Benzedrine, Pervitin, and WWII

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode: Benzedrine, Pervitin, and WWII
Date: February 16, 2026
Hosts: Holly Frey and Tracy V. Wilson
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

---

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the history of stimulant use—specifically Benzedrine and Pervitin (methamphetamine)—during World War II. Holly and Tracy explore the origins and development of these drugs, their widespread adoption both in Nazi Germany and among the Allies, and the lasting social and medical impacts. The conversation combines medical history with wartime tactics, marketing strategies, and critical reflection on the legacy of these substances.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why This Topic? (02:58–06:31)

• Holly is inspired to tackle this subject by recent aggressive military behavior in the news, linking it to historic footage of soldiers under the influence.
• The release of Norman Ohler's bestselling book Blitzed is credited with bringing renewed attention to Nazi Germany's drug use.

  "That is the use of very powerful stimulants during World War II, particularly among the Wehrmacht." — Holly Frey (03:12)

• Holly addresses critiques of Ohler’s work for sensationalism but emphasizes there's substantial evidence for widespread stimulant use, not just in Germany but also among Allied forces.

2. Inventors and Innovators: The Birth of Methamphetamine and Benzedrine (06:31–13:24)

• Fritz Hauschild: German chemist often credited with inventing methamphetamine; worked for Temmler Works, which became a key producer.
• Nagai Nagayoshi: Japanese chemist who first isolated ephedrine from Ma Huang and later synthesized methamphetamine in his Tokyo lab (1880s).

  "Nagai is the first person to isolate the chemical compound ephedrine from Ma Huang." — Holly Frey (10:09)

• Lazăr Edeleanu: Romanian chemist who synthesized amphetamine in Berlin (1887) but didn't develop it further.
• Gordon Alles: British-American chemist who independently synthesized amphetamine sulfate in the US, tested it on himself (reporting euphoria and high blood pressure), and licensed it as Benzedrine.
• Benzedrine, a legal stimulant at the time, was rumored to have been used by American athletes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, prompting a competitive reaction from German pharmaceutical companies.

3. The Rise and Marketing of Pervitin (17:21–22:12)

• Temmler, using techniques modeled after Coca Cola’s advertising, launches Pervitin in 1937 as a "life enhancer," not a drug.
• "Nothing about the promotion of Pervitin described it as a drug. They just described it as something that could enhance a person's life." — Holly Frey (18:38)
• By 1938, Pervitin is available over-the-counter; soon, it is even incorporated into chocolates marketed at housewives.

4. Contradiction With Nazi Ideology (19:01–22:12)

• Despite Nazi rhetoric around racial purity and physical strength, drug use (if framed as performance-enhancing rather than recreational) was accepted and even encouraged.
• Advertisements promoted Pervitin as a treatment for fatigue, depression, and even as a post-surgery aid.
• Quote:

  "It was marketed not as a drug, but as a supplement that made people better. And so that was right in line with the Nazi ideal of a superhuman." — Tracy V. Wilson (19:16)

5. Acknowledgement of Risks and the Addiction Problem (20:39–22:12)

• Early psychiatrist testing (by Fritz Flügel) showed both increased energy and anxiety; product warnings were minimal and ineffective, contributing to widespread addiction.
• Pervitin-laced chocolate expands target market to housewives, increasing general public uptake.

6. Military Testing and Adoption (23:10–26:59)

• Otto Friedrich Ranke (Wehrmacht medical advisor) recognizes Pervitin's potential for fatigue reduction; blind tests on officers with Pervitin, Benzedrine, caffeine, and placebos demonstrate increased "alertness" (though accuracy suffers).

  "Although their answers were not necessarily correct, they were alert, not necessarily focused in a functional way." — Tracy V. Wilson (24:10)

• Soldiers begin using Pervitin on their own; formal military issuance starts with the 3rd Tank Division during the occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938), later expanding during key invasions.

7. Pervitin in Practice: Blitzkrieg and Consequences (26:59–32:43)

• Pervitin used widely in the 1939 invasion of Poland and 1940 invasion through France's Ardennes. It’s linked to the success of blitzkrieg tactics due to soldiers’ ability to operate for days without sleep or food.
• Side effects become evident: addiction, psychosis, paranoia, suicide, fratricide, and fatal heart problems.

  "Young men who should have been healthy started having heart attacks." — Holly Frey (30:53)

• Personal stories: Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll (conscripted against his will) describes dependence:

  "...wrote his family numerous times asking them to send him more. What he was issued by the Wehrmacht as a soldier just wasn't cutting it." — Tracy V. Wilson (30:56)

• Hitler himself received IV methamphetamine (with other drugs) from his physician Theodor Morell; some historians believe this affected his judgment in the war’s later years.

8. Allied and Japanese Stimulant Use (33:05–34:36)

• Allies discover Pervitin after shooting down German pilot; although initial tests among pilots note increased alertness, negative side effects (compulsive behavior, poor judgment) lead US and UK to favor Benzedrine instead.
• Japanese military replicates German strategy, manufacturing “Philopon” for kamikaze pilots.

