Hitler's possible monorchism
Encyclopedia
It has been claimed that Adolf Hitler
suffered from monorchism
, the condition of having only a single testicle.
on Hitler's remains made shortly after the war claimed Hitler was monorchid, but some historians dismiss this reference as propaganda
. This autopsy was released around 1970. In November 2008, the discovery of an eye-witness account by a World War I army medic, Johan Jambor, was announced in the press. According to these reports, Jambor intimated an account of how he saved Hitler's life after a groin injury in 1916 to a Polish priest and amateur historian, Franciszek Pawlar, in the 1960s. Pawlar's record of the conversation that was discovered by Pawlar's relatives and published by Polish author Grzegorz Wawoczny. According to the German Bild tabloid, a surviving friend of Jambor's, one Blassius Hanczuch, has confirmed the story, adding that Jambor and his co-rescuers dubbed Hitler "screamer" (Schreihals) because, as they were carrying him away, they came under French fire and had to temporarily abandon him, upon which he began to scream very loudly, imploring them to come back and threatening them with court martial if they were to leave him behind.
Records show that Hitler was wounded in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, and some sources describe his injury as a wound to the groin. Hitler's World War I company commander has said that a VD exam found that Hitler had only one testicle. Robert G.L. Waite in his book The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler (1978) accepts the accuracy of this evidence:
The autopsy performed by the Red Army pathologists on Hitler's body... [produced clear] findings:
There was some discussion of this issue for several weeks in the early 1970s in the letters column of the British magazine the New Statesman
, although all correspondents accepted the Soviet autopsy as valid. One claimed that British intelligence had discovered that Hitler was monorchic and written the song in an attempt to drive him even further round the bend than he was already, with some elaborate theories about how they might have discovered this. Others thought that it was sheer coincidence, and one even claimed that there had been a similar song sung about Napoleon
(this may not be true). One pointed out that most English speakers would not pronounce "Goebbels" correctly, they would pronounce it "Goballs", which suggests "no balls" and the rest would follow. (This correspondence came to a conclusion of sorts when one correspondent wrote a letter complaining about the conditions in which alleged illegal immigrants were being detained, adding that this was a more important issue than Hitler's balls.)
Unfortunately, the Soviet autopsy of Hitler cannot be accepted as authoritative. Hitler's death by suicide and the subsequent almost complete burning of his body would leave little for doctors to analyze — much less be able to focus on such a small body part. The autopsy is discussed in Ron Rosenbaum
's book Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil
(1998). He concludes that it was fabricated, based on information from Hitler's doctor and recantations by the compilers of the published form of the report.
The DVD version of the TV series The World At War has an interview with the Russian doctor Lt. Col. Faust Shkaravski, who led the autopsy, who claims that they unexpectedly found one testicle missing. This interview would have been conducted in the early 1970s. The programme presents dental evidence that an autopsy really was conducted, but also shows that the findings may have been distorted for political reasons. Specifically, Sherovski states Hitler was not shot in the head, but it is now known that he was.
, the Brisbane
anarcho-punk
scene included the band "Hitler's Other Testicle". They regularly played songs on the subject of Hitler's possible monorchism, including "Where Did It Go?" and "The Sadness of Autumn".
In 2002 controversial artist Takashi Murakami
made a commissioned sculpture of Hitler's testicle for an unnamed bidder for an alleged $14.7 million. The testicle was rumored to have a diameter of 10 feet and was made of cast iron. Art critic Brian Sewell
called the work "feeble".
During World War II
, the song "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball
" was created to bolster morale among British
school children.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
suffered from monorchism
Monorchism
-Causes:This can be due to:* One testicle not descending into the scrotum during normal embryonic or fetal development , also known as: undescended testis or cryptorchidism. In this case the testis is within the abdominal cavity, somewhere along the normal route of descent — most commonly,...
, the condition of having only a single testicle.
Hitler's possible monorchism
An alleged Soviet autopsyDeath of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler committed suicide by gunshot on Monday, 30 April 1945 in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His wife Eva , committed suicide with him by ingesting cyanide...
on Hitler's remains made shortly after the war claimed Hitler was monorchid, but some historians dismiss this reference as propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. This autopsy was released around 1970. In November 2008, the discovery of an eye-witness account by a World War I army medic, Johan Jambor, was announced in the press. According to these reports, Jambor intimated an account of how he saved Hitler's life after a groin injury in 1916 to a Polish priest and amateur historian, Franciszek Pawlar, in the 1960s. Pawlar's record of the conversation that was discovered by Pawlar's relatives and published by Polish author Grzegorz Wawoczny. According to the German Bild tabloid, a surviving friend of Jambor's, one Blassius Hanczuch, has confirmed the story, adding that Jambor and his co-rescuers dubbed Hitler "screamer" (Schreihals) because, as they were carrying him away, they came under French fire and had to temporarily abandon him, upon which he began to scream very loudly, imploring them to come back and threatening them with court martial if they were to leave him behind.
