Classic Rant #319 (August 25, 2010): Oy Adolph!

As has long been suggested, Adolf Hitler's DNA samples suggest that the dictator of Nazi Germany had Jewish roots, but the DNA also shows that he had African roots, too.

The tests were conducted by Jean-Paul Mulders, a Belgian journalist, and Marc Vermeeren, a historian, and published in a Belgian magazine. The pair tracked down 39 of Hitler’s living relatives throughout Europe and America to obtain saliva samples which ultimately suggest African and Jewish ancestry.

Based on news reports, the Haplopgroup E1b1b (Y-DNA) chromosome found in the samples is rarely found in Western Europeans, but more commonly found in those from Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, as well as in Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.

What does all of this mean? It has been suggested for ages that at least part of Hitler's vengeance against the Jews was his reaction to at least one of his grandparents, who historians have suggested was Jewish.

As far as his connection to Africa, check out that one of his links is to Libya, long a stronghold of terrorist violence. Could he somehow be linked to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who has displayed similar reservations about Jews and all those opposing him as Hitler did nearly 70 years ago?

Other than that, it really doesn't mean much else. We know that Hitler was one of the most heinous human beings that there ever was, and can this information possibly change that belief at all?

Probably not. But what the information does is to give at least a glint on Hitler's makeup through his ancestry. Whether that ancestry had anything directly to do with his viciousness is left for pundits, scholars and historians.

Personally, I don't really know what to think. If he had some antagonism toward Jews because of his sour relationship to a close relative, then perhaps he could have used that as a springboard to his across-the-board hatred of Jews. And with the African roots he had, maybe that manifested itself in his rise and dictatorial reign over the Germans, much like Oaddafi has over the Libyans.

Who knows?

It won't change the history books, and it certainly will not humanize Hitler in anyone's eyes. He was the devil incarnate, and now that his roots have been exposed, it doesn't really change anything.