9. German Attempts to Curb Use and Final Outcomes (34:36–38:54)

• Leonardo Conti (Reich Health Leader) tries and fails to restrict Pervitin, warning:

  "'Anyone who thinks they can eliminate fatigue with Pervitin can be certain that its boosting effect will one day abruptly cease...in the long term, only sleep can truly compensate for a state of fatigue.'" — Leonardo Conti (34:36)

• Holly and Tracy underline that Conti was "not a reasonable Nazi," but instead a war criminal only concerned with military capacity.
• Even as side effects mount, Pervitin production scales: by 1940, over 800,000 tablets produced daily.
• Pervitin’s use in both civilian and military populations is linked to Germany's early WWII tactical success (blitzkrieg) but is phased out as health consequences worsen. Issuance continues in the German and later both East and West German militaries into the 1970s and 1980s, and is even seen during the Vietnam War by US forces.

10. The Legacy of Wartime Stimulant Use (38:54–40:53)

• Both Pervitin and Benzedrine become prescription-only postwar; their legacy includes postwar civilian stimulant epidemics in Germany and the US.
• US restricts Benzedrine via the Controlled Substances Act (1970), classifying amphetamine as a Schedule 2 drug, equating its risk with fentanyl.

11. Modern Perspective (40:17–40:53)

• Methamphetamine addiction remains a global public health issue, with illicit "meth labs" and continued military stimulant programs around the world.

  "Stimulants are still part of military programs around the world." — Tracy V. Wilson (40:47)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Nazi contradictions:

  "It was marketed not as a drug, but as a supplement that made people better. And so that was right in line with the Nazi ideal of a superhuman." — Tracy V. Wilson (19:16)

• On marketing tactics:

  "Temmler hired an agency called Mattis and Son, and the agency's approach was inspired by the marketing of Coca Cola. This was also because Coca Cola was considered their main competitor." — Holly Frey (17:44)

• On the dangers for civilians:

  "I was just thinking, like, how many people pop their stitches because they were like, I feel great." — Holly Frey (20:24)

• On historian bias:

  "...one needs to be on guard for the often unacknowledged biases of existing sources of information. Really, that's good advice for any research." — Tracy V. Wilson quoting Greg Eghigian (22:12)

• On Allied use:

  "It wasn't long before the Allies were testing out Pervitin with their own people, specifically pilots." — Tracy V. Wilson (33:29)

• On continued prescription:

  "West Germany discontinued their issuing of Pervitin to soldiers in the 1970s, but East Germany continued well into the 1980s." — Holly Frey (38:29)

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 02:58–06:31: Introduction to the topic & Norman Ohler’s Blitzed
• 06:31–13:24: Chemists behind amphetamines/methamphetamine: Hauschild, Nagai, Edeleanu, Alles, & early use in Olympic sports
• 17:21–22:12: Marketing and early adoption of Pervitin in Nazi Germany
• 23:10–26:59: Military evaluations & initial distribution in Wehrmacht
• 26:59–32:43: Pervitin in combat, side effects, and effects on Hitler & soldiers
• 33:05–34:36: Allied and Japanese stimulant use
• 34:36–38:54: German efforts at control, massive production, long-term military usage
• 38:54–40:53: Postwar civilian usage, regulation, and continuing military use
• 40:53–end: Listener mail & discussion about embroidery as a healthier kind of “addiction”

---

Tone and Style

This episode blends deep historical research with the hosts’ signature conversational, wry tone. Holly and Tracy frequently inject personal commentary, context, and critical asides—especially when debunking myths or flattening revisionist takes on Nazi officials. The complexity of historical sourcing, the intersection of medical ethics with propaganda, and the ongoing issues tied to wartime stimulant use are handled with nuance and clarity.

---

Conclusion

This episode offers a thorough, nuanced look at how pharmaceutical developments intersected with ideology, warfare, and culture in WWII, and highlights how many of these issues echo into current health and policy debates. The show avoids sensationalism, focusing instead on historical context, primary sources, and a thoughtful consideration of the human impact—both in the past and today.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Holly Frey]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately the mask came off.

[Mandy B]

You're supposed to be safe.

[Holly Frey]

That's your home. That's your husband.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Mandy B]

Over the last couple years, didn't we learn that the folding chair was invented by black people because of what happened in Alabama? This Black History Month, the podcast Selective Ignorance with Mandy B Unpacks black history and culture with comedy, clarity and conversations that shake the status quo. The Crown act in New York was signed in July of 2019, and that is a bill that was passed to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race. To hear and more, listen to Selective Ignorance with Mandy B. From the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm Bowen Yang.

[Holly Frey]

And I'm Matt Rogers.

[Bowen Yang]

During this season of the Two Five Rings podcast, in the lead up to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends.

[Holly Frey]

Hi, Bowen. Hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hey, Matt. Hey, Bowen.

[Bowen Yang]

Hi, Cookie. Hi.

