In 'Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich', Norman Ohler delves into the unregulated and pervasive use of drugs in Nazi Germany. Despite the Nazis' public stance against drugs, the regime heavily relied on pharmaceuticals to sustain its military and leadership. The book details how methamphetamines, under the brand name Pervitin, were used to keep soldiers awake during long campaigns, and how Adolf Hitler became increasingly dependent on a cocktail of drugs administered by his personal physician, Dr. Theodor Morell. Ohler's research, drawing from archival sources and primary documents, provides a new perspective on the Third Reich and the role of drugs in its military and political operations[2][4][6].
Today Justin talks with Norman Ohler. Norman is a best selling novelist, a journalist, and a screenwriter. He's written three novels, which comprise the City Trilogy, and while working in the West Bank in 2004, he interviewed Yasser Arafat in what turned out to be the final interview of his life before he passed away in November of that year. He's also the author of the non fiction book Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, published in English in 2016. In this episode he discusses his newest book, Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age, which was published earlier this year. Norman built on his previous research here to cover post-war efforts to control narcotics in occupied Germany and the rise of psychedelic drugs, both within the populace and as potential tools for interrogation and mind control by the world's intelligence agencies.
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