Title: Blitzed Pdf Drugs in the Third Reich
“[A] fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich.” — Washington Post
The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. Yet as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs: cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, which were consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to German soldiers. In fact, troops were encouraged, and in some cases ordered, to take rations of a form of crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to account for the breakneck invasion that sealed the fall of France in 1940, as well as other German military victories. Hitler himself became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs—ultimately including Eukodal, a cousin of heroin—administered by his personal doctor.
Thoroughly researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows.
“Delightfully nuts.” — The New Yorker
NORMAN OHLER is an award-winning German novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He is the author of the novels Die Quotenmaschine (the world’s first hypertext novel), Mitte, and Stadt des Goldes (translated into English as Ponte City). He was cowriter of the script for Wim Wenders’s film Palermo Shooting. He lives in Berlin.
Riveting but too married to its own thesis This book is very well written and very well researched, and in fact proved hard to put down. Records and citations abound and the author shows his work, turning Nazis on meth from pulp fiction to frightening reality.Unfortunately the author also seems wedded to the idea that a majority of the atrocities committed by the Nazis were a result of drugs rather than aided by them, and puts all of his theories into one basket rather than considering other causes.A good read overall, but take some of the explanations with a grain of salt.A fascinating look at Hitler and the Third Reich This is one of the most fascinating books on the Third Reich and Germany that I have ever read. In light of the crises that exist in contemporary America over drugs and methamphetamines it is amazing to see that Germany was going through the same crises and even more interesting to learn that many of the drugs of abuse that are common in contemporary society were developed by the Nazis.At the center of the story is Dr. Theodor Morell - a relatively obscure and not that well credentialed doctor - who became Hitler's drug dealer/supplier. Through extensive archival research, Norman Ohler was able to discover records that show Hitler's extensive drug use/abuse and track Morell's records of the kinds of drugs that he was giving Hitler. With the drugs that Morell was giving Hitler, its amazing that he even survived as long as he did.Parallel to the story of Hitler's drug use, Ohler also shows how the Nazis used drugs to enhance the performance of soldiers. Sleep was the enemy of the soldier in battle. With drugs, the Nazis sought to win that battle and passed out "uppers" to troops on a massive scale."The fact was that between the autumn of 1941, when (Hitler) started being given hormone and steroid injections, and the second half of 1944, when first the cocaine and the above all the Eudodal kicked, Hitler hardly enjoyed a sober day." Pharmacology ruled and influenced Hitler and the outcome of the war.This book is a real page turner that gives a fascinating look into the life of Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. Throughout the book, one wonders if history would have been different if this unknown doctor had not used his drugs on Hitler. How many lives could have been saved? What Ohler does not go into is the effect that the use of these drugs had on the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and members of the German population that used these drugs, which were available without a prescription and were widely available during much of the war. Where there long term physiological and physiological effects on those persons? That's a topic for another book and further research but it raises interesting questions.Short, useful - admittedly not professional history. This author of fiction has a breezy style and this is his first attempt at history. With that in mind, I skimmed reviews by historians before buying it. True, it is a little too cute at times, and, equally true, it is more speculative than one likes in a history book, particularly regarding whatever it was that Morell was giving Hitler and its effects (or withdrawal effects) on him as opposed to say Parkinson's. Even so, the author does flag his own speculations, and that is important.With all that out of the way, the book provides interesting material on the history of drug invention and manufacture. I had a vague idea of some of this but the comprehensive presentation improved my understanding. I also had some idea of the use of Pervitin in the German armed forces of the period, but the author makes it much more concrete, quoting from letters and other sources.Overall, the book might not be serious enough in tone for some, but from what I have read elsewhere the author has actually contributed to our understanding of an aspect of WWII and indeed war in general. If he was underequipped to undertake the task (in being a writer of fiction), he nevertheless certainly did the footwork (going to archives in the US as well as Germany).By the way, this is not the first book on this subject, but I don't know if the other book I am aware of is still in print or was ever translated into English: Nazis on Speed, by Werner Pieper. I learned of this book by reading Evans' unfavorable review of Blitzed on the Guardian website. I think Evans misreads the thrust of this book: he seems to think Blitzed lets Hitler and Germany at large off the hook. I did not get that impression myself, not at all. I do think the Evans review is a good supplement to this book, though.Maybe this book will inspire another non-historian to attempt a history book as decently researched as this.
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