[Holly Frey]

Now the Winter Olympic Games are underway and we are in Italy to give you experience to your ears. Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

[Bowen Yang]

You get your podcasts.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

Premier Protein. It's for getting after life, not just fitness. Because life isn't lived only in the gym. It's lived in the moments that matter most. That's where Premier Protein shakes come in. With 30 grams of protein, just 160 calories and no sugar added, they're made to help people fuel their joyful lives. We all know the feeling when life gets really busy. Taking care of yourself can feel impossible. But with Premier Protein, you can say yes to more. Yes to crushing that big presentation at work. Yes to building an epic fort with the kids. Yes to hitting the hiking trail with friends and still having energy left to laugh at the top. And with a wide variety of flavors, from cafe latte to cake batter, from chocolate to cookies and cream, it never feels boring. Premier Protein makes it easy to keep going strong no matter what your day looks like. Find your favorite [e-mail] or pick them up at Amazon, Walmart, and other Major retailers Premier protein Fuel your life and say yes to more.

[Holly Frey]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Frey]

Hey. For obvious reasons I have been thinking about people in military gear being very, very aggressive.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

A lot of people, I hate it.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, hate it so much. That made me think about a topic that I've sort of had on a back burner for a while and been like, how do I tiptoe around this one and like really get into it? Because there are a lot of opinions within the history space about it. That is the use of very powerful stimulants during World War II, particularly among the Wehrmacht. That's the Naz German military forces. Listen, I'm not accusing any anybody of using anything. I'm not saying anything is happening. I'm just saying it reminded me of that seeing aggressive behavior of people in uniforms reminds me of films I have seen of weirdly aggressive behavior of people in uniforms. So in 2015 this whole topic really exploded in the consciousness of a lot of historians that particularly are interested in World War II because a non historian writer named Norman Oler, who is German, published a that was titled Der Totel Gauch. I probably said that very poorly, but that means the total rush. And it was about drug use in Nazi Germany, specifically in the military as well as in the civilian population. And that book was translated into English. It was published in 2017 as Drugs in Nazi Germany. That book became a New York Times bestseller. It won a lot of awards. And this was a really attention getting book in both languages and was also translated into more than a dozen others. It's a very popular piece of writing. Oehler, who had actually intended to write a novel initially got so deep down the rabbit hole of archival information that he found available that that led him to pivot to writing a nonfiction book. And in that book he really laid bare something that had already been talked about for years and in some cases been speculated about and there is supporting documentation that people already knew before that. But this really put the whole puzzle together in a way that was new and that is the seemingly contradictory use of methamphetamine in the military of an administration that touted in its very warped ideology purity and strength and health as the signifiers of a perfect race of humans. There has been in the last decade plus as this book has been out, a lot of push and pull from historians as researchers really try to identify identified the true degree to which drug use was or was not pervasive among the German public and its military during that time, and how that compares to stimulant use by the Allies. This is a tricky thing to measure because it's not as though everybody is recording every time they pop a tablet in their mouth. A number of historians have indicated that they feel Ohler is a bit too sensationalist in his work. But there is at the same time plenty of information that shows that there was definitely a lot of stimulant use during World War II and it was not all in Germany's ranks. So today we are going to look at all of that and figure out how speed impacted the war, but also the public in general and how it continues to. And to kick all of this off, we are going to talk about a German chemist who is often credited with the invention of methamphetamine, although as we will see, that is not entirely accurate.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Fritz Kurt Hauschild was born on December 8th in Chemnitz, Germany. His father was a doctor and Fritz also studied medicine, but he really focused on chemistry. He enrolled in medical school in Gottingen, Germany at the age of 20 and four years later, in 1932, he became a certified chemist. Two more years after that he completed a doctorate in medicine. When he submitted his dissertation, which was titled on the Pharmacology and Chemistry Chemistry of Curine. Curine is an alkaloid that is used for its anti inflammatory properties. He took his exam and received his full medical credentials. That year he had a year long residency. During that time he worked in two places. One was at a women's clinic. He also worked at the Pharmacological Institute of Leipzig. When his residency ended, he was hired at the Pharmacological Institute as an assistant and he worked there for two years before moving on to the Temler Works.

[Holly Frey]

So Temla Werke was founded in 1917 as a German pharmaceutical company and it still exists today as the Temmler Group, although it is now part of the larger company innova group. In 1933, Temmler started a large expansion initiative. So when Hauschild entered the company in 1937, it was already rapidly growing. In 1936, Benzedrine was used by a number of athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, or at least that was the rumor in Germany. We are absolutely coming back to Benzedrine, but at the time amphetamines were absolutely legal in sport. There were not any doping tests for it. So it is actually unclear who may or may not have been using It. But in Germany, there was a common belief that the American competitors specifically were using Benzedrine because it was the only way in their minds to explain the U.S. team's performance. Remember, the 1936 games were supposed to be this showcase of German superiority. And when people like Jesse Owens really trounced them, it made them immediately think there must be something suspicious going on. This belief inspired the German pharmacological industry to seek out their own stimulants that they could give athletes and other people to give them an edge.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

At Temmler, that project fell to Fritz Hauschild, and he turned to the 19th century work of a Japanese chemist named Nagai Nagashi, as well as two European chemists who had worked on ephedrine projects. So, for context, Nagai was born west of Osaka in the Tokushima Prefecture in 1845. That was just as the fall of Shogunate rule was beginning. Japan was shifting away from isolationist policies. And like household's father, Nagai's father was in medicine. He practiced herbal medicine. So Nagai also went into chemistry. That was something he decided after spending more than a decade studying in Germany. During that time, he had assimilated into German culture in a lot of ways. He had converted to Christianity, married a German woman, and embraced Western science. When he went back to Japan in 1883, he worked to combine the science training he had received in Europe with the traditions of Asian herbal medicine. And he did this in his lab at the University of Tokyo, where he was a chemistry and pharmacology professor.

