Hitler, the Drug Addict

 

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Jan 29, 2022 TODAY With World War II dragging on and the Nazis losing ground in 1944, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler remained remarkably upbeat during daily briefings. His generals assumed he had an atomic bomb or some other secret plan up his sleeve. What Hitler mostly had up his sleeve, however, were needle marks covering his arms — the result of methamphetamine, opioids and other drugs he’d become increasingly dependent on. What led him to addiction and decline? A diet change following a trauma that prompted chronic flatulence, and a quack doctor who was convinced he could cure all of the Führer’s ills. Want to know more? Read on.

THE FÜHRER’S FLATULENCE 1 - Dietary Problems During most of the 1930s, Adolf Hitler suffered from stomach cramps, diarrhea and terrible flatulence, largely due to a diet that consisted primarily of raw vegetables. The Führer had such bad gas he would often have to leave the table at meals to expel the unwanted air. 2 - Gas Relief Hitler’s dietary problems left him desperate for solutions. He did not like his conventional doctors, who would put him on new diets whenever he complained of stomach cramps and gas. Finally, Hitler met someone who could help, even if his methods were a bit unorthodox, a doctor named Theodor Morell. 3 - Celebrity Doctor Morell was a celebrity doctor in Berlin in the early ’30s and something of a medical pioneer. He had a rather novel approach to medicine, one based on supplements and injecting high dosages of vitamins into a patient’s bloodstream in order to boost their mood and energy levels.

HITLER’S DR. FEELGOOD 1 - Meal Ticket In 1933, Morell joined the Nazi Party after vandals, mistaking him for a Jew, put anti-Semitic graffiti on the plaque outside his office. But Morell came to see the Nazis as more than just protection — he saw them as potential patients, and his potential meal ticket. 2 - Opportunity Knocks A few years later, an opportunity came knocking that would give the social-climbing Nazi vitamin peddler just the chance he desired. One day in 1936, the phone rang in Dr. Morell’s office. A few hours later, he was being flown to Munich for a special vegetarian spaghetti dinner with none other than the head of the Nazi Party. Hitler admitted to the doctor that his digestion was so poor he could barely function. Morell agreed to help. 3 - A New Regimen Morell studied Hitler and his diet, and his digestive troubles that followed meals. After Hitler downed a typical vegetable platter one day, the doctor recorded in his diary that “constipation and colossal flatulence occurred on a scale I have seldom encountered before.” The anti-gas pills that Morell gave Hitler helped with the Führer’s bloating and indigestion. And Hitler was so impressed that he appointed Morrell as his personal physician — and was immediately placed on a steady stream of vitamin supplements.

THE RISE AND FALL OF AN ADDICT 1 - Healthy Hitler For years, Hitler, a teetotaler and vegetarian, didn’t drink and almost never touched meat. And thanks to Theodor Morell’s treatments and vitamins, he hardly ever got sick in the early years of the war. He seemed as physiologically invincible as he was growing politically invincible. 2 - Fateful Flu Then, in 1941, Hitler got the flu on the eve of the war with Russia and before a key briefing with his generals, and he asked Morell what else he had in his drug cupboard. Morell gave Hitler an opioid for the first time. It offered immediate relief from his flu symptoms, but it also started him on a path to a dangerous drug addiction. 3 - A Potent Drug Cocktail From that point on, as the war raged and Hitler encountered more stress and exhaustion, Morell started to introduce new ingredients into the vitamin mixture he was giving to the Führer. Soon Hitler was taking opiates, testosterone, steroids, barbiturates, sedatives — an extraordinary cocktail of drugs. As Morell recorded in his notes, which were later recovered, he gave Hitler more than 800 injections during the final years of the war. Hitler, once an icon of purity, had turned into a drug addict and physiological wreck.