Records show that Hitler was wounded in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, and some sources describe his injury as a wound to the groin. Hitler's World War I company commander has said that a VD exam found that Hitler had only one testicle. Robert G.L. Waite in his book The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler (1978) accepts the accuracy of this evidence:
- Since the matter is of considerable importance to the psychological development of Hitler from infancy onward, let us pause here and come to grips with the problem of the Fuehrer's testicles. It can now be affirmed that the British TommiesTommy AtkinsTommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that was already well established in the 19th century, but is particularly associated with World War I. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if...
were right all along in the first line of their version of the Colonel Bogey March, they were although manifestly mistaken in the last—that is to say, unless Goebbels' six childrenGoebbels childrenThe Goebbels children were the five daughters and one son born to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels. The children, born between 1932 and 1940, were murdered by their parents in Berlin on May 1, 1945, the day both parents committed suicide.Magda Goebbels had an...
were the progeny of adoption, paternal surrogacy or some hitherto unconsidered, presumably unpalatable "Gott mit unsGott Mit UnsGott mit uns is a phrase commonly associated with the German military from the German Empire to the end of the Third Reich, although its historical origins are far older, ultimately tracing back to the Hebrew term Immanuel from the Bible...
" form of divine intervention.
The autopsy performed by the Red Army pathologists on Hitler's body... [produced clear] findings:
-
- 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...
There was some discussion of this issue for several weeks in the early 1970s in the letters column of the British magazine the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, although all correspondents accepted the Soviet autopsy as valid. One claimed that British intelligence had discovered that Hitler was monorchic and written the song in an attempt to drive him even further round the bend than he was already, with some elaborate theories about how they might have discovered this. Others thought that it was sheer coincidence, and one even claimed that there had been a similar song sung about Napoleon
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
(this may not be true). One pointed out that most English speakers would not pronounce "Goebbels" correctly, they would pronounce it "Goballs", which suggests "no balls" and the rest would follow. (This correspondence came to a conclusion of sorts when one correspondent wrote a letter complaining about the conditions in which alleged illegal immigrants were being detained, adding that this was a more important issue than Hitler's balls.)
Unfortunately, the Soviet autopsy of Hitler cannot be accepted as authoritative. Hitler's death by suicide and the subsequent almost complete burning of his body would leave little for doctors to analyze — much less be able to focus on such a small body part. The autopsy is discussed in Ron Rosenbaum
Ron Rosenbaum
-Life and career:Rosenbaum was born into a Jewish family in New York City, New York and grew up in Bay Shore, New York. He graduated from Yale University in 1968 and won a Carnegie Fellowship to attend Yale's graduate program in English Literature, though he dropped out after taking one course...
's book Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil
Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil
Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil is a 1998 book by journalist Ron Rosenbaum which tells of Rosenbaum's struggles with the "exceptionalist" character of Adolf Hitler's personality and impact on the world or, worse from his point of view, his struggle with the possibility...
(1998). He concludes that it was fabricated, based on information from Hitler's doctor and recantations by the compilers of the published form of the report.
The DVD version of the TV series The World At War has an interview with the Russian doctor Lt. Col. Faust Shkaravski, who led the autopsy, who claims that they unexpectedly found one testicle missing. This interview would have been conducted in the early 1970s. The programme presents dental evidence that an autopsy really was conducted, but also shows that the findings may have been distorted for political reasons. Specifically, Sherovski states Hitler was not shot in the head, but it is now known that he was.
Hitler's possible monorchism in popular culture
During the 1980s1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, the Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
scene included the band "Hitler's Other Testicle". They regularly played songs on the subject of Hitler's possible monorchism, including "Where Did It Go?" and "The Sadness of Autumn".
In 2002 controversial artist Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
made a commissioned sculpture of Hitler's testicle for an unnamed bidder for an alleged $14.7 million. The testicle was rumored to have a diameter of 10 feet and was made of cast iron. Art critic Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell
Brian Sewell is an English art critic and media personality. He writes for the London Evening Standard and is noted for artistic conservatism and his acerbic view of the Turner Prize and conceptual art...
called the work "feeble".
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the song "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball
Hitler Has Only Got One Ball
"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" is a song that mocks Nazi leaders using blue comedy in reference to their testicles. Multiple variants of the lyrics exist, generally sung as four-line verses to the tune of the "Colonel Bogey March".-Origin of the song:...
" was created to bolster morale among British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
school children.