Possible monorchism of Adolf Hitler

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. An analysis of Hitler's DNA performed in 2025 suggested that he had the genetic markers for Kallmann syndrome, which hinders puberty and increases the chance of cryptorchidism. However, Hitler's ability to grow facial hair, as well as the relatively deep tone of his voice in the only known recording of him speaking regularly, implies that he entered puberty.

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

Related to World War I

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."

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. 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? According to historian Ian Kershaw, the wound was to Hitler's left thigh.

Alleged Soviet autopsy

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. The book states that:

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 rightnot lefttesticle was undescended, 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. However, only Hitler's dental remains were positively identified, similar to those of Eva Braunwith any remainder of his and Braun's corpses subject to debate (helping fuel survival theories).Multiple sources:

• {{efn|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).Multiple sources:

• Contrarily, in 1950, American jurist Michael Musmanno argued that the remains would have been reduced nearly to ashes, which was repeated in 1995 by historian Anton Joachimsthaler and later by others.}} 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, as Bezymenski admitted in 1992. In 1998, American journalist Ron Rosenbaum suggested that the missing testicle was a similar falsified detail to portray Hitler as a coward, which historian Sjoerd de Boer agreed with in 2022.

References

Citations

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

References

1. (2015-12-19). "Hitler really did have only one testicle, German researcher claims". The Guardian.
2. (18 December 2015). "Hitler really did have just one ball: historian". TheLocal.de.
3. Jordans, Frank. (2015-12-22). "Records show Hitler enjoyed special treatment in prison".
4. Evans, Holly. (2025-11-12). "Hitler had a genetic sexual disorder, new DNA analysis reveals".
5. (June 26, 2016). "Kallmann syndrome". National Institutes for Health. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information.
6. {{Cite episode. Turi. King. (22 November 2025)
7. (February 2000). "A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler". Penguin.
8. Waite, Robert G. L. ''The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler'', Basic Books, N.Y.C., 1977, pp. 150–152
9. John, Tara. (February 23, 2016). "The Immortal Myth of Hitler's Deformed Genitals".
10. Hanfstaengl, Ernst. (1957). "Unheard Witness". Lippincott.
11. [https://www.foxnews.com/story/german-medics-account-confirms-hitler-had-only-one-testicle German Medic's Account Confirms Hitler Had Only One Testicle] ''The Sun'' (19 November 2008)– via Fox News. Retrieved on 13 November 2025.
12. (19 November 2008). "Adolf Hitler: Sein Lebensretter lebte Jahrzehnte in Angst, weil er von der peinlichen Hodenverletzung wusste".
13. (1993). "The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler". Da Capo Press.
14. Trevor-Roper, Hugh. (2002). "The Last Days of Hitler". Pan Macmillan.
15. Musmanno, Michael A.. (1950). "Ten Days to Die". [[Doubleday (publisher).
16. (1992-07-19). "Hitlers letzte Reise".
17. Rosenbaum, Ron. (1998). "Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil". Random House.
18. de Boer, Sjoerd. (2022). "The Hitler Myths: Exposing the Truth Behind the Stories about the Führer". Frontline Books.