[Holly Frey]

Nagai started working with a plant called Ma Huang. The Latin name is Ephedra sinica, and Ephedra sinica is an herb that grows as a shrubbery, and the stem and branches of it are the parts that are used for herbal medicine. It has been used for centuries in Asia to treat an assortment of symptoms usually associated with colds, so think things like congestion, fever and headaches. It has also been marketed throughout the years as a weight loss supplement around the world, although its use was banned in the US in 2004 because of the risks of things like high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, as well as mental side effects like anxiety and irritability. But Nagai is the first person to isolate the chemical compound ephedrine from Ma Huang. And he did this after he noticed a crystalline substance in the extractions that he had taken from the plant and started experimenting with that. In 1885, Dai Nippon Pharmaceutical Company started manufacturing ephedrine based on this work for asthma treatment and then building on that work. Over the next several years, Nagai's lab was able to synthesize the first methamphetamine. That lab continued in this area of research for years in the hands of Nagai's proteges. And over time, the intense stimulant nature of methamphetamine was studied, continuing well after Nagai died in 1929.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

At the same time that Nagai and his lab were working with herbal extractions, other scientists were working on ways to synthesize ephedrine without the mahuang. One of these was Romanian chemist Lazar Italianu. Working on creating similar molecular compounds to those in ephedra. He did manage to synthesize amphetamine in Berlin. That was in 1887. But he didn't go much farther than that with his work. He moved on to other projects, specifically developing a method for refining crude oil.

[Holly Frey]

It wasn't until a few decades later that another chemist, Gordon Alles, started to work on the idea of using synthetic ephedrine to create amphetamine. Alice, who was British but was working in the US at the time, was apparently not even aware of the work that Adelyanu had done. Alice was hoping to capture the medicinal benefits of ephedrine in regard to things like asthma. And once he had his synthesized version, he tested it first on his pet guinea pig, who showed improvement in congestion. And then with a colleague standing by for observation and safety, Alice tested it on himself. And like his pet, he could breathe better. And he also noted that he kind of felt amazing. He was also apparently very talkative, and apparently his blood pressure was very high. So with this early testing completed, Alice patented amphetamine sulfate in 1932. And then he pitched his invention to the pharmaceutical industry. And the company Smith, Klein and French partnered with him to roll out the drug known as Benzedrine. And that was, as we mentioned, Benzedrine that athletes used at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Makes sense that they would if it was letting people breathe better and have more energy. Yeah. Coming up, we will talk more about households work. But first we'll pause for a sponsor break.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Holly Frey]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately the mask came off.

[Mandy B]

You're supposed to be safe.

[Holly Frey]

That's your home, that's your husband.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

To keep this secret for so many years, he's like a seasoned pro. This is a story about the end of a marriage, but it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark.

[Holly Frey]

You're a dangerous person who preys on.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Vulnerable and trusting people.

[Holly Frey]

Your creditor, Michael Evan.

[Betrayal Podcast Host]

Good listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bowen Yang]

Welcome to the A Building. I'm Hans Charles.

[Holly Frey]

I'm Menelik Lumumba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

[Bowen Yang]

Have both been assassinated, and black America was at a breaking point.

[Holly Frey]

Rioting and protest broke out on an.

[Bowen Yang]

Unprecedented scale in Atlanta, Georgia. At Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. And a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution.

[Holly Frey]

I mean, people were dying.

[Bowen Yang]

1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the.

[Holly Frey]

Murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should. And it will blow your mind.

[Bowen Yang]

Listen to the A building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen Yang.

[Holly Frey]

And I'm Matt Rogers.

[Bowen Yang]

During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead up to the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends.

[Holly Frey]

Hi, Bowen.

[Mandy B]

Hi, Matt.

[Holly Frey]

Hey, Elmo.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hey, Matt. Hey, Bowen.

[Bowen Yang]

Hi, Cookie. Hi.

[Holly Frey]

Now the Winter Olympic Games are underway and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears. Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever.

