During World War Two, Allied troops made up a song about Hitler only having one ball, and it remains a well-known tune to this day in the UK. However, now previously lost medical documents show that the song may have been true.
Adolf Hitler underwent a medical examination when he was arrested in 1923 after his failed revolt in a Munich beer hall. The medical records were long since lost, but have now been recovered and show that Hitler did, in fact, have one testicle that was undescended.
At the time that the song was sung by Allied troops to the melody of the song Colonel Bogey, there was also much discussion about whether it was true or not.
Professor Peter Fleischmann of Erlangen-Nuremberg University in Germany now has the medical records and confirmed that the examination Hitler had in 1923 showed he had an undescended testicle on his right side.
The records surfaced when they were put up for sale at an auction five years ago. They were seized by the local Bavarian government and were shared with the University for analysis.
The medical examination was undertaken by Dr Josef Steiner Brin and state that Adolf Hitler is healthy, but suffers from right-side cryptorchidism – this is a medical condition that describes an undescended testicle.
Previously claims had been made that Hitler had lost one of his testicles due to a shrapnel wound in World War One. While Hitler’s childhood doctor had previously claimed that Hitler’s testicles were completely normal, but in some cases, cryptorchidism can develop later in life. Dr Bloch was a Jew but had stayed in Austria in the early days of the war under Hitler’s personal protection until he immigrated to America in 1940.
When the Soviet Red Army discovered the charred remains of Hitler’s body, they conducted an autopsy, and the report stated that one testicle was missing, but that it was missing on his left side.
If it is true, it may explain why Hitler didn’t have any children since it is often considered to reduce fertility.