Nazi Germany can rightly be called a country of drug addicts. Taking narcotic drugs was actually declared state policy. The Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe were on narcotic drugs. The top of the Third Reich also “dabbled” in them.

German soldiers were fed drugs that gave them strength and endurance. A real secret weapon Hitler There were no FAA missiles or flying saucers, but the drug Pervitin, now better known as “speed.” A study of the medicine of the Third Reich and the activities of German doctors during the Second World War, conducted by the Association of German Doctors, found that German soldiers and officers were given pills before battle that significantly increased their endurance and allowed them to fight for many hours without sleep or rest. It is known that over 200 million pervitin tablets were supplied to the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe in 1939–1945. The most AIDS was received by the advanced units that occupied Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and other countries. So Hitler owed much of his blitzkrieg to Pervitin, a stimulant based on cocaine and which was tested on concentration camp prisoners.

German soldiers called it Panzerschokolade - "tank chocolate". In Great Britain, newspapers wrote with fear about the “miracle pills” being used by the enemy. The Fuhrer himself was sitting on Pervitin. Hitler's personal doctor injected him since 1936 Theodore Morel.

The whole of Germany is hooked on tank chocolate. In May 1940, a 23-year-old soldier named Heinrich Bell I wrote a letter to my family from the front line. He complained of fatigue and asked his family to get him Pervitin. Henry was a big fan of this medicine. Just one tablet, he said, replaced liters of very strong coffee. After taking Pervitin, even for a few hours, all worries disappeared and happiness came. A third of a century later, in 1972, the author of this letter received Nobel Prize on literature.

Pervitin is especially widely used in Eastern Front, where the most stubborn battles took place. Criminologist Wolf Kemper, author of the book Nazis on Speed, which chronicles the use of drugs in the Third Reich, described a typical case of its use.

In January 1942, in 30-degree frosts, a German unit of approximately 500 soldiers and officers was surrounded.

“When the soldiers began to fall into the snow and say that they wanted to die,” the unit’s military doctor wrote in a report, “I decided to give them Pervitin. After half an hour, almost everyone felt much better. They stood up and said they were ready to go into battle.”

With the help of Pervitin, the Germans managed to break through the ring and escape from the encirclement.

Of course, pervitin increased endurance and vigor, but it was highly addictive and had many side effects: dizziness, sweating, depression, hallucinations, etc. There are many cases where taking this medicine led to fatal heart attacks and suicides. The leadership of the Third Reich did not pay attention to the “insignificant” costs - thousands of soldiers “got hooked” on the pills and gradually turned from supermen into good-for-nothing soldiers.

Many doctors, of course, understood the danger of such “treatment” and did not want to stuff their compatriots with “tank chocolate.” True, even he tried unsuccessfully to limit its use Leonardo Conti, State Secretary of the German Ministry of the Interior for Sanitary Services and Public Health and Reich Chief of Health of the Third Reich since 1939.

Of course, Pervitin was not Hitler's only secret weapon. Nazi doctors actively tested other drugs on concentration camp prisoners that are now popular among those who like to “get high.” Germany's last secret weapon, which Hitler hoped for no less than the FAA missiles, was, according to Wolf Kemper, a drug under code name D-IX. This narcotic drug, which was tested in the Schaschenhausen concentration camp, was also based on cocaine.

The prisoners were given Pervitin, hung 25-kilogram backpacks on their backs and forced to walk 110 kilometers without rest.

The plan of the Nazi bosses to turn the soldiers of the Third Reich into supermen with the help of miracle drugs was thwarted by the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and the heavy bombing of Germany by Allied aircraft.

Responsible for the project Otto Ranke, military doctor and director of the Institute of General and Defense Physiology at the Academy of Military Medicine in Berlin. It is known that German scientists experimented with LSD. They believed it could improve memory, control behavior, and assist with interrogations.

Just a few years ago, it was believed that the largest German pharmaceutical company, Merck, had developed ecstasy to suppress the appetite of soldiers before the First World War. True, the company itself now claims that Anton Kollisch synthesized ecstasy in 1912 to prevent blood clots.

Medical certificate:Methamphetamine, or pervitin, is an artificial amphetamine derivative, white crystalline substance, odorless and bitter in taste. It is a psychostimulant with an extremely high addictive potential, and therefore has become widespread as a drug. The street names for Pervitin are varied: speed, chalk, speed (from the English word speed). Taking Pervitin causes a surge of strength and self-confidence, dramatically increases performance and concentration, and relieves, despite the lack of sleep and rest, the feeling of fatigue, as well as pain, hunger and thirst. Amphetamine, the predecessor of the described drug, was first synthesized in Germany in 1887, and methamphetamine itself, easier to use but also more powerful, was created in 1919 by the Japanese scientist A. Ogata.

