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HistoryExtra podcast · 2025-11-22 · 45 min · 7,957 words

What does Hitler’s DNA really tell us?

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Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. Listeners in the UK might have seen headlines in recent days about a two-part Channel 4 documentary, Hitler's DNA, Blueprint of a dictator, which uses groundbreaking evidence drawn from the Nazi leader's genetic makeup to put forward new analysis of his life and character. I caught up with two of the experts behind the documentary early this week and we'll be hearing from them in just a moment. But first, we want to hear your thoughts on this.

Was testing Hitler's DNA a good thing? Do you have questions for the experts? Let us know. You can email podcast at historyctra.com, and, if we get enough questions, we'll see if we can get the experts back onto the podcast to talk some more about this.

But for now, I'm delighted to say that I'm joined by those experts. Hi, I'm Alex K. I'm a British historian based in Germany at the University of Potsdam, where I specialise in Nazi Germany and comparative research on genocide and mass violence. And I'm Professor Turi King. I'm an expert in ancient and forensic DNA and I am director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath.

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