Mark Benecke

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).National Geographic movie about [https://web.archive.org/web/20130604094849/http://www.butlerfilms.tv/Work/C7698838-E8CD-429E-8D83-2D34BA814C26.html Hitler research in Moscow] with Mark Benecke{{cite web |url=https://braveplanetfilms.com/finding-hitlers-skull |title=Finding Hitler's Skull |last=Hoggard |first=Steve |date=2017 |publisher=Brave Planet Films |access-date=11 January 2021 |quote=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.}} Notably, he argued (in line with early investigator Hugh Trevor-Roper) that body water would hinder an open-air cremation.{{Cite journal |last=Benecke |first=Mark |date=2022-12-12 |orig-date=2003 |title=The Hunt for Hitler's Teeth |url=https://home.benecke.com/publications/the-hunt-for-hitlers-teeth |access-date=2024-03-04 |via=Dr. Mark Benecke |website=Bizarre}}{{cite book |last=Trevor-Roper |first=Hugh |author-link=Hugh Trevor-Roper |url=https://archive.org/details/lastdaysofhitler0000trev_j2d4/ |title=The Last Days of Hitler |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-330-49060-3 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=182 |orig-year=1947}} Historians such as Anton Joachimsthaler have cited an alleged cremation as explaining why nothing more than the dental remains of Hitler and Braun were found, but scientific studies support Benecke's logic,{{Cite journal |last1=Castillo |first1=Rafael Fernández |last2=Ubelaker |first2=Douglas H. |last3=Acosta |first3=José Antonio Lorente |last4=Cañadas de la Fuente |first4=Guillermo A. |date=2013-03-10 |title=Effects of temperature on bone tissue. Histological study of the changes in the bone matrix |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073812005300 |journal=Forensic Science International |volume=226 |issue=1 |pages=33–37 |doi=10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.11.012 |issn=0379-0738 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10481/91826}}{{Cite web |last1=Thompson |first1=Tim |last2=Gowland |first2=Rebecca |author-link2=Rebecca Gowland |title=What Happens to Human Bodies When They Are Burned? |url=https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=Durham University |language=en-US |via=FutureLearn}} as does Hitler forensics expert Philippe Charlier.{{cite book |last1=Brisard |first1=Jean-Christophe |title=The Death of Hitler |last2=Parshina |first2=Lana |author-link2=Lana Parshina |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-306-92258-9 |pages=231 |language=en}} The dental remains include part of the jawbone, which was sundered around the alveolar process and only partly burnt.{{cite book |last=Bezymenski |first=Lev |url=https://archive.org/details/deathofadolfhitl0000unse_c0c9/page/44/mode/2up |title=The Death of Adolf Hitler |publisher=Harcourt, Brace & World |year=1968 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=45}}{{harvnb|Charlier et al.|2018}}. "It is important to see that these data fit perfectly with the [Soviet] autopsy report and with our direct observations." (Mark Felton explains that the corpses the Soviets identified as the couple's were probably a German fraud.){{cite episode |title=The Forgotten Theory |series=Find the Führer: The Secret Soviet Investigation |last=Felton |first=Mark |date=2023 |number=6}}

Benecke is the only forensic scientist to work on the case of Colombian serial killer and rapist Luis Garavito.[https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12462935 Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos: criminal and legal aspects of serial homicide with over 200 victims], Arch Kriminol (2002) 210(3-4):83-94; [http://benecke.com/pdf/serial_killer_bartsch_mark_benecke.pdf pdf] of English language version{{cite web |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-mind-worlds-worst-serial-22290578 |title=Inside mind of 'world's worst serial killer' dubbed 'The Beast' who butchered 400 kids |last=Kitching |first=Chris |date=10 August 2020 |website=mirror.co.uk |access-date=11 January 2021|quote=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.}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.buchreport.de/?s=Mark+Benecke |title=Bestseller list|website=buchreport.de |publisher=Der SPIEGEL |access-date=11 January 2021}} 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)[https://web.archive.org/web/20190217080932/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/044e/31ac421c0ff706ab9f329ea5e1c6e4f89d98.pdf Example article "History of forensic entomology" from Forensic Science International special issue], republished in Acta Biologica Benrodis 14 (2008): 15-38 and scientific advisor to the German skeptic organization GWUP,[https://blog.gwup.net/tag/dr-mark-benecke/ Mark Benecke at GWUP] where he publishes skeptical articles on various topics, including his attempt to explain alleged signs of vampirism.[https://roterdrache.org/catalog/English-Titles/Vampyres-among-us-Volume-III-ENGLISH::138.html Vampires among us, Volume III – A scientific study into vampyre identity groups and subcultures.] (2015) {{ISBN|978-3939459958}} In 2001, Benecke was editor of the Forensic Science International special issue on forensic entomology.{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/forensic-science-international/vol/120/issue/1

