Was Eva Braun of Jewish ancestry?
New DNA tests indicate woman Hitler married could have had DNA associated with Ashkenazi Jews, BBC documentary says.
If true, Hitler, who eventually married Braun before their joint suicide, may have inadvertently married a woman of Semitic descent.
Video courtesy of jn1.tv
The discovery was reported by a BBC documentary called Dead Famous DNA, in which British scientists extract DNA from historical relics and analyze their genome to solve mysteries associated with them, The Independent reported.
According to the report by the British paper, forensic scientists sequenced the Braun's mitochondrial DNA, using a sample of hairs taken from a hairbrush found in Braun’s apartment at Hitler’s Berghof Alpine residence by American soldiers.
The scientists were surprised to discover a specific genome sequence – haplogroup N1b1 - within the small group of maternal DNA which is associated with Ashkenazi Jews.
A haplogroup is a particular sequence of mitochondrial DNA, the Independent explained, which is passed down the maternal line and remains unchanged over the generations.
Because Judaism itself is passed down through matrilineal descent, Braun's genetic affiliation with the group could theoretically testify to Jewish ancestry.
After Braun became infatuated with the Nazi leader, Hitler requested his private secretary Martin Bormann vet Braun and make sure she was 'Aryan,' but even afterwards never took the relationship public.
The BBC Channel 4 used hair found by Paul Baer, a US intelligence officer sent to the Berghof in summer of 1945. Baer took some personal belongs and sold them off. A few strands of hair eventually found their way to the show's host Mark Evans.
A BBC spokesman quoted by the Independent said: “In the nineteenth century, many Ashkenazi Jews in Germany converted to Catholicism, so Eva Braun is highly unlikely to have known her ancestry and – despite research he instigated into Braun’s race – neither would Hitler.”
The Independent was quick to note that the results are not definitive and only a comparison to living descendants of Braun could truly prove the claim. Sadly, her two surviving female descendants both refused to give samples.
