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Norman Ohler

Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Hardcover – March 7, 2017

by Norman Ohler (Author), Shaun Whiteside (Translator)

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A fast-paced narrative 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 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.

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

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date

March 7, 2017
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

1328663795
ISBN-13

978-1328663795
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

The extremely political question of whether our bodies belong to us or to a legal-social network of social and health-related interests remains a virulent one even today.
Highlighted by 679 Kindle readers
The anti-drug policy served as a vehicle for the exclusion and suppression, even the destruction, of marginal groups and minorities.
Highlighted by 580 Kindle readers
The Germans were world leaders in another class of substances as well: the companies Merck, Boehringer, and Knoll controlled 80 percent of the global cocaine market.
Highlighted by 567 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

National Bestseller

New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice

“The strengths of Ohler’s account lie not only in the rich array of rare documents he mines and the archival images he reproduces to accompany the text, but also in his character studies… Ohler effectively captures Hitler’s pathetic dependence on his doctor and the bizarre intimacy of their bond…Blitzed makes for provocative reading.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A revelatory work that considers Hitler’s career in a new light. ‘Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich’ is that rare sort of book whose remarkable insight focuses on a subject that’s been overlooked, even disregarded by historians.” —The San Francisco Chronicle

“Blitzed is a fascinating read that provides a new facet to our understanding of the Third Reich.”—Buzzfeed

“It's as breezy and darkly humorous as its title. But don't be fooled by the gallows humor of chapter names like ‘Sieg High’ and ‘High Hitler’: This is a serious and original work of scholarship that dropped jaws around Europe when it was published there last year.” —Mashable

"A juicier story would be hard to find.” —The Week

“Delightfully nuts, in a Gravity’s Rainbow kind of way.”—The New Yorker

“Transforming meticulous research into compelling prose, Ohler delves into the little-known history of drug use in Nazi Germany.”—Entertainment Weekly

“[A] fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich.”—The Washington Post

“This heavily researched nonfiction book by a German journalist reports that the drug was widely taken by soldiers, all the way up the ranks to Hitler himself, who received injections of a drug cocktail that also included an opioid.”—Newsday

“The book achieves something nearly impossible: It makes readers look at this well-trodden period in a new way and does it in a readable, inviting format. It also doesn’t preclude future scholarship by professional historians to elaborate on the role of drugs in Nazi Germany.” —Newsweek

“This is Ohler’s first nonfiction book (he’s written three novels) and the first popular book of its kind, filling a gap between specialist academic literature and sensationalist TV documentaries… The book is an impressive work of scholarship, with more than two dozen pages of footnotes and the blessing of esteemed World War Two historians… Ohler offers a compelling explanation for Hitler’s erratic behavior in the final years of the war, and how the biomedical landscape of the time affected the way history unfolded… Ohler’s book makes a powerful case for the centrality of drugs to the Nazi war effort.” —The New Republic

"Explosive ... Ohler describes the chemical ignition of the first assault on the Western front with a novelist's flair." — Rolling Stone

"I had thought nothing could make [Nazis] more horrifying, but that was before I encountered Blitzed. Now I know the only thing more terrifying than the Nazis are the Nazis on meth ... Blitzed is not your typical history book ... It's amazing that biographers haven't focused on the drug angle this rigorously." — Esquire

“This bestseller has promulgated a perspective on Nazi Germany that has not really been widely explored previously and goes a long way toward explaining much on the topic, which we may heretofore have failed to realize.” —New York Journal of Books

“Ohler’s reputation precedes him… [Ohler] brings storytelling vigor to an unexplored corner of Hitlerology… Mordant and casual even in translation, it’s easy to mainline
(with a pinch of salt mixed in).” —New York Magazine, VULTURE

“The author who exposed the hidden history of Nazis on meth.” —Playboy

“In Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich, Norman Ohler accomplished a feat that many historians desire, but never quite achieve… the author manages to cover new ground and shed a bright light on a previously dark corner of 20th century history." —The Fix