[Bowen Yang]

You get your podcast. What do you do when the headlines don't explain what's happening inside of you? I'm Ben Higgins. And if you can hear me is where culture meets the soul. A place for real conversation. Each episode, I sit down with people from all walks of life. Celebrities, thinkers, and everyday folks. And we go deeper than the polished story. We talk about what drives us, what shapes us, and what gives us hope. We get honest about the big stuff. Identity when you don't recognize yourself anymore. Loss that changes you purpose when success isn't enough. Peace when your mind won't slow down. Faith when it's complicated. Some guests have answers. Most are still figuring it out. If you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to if you can hear me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Holly Frey]

By the time Fritz Hauschild turned to Nagai's work, many chemists and pharmacologists around the world knew about that work. And after studying the available information and through his own experiments, Hauschild and his team at Temmler were able to create a synthetic form of Nagai's methamphetamine that did not require the Ephedra Seneca plant. By the end of 1937, Temmler had patented Housechild's production process and had put the drug into the market under the brand name Pervitin. There was a massive marketing campaign behind this launch. Templer hired an agency called Mattis and Son, and the agency's approach was inspired by the marketing of Coca Cola. This was also because Coca Cola was considered their main competitor. So when this is written about in a lot of modern article, it's often kind of described as this being an issue of Templer trying to counter the cocaine containing sodas effects on consumers and offering theirs as an alternative. But that's not really correct because Coca Cola no longer contained cocaine after 1929. So almost a decade before Temmler patented their process. And even when Coca Cola did still contain cocaine, it was a very, very small amount. So probably not really comparable to what temperature Pervitin. But nothing about the promotion of Pervitin described it as a drug. They just described it as something that could enhance a person's life. And As a consequence, 1938 saw a lot of households in Germany buying Pervitin over the counter.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So at face value, this would seem like it's contradictory TO the late 1930s ideology of Nazi Germany. At that time, when that warped concept of physical purity was being touted as the apex of humanity, drug use was generally really looked down on. Drugs were associated with weakness and the lower class. And yet Pervitin was just happily adopted throughout all levels of German culture. And that's because it was marketed not as a drug, but as a supplement that made people better. And so that was right in line with the Nazi ideal of a superhuman. And it made people feel strong and confident. And that also did align with the Nazi ideology. Advertisements for Pervitin touted it as a stimulant for the psyche and the circulatory system. And those ads then offered a list of things that Pervitin could treat, including depression, hypotension, fatigue, narcolepsy, and postoperative convalescence. Knowing that this drug makes, makes people intensely energetic, makes it seem Pretty dangerous to give to somebody for post op recovery, but it was so dangerous in so many other ways that that seems kind of a small, petty detail.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, I was translating one of the packaging or one of the advertisements that I found online, and I was just thinking, like, how many people pop their stitches because they were like, I feel great.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, I gotta get out of this bed, even though I'm supposed to be.

[Holly Frey]

Gotta get moving. Although there had been some clinical trials before Pervitin went to market, they were certainly not as robust as anything that would be legally required today. After it was released, a psychiatrist named Fritz Flugel ran his own tests on patients at a psychiatric hospital. And while he did see increased energy, that in some cases seemed, at least in the short term, almost miraculous. Flugel also saw the downside. He noted that the drug could increase anxiety, and he actually reported this to Temler. So there was a degree of understanding that Pervitin might have some unwanted side effects, including being habit forming. Inside of Temravirka, the package label on Pervitin was updated with this information to suggest a slightly lower dose and to include the warning that it was to be used only from time to time with an exclamation point on the end. Listen. That warning was certainly not enough to keep people from developing habitual use problems with it. Pervitin users didn't experience fatigue, and initially anxiety and stress were replaced with a sense of euphoria. So of course it was addictive. The perception of performance enhancement made it very popular for both students and professionals. And then eventually, to expand the user market, Temmler started producing a chocolate that contained Pervitin, and that was designed to appeal to housewives who wanted a boost to get their daily chores done more quickly.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In a paper published in Psychiatric Times in 2016, author Greg Egigian cautions that it's actually really difficult to understand the true degree to which Germans were using Pervitin. Quote. In the years leading up to the Nazi seizure of power, doctors dominated public discussions about drug consumption, and they tended to reinforce a familiar distinction. While prescribed drugs were hailed as epitomes of medical progress, drugs taken by laypeople for personal enjoyment, such as cocaine and opium, were demonized and associated with the socially deviant and marginalized, such as criminals and homosexuals. This therefore means that one needs to be on guard for the often unacknowledged biases of existing sources of information. Really, that's good advice for any research.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, even people that are contemporary accounts of things that are going on have biases. It is not only our lens. As we look back, Pervitin, though, got the attention of a physiologist named Otto Friedrich Ranke. Ranke was born in Munich in 1899. He was the son of a psychiatrist, and as a young man, he studied both medicine and mathematics. He became part of the military medical academy in Berlin in the mid-1930s, specializing in aviation medicine. He became a member of the Wehrmacht medical corps in the late 1930s, rising up through the ranks as an advisor to eventually become director of the research institute of Defense Physiology for the Nazis.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In that role, Ranke was ever on the lookout for anything that would give Germany the upper hand in the coming war. One particular area of concern was fatigue among the troops. Pervitin, though, was already sort of tested on the General public throughout 1938, so Ranka had enough information to believe that it had the potential to be an excellent substance for rousing a weary squad. Even so, he did conduct his own tests, beginning with German medical officers. He used a blind study where some participants got Pervitin and others got Benzedrine or caffeine or placebos. In these tests, Ranka gave the participants math problems to solve, and he kept them at it for more than 10 hours. The pervitant group whipped through all of these tests. Although their answers were not necessarily correct, they were alert, not necessarily focused in a functional way, though. Still, Ronka thought this test was a success, and he deemed Pervitin, quote, a militarily valuable substance.

