From 1939 to 1945, the Third Reich astonished Europe with its Blitzkrieg on all battlefronts. Its military efficiency has since then been a leitmotiv of history studies. This has been traditionally attributed to its technological superiority and optimisation, as well as its innovative strategies. Indeed, everything was accurately calculated, from the weight of the firearms to the offensive timings. The Wehrmacht would not leave anything to chance. However, there is one more trick to consider: performance-enhancing drugs [1]. These drugs were used as a strategic tool in both camps throughout the Second World War for their invigorating and exciting effects. This article will address how drugs played a pervasive role in the success and failure of Nazi Germany, from the breakthroughs in Poland to the defeat of the regime [2].
Brief overview of a modern drug
Throughout the war, the Germans consumed Pervitin [3], a methamphetamine, which produces higher energy, while reducing sleep needs and hunger [4]. While those effects would already represent sufficient tactical reasons to distribute this drug among soldiers, its psychological influence also made it very valuable. Indeed, it is said to spark a great enthusiasm, as well as a feeling of confidence and omnipotence [5].
While methamphetamine in crystalline form was produced for the first time in Japan, Pervitin was developed by Fritz Hauschild [6] and patented in Germany in 1937, by the Temmler group [7]. Considered as an energy-booster, its consumption was perfectly legal until 1941.
Norman Ohler, the author who shed light on Pervitin consumption
As Pervitin was legal, it was broadly advertised in Germany, with billboards strewn throughout the capital from 1938 until its regulation in 1941, when its consumption became more obscure.
Since then, the topic remained overlooked until 2015, when Norman Ohler published Der Totale Rausch, translated in English as Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany. First intending to write a novel on the abuse of drugs in Nazi Germany, he ended up conducting research that would offer a whole new understanding of warfare tactics during Second World War. [8] Based on military archives and interrogations of Theodor Morell, Hitler’s doctor, he revealed how a whole nation became dependent on Pervitin [9].
A successful substance in Germany
In 1938 Temmler started commercializing Pervitin and, wishing to compete with Coca-Cola, entrusted Mathes & Son, an advertising agency, with its marketing strategy [10]. In a context of national strain, this advertising resulted in a widespread success. Between the recovery from the First World War and the economic crisis, and the mobilisation for the Second World War, the population welcomed the energising substance with open arms. It was cheap, helped people work, spread euphoria through the country and was not considered a drug. Basically, it only seemed to have beneficial effects [11]. Sometimes even mixed with chocolate, pervitin appeared as harmless [12].
Weaponisation of performance enhancers
Furthermore, the drug was not only popular among workers. Adolf Hitler himself was introduced to drugs by Morell [13]. And it was the whole Wehrmacht, the German Army, that was fuelled with Pervitin [14].
Indeed, after having performed tests on students, Otto Ranke, director of the Institute for General and Defense Physiology at Berlin's Academy of Military Medicine, suggested that methamphetamine compounds could improve the soldiers’ performance [15]. Introduced in the daily rations and consumed up to twice a day, the drug gave the soldiers supernatural capabilities. Fearless and cheerful, they could spend more than three days without sleeping and walk up to 60 kilometres without interruption. This allowed for the fast invasion of Poland in 1939, the Blitzkrieg through the French Ardennes in 1940, and the Balkan Campaign of 1941, fought without rest for 11 days [16].
“When they started laying in the snow to let themselves die, I decided to give them Pervitin. After half an hour, they spontaneously started telling me they were feeling better” [17]. With such testimonies from military commanders, the archives studied by Ohler reveal how pleased they were with the positive effects of Pervitin and how they asked for more provisions. [18] The drug was distributed to all soldiers, with its manufacture exceeding 35 million doses of three milligrams just in April and May 1940. For tank troops for example, “there was a clear order to use Pervitin”, often in the shape of Panzerschokolade [19]. However, it was in particular the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, that was the most interested in the increased attention span it ensured for the pilots and named it the “pilot’s salt” [20].
A late and approximate regulation
Yet the drug, beside the unbelievable performances it allowed, obviously brought side effects. Indeed, early reports found in the archives mentioned adverse effects such as exhaustion, heart pain, and circulation problems [21]. This instigated further study that led to the identification of Pervitin as an intoxicant by the Reichsgesundheitsführer Leonardo Conti, the Reich’s health top official, and to its prohibition in 1941 [22].
Such a decision falls within the anti-drug rhetoric that Hitler and his party had disseminated since 1933, which had first led to a large national withdrawal, meant to reduce the German economic dependence from pharmaceuticals and to tackle an alarming addiction problem. It seems though, that just a few years after the development of this national no-poison philosophy, the NSDAP had, out of deliberate inconsistency or simply ignorance, led to a new national dependence.
However, making the new substance illegal in 1941 did not have much consequence. One could no longer purchase it without a prescription; nevertheless, consumption did not decrease much, not even among civilians [23].
In particular among the ranks of the military, the prohibition was totally ignored. As a matter of fact, military officials seemed to find its distribution legitimate, especially due to the short-term benefits it was providing the army [24]. In fact, its consumption actually increased during the Operation Barbarossa from June to December 1941 [25]. At this point, one could even wonder whether the new legislation was actually meant to avoid large scale dependence. Perhaps was it meant to limit civilian consumption in order to ensure the Wehrmacht supply?
Physiological and strategic adverse effects
From 1941, the Reich knew that Pervitin brought side effects and risks of addiction. However, even when soldiers were dying because of heart failures or committing suicide due to the psychotic phases, the methamphetamine continued to fuel the country until the end of war.
The primary concern was related to dependence. Indeed, providing soldiers with daily doses inevitably made them, and their performance, dependent on Pervitin. Heinrich Böll’s written testimonies, for instance, reflect this concern for supply. He was enrolled in the Wehrmacht and during his time on the battlefield, he sent letters to his family back in Germany. In one of them, sent in May 1940, he asked "Perhaps you could obtain some more Pervitin for my supplies? [...] It makes miracles” [26]. He needed it to ensure his physical performance, and benefit from its psychological effects, importantly, maintaining a state of euphoria despite the atrocities of war [27].
And if having a whole population addicted to a drug is, for obvious reasons, not optimal, a major issue appeared with shortage and withdrawal. Indeed, the German population and army experienced the symptoms we know today such as nausea, hallucinations, and diminution of cognitive capacities, anxiety and depression [28].
And despite Conti’s attempt to limit the use of Pervitin, he could do nothing to prevent abuses. The situation escalated over the years and soldiers died increasingly from cardiac failure, suicide, or military miscalculations. The control had just slipped out of their hands. Comparably, Morell’s interrogations reveal how Hitler’s own drug addiction led to poor strategic choices, [29] allowing enemy victories such as the Normandy landings.
Hence, Germany’s secret weapon, that had allowed the Wehrmacht to shine in the first years of war, backfired and became a reason for the decline and the fall of the Third Reich. [30]
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[7] Cooke, R (2016), “High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history” [online] available at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview, last accessed March 4th, 2020.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ohler, N (2015), Der Totale Rausch : Drogen im Dritten Reich : Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
[10] Ohler, N (2018), Nationalsozialismus in Pillenform: Der Aufstieg des Stimulanzmittels Pervitin im „Dritten Reich“ : Springer, p72
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