In the 1930s, pharmacists at Temmler Werke in Berlin used it as a stimulant under the name pervitin. According to the testimony of former Wehrmacht soldiers, starting in 1938, this narcotic substance was systematically used both in the army (Pervitin tablets were officially included in the “combat ration” of pilots and tank crews) and in the defense industry.

So was or was not Pervitin in service in Hitler’s army? Amateur photographs taken at the front are often used as illustrated “evidence” of the drug intoxication of the Fuhrer’s soldiers.

Here, a happy Luftwaffe officer put his aviation helmet on his dog
Hitler's propaganda emphasized the importance of abstinence from alcohol and tobacco to keep the Aryan race strong and pure. But in reality, his soldiers used various drugs for a long and desperate struggle. Research into drugs used by the Third Reich confirms that Nazi doctors and officials provided the recruits with pills to help them fight for long periods of time without needing rest. The German army's drug of choice during the invasion of Poland, Holland, Belgium and France was Pervitin, a tablet made from methamphetamine.

“The idea was to turn ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen into robots with superhuman abilities,” says pharmacologist Wolf Kemper, author of a book on drug use in the Third Reich. Hitler was suggested to use Pervitin by Otto Ranke, head of the Institute of Physiology of the Berlin Academy of Military Medicine. During World War II, Hitler's soldiers took 200 million Pervitin tablets.

This is where a joker with a bottle in his hands straddles a bust of Stalin
Already at the very beginning of the war, the use of an amphetamine called Pervitin was completely commonplace on the Western Front. The Nazi leadership believed that thanks to this stimulant, troops would, without hesitation, perform heroic deeds, and this would allow them to achieve victory faster. From April to December 1939 alone, the plant of the Berlin company Temmel, the manufacturer of Pervitin, supplied the army and Luftwaffe with 29 million tablets of this drug. The Wehrmacht High Command decided to keep this secret. IN official documents the drug appeared under the abbreviation obm. At the same time, the Nazis underestimated side effect pervitin, which “consumers” soon could no longer do without. In 1939, during inspections on the Western Front, medical workers found that soldiers use it completely uncontrollably. Moreover, the period of “withdrawal from dope” became longer and longer, and the ability to concentrate became increasingly weakened. There have even been reports of overdose deaths from some compounds in France and Poland. Doctors' warnings were ignored. IN last years During the Second World War, the bags of all orderlies were filled with these dangerous pills, which they fed to everyone who complained of overwork.

The fun is in full swing!
Nazi doctors before last days During the Second World War they tried to improve their “secret weapon” and developed a new drug based on pervitin and cocaine. Before being used in the army, the drug was tested in concentration camps. For example, in Sachsenhausen, after taking a drug code-named D-IX, prisoners were forced to undertake multi-day forced marches to assess its effect on human endurance (with a 45-pound load - 70 miles without rest, according to another version - 90 miles had to be covered in a day). kilometers with a rest of no more than 2 hours).

As the end of World War II approached, the Nazis increasingly experimented with a new “miracle” cure. The idea of ​​launching mass production of the D-IX arose among the leadership of the Third Reich in Kiel on March 16, 1944. At one meeting with the participation of commanders of small combat units and pharmacologists, Vice Admiral Helmut Heye demanded the creation of a medicine that would help soldiers withstand stress for a long time. special conditions and would lift their spirits in any situation (After the war, he was a member of the Bundestag from the CDU party and Commissioner for Defense Affairs). His proposal was fully supported by such an influential person as Otto Skorzeny (after the successful operation to free Mussolini in September 1943, the commander of the Friedenthal special forces received the title of “Hero of the German People”). Skorzeny had been looking for a new drug for his unit for a long time. After his detailed conversation with the leadership of Hitler’s main headquarters in Berlin, a group of researchers was formed in Kiel under the leadership of professor of pharmacology Gerhard Orchechowski. She received the task of developing and launching the required drug. Criminologist Kemper suggests that this plan was approved by the Fuhrer himself: without his consent, not a single such project could have been carried out.

Hard-nosed artilleryman
After several months of hard work in the laboratories of the University of Kiel, Orczechowski came to the conclusion that he had obtained the desired substance. One tablet contained 5 mg of cocaine, 3 mg of pervitin, 5 mg of eucodal (a morphine-based painkiller), as well as synthetic cocaine produced by Ernst Merck. The latter drug was already used by German fighter pilots during the First World War as a stimulant during long-distance combat missions.

First of all, this drug cocktail was to be tried by crew members of mini-submarines such as “Sea Dog” and “Beaver”, and the results were supposed to be checked during their voyage along Kiel Bay. Skorzeny himself ordered 1,000 tablets to be sent to him: he wanted to test their effect on members of the subversive unit of submariners “Forel”, which was part of the SS fighter squad “Danube”. Researcher Kemper concluded that the results were so encouraging that the Nazis decided to continue the experiments on people walking in circles around the clock with a weight of 20 kg on their shoulders. These were the prisoners of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, who in November 1944 became experimental material. The purpose of the experiments was to determine a new limit of endurance for people under the influence of D-IX. The military medical journal of the time, Erzliches Kriegs-Tagebuch, states that some participants in the experiment “made do with 2-3 short stops per day.” And further we read: “The significant reduction in the need for sleep makes a great impression. When exposed to this drug, the ability to act and the will are basically completely disabled.” That is, a person turns into a robot.

