So according to a recently published book, Hitler and the Nazi’s weren’t just a bunch of ignorant, power crazed mad men. They were a bunch of ignorant, power crazed mad men who were on a ton of drugs.
Norman Ohler is the man who has researched and produced a book on the topic, Der Totale Rausch, or Total Intoxication.
The evidence for Hitler’s habits was all recorded in black and white according to Ohler, who says extensive files were kept on all of the high ranking officials in the Third Reich, and they went hard!
So what was the Fuhrer’s drug of choice? Oxycodone, or Eukodal as it is called in Germany. The Opiate is used as a high-level pain-killer. What’s more, Hitler did not mess about, injecting intravenously directly into his bloodstream.
Nick Ut/Associated PressOhler also states that Hitler refused to allow his personal physician leave to attend his own brother’s funeral as it would mean two days cold turkey. Not an option due to the former art enthusiast’s growing dependency.
But he was not alone apparently. Goring loved his morphine, even becoming known as ‘Moring’, Ernst Udet, Chief of Aircraft Procurement and Supply, was addicted to crystal meth, and it was liberally supplied to soldiers invading France and Poland, thirty-five million doses if Ohler is to be believed.
Protecting himself from a wave of anticipated criticism for suggesting the Nazis were slaves to the drugs they consumed, Ohler has clarified a part of the law to make clear nothing could absolve Hitler’s men from their crimes.
He said:
The fundamental legal tenet “actio libera in causa” applies here. It means that if you get intoxicated in order to carry out an offence that you’ve already planned, it doesn’t diminish your culpability. The Nazi regime’s criminal plans were already laid out in Hitler’s inflammatory text Mein Kampf, and they began being implemented in the 1930s, before drugs had taken hold.
The book has proved somewhat divisive so far, with some critics blasting Ohler for not actually being a historian, while others have supported his fresh look at history.
