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Somewhat related but a fascinating book on drugs and Germany is Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Normal Ohler The Nazi regime preached an ideology of ph
by npalli 2y ago
Somewhat related but a fascinating book on drugs and Germany is
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Normal Ohler
The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs. On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers. In fact, troops regularly took rations of a form of crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to explain certain German military victories.
Drugs seeped all the way up to the Nazi high command and, especially, to Hitler himself. Over the course of the war, Hitler became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs—including a form of heroin—administered by his personal doctor. While drugs alone cannot explain the Nazis’ toxic racial theories or the events of World War II, Ohler’s investigation makes an overwhelming case that, if drugs are not taken into account, our understanding of the Third Reich is fundamentally incomplete.
- achenet 2y agointeresting, thanks for sharing this ^_^ I'd heard that towards the end of WW2 Hitler was getting daily shots of speed/meth administered by his doctors, who told him it was 'vitamins' but didn't know he did other stuff as well (the him being hopped on amphetamine/methamphetamine does actually make a lot of sense to me). Looked up his Wikipedia article, it has this to say: > Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to it in late 1942... > Prescribed 90 medications during the war years by his personal physician, Theodor Morell, Hitler took many pills each day for chronic stomach problems and other ailments. He regularly consumed amphetamine, barbiturates, opiates, and cocaine, as well as potassium bromide and atropa belladonna (the latter in the form of Doktor Koster's Antigaspills). themoreyouknow.jpg
- zigman1 2y agoI heard that it is not very well historically accurate and that it wastly overstates the role of drugs in Nazi Reich for the sake of sensationalism
- plussed_reader 2y agoAny source to the aural confirmation you're pushing on us?
- zigman1 2y agoSure, here is a scripture from the Cambridge history professor https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/16/blitzed-drugs-in-nazi-germany-by-norman-ohler-review https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/16/blitzed-drugs-... I can push another scripture towards you that states that drug use didn't significantly influence military strategies or outcomes: https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/blitzed-by-norman-ohler-a-historians-review https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/blitzed-by-norman-ohler-a-his... Sorry for being pushy, am not a historian so don't take my aural confirmations for granted
- awinter-py 2y agoUS also handed out a lot of benzedrine (normal amphetamine, not methamphetamine)