Essay On Dr Theodore Morell

During 1940 Nazi Germany successfully used the tactic of blitzkrieg against France and proceeded to take over most of Europe. Due to cunning and courageous high officials and superior forces, Nazi Germany steamrolled through Europe relatively quickly and brought about the deadliest war of all time. The Nazis successfully used superior tactics and advanced weaponry unchecked by the previous Allies of World War I to take down Poland and France in World War II. The problem with the common thought of the initial Nazi invasions of Poland and France is the fact that not just tactics, superior technology, and officers helped the offensive, but it was the intense fuel that was Pervitin or methamphetamine which pushed the Nazi war machine towards

success.
The Nazis developed this “go-pill” in order for their soldiers to execute one of the most impactful and shocking operations in military history. The revolutionary pill lets Nazi soldiers stay up for weeks, go without food for days and instilled the fighting spirit in order to carry out with those operations. This drug was extremely important for the initial Nazi war effort; however, this same drug became detrimental to that same war effort in the later parts of the war in all aspects to include ground, air, and operations.
Aside from the tactical side of the Nazi military operation, drugs also affected Germany at the strategic level. Many high ranking officials became addicted to Pervitin. However, the most important official in the entire Nazi state was addicted to a different drug or drugs. The supreme leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler became addicted to a combination of opium-based drugs and vitamins given to him by his personal physician, Dr. Theodore Morell. Although Adolf Hitler was extremely against drugs and addiction, he himself became addicted to no real opposition or questioning of what Dr. Morell gave him. Hitler’s crippling addiction to this opiate-based “vitamin” concoction greatly impacted the Nazi war effort on a strategic and operational level that left the leader of the Third Reich unable to make any real meaningful decisions. Decisions he did make while addicted or feeling the side effects of the concoctions were often erratic, selfish or borderline insane. Moreover, this concoction made him a completely incompetent leader who drove his nation into the ground. The ultimate combination of drugs, the intense upper Pervitin the regular every day Nazi military member took and the drowning combination of opiates Dr. Morell injected Hitler with helped the downfall of the Nazi Third Reich.
Nazi Germany experimented heavily with a variety of different substances and subjects. The medical officials in the Third Reich strived for a way to keep their soldiers, pilots, and midshipmen going through the fight and to execute blitzkrieg in an efficient and successful fashion. Before Germany, however, the Japanese found the “benefits” that this stimulant had on a soldier’s performance in battle or during mobilization. One of the leading medical developers in Germany, Temmler Medical Factory started to produce Pervitin in pill form. Pervitin’s main active ingredient is methamphetamine, the ingredient that made all of the members of the Third Reich goes for days, but also made them heavily addicted. German pharmacies sold millions of pills over the counter to people who needed to stay up or who had a problem sleeping. Pervitin sold like wildfire with more and more of the population using it at every turn in order to cure whatever illness they thought they had. Pervitin showed up in drinks, everyday magazines, and even chocolates. Pervitin use was in accordance with the spirit of the times inside the population Nazi Germany in terms of the effects. The effects caused the person to be awake and focused, often irritable. These effects echoed the spirit of the population during this time period. One of the leading Nazi physicians at the time, Otto Friedrich Ranke, introduced Pervitin to the Wehrmacht. He initially promoted Pervitin and other performance-enhancing drugs into the Third Reich's military in order to help the war effort. He initially had several great test results from commanders on the front lines describing it as a great drug for their men, but they always asked for more. However, the Reich Health Leader, Leonardo Conti had his doubts about the so-called "miracle drug." Conti gained reports from various sources in the military and civilian sectors contradicting the great effects some of the military leaders claimed to have with their soldiers. Conti read through the studies as well as the letters that Pervitin is extremely addictive and has serious side effects for the user. Therefore, Conti outlawed Pervitin for the Nazi population in accordance with Adolf Hitler’s strong zero drug policy for the Nazi population. However, Conti did not outlaw Pervitin for the Wehrmacht and instead promoted it slightly.
Pervitin initially affected the members of the Wehrmacht positively as far as their commanders saw it. These men stayed awake for days and even weeks on end and did not eat for days which reduced cost and time for these operations. Several of these large-scale operations were extremely important to the Third Reich’s dominance. For example, the soldiers of the Third Reich needed Pervitin for the efficient execution of Blitzkrieg. Researcher Norman Ohler writes, “Where an invasion is concerned, the advantages of stimulants are obvious: war is played out in space and time. Speed is crucial.” The German high command needed some way to increase the speed of operations of this “lightning war” in order to execute Hitler’s plans for the rest of Europe and eventually the rest of the world. Ohler goes on to write, “The Blitzkrieg had unleashed itself and became autonomous- and in those hectic spring days of May 1940, it embodied the evolving modern age, bursting all its bonds, crossing every boundary. From now on, uppers were indispensable." The Nazis, during Blitzkrieg, went over 17 days without sleep and gained more ground than in World War I in under one hundred hours. Additionally, one of the greatest generals in the Third Reich, Erwin Rommel, encouraged the use of Pervitin in his operations and even used it himself. One of the leading signs of methamphetamine use is the inability to feel any sense of fear or apparent danger. One of Rommel’s commanders at the Nazi high command stated in his diaries that he believed Rommel was the greatest daredevil that the Third Reich had ever seen. This symptom of methamphetamine use was not only apparent in Rommel but in many field commanders, officers, soldiers, pilots, and members of the small Nazi navy.
Drugs did not just affect the soldiers and the commanders of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and German Navy, but it affected the very top of the German High Command, specifically the High Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Before Hitler became addicted, another important and significant actor became addicted to opiates, Herman Göring. Göring became the commander for all of the air operations in the Third Reich. Hitler tasked Göring with the Battle of Britain which composed the aerial phase of Operation Sea Lion. Many of the initial plans for the aerial aspect of the invasion of the United Kingdom involved the bombing and destruction of the Royal Air Force. This involved destroying the factories, oil refineries, and air bases. Instead, due in large part to Göring’s addiction to morphine, he instead planned on attacking London. This selfish act completely changed the course of the war. If the Luftwaffe kept its course for the air war over the United Kingdom, the outcome of the war would have turned 180 degrees.
Adolf Hitler was unknowingly addicted to a combination of opiate-based heavy narcotics and vitamins.

