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

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

4.5 2,150 ratings

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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 729 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 627 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 617 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: #383,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #753 in German History (Books)
- #3,323 in World War II History (Books)

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4.5 2,150 ratings

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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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Liese

Disturbing and fascinating all at the same time!

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2019

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This book was INCREDIBLE! As a history major, I have always appreciated views of historical events through an unorthodox lens. I have read many books on WWII, but never have I come across one that discussed the role that drugs played in the Nazi wins and defeats. Whether it was the use of Pervitin during the Blitzkrieg or Hitler's utter dependence on Eukodal, I feel like I have a much better understanding of how the use of these drugs pushed them beyond any normal level of humanity before carrying out atrocious acts. This is no way takes away any level of accountability because Hitler and his Nazi regime were evil thinkers before drugs were introduced, but interesting how drugs became the fuel and the source of their fanatical and delusional plans for the future. They were able to maintain this way of thinking up until the very end even though all odds were stacked against them. Going into this high, administered by pill or injection, let them remain where they wanted to in their minds. It is sickening and fascinating all at the same time.

Aside from the military being used as guinea pigs for drug experimentation, I was shocked at the rampant drug use of the general German population. The Germans were popping Pervitin like it was ibuprofen!

"Outside of the military the addiction was also growing. In 1939 Pervitin fever was rife in the Third Reich, whether it was housewives going through menopause who 'wolfed down the stuff like sweets,' you mothers who took methamphetamine to ward off the baby blues, or widows who were looking for 'elite partners' through the marriage bureau and who took high doses to combat inhibitions during their first meeting. To help with childbirth, to fight seasickness, vertigo, hay fever, schizophrenia, anxiety neuroses, depressions, low drive, disturbances of the brain - wherever the Germans hurt, the blue, white, and red tube was at the ready."

It was also interesting to see where the government played a role in this drug crisis and even compare on my own to the current opioid crisis in the US. I highly recommend reading this book and letting it make you curious about what medicine looks like today, how it is being distributed, and examining any lasting effects.

8 people found this helpful

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Teacher of Teachers

Short, useful - admittedly not professional history.

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

This author of fiction has a breezy style and this is his first attempt at history. With that in mind, I skimmed reviews by historians before buying it. True, it is a little too cute at times, and, equally true, it is more speculative than one likes in a history book, particularly regarding whatever it was that Morell was giving Hitler and its effects (or withdrawal effects) on him as opposed to say Parkinson's. Even so, the author does flag his own speculations, and that is important.

With all that out of the way, the book provides interesting material on the history of drug invention and manufacture. I had a vague idea of some of this but the comprehensive presentation improved my understanding. I also had some idea of the use of Pervitin in the German armed forces of the period, but the author makes it much more concrete, quoting from letters and other sources.

Overall, the book might not be serious enough in tone for some, but from what I have read elsewhere the author has actually contributed to our understanding of an aspect of WWII and indeed war in general. If he was underequipped to undertake the task (in being a writer of fiction), he nevertheless certainly did the footwork (going to archives in the US as well as Germany).

By the way, this is not the first book on this subject, but I don't know if the other book I am aware of is still in print or was ever translated into English: Nazis on Speed, by Werner Pieper. I learned of this book by reading Evans' unfavorable review of Blitzed on the Guardian website. I think Evans misreads the thrust of this book: he seems to think Blitzed lets Hitler and Germany at large off the hook. I did not get that impression myself, not at all. I do think the Evans review is a good supplement to this book, though.

Maybe this book will inspire another non-historian to attempt a history book as decently researched as this.

59 people found this helpful

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Tyler Keay

A book for WWII eficianado

Reviewed in Canada on November 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

A well researched book and insight into the German War machine and how prevelant drug use was by soldiers and the top of the Nazi regime.

Thrass PAPADIMITRIOU

I had no idea! Well written / easy read, despite the subject-matter.

Reviewed in Germany on December 8, 2023

Verified Purchase

No wonder it became Bestseller! I learned a lot, which partly changed my perspective on WWII... Highly recommend!

B

Excellent read

Reviewed in Brazil on August 28, 2020

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Informative and entertaining read.

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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Onyx

It’s fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

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

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