Statistics on the production of pervitin in Nazi Germany can probably serve as indirect evidence of the Nazis’ drug addiction. Thus, in particular, it is reported that during the Second World War, the pharmaceutical company Temmel supplied the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe in 1939–1945 with over 200 million pervitin tablets. The most narcotic “doping” was received by the advanced units that occupied Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and other countries.

“The Wehrmacht ordered 35 million Pervitin tablets for Operation Westfeldzug alone to capture the Benelux countries and France in April 1940,” says Gorch Picken, scientific director of the Bundeswehr History Museum. There is fragmentary, but quite reliable information that narcotic substances were actively used during the attack of Hitler’s troops on the USSR. “At the end of June 1941, we crossed the Russian border and received a miracle pill from our military doctor. They were given to everyone who was driving. As we were told, for cheerfulness,” recalls Wehrmacht veteran Peter Emmerich.

If you divide 200 million Pervitin tablets by the 18 million army of the Third Reich, it turns out that during all the years of World War II there were only 10-12 Pervitin tablets per soldier, but this is not entirely true. Not everyone received stimulants and not always. Tankers and pilots were “refreshed” with the so-called “Tank Chocolate”, which was created on the basis of pervitin.

“Dear parents, brothers and sisters, I serve in Poland, it’s hard here and I ask you to understand me when I write only every 2-4 days, today I write only to ask you to send me Pervitin.”
Your Heinrich
November 9, 1939

This is a letter from the future Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll's parents and it was not something unusual - since 1939, Wehrmacht soldiers were given Pervitin, Benzedrine and Isophane for cheerfulness, and when they did not have enough Pervitin, they asked their parents to send it to them. It was not difficult for parents - in the Reich itself, Pervitin was sold openly, even in the form chocolates, which were nicknamed “panzerchokolade” - “tank chocolate” because soldiers willingly bought it.

Thus, the Reich raised a generation of a new type of soldier - fearless drug addicts, ready to fight for several days in a row without experiencing fatigue. The consequences were shocking: in the last years of the Second World War german army“was sitting” on “energepill” - a specially invented mixture of pervitin, cocaine and a morphine derivative. This is the complete set of components of the now popular “ecstasy”.

The pharmacists who created the German “miracle pills” were brought to the United States immediately after the war. Between 1966 and 1969 alone, the US Army received 225 million dextroamphetamine and pervitin tablets. They were used in both Korean and Vietnamese companies. According to official data, the use of Pervitin by soldiers stopped in 1973, but there is good reason to believe that American military personnel are still taking this drug and other narcotic drugs based on it. Experts draw similar conclusions by analyzing the nature of service by US soldiers in modern companies. They often have to carry out round-the-clock patrol missions and make long forced marches, which are easier for the military than one might expect.

Hitler's propaganda emphasized the importance of abstinence from alcohol and tobacco to keep the Aryan race strong and pure. But in reality, his soldiers used various drugs for a long and desperate struggle.

A study of drugs used by the Third Reich confirms that Nazi doctors and officials supplied recruits with pills to help them fight for extended periods of time without needing to rest. The drug of choice for the German army during the conquest of Poland, Holland, Belgium and France was Pervitin, a tablet made from methamphetamine.

“The idea was to turn ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen into robots with superhuman abilities,” says pharmacologist Wolf Kemper, author of a book on drug use in the Third Reich. Use pervitin Hitler was suggested by Otto Ranke, head of the Institute of Physiology of the Berlin Academy of Military Medicine. During World War II, Hitler's soldiers took 200 million pills pervitin, as reported The Daily Mail.

Already at the very beginning of the war, the use amphetamine entitled pervitin was a completely ordinary thing on the Western Front. The Nazi leadership believed that thanks to this stimulant, troops would, without hesitation, perform heroic deeds, and this would allow them to achieve victory faster. From April to December 1939 alone, the plant of the Berlin company Temmel, the manufacturer of Pervitin, supplied the army and Luftwaffe with 29 million tablets of this drug. The Wehrmacht High Command decided to keep this secret. In official documents, the drug appeared under the abbreviation obm.

At the same time, the Nazis underestimated the side effects of pervitin, which “consumers” soon could no longer do without. In 1939, during inspections on the Western Front, medical workers found that soldiers were using it completely uncontrollably. Moreover, the period of “withdrawal from dope” became longer and longer, and the ability to concentrate became increasingly weakened. There have even been reports of overdose deaths from some compounds in France and Poland.