“A compelling piece of serious scholarship that offers a comprehensive view of drugs in Nazi Germany that professional historians seem to have missed." —Under the Radar (Military.com)

“A fast, compelling read." —Nylon

"Ohler's astonishing account of methamphetamine addiction in the Third Reich changes what we know about the Second World War ... Blitzed looks set to reframe the way certain aspects of the Third Reich will be viewed in the future." — Guardian

"Blitzed tells the remarkable story of how Nazi Germany slid towards junkie-state status. It is an energetic ... account of an accelerating, modernizing society, an ambitious pharmaceuticals industry, a military machine that was looking for ways to create an unbeatable soldier, and a dictator who couldn't function without fixes from his quack ... It has an uncanny ability to disturb." — Times (UK)

"A huge contribution ... Remarkable." —Antony Beevor, BBC 4 Today

"The picture [Ohler] paints is both a powerful and an extreme one ... Gripping reading." — Times Literary Supplement

"A fascinating, most extraordinary revelation." — BBC World News

“Blitzed tells a deliriously druggy tale of the Third Reich.” — Paris Review

"Absorbing ... Makes the convincing argument that the Nazis' use of chemical stimulants ... played a crucial role in the successes, and failures, of the Third Reich." —Esquire

"An audacious, compelling read." — Stern (Germany)

"Bursting with interesting facts." — Vice

"Very good and extremely interesting — a serious piece of scholarship very well-researched ... There have, of course, been other books that already argued that Hitler was effectively a drug addict at the hands of Dr Morell's pills and injections of amphetamines and other drugs. But Ohler takes the argument, to my mind, further and more convincingly." — Ian Kershaw, author of To Hell and Back and The End

“An intense chronicle of ‘systematic drug abuse’ in Nazi Germany... Written with dramatic flair, this book adds significantly to our understanding of the Third Reich.” —Kirkus Starred Review

“[Ohler’s account] makes us look at this densely studied period rather differently." —New York Review of Books

[Ohler] brings storytelling vigor to an unexplored corner of Hitlerology… Mordant and casual even in translation, it’s easy to mainline (with a pinch of salt mixed in).” —New York Magazine (Vulture)

"Ohler offers a compelling explanation for Hitler’s erratic behavior in the final years of the war, and how the biomedical landscape of the time affected the way history unfolded." —The Jewish Book Council

“Ohler paints a picture of the Nazi era that will enthrall World War II history buffs and all non-fiction readers alike.” —Library Journal

"The author who exposed the hidden history of Nazis on Meth." —Playboy

About the Author

NORMAN OHLER is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Blitzed, as well as 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.

Shaun Whiteside has translated widely in both French and German, including Sybille Steinbacher's Auschwitz: A History.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Translation edition (March 7, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1328663795
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1328663795
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #266,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #441 in German History (Books)
- #2,103 in World War II History (Books)

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Norman Ohler

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Norman Ohler is an award-winning German novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He spent five years researching Blitzed in numerous archives in Germany and the United States, and spoke to eye-witnesses, military historians, and doctors. He is also 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 co-writer of the script for Wim Wenders' film Palermo Shooting.

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Very Informative Book, Interesting Perspective on the Third Reich you normally would not think of.

