Few historical figures have been discussed and debated as much as Adolf Hitler. There is an abundance of primary source material available about his life: personal correspondence, political directives and military orders, recordings and transcripts of his countless speeches, eyewitness accounts, photographs and film footage. It is not hyperbolic to say he is one of the most studied humans in history. Now, 80 years after his death, Turi King and Alex J Kay have married genetics with history to study a sample of DNA from Adolf Hitler – and, as they reveal, their research has thrown up some extraordinary insights into the Nazi dictator’s private life. These findings are made public in Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator, a groundbreaking documentary produced by Blink Films and currently airing globally. This program has unlocked a new source by presenting the results of this first time analysis of a sample of Hitler’s DNA. The DNA was taken from the blood on a small piece of fabric cut from the sofa on which Hitler died after shooting himself in his Berlin bunker on 30 April 1945.

Turi Emma King is a professor and Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. She was previously Professor of Public Engagement and Genetics at the University of Leicester. In 2012, King led the DNA verification during the exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England

Alex J. Kay is a British historian who specialises in Nazi Germany. He is best known for his publications on the Hunger Plan and the genocide of Soviet Jewry. He is the Reader in modern History at the Chair of War Studies, at the University of Potsdam where he has taught since 2017.

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