Documentary: Hitler’s wife, Eva Braun, may have had Jewish ancestry

(JTA) — Eva Braun, the wife of Adolf Hitler, may have had Jewish ancestry, according to a new British documentary.

“Dead Famous DNA,” which is scheduled to air Wednesday on Britain’s Channel 4, reported that hair samples from a brush believed to have been used by Braun were tested and show that a DNA sequence found in the sample is “strongly associated” with Ashkenazi Jews. The brush was found at Hitler’s mountain retreat in Bavaria.

She was raised a Catholic. In the 19th century, many Ashkenazi Jews in Germany converted to Catholicism, so Braun was unlikely to have known her ancestry.

“This is a thought-provoking outcome — I never dreamt that I would find such a potentially extraordinary and profound result,” said program host Mark Evans.

Braun and Hitler were married in the hours before they committed suicide together in a bunker in Berlin at the end of World War II. Braun, who was 23 years younger than Hitler, had been his longtime lover.