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Governments that Tried to Create Super Soldiers and Super Weapons

Khalid Elhassan January 15, 2022 37 min

Super Facts - Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military — Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military. The Guardian

Super Facts - Pervitin — Pervitin. Is It Paleo

9. Both Sides in WWII Gave Their Troops Performance-Enhancing Drugs, But the Germans Paid a Heavier Price

Both the Allies and Axis in WWII tried to get super performances out of their warriors with drugs. However, the differences between each side’s choice of drugs – differences that were little understood or appreciated at the time – led to significantly different impacts. While both amphetamines and methamphetamines are addictive, methamphetamines are far more addictive and have significantly worse side effects. Thus, although millions of doses of performance-enhancing drugs were issued by both sides to their fighting men, the Germans paid a heavier price. Their drug, Pervitin, based on methamphetamine, was far more harmful than the Allies’ amphetamine-based Benzedrine.

Soon as it had hit the market in 1938, before the war, Pervitin became so popular and ubiquitous that it was marketed to German women in boxes of chocolate. The frauleins were urged to take two to three a day, in order to breeze through house chores and lose weight: the methamphetamine in Pervitin also suppressed appetite. With the drug such a huge hit with the German public, Germany’s military decided that it wanted a hit as well. After hurried tests, it was approved for issue to the Wehrmacht and ordered into mass production.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.