Study suggests Hitler had Jewish and African lineage

In an ironic twist of lineage, DNA tests have revealed that Adolf Hitler is likely to have been descended from Jews and Africans, both of whom he abhorred.

Samples taken from the relatives of the Nazi leader reveal that he is biologically linked to the 'sub-human' races he sought to destroy.

Journalist Jean-Paul Mulders and historian Marc Vermeeren used DNA to track down 39 of Hitler's relatives earlier this year including an Austrian farmer revealed as Norbert H, a cousin of the Fuehrer.

According the Belgian news magazine, Knack, which published the findings samples of saliva from these people strongly suggest that Hitler's lineage could be traced to races he would not have cared for.

A chromosome called Haplopgroup E1b1b (Y-DNA) found in Hitler's DNA is rare across people of Western Europe and Germany according to Vermeeren.

Haplopgroup E1b1b is present in approximately 18 to 20 per cent of Ashkenazi and 8.6 per cent to 30 per cent of Sephardic Y-chromosomes and appears to among the major founding lineages of the Jewish population.