing the documentary team, led by geneticist Turi King from the University of Bath and historian Alex Kay from the University of Potsdam, was to dispel long-standing rumors that he had Jewish ancestry.
Perhaps the most famous anti-Semite in history was the illegitimate son of a Jew. Well, they claim in the documentary that DNA will squash that rumor.
Moving on to health issues, genetic analysis revealed a single-letter deletion in the PROK2 gene, which causes the so-called Kallmann syndrome, which causes hypogonadism and can prevent or delay puberty.
This is consistent with what is known about the patient’s medical history. president. journalist Eric Frattiniin his book Patient Atold how Theodor Morel, the Nazi’s personal physician, treated him with testosterone.
But the most surprising thing about Kallmann syndrome is that 10% of people who suffer from Kallmann syndrome never fully develop their genitals. In other words, they have a “micropenis.”
Dr. Morel’s clinical records (declassified in 1981) do not give any clues on the matter, as Hitler was reluctant to undergo medical examinations.
“It’s very dangerous to say that if he had Kallmann syndrome, he would have a micropenis,” he says. Jose Maria Milanspokesperson for the Spanish Society of Human Genetics (AEGH).
“It’s less risky to say that almost 100% of patients had a relevant lack of smell, but of course it’s not that pathological to say that.”
Milan, who has not seen the documentary, said he was struck by the fact that they only talked about Kallmann syndrome as a change when “it takes two mutations to occur.”
Also raising eyebrows is the fact that Hitler’s DNA was obtained from bloodstains on the sofa’s fabric. “The quality of its DNA is not that good.”
Genetic determinism?
Experts are also concerned that the images these documentaries present are deterministic, as if genes explain everything.
This can be done to a large extent in Mendelian or single-gene conditions, where changes in a single gene cause problems.
Even in these cases, there are variations. “Changes in AKT1 cause Proteus syndrome and elephant man syndrome, but not everyone who carries it looks like Joseph Merrick,” he recalls.
However, most conditions involve a varying number of genes. So let’s talk about genetic predisposition. Modifications do not eliminate problems, but they do increase the risk of problems occurring..
Those responsible for the documentary used a so-called polygenic risk scale to estimate the likelihood that the Nazi leader had other health conditions.
In doing so, they were found to be at increased risk for ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, behavioral disorders, and even schizophrenia.
Josep Antoni Ramos“There’s this idea that we don’t know where these disorders come from, but that’s wrong. They have a high genetic burden,” said Vall d’Hebron Psychiatric Director and vice-president of the Spanish Association of Psychiatry and Mental Health.
In fact, 75-80% of medical conditions are related to genetic factors. Now, just because you have a predisposition doesn’t mean you will develop the disorder.
“Even if you have two identical individuals, such as monozygotic twins, one may develop schizophrenia and the other may not. It depends not only on genetic factors, but also on interactions with the environment.”
For this reason, polygenic risk scales also have some controversy. These are based on observational studies that demonstrate that people with certain conditions are more likely to have certain genes altered.
(A similar thing happens when you want to associate genomic features with nationality or ethnic origin.)
There are usually several hundred genes. “More than 230 changes have been documented in schizophrenia,” Ramos explains. “Currently, however, these scales are primarily used at the research level and not in clinical practice.”
Miguel Fernandez BrielHead of the genetics department at the Mérida Hospital, he recalls that “individual characteristics are not always determined by risk measures.”
These play a role, for example, in “taking specific clinical steps. For example, if you are at high cardiovascular risk, we can recommend interventions to help you live a healthier life.”
But he cautioned against the “marketing” of certain commercial companies that sell tests that measure health risks based on these metrics.
“The link[between genes and disease]is not clear and there is no support in the literature. It just tells you whether you’re at higher risk or not, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have something.”
Of course, the conceptual leap that must be made to explain Hitler’s actions as a product of all these issues is much less clear. This ranges from self-consciousness about having a micropenis to delusions arising from mental states.
Let’s return to the story of psychiatrist Josep Antoni Ramos. “Perhaps, if you look at Hitler’s speeches and actions, like Stalin, Hitler had very pronounced paranoid traits. And part of the explanation for that may be due to the genetic mutations that have been found.”
However, “the actions of Hitler, Stalin, Putin, and Netanyahu cannot be explained by genetic mutations alone. We cannot allow this to create prejudice against people living with mental disorders.”
biological reductionism
psychologist Carlos Sanz Recall that over the years there have been attempts to explain Hitler’s actions on the basis of some personal problem.
“They even said he was gay. But the word ‘self-consciousness’ is completely obsolete in psychology today.”
Sanz rejects reductionist analyzes that try to explain that “Hitler was a bad man and therefore sick. It is dangerous to attribute mental or physical disorders to complexes and from there lead to abuses of power.”
“Of course, there is a biological basis for behavior, but this is not what causes it, but what enables it,” he points out.
Extrapolating “tiny details of your personality” to explain and judge behavior is biological reductionism.
Geneticist José María Milan also escapes from this reductionism. “We geneticists don’t like these kinds of documentaries, like the one that analyzed Christopher Columbus’ DNA to uncover his origins. They think genetics is deterministic and can explain everything, but that’s simply not the case.”.
The declining cost of genome sequencing machines is expanding their use beyond clinical use, where they examine the DNA of historical figures to uncover their secrets.
But even serious analysis cannot conclusively say that Hitler had a micropenis or was schizophrenic, any more than we can prove Christopher Columbus’s Jewish ancestry.
“This has a negative impact on society who think that genetic research will tell them whether they will get colon cancer or prostate cancer or any other cancer. Society must be trained to know the importance of environment in genetics and avoid documentaries like this.”
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