|title=Volume 120, Issues 1–2, Pages 1-164 (15 August 2001) |editor-last=Benecke |editor-first=Mark |date=15 August 2001 |website=Forensic Science International |publisher=Elsevier |access-date=11 January 2021}} In 2004, he was the guest editor of Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology for the Forensic Entomology Special Issue).{{Cite web|url=http://benecke.com/pdf/forensic_entomology_special_issue_benecke_wells_goff_klotzbach_wolff_klotzbach_carvalho_turchetto_oliva_campobasso.pdf|title=Special Forensic Entomology Issue in Aggrawals's Journal}}

File:Mark Benecke Köln 2015.jpg 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".{{cite web|url=http://www.musicnonstop.co.uk/product-view.php?productid%3D24235 |title=Sara Noxx/Mark Benecke – Where the Wild Roses Grow |access-date=4 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720165612/http://www.musicnonstop.co.uk/product-view.php?productid=24235 |archive-date=20 July 2011}} In 2020, together with Bianca Stücker, he published a Leonard Cohen tribute cover album.{{cite web|url=https://www.rtl.de/cms/dr-mark-benecke-und-duettpartnerin-dr-bianca-stuecker-ueber-ihr-neues-album-we-want-it-darker-4621923.html |title="We want it darker" – eine Hommage an Leonard Cohen: Dr. Mark Benecke und Duett-Partnerin Dr. Bianca Stücker über ihr neues Album |access-date=11 January 2011|date=6 October 2020|first=Denise|last=Kylla|website=RTL}}

Using the pseudonym "Belcanto Bene", Benecke was a member of the German punk band Die Blonden Burschen between 1989 and 2000.{{cite web |last=Fehling |title=Fehling und Benecke waren mit Bock die Blonden Burschen |trans-title=Fehling and Benecke were 'Die Blonden Burschen' ("The Blond Boys"), with passion |url=http://blog.luftschiff.org/notizen/2016/12/25/fehling-und-benecke-waren-mit-bock-die-blonden-burschen/ |website=Luftschiff |language=de |date=25 December 2016}}

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.

Benecke was born in Rosenheim, Bavaria. After receiving a Dr. rer. medic. at Cologne University in 1997,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)] 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.