Doctors' warnings were ignored. In the last years of the Second World War, the bags of all orderlies were filled with these dangerous pills, which they fed to everyone who complained of overwork.

Screw (pervitin) was first synthesized in 1919 by the Japanese scientist A. Ogata. During World War II, it was used by German troops as a standard psychostimulant. Today it is a “street” drug due to its ease of manufacture.

At the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin full swing A new anti-fatigue drug was being tested - “energiepille”, tablets that carry a charge of vivacity. It was a mixture of cocaine, Eucodal and Pervitin. This new substance was supposed to help the crews of small Seehund-class submarines stay at sea for up to 4 days while maintaining full combat readiness. To test the effect of the drug, it was given to concentration camp prisoners. People were forced to undertake multi-day forced marches.

It was necessary to cover 90 kilometers in one day. Prisoners were given no more than 2 hours a day to rest. It is worth adding that the pharmacists who created Pervitin were exported to the United States after the war and took part in the development of similar drugs for the American army. They were used in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Pervitin was also popular among the leaders of the Third Reich (together with cocaine). In particular, Hitler received Pervitin injections from his personal physician (Dr. Theodore Morell) starting in 1936, and several times a day after 1943.

The dose reached 10 tablets pervitin per day. Along the way, he was given injections of Eukodal. When taking substances in this combination, a person gets hooked very quickly and can no longer get off.

As the end of World War II approached, the Nazis increasingly experimented with new " miraculous"means. The idea of ​​launching mass production of the D-IX arose among the leadership of the Third Reich in Kiel on March 16, 1944.

At one meeting with the participation of commanders of small combat units and pharmacologists, Vice Admiral Helmut Heye demanded the creation of a medicine that would help soldiers withstand stress for a long time in special conditions and would lift their spirits in any situation (After the war, he was a member of the Bundestag from the CDU party and Commissioner for Defense Affairs).

His proposal was fully supported by such an influential person as Otto Skorzeny (after the successful operation to free Mussolini in September 1943, the commander of the Friedenthal special forces received the title of “Hero of the German People”).

Skorzeny had been looking for a new drug for his unit for a long time. After his detailed conversation with the leadership of Hitler’s main headquarters in Berlin, a group of researchers was formed in Kiel under the leadership of professor of pharmacology Gerhard Orchechowski. She received the task of developing and launching the required drug. Criminologist Kemper suggests that this plan was approved by the Fuhrer himself: without his consent, not a single such project could have been carried out.

After several months of hard work in the laboratories of the University of Kiel, Orczechowski came to the conclusion that he had obtained the desired substance. One tablet contained 5 mg of cocaine, 3 mg of pervitin, 5 mg of eucodal (a morphine-based painkiller), as well as synthetic cocaine produced by Ernst Merck.

German soldiers called it Panzerschokolade - "tank chocolate".

Last the drug was already used by German fighter pilots during the First World War as a stimulant during combat missions at long distances.

First of all, this drug cocktail was to be tried by crew members of mini-submarines such as “Sea Dog” and “Beaver”, and the results were supposed to be checked during their voyage along Kiel Bay. Skorzeny himself ordered 1,000 tablets to be sent to him: he wanted to test their effect on members of the subversive unit of submariners “Forel”, which was part of the SS fighter squad “Danube”.

Researcher Kemper concluded that the results were so encouraging that the Nazis decided to continue the experiments on people walking in circles around the clock with a weight of 20 kg on their shoulders.

And further we read: “The significant reduction in the need for sleep makes a great impression. When exposed to this drug, the ability to act and the will are basically completely disabled.” That is, a person turns into a robot.

Thus, the Reich raised a generation of a new type of soldier - fearless drug addicts, ready to fight for several days in a row without experiencing fatigue.

The consequences were shocking: in the last years of the Second World War, the German army “sat” on “ energypille" - a specially invented mixture that forms the basis of the now popular " ecstasy«.

It is believed that in the Third Reich there was a cult of health and the authorities eradicated any substances that alter consciousness and cause harm to the body. Indeed, at the state level under Adolf Hitler, cigarette advertising was limited, and morphine, heroin and cocaine, popular in the Weimar Republic, were declared “foreign, racially alien narcotic substances.” The idea that every person is the master of his own body now became “Marxist-Jewish” and began to be eradicated, like the Jews. The “Germanic” idea was that the bodies of German citizens belonged to the clan and nation. But historians often keep silent about the fact that, having declared battle on nicotine and morphine, Hitler’s elite did not fight methamphetamine in any way, but used it with all their might for military achievements and more. “The Secret” publishes fragments of the book “The Third Reich on Drugs” by the German writer Norman Ohler (its translation was published at the end of 2016 by the Eksmo publishing house) about how, under Hitler, pharmaceutical companies hooked Germany on methamphetamine*.

Change of power - change of drugs

The myth of Hitler as a teetotaler, anti-drug, and neglectful of his own needs, was an important part of the ideology of National Socialism and was constantly propagated by the media.

