Is Colonel Bogey s allegation about Hitler true

A. Well, study of his medical records shows he suffered from monorchism, which meant that his left testicle never developed during adolescence. The question comes from Jim Gregory.

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Q. So how does the song go

A. You must have heard it. But for the record, here's one version of the refrain, which dates from the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940:

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Hitler has only got one ball, /The other is in the Albert Hall./Himmler is very similar,/But poor old Goebbels has/got no balls at all.

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The song gained credence in 1968 when a Soviet autopsy report into the alleged body of Hitler, seized by the Russians in 1945, mentioned that 'the left testicle could not be found either in the scrotum or on the spermatic cord inside the inguinal canal, nor in the small pelvis'.

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Q.� So the F�hrer was not the stud that many made out

A.� Correct. Hitler's admirer, Unity Mitford, said he 'lacked something in the manly department'. Professor Fritz Redlich, author of Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet, said he had a compulsive need for showers. He suffered sexual impotence and was wary of physical contact, even with women he was close to, such as Eva Braun.

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Q.� Anything else

A.� He was also a vegetarian — not odd in itself, but unusual for the era, especially when he was a man who murdered millions. Wyndham Lewis, the painter, writer and fascist sympathiser, assured English readers in 1936 that Hitler was a man of peace. ‘The celibate inhabitant of a modest alpine chalet, vegetarian, non-smoking, non-drinking, he has remained the most unassuming and simple of men.’ Some people fell for it.

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Q.� No, I meant anything … you know … a bit kinky

A.� Hitler's abnormal sexual development was an important factor in his behaviour. One psychiatrist wrote after the war: ‘It is well known that Hitler's sex life was bizarre. As a young man, he repressed direct sexuality and projected his erotic energy in grandiose fantasies. In his 30s, he was consistently attracted to young childlike women who clearly resembled his mother.’ Several young women close to Hitler attempted or succeeded in committing suicide.

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Q.� Fatal attraction, eh Tell me more …

A.� Well there was Unity Mitford. She shot herself in the head and died some time later. Geli Raubal, 23, Hitler's half-niece and romantic obsession — 20 years his junior — was found dead in her bed in 1931 with a bullet through her chest, Hitler's gun by her side, in his Berlin apartment. In the mid-1930s, Hitler met movie star Renate Muller, 29. The petite, blue-eyed blonde was invited to Der F�hrer’s private quarters. In October, 1937, the meetings ended abruptly when Renate Muller fell 40ft from her Berlin apartment window. It’s more likely she was thrown out by the Gestapo, after being found with a Jewish lover.

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Q.� And what about the last one, Eva Braun

A.� Hitler was 40 when he met 17-year-old Eva, part-time assistant in a photographic shop. Braun became his mistress the next year and remained loyal to him for 15 years until their deaths Nazi Germany. She had no political interest or social conscience, but enjoyed her home, garden, dogs, movies and clothes.

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Q.� Did they ever marry

A.� Yes — briefly. As it became obvious that the Nazis were losing, Hitler and Braun fled to the Chancellery in Berlin. Early on 29 April, 1945, they were married in a civil ceremony in the bunker underneath. At 3.30pm the next day, she took poison and he shot himself. Their bodies were carried to the courtyard where they were doused with petrol and cremated.

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By Steve Cunningham

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