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• Der Traum vom ewigen Leben, Droemer Knaur Kindler Verlag, München 1998. {{ISBN|3-463-40338-2}} (German)
• The Dream of Eternal Life, Columbia University Press, New York 2002. {{ISBN|0-231-11672-1}}
• 노화와 생명의 수수께끼 마크 베네케 (Dr. Mark Benecke) 과학은 죽음보다 강하다? (Korean). {{ISBN|89-7919-493-5}}
• Kriminalbiologie. Genetische Fingerabdrücke und Insekten auf Leichen, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2001. {{ISBN|3-404-93025-8}} (German)
• Mordmethoden. Ermittlungen der bekanntesten Kriminalbiologen der Welt, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2002. {{ISBN|3-7857-2099-8}} (German)
• Mordmethoden, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2004. {{ISBN|3-404-60545-4}} (German)
• Moordmethoden, Bruna Uitgevers, A.W., Boek 2004. {{ISBN|90-229-9155-5}} (Dutch)
• Murderous Methods, preface by Michael Baden. Columbia University Press, New York 2005. {{ISBN|0-231-13118-6}} (English)
• 살인 본능 / 법의곤충학자가 들려주는 살인자 추적기, translated by Kim Hee-sang, 알마 (Alma, year unknown). {{ISBN|978-89-92525-60-2}} (Korean)
• Šiurpių nusikaltimų pėdsakais. {{ISBN|9955-08-547-9}} (Lithuanian)
• Lachende Wissenschaft. Aus den Geheimarchiven des Spaß-Nobelpreises, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2005. {{ISBN|3-404-60556-X}} (German)
• "ПРИКОЛЬНАЯ НАУКА 1.ИЗ ТАЙНЫХ АРХИВОВ ШНОБЕЛЕВСКОЙ ПРЕМИИ", Moscow, книжный клуб 36.6, 2011, {{ISBN|978-5-98697-232-9}} (Russian)
• "ПРИКОЛЬНАЯ НАУКА 2.ИЗ ТАЙНЫХ АРХИВОВ ШНОБЕЛЕВСКОЙ ПРЕМИИ", Moscow, книжный клуб 36.6, 2011. {{ISBN|978-5-98697-233-6}} (Russian)
• 怎麽有人研究這個? 法醫昆蟲學家的搞笑諾貝爾報告 / 怎么有人研究这个? 法医昆虫学家的搞笑诺贝尔报告. Taiwan: 馬克∙班内可, VR: 马克∙班内可 (Chinese)
• Dem Täter auf der Spur. So arbeitet die moderne Kriminalbiologie, Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2006. {{ISBN|3-404-60562-4}} (German)
• 모든 범죄는 흔적을 남긴다 / 법의곤충학자가 들려주는 과학수사 이야기 {{ISBN|978-89-92525-33-6}} (Korean)
• Memento Mori, Edition Roter Drache, Rudolstadt 2012. {{ISBN|978-3-939459-39-2}}
• Mordspuren. Neue spektakuläre Kriminalfälle – erzählt vom bekanntesten Kriminalbiologen der Welt, Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007 {{ISBN|978-3-7857-2307-4}} (German)
• 연쇄 살인범의 고백 / 법의학자가 들려주는 살인 조서 이야기, 마르크 베네케 지음 | 송소민 번역 | 알마. {{ISBN|978-89-92525-43-5}} (Korean)
• Medical Detectives (preface), vgs Verlagsgesellschaft, Köln 2005. {{ISBN|3-8025-3446-8}} (German)
• Vampires among us, Sequenz Medien Produktion, Fuchstal-Welden 2006. {{ISBN|3-935977-75-1}}
• Vampire unter uns! (mit E. Wawrzyniak, N. Palanetskaya & K. Sonntag), Edition Roter Drache, Rudolstadt, 2009. {{ISBN|978-3-939459-24-8}}
• Vampyres among us!: Volume III – A scientific study into vampyre identity groups and subcultures (with Ines Fischer), Edition Roter Drache, Rudolstadt, 2015. {{ISBN|978-3-9394-5995-8}}
• Wo bleibt die Maus?, Sauerländer, Oberentfelden 2008. {{ISBN|3-7941-5174-7}} (German)
• Wo bleibt die Maus? Buchvolk-Verlag, Zwickau 2016. {{ISBN|978-3-944581-12-5}}
• Hvor blev musen af? En historie om livets kredsløb, Klematis Forlag. {{ISBN|87-641-0304-8}} (Danish, Oversætter: Mette Jørgensen, Illustrationer: Lisa Fuss)
• Ölümün İzleri, Kırmızı Kedi. {{ISBN|978-9944-75-619-8}} (Turkish)
• Cinayet Yöntemleri, Kırmızı Kedi. {{ISBN|978-6055-34-045-2}} (Turkish)
• Warum man Spaghetti nicht durch zwei teilen kann, Luebbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2009. {{ISBN|3-7857-2368-7}}
• Das knallt dem Frosch die Locken weg: Experimente für kleine und große Forscher, Oetinger, Hamburg 2012. {{ISBN|978-3-78918-437-6}}
• Mein Leben nach dem Tod: Wie alles anfing (Biography), Luebbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2019. {{ISBN|978-3-431-04133-0}}
• Viren für Anfänger (Corona Virus), Luebbe, Bergisch-Gladbach 2020. {{ISBN|978-3-404-61716-6}}
• {{Not a typo|Kat Menschiks und des Diplom-Biologen Doctor Rerum Medicinalium Mark Beneckes Illustrirtes Thierleben}} (Animals / Natural History), Galiani, Berlin 2021. {{ISBN|978-3-86971-201-7}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Charlier |first1=Philippe |last2=Weil |first2=Raphael |last3=Rainsard |first3=P. |last4=Poupon |first4=Joël |last5=Brisard |first5=J.C. |author1-link=Philippe Charlier |date=2018-05-01 |title=The remains of Adolf Hitler: A biomedical analysis and definitive identification |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325220862 |journal=European Journal of Internal Medicine |volume=54 |pages=e10–e12 |doi=10.1016/j.ejim.2018.05.014 |pmid=29779904 |s2cid=29159362 |ref={{sfnref|Charlier et al.|2018}}}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{cite web | url=http://benecke.com | title=Mark Benecke International Forensic Research & Consulting | access-date=11 September 2019}}
• {{IMDb name|1352431}}
• Interwiew with Manfred Kohrs: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P9ZedRx31M First tongue barbell piercing ever made (on earth) shown at BMXnet 2022] Dr. Mark Benecke's Official Youtube Channel

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Category:1970 births

Category:People from Rosenheim

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century German biologists

Category:German forensic scientists

Category:German skeptics

Category:University of Cologne alumni