NAZI GERMANY ON DRUGS 1 - New Style of Warfare Hitler was not the only Nazi drug addict. Thanks to Morell’s efforts, a pill version of methamphetamine was developed and given to German troops. It was the perfect drug to accompany the Nazis’ new method of warfare: blitzkrieg. 2 - Blitzed When Germany attacked France, 35 million doses of methamphetamine were distributed to the troops, enabling the Germans to push forward for days straight. In the first hundred hours of the Nazi invasion of France, the Germans gained more territory than they had in over four years during World War I. But it didn’t take long for the rampant substance use to catch up with the Nazis and their Führer. The drug-filled bubble that Theodor Morell had injected into the veins of World War II was about to burst, and the casualties would number in the millions. 3 - A Dictator’s Dependency As the needle marks proliferated on Adolf Hitler’s arms, his behavior grew increasingly bizarre and his actions more and more unhinged. And where Hitler had once relied on adrenaline and natural charisma to sway audiences, he was now dependent on pharmaceuticals for his edge. Soon he virtually stopped giving speeches and increasingly retreated into his bunker. He was unbalanced, irritable, impulsive and at times delusional. He was given to screaming tirades that could last for hours. 4 - False Confidence Hitler became markedly erratic in his decision-making. But the drug cocktail he was taking filled him with false confidence despite the clear signs that the Nazis were losing the war. Hitler’s misplaced optimism kept Germany in a war it could not win for months, even years, while millions perished. 5 - The Final Fall Throughout it all, Dr. Morell remained at Hitler’s side, even until his final moments in a Berlin bunker where the doctor supplied him with the lethal cyanide pills that the dictator and Eva Braun would use to kill themselves. Morell himself escaped that bunker and was eventually tracked down, not by Allied forces but by an industrious New York Times reporter. Thanks to her story, American forces took Morell prisoner, but he was sick and growing weaker and could offer little help as a witness at the Nuremberg trials. He died a few years after the war at age 61.

COMMUNITY CORNER Quiz Time!! What common ailment did Adolf Hitler suffer from for years? Athlete’s foot Flatulence Migraines Diabetes What was the name of the celebrity doctor from Berlin who became Hitler’s personal physician? Dr. Strangelove Dr. Feelgood Dr. Theodor Morell Dr. Herman Goring What was Dr. Morell known for?  Vitamin supplements Plastic surgery Orthodontics Oncology Why did Dr. Morell first join the Nazi Party? He admired Hitler. He had no choice. His wife asked him to. He was the victim of an anti-Semitic hate crime. Why did Dr. Morell give Hitler his first injection of opioids? To calm his stage fright To treat a bad case of the flu To help him sleep To help him deal with the pain from a bullet wound Which of the following drugs did Hitler take under Dr. Morell’s care? Opiates Steroids Testosterone All of the above How many injections is it estimated that Morell gave Hitler during the final years of the war? Over 100 Over 800 Over 2,000 Over 10,000 What German military tactic was enhanced by the methamphetamines being taken by Nazi troops?  Chemical warfare Aerial bombings Blitzkrieg ground assaults U-boat attacks How did Hitler die? Gunshot wound to the temple Suicide by a cyanide pill Shot by a Russian soldier Heart attack Who tracked down Dr. Morell after World War II ended? British soldiers German civilians The CIA A New York Times reporter         Answers: Flatulence Dr. Theodor Morell Vitamin supplements He was the victim of an anti-Semitic hate crime. To treat a bad case of the flu All of the above Over 800 Blitzkrieg ground assaults Suicide by a cyanide pill A New York Times reporter Go Deeper What to Read: Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany by Norman Ohler: The definitive work on Dr. Theodor Morell and the use of drugs by the Nazis. What to Watch: Patient Hitler: A National Geographic documentary film about Hitler’s medical issues. Watch on YouTube. What to Listen To: Flashback, Episode 5: Listen to this podcast about some of history’s greatest unintended consequences, including how Hitler’s drug addiction changed the course of World War II. Listen on OZY.

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