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2017

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In today's society, to even mention the word drugs, or even more specifically opiates such as heroin and morphine, or even stimulants such as crystal meth and cocaine are a strong taboo. When drugs are talked about today and especially these specific kinds of hard drugs we as a people know how detrimental they are and severe the side effects, and lasting effects can be. Ranging from addiction, physical body damage, physiological damage, and even possible death. In the early 1900s with the introduction of heroin, produced by the still existing Bayer company, the director of Bayer once said “Heroin is fine for business,” and it was marketed for almost anything, including sleepless babies.
This was not so much the case in the period of the early 1900s, people were unaware of all these terrible things that came along with hard drug use. This was especially all the more true in the period of 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany, and the Third Reich. Norman Ohler who typically writes fiction took his latest book Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich in a complete other direction. In his own words he says “it all begin with the Berlin DJ Alexander Kramer, who told me the Nazis took loads of drugs…” He thought this could make such a great premise for a movie, that a historian who is a friend of his suggested looking into the archives and digging up what he can. He says as soon as the research started he got so excited and could not stop. It was as if Ohler was on some drug of his own, high on excitement, and addicted to learning the facts of what really went on during the Third Reich.
Ohler covers everything in such excruciating detail, from the Nazi foot soldiers, all they way up to the Fuhrer himself. The book starts off just a little ways before the beginning of World War II. Ohler starts by giving you a quick, but extremely factual origin story of many opiates and methamphetamines. Then in no time you are dropped into the world of the Volksdroge, a.k.a methamphetamine, or more quite literally “the peoples drug.” Ohler explains in detail the facilities used to create this drug, how modern, and efficient they were for their time and even today, comparing the meth labs in tiny run down trailers or basements today, The Germans had meth processing almost to perfection, Ohler even makes a joke saying Walter White of Breaking Bad would be jealous of how pure the Germans meth was. Then in page 28 is the first time Pervitin is introduced, and it exploded in Germany. This was the choice drug of the foot soldiers of the Third Reich, this is how the German invasion of Poland and the Blitzkrieg went without a hitch in France. The Wehrmacht were so hopped on this little pill, which is quite literally meth in pill form. “I had ordered you not to sleep of forty-eight hours. You kept going for seventeen days.” said Hanz Guderian the general of the Wehrmacht's Panzer units in the invasion of Poland and France.
Once on page 103 we get to the section of the book titled “High Hitler: Patient A and His Personal Physician.” This section goes from pages 103 to 186 which goes into explicit detail of the drugs the Fuhrer had been given by his personal physician, Theodor Morell from 1941-1944. Their relationship began with Morell giving Hitler a few injections of vitamins and steroids which helped boost the Fuhrer up, which he enjoyed. Not so long after Hitler started to have intestinal cramps which he had called he personal physician for who had administered painkillers. Eventually that was not enough for the Supreme Commander who demanded something stronger. Morell was weary at first but caved in and and started to administer injections of Eukodal. Eukodal was a drug manufactured by the still existing today Merck Pharmaceuticals, it was marketed as a painkiller and a cough medicine. The extremely potent active ingredient in it os the opioid, oxycodone, made from the raw material of opium. It was twice as powerful as morphine without the side effect of tiredness, if administered properly it would pep the patient up, and that's exactly what Hitler used it for. Following the Valkyrie assassination attempt Hitler's eardrums had been ruptured, and an ears, nose and throat specialist had been called, and this is when his cocaine use began.
It is quite ironic how many different drugs were used in the Third Reich and by the Fuhrer himself, considering the Nazis despised drugs. They preached an ideology of physical, mental and moral purity, yet they were almost all addicts. The Nazis who abhorred cocaine as a “jewish degeneration drug” but ironically Hitler himself became a coke addict. Towards the end of his life just about a month or two prior to his suicide, his personal physician, Theodor Morell had ran out of drugs to give his most important patient, due to the fact all the manufacturing plants in Germany had been bombed out. Morell lost his supply, the cardinal rule of being a dealer. So as Hitler withered away in his bunker for the last few weeks of the war before his suicide, the Fuhrer was going through extreme withdrawal and was now a shell of the once fiery charismatic man the German people fell in love with. He killed himself as a miserable man going through withdrawal.

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James Kalomiris, The Peripatetic Reader

Giving New Meaning to the Word “Blitzkrieig”

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2017

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This book is a bona fide page-turner.