After coming to power on January 30, 1933, the National Socialists as soon as possible stifled the entertainment culture of the Weimar Republic with all its openness and all its inherent contradictions. Drugs were banned because they created completely different, non-National Socialist illusions. There was no longer any place for “seductive substances” in a system where only the Fuhrer should seduce.

Already in November 1933, the Reichstag passed a law giving the right to place drug addicts in institutions closed type for compulsory treatment for up to two years, and the time of their stay there could be extended indefinitely based on a court decision. Doctors who used drugs were deprived of their right to practice professional activity for a period of up to five years. The need to maintain medical confidentiality in relation to patients using illegal substances has been abolished.

While the Weimar Republic favored gradual weaning off painkillers, in National Socialist Germany the patient was weaned off painkillers through intimidation, no matter how much pain he or she suffered. Typically, drug users ended up in concentration camps.

The myth of Hitler the teetotaler, an anti-drug man who neglected his own needs, was an important part of the ideology of National Socialism

In addition, every German was required to “report their relatives and friends who suffer from drug addiction, so that they can receive immediate help.” Card indexes were created that made it possible to keep accurate records. In the early stages, the main tool of the Nazis in the fight against drug addiction was denunciations, which they so often practiced.

The principle of the “duty of maintaining health” was formulated, which provided for “the prevention of all possible threats to physical, mental and social health that may arise as a result of the abuse of drugs alien to the Aryan race, as well as alcohol and tobacco.”

In the fall of 1935, the Healthy Marriage Act was passed, which prohibited marriage if one of the people wishing to enter into it suffered from “mental disorder.” Drug addicts automatically fell into this category. Having no hope of cure, they were labeled a “psychopathic person.” This law was intended to prevent “infecting a partner and inheriting a predisposition to addiction by children,” because “the offspring of drug addicts have big number mental disorders."

The fight against drugs as part of the policy of anti-Semitism

The racist terminology of National Socialism from the very beginning used images of infection, poison and toxins. Jews were identified with bacilli or microbes - that is, they were represented as foreign bodies that poison the Reich, weaken a healthy social organism, and therefore should be separated and eradicated.

The NSDAP Office of Racial Policy stated that the Jewish character was essentially drug-dependent: Jewish intellectuals from large cities used cocaine or morphine to calm their “constantly excited nerves” and gain inner confidence. It was said about Jewish doctors that among them “morphine addicts... are especially common.”

Drugs for the people

Under Goering's leadership, the Reich economy had to stop importing those types of raw materials that could be produced within Germany. Of course, this also applied to narcotic substances, because the Germans still had no equal in their production. Thus, although the Nazi war on drugs led to a significant decrease in the consumption of morphine and cocaine, the production of synthetic stimulants developed rapidly, and the German pharmaceutical industry entered a period of prosperity.

Although the Nazi war on drugs led to a decrease in the consumption of morphine and cocaine, the production of synthetic stimulants developed

The number of workers at the Merck factories in Darmstadt, Bayer in the Rhineland, and Boehringer in Ingelheim increased. Workers' wages increased. The Temmler company also expanded its activities. Its chief chemist, Dr. Fritz Hauschild, received from the United States a very effective amphetamine called Benzedrine - at that time this doping drug was still legal - which most directly affected the results of the Berlin Olympic Games 1936.

Hauschild improved the product and, in the fall of 1937, discovered a method for synthesizing methamphetamine. Shortly thereafter, on October 31, 1937, Temmler announced the development of the first German methylamphetamine, far superior to American benzedrine, and filed an application with the Reich Patent Office in Berlin. Brand: Pervitin.

The company's management sensed huge profits and, resorting to the services of the famous Berlin advertising agency"Mates and Son" carried out a promotional campaign on a scale unprecedented in Germany.

In the first weeks of 1938, when Pervitin began its triumphal march, posters appeared on poles, walls of houses, on buses, subway trains and electric trains. Minimalist - in the style of the era - they contained only the name of the product brand and medical indications to its use: lethargy, apathy, depression. In addition, they depicted characteristic packages of pervitin in the form of orange and blue tubes with the inscription diagonally. At the same time - another publicity stunt - all Berlin doctors received letters from the Temmler company, which stated without mincing words that the company's goal was to personally instill in every doctor: if someone liked something, he would recommend this to others. The letter included free pills containing three milligrams of the substance, as well as a postcard for reply with a postage stamp: “Dear Herr Doctor! Your experience of using Pervitin, even if it is not the most successful, is of value to us, since it gives us the opportunity to differentiate the areas of its application. We would greatly appreciate your message on the enclosed card." The new product was being tested. Traditional reception of drug dealers: the first dose is free.

The attached card stated that this remedy alleviates withdrawal symptoms from alcohol, cocaine and even opiates. That is, a kind of drug that neutralizes the effects of drugs, which was supposed to replace all drugs, and especially illegal ones.

