DNA samples of Adolf Hitler’s relatives suggest he may have had both Jewish and African roots.

Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders and historian Marc Vermeeren conducted a series of tests after gathering saliva samples from 39 living relatives of the Nazi dictator in Europe and America. Results show Hitler had biological links to the “inferior” races he tried to eliminate during the Holocaust.

They found the chromosome Haplopgroup E1b1b (Y-DNA), which appears to be rare in Western Europeans and is common to the Jewish population.

In the Belgian magazine called Knack, where the findings were published, Vermeeren said, “It is most commonly found in Berbers of Morocco, in Algeria, Libya and Tunisia as well as among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.”

Genetic specialist Ronny Decorte of the Catholic University of Leuven was a bit shocked with the news. He said, “This is a surprising result. The affair is fascinating if one compares it with the conception of the world of Nazis, in which race and blood was central. Hitler’s concern over his descent was not unjustified. He was apparently not ‘pure’ or ‘Aryan.’”

Hitler’s roots have been an issue before. His father, Alois, was believed to have been the illegitimate child of a Jewish man and a maid.

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