[Holly Frey]

Next, Ronka wanted to expand his test to the troops, and he pitched that. But initially nothing moved forward because the proposal got a bit wadded up in the Reich's bureaucracy. But while there wasn't an official endorsement or order to use it, a lot of the medical officers that Ranka had worked with were still taking Pervitin on their own after the testing ended. They liked the effects and through their use, use then spread quickly to other members of the military. By the time the war was imminent, a lot of the Wehrmacht was already taking Pervitin.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Ranka himself took Pervitin, and he got in the habit of working for days at a time without any sleep. He noted in writing that Pervitin enabled him to go for dozens of hours without feeling tired. The marketing of Pervitin had in fact appealed to a lot of the Third Reich's officers as they sought to keep up with just an ever growing list of demands from Adolf Hitler. As they reported and conferred with one another about how effective this drug was at making them ultraproductive, it was only natural that Germany's military leadership would support the idea of giving it to soldiers.

[Holly Frey]

So the first group of soldiers to be officially issued Pervitin by the wehrmacht was the third tank division. And this was done in 1938 when Germany moved into occupied Czechoslovakia, starting with the annexation of what Germany called Sudetenland. That's a made up propaganda term for the areas of the country that had a German speaking population. And while it was successful, this occupation was not a combat situation. Ranke and other Wehrmacht medical officials were really curious to see how Pervitin worked in active battle.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So when Germany invaded Poland in the autumn of 1939, a lot of its soldiers were using Pervitin and they subdued Polish resistance within a matter of weeks. The success of the German army in this first blitzkrieg stoked the drug's reputation as one that was associated with strength and success. So both the military and the general population use continued to grow to go up. During the invasion of Ardennes in France in 1940, a route that had been believed to be impassable by the Allies, Pervitin fueled the Germans through dense forests that would have deterred most other enemies. We have to note here, though, that although many soldiers were taking Pervitin, and though it was issued to German soldiers with a degree of freedom frequency, there was not ever a blanket order regarding Pervitin's distribution to the Wehrmacht troops.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, I just want to make that very clear because sometimes you'll read accounts that suggest that this was, like, given out as a standard part of ration packs. And in some cases it was issued, but it wasn't all the time to all ration packs. As we know today, the side effects and dependency that come with methamphetamine use are absolutely horrible. In addition to substance use disorder, users frequently develop insomnia, confusion, anxiety, mood instability, psychosis, and a decline in cognitive function. And these side effects can continue when a person is not actively using the drug. And these side effects absolutely started to appear in the German population that used Pervitin.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The usual packaging of Pervitin was a small metal cylinder with a screw cap that contained 30 tablets. Each tablet contained 0.003 milligrams of methamphetamine. The label had a contradictory message to that only from time to time. Copy that. We mentioned earlier, it suggested taking two to four tablets each day. Complaints started rolling in to Temmler's offices about the problems civilians were having with it. The company did not take the drug off the market, though. It just transitioned from it being available over the counter to requiring a prescription. That happened in 1941, while the war was still in full swing and German soldiers were still being issued methamphetamine pretty routinely. According to an account written by a German medical officer in 1942, when some of the men in his unit were exhausted to the point that they had laid down in the snow to just wait for death, he administered Pervitin. And 30 minutes later, they were all up and cheerful.

[Holly Frey]

Pervitin was a boon in the eyes of Nazi military leadership. Soldiers that used it did not get tired. They did not complain of hunger, even if their rations were running out. They felt euphoric and confident even in the horrific conditions of war. Prolonged use led to a lot of problems. Of course, the combination of substance misuse and combat stressors led to a very high degree of psychosis in soldiers. And this manifested in a variety of ways, the paranoia that's common from methamphetamine use, as well as deaths by suicide and in some cases, soldiers even turning on their own comrades. So some of them were shooting themselves and some of them were shooting the men alongside them. Even if a soldier was not experiencing these psychological problems from using Pervitin, the drug was still taking a toll on the body. We know living in a constantly stimulated state without rest is incredibly bad for anyone. And young men who should have been healthy started having heart attacks.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Heinrich Bull, who won a Nobel Prize for literature in 1972, was from an anti Nazi family, but was conscripted into service for Germany during the war. He was in his early 20s and he got hooked on Pervitin. So much so that he wrote his family numerous times asking them to send him more. What he was issued by the Wehrmacht as a soldier just wasn't cutting it. He wrote about how the drug made him forget how awful the reality was that he was in and that it enabled him to feel happiness again, as well as being better for his alertness than multiple cups of coffee.

