Blitzed

Drugs in Nazi Germany

By: Norman Ohler, Shaun Whiteside - translator

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping best seller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops; resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940.

The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants administered by the physician Dr Morell as the war turned against Germany. While drugs cannot on their own explain the events of the Second World War or its outcome, Ohler shows, they change our understanding of it. Blitzed forms a crucial missing piece of the story.

©2016 Norman Ohler (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Bursting with interesting facts." ( Vice)
"Extremely interesting...a serious piece of scholarship, very well researched." (Ian Kershaw)

Rewrite History!

Hitler's drug use has been long known. You can go all the way back to Trever-Roper for Morell's use of "28 substances." Nevertheless, conventional historians have discounted the impact this would obviously have had. The question is only a matter of degree. Unfortunately Ohler, a dreaded non professional historian, overplays his hand with the melodramatic flair, and will be discounted by the mainstream just like the reports of Hitler's doctor, as a quack!

VERY INFORMATIVE!

Great performance! VERY interesting points and insights. The author provides extensive details that support the premise. Sometimes he takes liberties regarding what was said, expressions, inferences when obviously was not present. Definitely clinched the case that Third Reisch attriocites were contributed to by meth and morphine use as well as justification for some of it's actions. Medical information given about addiction and it's symptoms in humans seems right on. I came away with a much better understanding of WWII and what the author believes were it's underpinnings. A good, if very thought provacative, read.

the Missing Link

a previously overlooked but significant factor in the rise & fall of the third reich

wow, just wow

thanks for your reasearch!
thanks for your reasearch!
thanks for your reasearch!
hope it gets into school teaching soon

mind blowing!!!

It's like every story you hear about taking drugs with euphoric highs. The lows, the down side ... eventually will be your downfall, because you need to go back up. For a man who was a vegetarian, I'm surprised he didn't ask more questions of himself about the constant ups and downs he was experiencing. If you go through your life with an even body function and then start taking a substance that alters your behavior with extreme ups and extreme downs, wouldn't you ask yourself the question of why this is a good thing? You know that you did at one time operate your body without the extremes and functioned with manageable fluctuations.

Excellent from start to finish

The History the writing the pace and the brilliant narrator made this my favorite audible book so far

Sheds a lot of light on all that crazy

Modern warfare was pioneered by people who did more drugs than Motley Crew. Makes sense.

See also Dan Carlin's podcast about how drunk and high Churchill and FDR were.

Top notch audiobook!

This is a gripping historical narrative, offering an unusual perspective on Hitler and the Nazis. It develops a fascinating argument -- that amphetamines and pharmaceuticals were a significant factor in the history of the Second World War. While this is not an *entirely* new argument -- I read a history of amphetamines a few years ago called _On Speed_ that made similar suggestions -- Blitzed caught the pass and ran with it all the way into the end zone for the touchdown. Rooted in scholarship, but very fun to listen to, and well performed by the audio reader. Excellent!

Revelatory

An eye opening account of the endemic use of drugs in the Third Reich: both amongst the Nazi elite and the fighting men for whom meth amphetamine was an essential element in their early successes, especially the invasion of France.

Drug use in Germany - both before and during WWII

Would you listen to Blitzed again? Why?

Yes, because the story is so fascinating.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dr Morrell - Hitler's physician. Because he is the focal point in this story.

Did Jonathan Keeble do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Keeble did a credible job but somehow I feel that a different reader would have brought a lot more to the table.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is a shocking and amazing story.

Any additional comments?

What a fascinating story! I am a WWII history buff but I never knew the extent of drug consumption in Hitler's Germany - both before and during the war.