Norman Ohler

In this captivating account of drug use in the Third Reich, author Norman Ohler takes us on a journey through the history of Germany and explains how, and why, it became a center of pharmaceutical research. Although the National Socialist Party presented themselves as clean cut, and Hitler praised abstinence, it is clear that much of the Nazi hierarchy, including Hitler himself, were very reliant on drugs and, indeed, that their use was widespread both in the armed forces and in civilian life. In 1925 the immensely powerful chemical and pharmaceutical corporation I.G. Farben was created out of an amalgamation of many different companies. In the following year German exports … More after the Jump…