Pervitin became a symptom of the formation of a society of achievements. Even glazed praline sweets filled with methamphetamine have appeared on the market. For one unit of this pleasure there were fourteen milligrams of methamphetamine - almost five times more than was contained in one Pervitin pill. “Hildebrandt Praline always brings joy” was the slogan of the advertisement for this very effective delicacy: Mother’s little helper.

Even glazed praline sweets filled with methamphetamine have appeared on the market.

The German Army discovers the German drug

Professor Dr. Otto F. Ranke was 38 years old when he was appointed director of the Institute of General and Military Physiology - that is, he took a key position, even if no one knew about it at the time.

In that era when the army was perceived as modern organization, and the soldiers were called “living machines”, Ranke’s task was to protect these machines from wear and tear - that is, to maintain their performance. He had to lubricate the parts so that they would work smoothly.

Ranke declared his main task to be the fight against overwork. At the beginning of 1938, a year and a half before the start of the war, he read in the Clinical Weekly a hymn of praise to Pervitin, written by the chief chemist of the Temmler company, Hauschild.

Ranke decided to study this issue as deeply as possible and recruited first 90 and then 150 future military doctors to conduct experiments on a voluntary basis. He gave them Pervitin (P), caffeine (C), or dummy pills (S), and then forced them to solve math and other problems all night long (and in the second experiment, from 8:00 pm to 4:00 pm the next day). By morning, the “S-people” were lying on the benches; those who took Pervitin “remained cheerful, both physically and mentally,” as stated in the experiment report. Even after ten hours of intense mental work, they felt that they “might as well go for a walk.”

It is not surprising that the news of Vekamine, which had an amazing effect, spread with lightning speed among future military doctors. Stressed by heavy academic workloads, they expected a miracle from this drug, which supposedly increased performance, and took it in ever larger doses.

Generously supplied with the stimulant and not given any instructions regarding its dosage, the Wehrmacht soldiers attacked their sober eastern neighbors

When Ranke learned about this development of events that he had provoked, and also that the University of Munich had set aside a special room where the so-called “pervitin corpses” - students who had overdosed on the dose - came to their senses, he realized the danger this drug posed.

Ranke canceled further experiments planned for 1939 and wrote a letter to the head of the academy, warning him of the danger of developing addiction and insisting on complete ban pervitin within the walls of the academy. However, the spirits he summoned did not leave Ranke, nor the Wehrmacht with him, alone: ​​methamphetamine spread like wildfire, and soon no barracks gate could no longer contain its pressure.

The time of peace was coming to an end. Military doctors were preparing for the upcoming invasion of Poland and bought up all the stocks of pervitin in pharmacies, which had not yet been officially supplied to the Wehrmacht.

An uncontrolled great experiment has begun. Generously supplied with the stimulant and not given any instructions regarding its dosage, the Wehrmacht soldiers attacked their unsuspecting, sober eastern neighbors.

* - pervitin (methamphetamine), heroin and cocaine are included in the list of narcotic drugs, the circulation of which is prohibited or limited in Russia

The book is provided by the publishing house "Eksmo"

The Wehrmacht, as it became customary to write from the late 80s, was “better” than the Red Army in almost everything. The liberal payers simply reduced the Red Army to dirt, comparing it to rabble. Allegedly, these were completely stupid commanders, intimidated by repression, half-drunk soldiers, poor equipment, lack of discipline and order, lack of weapons and ammunition, and widespread stupid cavalry attacks on tanks.

And we defeated this Wehrmacht only, and “one hundred People’s Commissar grams” - the vodka ration of the Red Army. As a victory factor, a secret elixir, with which death is not terrible and frost is not a hindrance.

They survived... It turns out that the war was not won by the Russian people who performed a grandiose feat for the sake of this Victory, it turns out that the war was won by vodka... poured into the throats of the Russian people. Without vodka, we wouldn’t have won, of course, so what… The war was won by a Russian soldier. And not alcohol and vodka, which many never had time to see. Alcohol use at the front is largely exaggerated in the public eye.

How it really happened with

From memories:

Director Grigory Chukhrai:

“We were given these notorious “one hundred grams” in the landing force, but I didn’t drink them, I gave them to my friends. Once, at the very beginning of the war, we drank heavily, and because of this there were large losses. Then I made a vow to myself not to drink until the end of the war.

Directed by Pyotr Todorovsky:

- In general, they were given out only before the attack itself. The foreman walked along the trench with a bucket and a mug, and those who wanted to pour themselves a drink. Those who were older and more experienced refused. The young and unshelled drank. They were the ones who died in the first place. The “old men” knew that no good could be expected from vodka. And for the young ones, after a hundred grams, the sea was knee-deep - they jumped out of the trench right under the bullets. After one or two wounds, such “prowess” usually went away.

WHAT WAS IT HAPPENING WITH THE HITLERISTS?

