Blitzed

A groundbreaking book that discovers a surprising perspective on World War II: Nazi Germany’s all-consuming reliance on drugs

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 produced cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives. Meth proved particularly attractive to some German army leaders, who not only dosed themselves but also incorporated the drug into their battle plans – it was rationed out in pill form to millions of troops. 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.

Drugs seeped all the way up to the Nazi high command – and to Hitler himself. Over the course of the war, Hitler became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs – ultimately including Eukodal, a cousin of heroin – administered by his personal doctor. He ended his life as an addict in the throes of withdrawal. While drugs alone can never explain the Nazis’ toxic racial theories or the events of World War II, Ohler’s investigation makes an overwhelming case that drugs played an important and shockingly overlooked role in the Third Reich.

Thoroughly researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows.