Anthony Beevor reviews book on drug use by Hitler, Wehrmacht.

[Sequoia]

I thought the article was an interesting read.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-very-drugged-nazis?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

[SimpleSimon]

Quote

"Germany maintained its lead over the world mainly because the country had so many well-educated chemists. One from the Bayer Company in 1897 synthesized aspirin from willow bark. Eleven days later, the same man, Felix Hoffmann, created diacetyl morphine, which was trademarked as Heroin. Bayer advertised and sold it as a cure for headaches, for cough relief, and to help babies sleep. Profits were enormous. Political and social upheaval only seemed to increase the market. Even in revolutionary Petrograd, the consumption of cocaine soared among young commissars and their mistresses from noble families, as memorably depicted in M. Ageyev’s Novel with Cocaine."

This bit about attitudes toward narcotics over time always makes me chuckle when I hear it. 

The increasingly complicated cocktail of drugs Hitler was taking most certainly played a major role in his physical degradation during the war. I wonder how much of it might've been psychological though. It's strange since in Mein Kampf Hitler makes many allusions to the achievement of a Gotterdammerung as the sort of Magnum Opus of his life. Yet once confronted with just that he seems to have proven rather overwhelmed by it. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by SimpleSimon

[Erwin]

Reality is usually a big "wake up call".  

[Sgt.Squarehead]

14 hours ago, SimpleSimon said:

It's strange since in Mein Kampf Hitler makes many allusions to the achievement of a Gotterdammerung as the sort of Magnum Opus of his life. Yet once confronted with just that he seems to have proven rather overwhelmed by it.

Don't think he was expecting to be on the receiving end.

[Erwin]

Definitely easier to lecture/preach to others when one is dishing it out...  Life looks a whole lot different when you're receiving.  

[z1812]

18 hours ago, Sequoia said:

I thought the article was an interesting read.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-very-drugged-nazis?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

Thanks for posting..................a very interesting article.

[JulianJ]

Fascinating. The weirdness of the Nazis never seems to end.

[Sublime]

On 5/29/2020 at 8:22 AM, Erwin said:

Reality is usually a big "wake up call".  

especially in the form of the red army circa 45

[Sublime]

On 5/29/2020 at 1:10 PM, Erwin said:

Definitely easier to lecture/preach to others when one is dishing it out...  Life looks a whole lot different when you're receiving.  

i will say this. 

first I dont support nazis or like hitler

ppl make allusions to certain politicians being hitler now. hitlers lifef would have broken most people. I can see why he became messianic and got the complex - he went from failed art student and bum, to soldier, to blind and soldier of a defeated empire, to party head, to head of the 3rd Reich.   Thatd break most people, WW1 alone or homelessness for years in 1900s Vienna which Im sure wasnt easy. 

also during the war, he got to sleep in bed, because his job was so dangerous, and he performed in a role tat would rtoutinely put him under fire for four years.  

it seems almost like hitler was the guy who keeps rolling 7s and wont leave when his friends try to pull him away and loses it all finally. he believed his own bs - the general staff was right all along and freak chance had hitler win - rhineland, czechs,, poles, france, everything basically to the last major ' i was right ' - the hold fast order dec 41..

my .02