[Holly Frey]

And of course, Adolf Hitler was also interested in the benefits of a drug that could make him more alert and seemingly stronger. He began receiving IV doses of methamphetamine from his doctor, although these were typically combined with other things like glucose and vitamins. His doctor, Theodor Morel, kept copious notes about the treatment that he gave the Fuhrer. There have been a lot of rumors and incorrect information about Hitler's various health concerns over the years, although before the war he seemed to only be dealing with fairly minor list of things like eczema, insomnia and some GI issues. But starting in 1941, he started to have an array of problems, and Morel gave him many medications in addition to methamphetamine, including Eukodol, which is a version of oxycodone. There have been a number of historians who believe that Hitler's use of Pervitin began to affect his judgment and caused him to make a number of miscalculations that were instrumental in bringing about the fall of the Third Reich.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In a moment, we'll talk a little bit about the use of stimulants among the Allies in World War II, as well as another act of power. We will do that after we hear from the sponsors that keep stuff you missed in history class going.

[Holly Frey]

Stimulant misuse during the war was not an exclusively German problem. Just as Fritz Hauschold had been inspired in part by the rumors of beneficial drug use on the part of US Olympians in creating Pervitin, the Allied forces were very interested in this alleged miracle drug that the Germans had created that enabled their military to fight with greater vigor.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So it wasn't long before the Allies were testing out Pervitin with their own people, specifically pilots. According to a BBC article from March of 2024, this interest started after a vial of Pervitin tablets was found in the pocket of a German pilot after he had been shot down. The Allies tests noted increased alertness with Pervitin use, but they also documented the downsides like agitation and the way pilots started to have psychological issues and perception problems after taking multiple doses. While it made people more alert initially, then it led to things like compulsive behavior and poor decision making. So methamphetamine use was dropped as an option for US And British forces, although Benzedrine was still given to Allied soldiers. Japan was also aware of Germany's use of Pervitin for performance enhancement, and they started to manufacture their own version called Philippon, which was given to kamikaze pilots.

[Holly Frey]

Near the end of 1939, Reich Health Leader Leonardo Conti tried to pull back on Pervitin use as the drug's negative side effects were reported up the chain of command. He actually made a speech at one point to the Nazi Party's Medical association stating, quote, anyone who thinks they can eliminate fatigue with Pervitin can be certain that its boosting effect will one day abruptly cease. It may be useful to combat fatigue in the case of a short flight, but in the long term, only sleep can truly compensate for a state of fatigue.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We have to pause here for a moment because a lot of the time articles about Pervitins used by the Third Reich make it sound almost like Conti was some kind of a reasonable voice here within the Nazi structure. And that's flatly not correct. So to be clear, Conti was a monster. His only interest was in protecting German assets. He was one of the architects of the various processes of so called racial enhancements under Hitler's rule. That meant he helped plan programs like Tiergartenstrasse IV, which murdered more than 70,000 people because they had incurable diseases or hereditary conditions that fell outside of that Nazi ideal of physical perfection. He also worked on a children's euthanasia program with Dr. Carl Brandt, which led to the murders of thousands of babies and children. His concerns about Pervitin were linked to just making sure they had enough warm bodies to keep killing their enemies and about maintaining an image of a perfect race. This was not out of any kind of altruistic or even medically ethical motivation.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, I get a little bit frustrated when it's like, well, one Nazi understood, and I'm like, let's not give him too much credit.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That guy was still a Nazi. That's the problem.

[Holly Frey]

He was still a Nazi and he did horrifying things. Those are only a couple of the horrifying things that he did that Tracy just mentioned. But even though he did raise a flag over this, Conti's concerns were dismissed and his warnings were not heeded by his superiors. In their eyes, if Pervitin got them closer to their goals, it was worth any of the downsides. And Temlar, the company that made it, didn't seem to be especially worried about the side effects either. By 1940, the company was producing more than 800,000 Pervitin tablets a day just to try to keep up with demand.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The use of methamphetamine made Germany formidable and terrifying to its enemies. For a while anyway. Soldiers who don't sleep can keep marching. Tank drivers could just keep going, constantly advancing the line as they were ordered to go for days without stopping. Remember, they were all happy and confident as well. The blitzkrieg strategy of relentless surprise attacks was made possible in large part by the troops groups being drugged. 1940 was really the heyday of Pervitin use for Germany. By the end of that year, instances of heart attacks among the troops and officers had started to tally up, and soldiers were given less and less of the drug over time. There were still instances, though, of surge rationing during demanding campaigns after the Reich.

[Holly Frey]

Collapsed and after Hitler's suicide and well, after the war. Was over. Temmler continued to manufacture Pervitin for prescription use. It also continued to sell it to military organizations. It was purchased in bulk by both east and West German militaries because even though it had caused a lot of trauma in its World War II use, it was still perceived as being worth all of those problems if it could give soldiers an edge and enable them to continue fighting for longer with fewer rations. West Germany discontinued their issuing of Pervitin to soldiers in the 1970s, but East Germany continued well into the 1980s. And Germany was not the drugs only market, despite those early tests with pilots during World War II, after which Pervitin use was abandoned. The US also reportedly used Pervitin during the Vietnam War.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Leonardo Conti was was unsuccessful in his effort to limit Pervitin use in the German army. He died by suicide in a cell in Nuremberg on October 6, 1945, rather than facing trial.

