6. The German Military Saw Methamphetamines as a Shortcut to Super Soldiers
When the Nazis took power in 1933, the use of cocaine and heroin, which had become increasingly popular after WWI, took a nosedive. The Third Reich attacked those drugs as poisons, deliberately introduced to Germany by Jews as part of a sinister plot to undermine and weaken the Aryan race. However, the attacks against those particular drugs did not indicate an across-the-board policy against drugs in general. Heroin and cocaine might have become socially unacceptable in Nazi Germany, but the Nazis were fine with drugs they viewed as performance-enhancing. Chief among those was methamphetamine or crystal meth.
When the German pharmaceutical Temmler began to market methamphetamine pills under the brand name Pervitin, the German military took notice. A high-ranking army doctor, Otto Freidrich Ranke, saw the newly discovered drug’s potential as a shortcut to the Nazi quest for super soldiers. It was a nearly miraculous means to keep tired troops and pilots alert, and to keep the entire German military euphoric. Ranke tested Temmler’s new product on university students, who exhibited a sudden spike in alertness and productivity, even though they were short on sleep. That was music to Ranke’s ears.