The narcotics were more akin to morphine which relieved Hitler of his body pains that followed with the stresses of running a belligerent nation in World War II. The instrumental figure in both Hitler’s spiraling addiction and the emphasis of Pervitin into the Wehrmacht is Dr. Theodore Morell. In order to understand why Hitler became addicted, it is important to analyze what Dr. Morrell gave to Hitler and why this became an addiction. Dr, Theodore Morell was a prominent doctor in Germany before the rise of the Nazis in World War II. He treated Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer who raved about the doctor. Hitler finally met Dr. Morell in 1936 that immediately began treating Hitler for his severe chronic stomach cramps. Dr. Morrell also treated Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments. Speer wrote in his

diaries,
In 1936, when my circulation and stomach rebelled...I called at Morell's private office. After a superficial examination, Morell prescribed for me his intestinal bacteria, dextrose, vitamins and hormone tablets. For safety's sake, I afterward had a thorough examination by Professor von Bergmann, the specialist in internal medicine at Berlin University. I was not suffering from any organic trouble, he concluded, but only from nervous symptoms caused by overwork. I slowed down my pace as best I could and the symptoms abated. To avoid offending Hitler I pretended that I was carefully following Morell's instructions, and since my health improved, I became for a time Morell's showpiece.
Many high ranking Nazi officials to include Speer and Reich Minister of Health Leonardo Conti accused Dr.

Morell on multiple occasions of malpractice and making fake diagnoses in order to keep his job and importance within the Third Reich. Despite all of these negative accusations, Hitler continued to put his absolute trust in Dr. Morell. Unbeknownst to Hitler, Dr. Morell kept feeding him his mixture of vitamins and morphine to “cure” his debilitating stomach pain. Hitler increasingly demanded these intravenous injections multiple times per day. Despite Hitler's strict stance against drug use, he became intensely addicted to the combination of morphine and vitamins. Many people in Wolf's Lair believed Hitler to be losing his mind, in part to Dr. Morell's mistreatment of Hitler. Albert Speer noted on several occasions later on in the war how much he distrusted Hitler's personal physician. Speer was not alone; Leonardo Conti despised Dr. Morell and accused him of mistreatment and false diagnoses on multiple occasions. Hitler became extremely dependent on what was basically morphine. He became lethargic, shaky, and his symptoms of Parkinson’s exacerbated to the point where Hitler stayed in his room for hours and hours on end when his country needed him the most to make strategic decisions. Especially, in the later parts of the war, commanders attempted to make important decisions for the Third Reich, but Hitler’s health condition and constant mood changes hindered the high

ranking officials from making those decisions. The distrust inside Hitler’s high cabinet led to a conflicted command which was not able to make those significant decisions to finish the war or help Nazi Germany save itself. This drug addiction paired with Hitler’s ego significantly hurt Nazi Germany’s chances to win at all.
In a war where any slight edge would mean the key to victory, all sides in World War II attempted to find these sight edges, by any means necessary. Nazi Germany arguably stepped the furthest over the line with their experimentation on Jews, other prisoners, and their own soldiers. The medical experimentations were a horrific act committed by the Nazis, but they also hurt their own population and men with their introduction of the methamphetamine-based drug Pervitin. Pervitin caused an initial burst of bravado and energy needed for the fast-paced operations of blitzkrieg and the conquering of the lower countries. However, this “miracle drug” eventually became too addictive for its users. The men started to feel horrible side effects of this drug. They started to itch horribly, not eat for days, and in some cases, commit suicide. This drug had a positive impact in the short-term with the Nazi war effort, but it eventually became detrimental to the Wehrmacht and hurt later operations.