[Holly Frey]

Fritz Hauschold died in Leipzig on January 13, 1974. His invention, Pervitin, stayed on the market until 1988.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As we mentioned earlier, throughout the Second World War, the United States used Benzedrine for all the same reasons that the Germans were using perv Pervitin. Similarly, Benzedrine had a huge jump in civilian use after the war was over, as soldiers returned home to non military work and as new users picked it up. Benzedrine became available only with a prescription in 1959. But for a long time amphetamine was prescribed in the US with pretty minimal medical consultation for everything from the depression to weight loss. It is of course also habit forming. In 1970, amphetamine was classified as a controlled substance when the Controlled Substances act was passed. And today It's a Schedule 2 drug. That means it has the potential for abuse and dependence. For context, another Schedule 2 drug is fentanyl.

[Holly Frey]

Methamphetamine is of course still a commonly taken drug. And meth labs making the crystallized version of it seemed to pop up everywhere and create a scourge on communities due to its high degree of addiction. I saw more articles about this that would talk about the war and then be like, and last year 11,000 meth labs were busted in this country. And that was from various countries. I'm, I'm pulling numbers, but it's an ongoing big problem.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. And also to be clear, stimulants are still part of military programs around the world.

[Holly Frey]

I also have a little bit of listener mail which is very peppy and about a thing I'm addicted to, which is handicrafts, which just seems a little bit more of a positive note to end this one on. Yeah, this is from our listener. I'm guessing Gina. Her spelling makes me not 100% confident of that, so hopefully I got it right. Gina writes hi lovelies. I just listened to the Embroidery series and I wanted to Write in with two related points.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

1.

[Holly Frey]

You noted that humans often turn to embroidery and other handwork during challenging times. During winter 2020. We all remember that first winter of the COVID lockdown. I started a seasonal project called Winter of Care and Repair in which I mended, tended, repaired, maintained or otherwise cared for my belongings each between the winter solstice and spring equinox. I have always been into knitting, quilting, sewing, et cetera and had been getting into visible mending at the time, so ended up doing a lot of garment mending and doing something with my hands and eyes and brain is really grounding for me as well. Six years later, Winter of Care and Repair is still going strong with people all over the world creating care and repair plans of their own. And I get so much feedback about how much people love doing something with their hands when things are stressful. So there is an online Spotify. Other listeners want to go check this out? Just do a search for Winter Care and Repair. You will find it. Gina writes too. I wanted to share this really amazing Spanish author, illustrator embroiderer Bea Lema. She published this amazing autobiographical graphic novel based on her childhood perception of her mother's struggles with mental illness, illustrated in both drawings and embroidery. It is available in both French and Spanish, but not English. Yet. I found this book when walking through a bookshop in Spain. The obviously embroidered book cover stopped me in my tracks as I glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye. Both the story and the illustrations are tremendously impactful. She is super talented and I highly recommend checking out her work. And for the obligatory pet tax are two little furry loves. Lucy is our 15 and a half year old border collie mix pictured here enjoying a sunny December day at the beach. Scipio is our 2 year old one eyed rescue cat seen here assisting my partner with some vehicle mechanics, a job that he clearly takes very seriously. And a bonus picture of the two of them snuggled together. Seriously, I cannot even okay, this dog is so I love old dogs. There's just something so sweet about them that is like transcends what the earth should even allow in terms of sweetness. And this kitty is so sweet and I love that they're buddies. Okay? But I was very excited that Beilema's work came up because in case you don't know Gina or other listeners, there has actually been a short film made out of that graphic novel which is also animated embroidery.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Nice.

[Holly Frey]

I haven't seen it. I've only seen the trailer for Looks Brain. Breakingly amazing. And because I'm also into animation, it really hit my magic zone where the backgrounds are all hand embroidered and then scanned in and then the animation uses embroidered components that are then digitized and animated and it looks like it's so beautiful I can't even imagine.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Sounds amazing.

[Holly Frey]

So seek that out. There have been a few articles about it lately because it has finished recently and it's starting to be shown and I just am blown away by how beautiful it is. I love when art surprises me and I really love that kind of way of blending things. I am also very fascinated by the idea of of how kids perceive things like mental illness in their authority figures. And it's just, it's a beautiful story and it's an amazing, amazing piece of work as a graphic novel and I am so excited for this movie. So thank you, thank you, thank you for writing me that because it reminded me that I could tell people about the follow up to it that has taken several years to complete, so I am not sure yet where to see it. So hopefully I will find that out soon because I want to see see it desperately. It is very much in my wheelhouse. If you would like to write to us and share your thoughts on embroidery or animation or anything really. You don't even have to have pet pictures, although we sure do love them. You can do [e-mail] thank you for joining us. And if you have not subscribed to the podcast yet, that is very easy to do. You can do it on the iHeartRadio or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.