The officers drank cognac. And the soldiers had schnapps or beer. The Germans also had a practice of giving alcohol before an attack.

In his book “The Road to Stalingrad” Benno Zieser describes one such case:

“The field kitchen arrived at night to distribute rations. Everyone received a bottle of schnapps. Bitter experience taught us not to be particularly happy about such generosity: it was definitely a bad sign. We didn't have to wait long: the order was to attack at six in the morning. We didn't sleep well that night."

BUT THE MOST INTERESTING IS BELOW:

“Dear parents, brothers and sisters, I serve in Poland, it’s hard here and I ask you to understand me when I write only every 2-4 days, today I write only to ask you to send me Pervitin.

Your Heinrich

This is a letter from the future Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll to his parents and it was not something unusual - since 1939, Wehrmacht soldiers were given Pervitin, Benzedrine and Isophane for cheerfulness, and when they did not have enough Pervitin, they asked their parents to send it to them. It was not difficult for parents - in the Reich itself, pervitin was sold openly, even in the form of chocolates, which were nicknamed “panzer chocolate” - “tank chocolate” because soldiers willingly bought it.

The first testers of Pervitin were 90 students who, in 1939, under the supervision of military doctor Otto Ranke, took the drug for “vigor” and “energy.” After these tests, tank crews and vehicle drivers began to receive Pervitin before the invasion of Poland. After successful tests Pilots also began to receive pervitin. Allegedly, it was Pervitin, Benzedrine and Isophane that contributed to the successful occupation of Europe. In April-July 1940 alone, the Wehrmacht received 35 million tablets from Knoll for its soldiers and officers with instructions to use up to 2 tablets per day for “vigor”.

PERVITIN — Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant with an extremely high potential for addiction, and is therefore classified as a narcotic substance.

GERMAN SOLDIERS WERE GIVEN DRUGS FOR "BRAVENESS AND STABILITY"

According to the recollections of Red Army soldiers, the Nazis sometimes behaved inappropriately during the attack, laughing, crying, screaming songs... They thought that they were going into battle drunk. However, these were drugs, but who in those years knew about them among ordinary soldiers, just a few? Or they knew, because “Pervitin” was given to Wehrmacht soldiers. Pilots and tankers in chocolate. Wehrmacht soldiers were given the drug throughout World War II. The Germans went into battle under drugs..... Then this explains a lot. Pervitin helped them withstand long forced marches and fight in the most difficult conditions.

The paramedic gave them one pill each before the fight. How they coped with the inevitable subsequent depression is unclear. It is not surprising that such stimulation became another straw in a huge cauldron reasons for their defeat in the war. The fact that Pervitin was a standard tonic was written in his book “I am a Reich Sniper” by Alpine shooter Josef Ollerberg, a holder of the Iron Cross, who killed 257 Soviet soldiers.

Pervitin (methamphetamine) contributed a lot.

The soldiers could stay awake for days on end and did not feel any fear or pain. The drug was also used by the high command, and it was tested on concentration camp prisoners.

The head of the Institute of Physiology of the Berlin Academy of Military Medicine, Otto Ranke, suggested that Adolf Hitler use Pervitin.

It is worth recognizing that the drug was not given to everyone and not always.

The first testers of Pervitin were 90 students who, in 1939, under the supervision of military doctor Otto Ranke, took the drug and expressed confidence that the pills helped them to be cheerful and energetic. Then tank crews and drivers received it before the invasion of Poland, and after success, pilots began to receive portions of Pervitin. It was pervitin (also known as methamphetamine), benzedrine and isophane that contributed to the success of the blitzkrieg in Europe. In April-July 1940 alone, the Wehrmacht received 35 million tablets from the Knoll company with instructions to use up to 2 tablets per day for vigor.

Between 1939 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were fed more than 200 million tablets of the drug. The units that participated in the capture of Poland, France, Holland and Belgium received a large dose.

In 1944, a new miracle pill, D-IX, for submariners, was tested on prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Its composition was as follows:

5 mg. - cocaine

3 mg. - pervitin

5 mg. - Oxycodone (pain reliever).

Using the drug D-IX, submarine crews could stay awake for up to 4 days while performing a combat mission.

It’s funny that after the war, the creators of the miracle pills were taken to the United States, where, based on Pervitin, they created “cheerfulness pills” that were used by soldiers in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Between 1966 and 1969 alone, the US Army consumed 225 million dextroamphetamine and pervitin tablets.

It is believed that the US Army stopped consuming the above-mentioned “cheer” drugs only in 1973. But we don’t really know what the situation is with drug use in the US Army.

Until the last days of the war, Hitler’s doctors tried to improve their “secret weapon” and developed a new drug based on pervitin and cocaine.

And before using it in the army, the drug was tested in concentration camps. For example, in Sachsenhausen, after taking the drug, prisoners were forced to undertake multi-day forced marches to assess its effect on human endurance. It was necessary to cover 90 kilometers in one day. Prisoners were given no more than 2 hours a day to rest.

