Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany

· Penguin UK
4.4
18 reviews
eBook
368
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

The sensational international bestseller on the overwhelming role of drug-taking in the Third Reich

'The most brilliant and fascinating book I have read in my entire life' Dan Snow

'Extremely interesting ... a serious piece of scholarship, very well researched' Ian Kershaw


The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping bestseller 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.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
18 reviews
Ashke Yggsson
9 June 2019
absolute garbage, the dead are fair game especially if you don't like them and essentially cannot defend themselves. not worth the money.
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Reznik
24 October 2017
Very interesting. Lots of hard work put into creating this book. Well worth reading.
1 person found this review helpful
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Adrian Elias Schulze-Bergmann
16 September 2020
Almost too captivating
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About the author

Norman Ohler was born in Zweibrücken in 1970. He is the author of three novels, Die Quotenmaschine (the world's first hypertext novel), Mitte and Stadt des Goldes as well as two novellas. He was co-writer of the script for Wim Wenders' film Palermo Shooting. He researched Blitzed in numerous archives across Germany and the United States.

Shaun Whiteside has translated widely in both French and German, including Sybille Steinbacher's Auschwitz: A History, Charles Lewinsky's Melnitz and several novels by Georges Simenon.

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