amphetamines | In a letter dated November 9, 1939, to his "dear parents and siblings" back home in Cologne, a young soldier stationed in occupied Poland wrote:
"It's tough out here, and I hope you'll understand if I'm only able to
write to you once every two to four days soon. Today I'm writing you
mainly to ask for some Pervitin ...; Love, Hein."
Pervitin, a stimulant commonly known as speed today, was the German army's -- the Wehrmacht's -- wonder drug.
On May 20, 1940, the 22-year-old soldier wrote to his family again:
"Perhaps you could get me some more Pervitin so that I can have a backup
supply?" And, in a letter sent from Bromberg on July 19, 1940, he
wrote: "If at all possible, please send me some more Pervitin." The man
who wrote these letters became a famous writer later in life. He was
Heinrich Boell, and in 1972 he was the first German to be awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature in the post-war period.
Many of the Wehrmacht's soldiers were high on Pervitin when they went
into battle, especially against Poland and France -- in a Blitzkrieg
fueled by speed. The German military was supplied with millions of
methamphetamine tablets during the first half of 1940. The drugs were
part of a plan to help pilots, sailors and infantry troops become
capable of superhuman performance. The military leadership liberally
dispensed such stimulants, but also alcohol and opiates, as long as it
believed drugging and intoxicating troops could help it achieve victory
over the Allies. But the Nazis were less than diligent in monitoring
side-effects like drug addiction and a decline in moral standards.
After it was first introduced into the market in 1938, Pervitin, a
methamphetamine drug newly developed by the Berlin-based Temmler
pharmaceutical company, quickly became a top seller among the German
civilian population. According to a report in the Klinische
Wochenschrift ("Clinical Weekly"), the supposed wonder drug was brought
to the attention of Otto Ranke, a military doctor and director of the
Institute for General and Defense Physiology at Berlin's Academy of
Military Medicine. The effects of amphetamines are similar to those of
the adrenaline produced by the body, triggering a heightened state of
alert. In most people, the substance increases self-confidence,
concentration and the willingness to take risks, while at the same time
reducing sensitivity to pain, hunger and thirst, as well as reducing the
need for sleep. In September 1939, Ranke tested the drug on 90
university students, and concluded that Pervitin could help the
Wehrmacht win the war. At first Pervitin was tested on military drivers
who participated in the invasion of Poland. Then, according to
criminologist Wolf Kemper, it was "unscrupulously distributed to troops
fighting at the front."