Methamphetamine is one of the most common stimulant drugs. It was first synthesized by a Japanese scientist Akira Ogata in 1919. The Japanese military, including kamikazes, also actively used this drug.

In Germany, mass production of pervitin began in 1938. Hitler himself used it. By the end of the war, he received up to ten tablets a day.

Tankman Peter Emmerich was greatly impressed by the drug Pervitin.

He described it this way:

“At the end of June 1941, we crossed the Russian border and received a miracle pill from our military doctor. They were given to everyone who was driving. As we were told, for cheerfulness.”

Miracle pill of vigor - “Pervitin”, methamphetamine. The chemical formula is similar to the modern drug ecstasy. After taking it, the soldiers gained self-confidence, they did not feel pain and were ready to take any risk. Such universal soldiers just what the commanders needed.

Emerich:

“I felt fine, no intoxication. I just didn’t want to sleep or eat. There was no time to rest. Order: at any cost, just forward."

Troops Hitler's Germany became drug addicts long before Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Soviet Union. In the absence of Pervitin, soldiers were even allowed to be given opium.

However, Pervitin, produced in Germany, was usually enough. The small package was sold freely in Reich pharmacies. Pervitin was given to pilots who bombed London.

Luftwaffe pilots with such doping could fly 6 combat missions a day.

There were more than just pills. To make it both tasty and nutritious, drugs were added to chocolate.

The so-called “Panzerchocolate with Pervitin” was developed especially for tankers, and “Fliegerchocolate” for pilots. In addition to narcotic substances, there is also caffeine.

Tests of special drugs took place, including in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1944, a new drug codenamed D-9, with the addition of cocaine, was tested on camp prisoners.

Scientific director of the memorial " Concentration camp“Sachsenhausen” Astrid Lei described what was happening:

“They had to walk circle after circle, each had bags of sand and stones weighing 15 kilograms on their backs, they imitated equipment.

With the use of these stimulants, people could not stop for more than a day.”

Some German soldiers who were captured went through terrible withdrawal...

PERVITIN

Pervitin creates a false sense of well-being and energy, which makes you want to force your body to move faster than it can. Therefore, after methamphetamine wears off, drug addicts experience a deep decline, physical and mental breakdown.

After taking it for a long time, the natural feeling of hunger is muffled, and the person loses a lot of weight.

Negative consequences also include restless sleep, hyperactivity, nausea, the illusion of omnipotence, increased aggressiveness and irritability. Other symptoms of concern include insomnia, confusion, hallucinations, anxiety, paranoia, and the desire to attack someone. Sometimes pervitin causes severe convulsions, leading to death.

PERVITIN AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF LONG TERM USE

Long-term use of pervitin leads to irreversible consequences. Excessive increases in blood pressure and heart rate destroy the blood vessel channels in the brain, which can cause a stroke.

An uneven heartbeat can cause a heart attack. The liver, kidneys and lungs are seriously damaged.

There are clear indicators of brain damage, leading to memory loss and an inability to perceive abstract ideas. Even those who stop taking Pervitin experience memory loss and sudden mood swings.

Here's how this doping affects the body.

PERVITIN, DELAYED SIDE EFFECTS

1. Permanent damage to blood vessels in the heart and brain, high blood pressure leading to heart attacks, strokes and death

2. Damage to the liver, kidneys and lungs

3. Destruction of tissue in the nose if the drug is inhaled

4. Difficulty breathing if the drug is smoked

5. Infection and suppuration if the drug is administered intravenously

6. Exhaustion, weight loss

7. Tooth decay

8. Disorientation, apathy, devastation and confusion

9. Strong psychological dependence

10. Psychosis

11. Depression

12. Brain damage similar to Alzheimer's disease, shock and epilepsy.

HITLER AND DRUG USE

For the Fuhrer, however, the problem of “wear and tear of human material” was not of particular interest, especially in the last stage of the war.

This is proven by the directive of the Wehrmacht High Command adopted in 1944:

“Possible complications (from the use of drugs) and even losses should not disturb the conscience of doctors. The situation at the front requires our full commitment.”

And in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, trials of a new anti-fatigue drug were in full swing - Energiepille, pills that carry a charge of vigor, something like today's "ecstasy".

It contained 5 mg of cocaine, 3 mg of the same methamphetamine and 5 mg of oxycodone (painkiller). By the way, the prisoners tested were not goons at all, but well-fed guys sporty look. Thanks to D-IX tablets, submarine crews could go without sleep for up to 4 days.

It’s funny that the creators of the miracle pills were taken to the USA after the war, where they created new “cheer pills” for troops in Korea and Vietnam. Naturally based on pervitin. Between 1966 and 1969 alone, the US Army swallowed 225 million dextroamphetamine and pervitin tablets. It is believed that American soldiers stopped “hanging around” in 1973, although who would officially disclose such interesting information?