Just when you thought everything had been written about Nazi Germany, this great book comes along. You will not be disappointed with the narrative. It is a great read.

It has been common knowledge that Hermann Goering, the Number Two man in Nazi Germany, was a notorious morphine addict. It has also been common knowledge that Adolf Hitler himself had a drug problem too, mainly, it was thought, for legitimate medical issues. What was not known or realized was how pervasive were drugs in Nazi Germany. When I say “pervasive,” I mean pervasive. The entire nation, it seems, was awash in drugs, legitimate and otherwise, and consumed them copiously and with abandon. Specifically, Nazi Germany was a nation of speed freaks.

Methamphetamine was first synthesized in Germany prior to the start of WWII in 1937. It quickly took over the nation. Everyone — I mean everyone — used meth. Housewives, students, professionals, everyone, was using meth — over the counter and without prescription, to treat a variety of ailments and illnesses. Most of all, the soldiers, from the common foot soldier to upper echelon, all used meth to stay awake, to channel their inner Aryan soldier and to aid the rigors of war.

The title of this review is not entirely facetious. When Germany invaded Poland and France, sparking the Second World War, the ferocity and speed with which they invaded these countries were due on large part, you guessed it, to Germany’s soldiers being blitzed, literally stoned out of their heads on speed. There was no other way they could stay awake for two, three, four days at a time, or more, without popping speed pills on a regular basis. As a tribute to German ingenuity, speed was introduced as chewable chocolate candies for German housewives to munch on while doing housework.

So next time you watch “Triumph of the Will,” that breath-taking piece of propaganda by Leni Reifenstahl, and see those bright, ebullient, faces screaming their bloody heads off on how they would gladly give their lives for the fatherland, well, now you know what was fueling that zeal.

Adolf Hitler had his own substance abuse issues. Some of his drugs were for legitimate health issues, others, most of them, not. Hitler, actually, was not a great military tactician. The introduction of speed in Hitler’s life only made matters worse. The cover of the UK edition features a photograph of Hitler, taken in the final weeks of his life and included in this book in the inside pages, looking seriously strung out. In addition to speed, at any given time he had twelve substances floating in his bloodstream — drugs, hormones, steroids, super-charged vitamins. Speed in his bloodstream, and racing in the brains of his other generals who were also hooked on the stuff, only served to cloud their already addled misguided judgment. In a way, speed started and hastened the end of the Second World War.

The ubiquitous figure in Blitzed is Hitler’s Doctor Feelgood, Theodor Morell. His job was to pump Hitler up at a moment’s notice if the Fuhrer appeared to falter, i.e., not be a raving maniacal dictator.

An interesting take on Nazi Germany, this book is highly recommended.

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Jean G. Charbonneau

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on April 8, 2017

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Tout s'est très bien déroulé. Merci.

Onyx

It’s fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2018

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I heard about this on the Armchair Expert podcast and while I knew Hitler used drugs but this book expands on drug use in the whole German military at the time. It at no point tries to paint the big players in the war as sympathetic in any way although I found myself learning about the giving of drugs to extremely young boys who I did feel for as some were abused children and some ended up effectively murdered when the Navy became desperate towards the end of the war. Anyway it’s a very detailed and fascinating book although it’s never pleasant to read about the way people like Hitler made their lives easier while committing atrocities. I think it’s an important part of history that shouldn’t be overlooked and this book is very educational

2 people found this helpful

Sergio Valadez

Rare book about WWII history

Reviewed in Mexico on March 2, 2020

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Un tema ya muy conocido anteriormente adquiere nuevos matices con este libro. El autor realizó investigación es muy seria y está muy bien documentado,me sorprendió la cantidad de referemcias. Es entretenido de leer si tienes gusto por la historia de la WWII.

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David Daly

Fascinating read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2020

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Really interesting look on history and really does blow you mind when thinking about WWII

Ali Aydogdu

Interessant

Reviewed in Germany on August 12, 2019

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