Mark Benecke

Mark Benecke
Benecke in 2015
Born (1970-08-26) 26 August 1970 (age 56)
Rosenheim, Bavaria, West Germany
EducationCologne University
Known forWork on identification of Adolf and Eva Hitler's skull and teeth in Moscow; only forensic scientist to work on the case of Colombian serial killer and rapist Luis Garavito
Scientific career
FieldsForensic biology
WorkplacesFreelance expert witness

Mark Benecke (born 26 August 1970) is a German forensic biologist.

Career

Science

Benecke has worked on the identification of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun's dental remains in Moscow (as well as a skull fragment claimed to be Hitler's). He argued, in line with early investigator Hugh Trevor-Roper and scientific sources (including Hitler forensics expert Philippe Charlier), that body water would hinder an open-air cremation, as opposed to American jurist Michael Musmanno (in 1950) and historians such as Anton Joachimsthaler (1995), who argued that a full cremation explains why nothing more than Hitler and Braun's dental remains were found. The dental remains include part of the jawbone, intact (with superficial burning) but sundered at the depth of the teeth. According to Benecke, these either prove "that Hitler died in 1945 – or lived the rest of his life in Argentina without [part of his jaw]".

Benecke is the only forensic scientist to work on the case of Colombian serial killer and rapist Luis Garavito. Some of Benecke's forensic cases have been covered by the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel.

Benecke has published several best-selling popular science books about the biology of aging, criminal cases and forensic biology. He is a member of the editorial board of the Annals of Improbable Research (Cambridge, US), guest editor for Forensic Science International (Forensic Entomology Special Issue) and scientific advisor to the German skeptic organization GWUP, where he publishes skeptical articles on various topics, including his attempt to explain alleged signs of vampirism. In 2001, Benecke was editor of the Forensic Science International special issue on forensic entomology. In 2004, he was the guest editor of Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology for the Forensic Entomology Special Issue).

Other ventures

Benecke at a Die PARTEI event in 2015

In 2011, Benecke featured as a vocalist on Sara Noxx's cover of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' song "Where the Wild Roses Grow". In 2020, together with Bianca Stücker, he published a Leonard Cohen tribute cover album.

Using the pseudonym "Belcanto Bene", Benecke was a member of the German punk band Die Blonden Burschen between 1989 and 2000.

In 2010, Benecke was candidate for the office of prime minister for Germany's largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, for the satirical political party Die PARTEI. Since 2010, he is chairman of Die PARTEI in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Personal life

Benecke was born in Rosenheim, Bavaria. After receiving a Dr. rer. medic. at Cologne University in 1997, he worked in the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Manhattan, New York, from 1997 to 1999. As of 1999, he works internationally on forensic cases as a freelance expert witness. He also teaches at various police academies and acts as a visiting professor to universities in Germany, England, Vietnam, Colombia, and the Philippines. He was married to the criminal psychologist Lydia Benecke.

Books

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In 2009, DNA and forensic tests indicated that the skull belonged to a woman less than 40 years old.
  2. ↑ Corpses identified by the Soviets as Hitler and Braun's are widely disregarded and considered by historian Mark Felton to evidence German fraud.

Citations

  1. ↑ Benecke, Mark (7 October 2019). "2005-08 Mark Benecke: Biography, CV & Who Is Who Entries".
  2. ↑ Hitler research in Moscow|"Hitler’s Skull -Riddles of the Dead" (2003). National Geographic.
  3. ↑ Hoggard, Steve (2017). "Finding Hitler's Skull". Brave Planet Films. Retrieved 11 January 2021. In Hitler's Skull, forensic scientist Mark Benecke investigates the death of Adolf Hitler and takes viewers from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., to Lausanne Switzerland and into a Russian archive where fascinating evidence has been kept secret for almost half a century.
  4. ↑ ABC News (9 December 2009). "DNA Test Sparks Controversy Over Hitler's Remains". ABC News. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  5. ↑ Castillo, Rafael Fernández; Ubelaker, Douglas H.; Acosta, José Antonio Lorente; Cañadas de la Fuente, Guillermo A. (10 March 2013). "Effects of temperature on bone tissue. Histological study of the changes in the bone matrix". Forensic Science International. 226 (1): 33–37. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.11.012. hdl:10481/91826. ISSN 0379-0738. PMID 23287528.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Tim; Gowland, Rebecca. "What Happens to Human Bodies When They Are Burned?". Durham University. Retrieved 11 December 2025 – via FutureLearn.
  7. ↑ Brisard, Jean-Christophe; Parshina, Lana (2018). The Death of Hitler. Da Capo Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-306-92258-9.
  8. ↑ Benecke, Mark (12 December 2022) [2003]. "The Hunt for Hitler's Teeth". Bizarre. Retrieved 4 March 2024 – via Dr. Mark Benecke.
  9. ↑ Trevor-Roper, Hugh (2002) [1947]. The Last Days of Hitler (7th ed.). London: Pan Macmillan. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-330-49060-3.
  10. ↑ Musmanno, Michael A. (1950). Ten Days to Die. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. pp. 231–32, 234, 236, 238–39, 242–43.
  11. 1 2 Joachimsthaler, Anton (2000) [1995]. The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, The Evidence, The Truth. Translated by Helmut Bölger. London: Cassell. pp. 166, 252–53. ISBN 978-1-85409-465-0.
  12. ↑ Felton, Mark (2023). "The Forgotten Theory". Find the Führer: The Secret Soviet Investigation. Episode 6.
  13. ↑ Bezymenski, Lev (1968). The Death of Adolf Hitler (1st ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World. p. 45.
  14. ↑ Charlier et al. 2018. "It is important to see that these data fit perfectly with the [Soviet] autopsy report and with our direct observations."
  15. ↑ Benecke, Mark (2025). Hitler’s Skull and Teeth. Hamm: Eygennutz Verlag. p. 38.
  16. ↑ Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos: criminal and legal aspects of serial homicide with over 200 victims, Arch Kriminol (2002) 210(3-4):83-94; pdf of English language version
  17. ↑ Kitching, Chris (10 August 2020). "Inside mind of 'world's worst serial killer' dubbed 'The Beast' who butchered 400 kids". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2021. Locked away after being sentenced to a record 1,853 years behind bars in Colombia, the psychopath readily described his vile crimes in gory detail to Dr Mark Benecke, the only forensic scientist he has ever agreed to speak to.
  18. ↑ "Bestseller list". buchreport.de. Der SPIEGEL. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  19. ↑ Example article "History of forensic entomology" from Forensic Science International special issue, republished in Acta Biologica Benrodis 14 (2008): 15-38
  20. ↑ Mark Benecke at GWUP
  21. ↑ Vampires among us, Volume III – A scientific study into vampyre identity groups and subcultures. (2015) ISBN 978-3939459958
  22. ↑ Benecke, Mark, ed. (15 August 2001). "Volume 120, Issues 1–2, Pages 1-164 (15 August 2001)". Forensic Science International. Elsevier. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  23. ↑ "Special Forensic Entomology Issue in Aggrawals's Journal" (PDF).
  24. ↑ "Sara Noxx/Mark Benecke – Where the Wild Roses Grow". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  25. ↑ Kylla, Denise (6 October 2020). ""We want it darker" – eine Hommage an Leonard Cohen: Dr. Mark Benecke und Duett-Partnerin Dr. Bianca Stücker über ihr neues Album". RTL. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  26. ↑ Fehling (25 December 2016). "Fehling und Benecke waren mit Bock die Blonden Burschen" [Fehling and Benecke were 'Die Blonden Burschen' ("The Blond Boys"), with passion]. Luftschiff (in German).
  27. ↑ Print of the Ph.D certificate in: Lachende Wissenschaft. Aus den Geheimarchiven des Spaß-Nobelpreises, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2005. ISBN 3-404-60556-X (German)]

Sources