Norman Ohler

'The most brilliant and fascinating book I have read in my entire life' Dan Snow 'A huge contribution... remarkable' Antony Beevor, BBC RADIO 4 'Extremely interesting ... a serious piece of scholarship, very well researched' Ian Kershaw The sensational German bestseller on the overwhelming role of drug-taking in the Third Reich, from Hitler to housewives. The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping bestseller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940. The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants administered by the physician Dr Morell as the war turned against Germany. While drugs cannot on their own explain the events of the Second World War or its outcome, Ohler shows, they change our understanding of it. Blitzed forms a crucial missing piece of the story.

Drugs in Nazi Germany

Blitzed

Gavin

Such an insultingly dumb plot - "the Nazis act as they do because they are all on crystal meth" - except it's nonfiction and quite plausible. The 70-hour assaults of Blitzkrieg in particular could not have happened without heavy stimulants. And Hitler becomes much more understandable when you learn of his ten year binge on injected pharmaceuticals. 

Juicy bits:
[Around 1923] forty per cent of Berlin doctors were said to be addicted to morphine

Telling propaganda: ‘[Hitler] mortifies his body in a way that would shock people like us! He doesn’t drink, he practically only eats vegetables, and he doesn’t touch women.’ Hitler allegedly didn’t even allow himself coffee and legend had it that after the First World War he threw his last pack of cigarettes into the Danube near Linz; from then onwards, supposedly, no poisons would enter his body.

Telling propaganda: ‘For decades our people have been told by Marxists and Jews: “Your body belongs to you.” That was taken to mean that at social occasions between men, or between men and women, any quantities of alcohol could be enjoyed, even at the cost of the body’s health. Irreconcilable with this Jewish Marxist view is the Teutonic German idea that we are the bearers of the eternal legacy of our ancestors, and that accordingly our body belongs to the clan and the people.’

Chocolates spiked with methamphetamine were even put on the market. A good 14 milligrams of methamphetamine was included in each individual choc – almost five times the amount in a [prescription] pill.
Ohler argues that drugs have been overlooked as the (unsustainable) engine of the Nazi economic recovery, and of the alien intensity of the ideology, because people took Goebbels at his word about the Nazi drive for natural organic wellness and purity and so ignored this 'medicine' that millions of Germans were supplied by the state and IG. I don't know whether Ohler is making a revisionist stretch or not, but certainly Pervitin had a role.

Elda Mengisto

"National Socialism was toxic, in the truest sense of the word. It gave the world a chemical legacy that still affects us today: a poison that refuses to disappear."

The opening line of this book reflects the drug-laced nature of the book: in its argument, it insists that drugs had a bigger role in developing the Third Reich than first reported. It reflected the irony of how the Third Reich portrayed itself as a clean, sober empire, as they even killed drug addicts in their concentration camp--and showed how, from the beginning, the Reich relied on drugs as its crutch, from the civilians to the military to Hitler himself.

Most of the writing, especially with the early chapters, reflects this drug-based trance. For example, when describing "The Chemical Twenties", "Artificial paradises were in vogue in the Weimar Republic. People chose to flee into worlds of make-believe rather than engage with the often less rosy reality..." (10), reflecting the addictive nature of methamphetamine during this time. When describing the Nazis' cure, Ohler talks about "...only one legitimate form of inebriation: the swastika. National Socialism strove for a transcendental state of being as well; the Nazi world of illusions into which the Germans were to be enticed often used techniques of intoxication" (13). So even though drugs were seen as created by the Jews and therefore, banned, it established a precedent for the rest of the book.

One of the most interesting things about it was how during the early days of the Second World War, especially in the first few years, the German military relied on Pervitin to stimulate their troops--in the test schemes, while the control would pass out after a few hours, those high on Pervitin could function for days on end. It plays on parallels to the Blitzkrieg itself, which was fast and efficient, until it hit the UK and the Soviet Union.

Another one of the more surprising things about this book was how much Hitler relied on drugs, along with how they shaped his worldview. In a world of bunkers and doctors who create crack treatments, Hitler wanted more toxic, potent, intense concoctions of drugs.. This takes up the majority of the book, and underlines the bitter irony of Hitler's comments on how, until the bitter end, this was the Jews' fault. The descriptions of his withdrawal are brutal, showing how the drugs fully decayed the Fuhrer.

This particular quote also sums a lot about his downfall:

"It was an inferno, the end of a terrible journey, a phase of madness that had lasted for twelve years, in which men had been afraid of reality, had tried to flee it more and more, and in the process had brought the most terrible nightmares to fruition. During those final hours Hitler was devoured by his imaginary bacilli. Throughout the whole of his life he had tried to eliminate them, but it hadn't worked. Now he planned a double suicide" (224)

Overall, the research was excellent, the language used in the translation connects with the subject matter, and doesn't assume that it was the only thing that ran the Reich. One thing I would have to complain about, however, is at some points, it can drag on a little, so it could feel a bit dry. But if you want to look at a neglected part of the Third Reich, this is the book to go. (7.5/10)

A fast-paced, highly original history that uncovers the full extent of drug use in Nazi Germany from Hitler s all-consuming reliance on a slew of substances, to the drugs that permeated the regime and played an integral role in Germany s military performance and ultimate downfall in World War II"

Drugs in the Third Reich

I always wondered how people could live and not be bored without the internet. Now I know. They were high most of the time.

I believe the author that Blitzkrieg could be built upon doping the soldier with meth. Chilling book about something that is not discussed enough. Interesting just for the list of things Hitler consumed before death (to avoid death). Apparently not even the strongest multivitamin gummies can keep you healthy when you are in a bunker with armies approaching everywhere.

Vojtech

I always wondered how people could live and not be bored without the internet. Now I know. They were high most of the time.

I believe the author that Blitzkrieg could be built upon doping the soldier with meth. Chilling book about something that is not discussed enough. Interesting just for the list of things Hitler consumed before death (to avoid death). Apparently not even the strongest multivitamin gummies can keep you healthy when you are in a bunker with armies approaching everywhere.

Jacob Crooke

Ashley Lock

Jason Long

David Bielenberg

Graham Tuohy

Hazel

Cerys

Angelica W.

Andrew Reeves

Nicklas Persson

A fast-paced, highly original history that uncovers the full extent of drug use in Nazi Germany--from Hitler's all-consuming reliance on a slew of substances, to the drugs that permeated the regime and played an integral role in Germany's military performance and ultimate downfall in World War II

Blitzed Drugs in Nazi Germany

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