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What Norman Ohler thinks about war

@norman-ohler · 22 positions · 0 changes of mind

German writer and journalist, author of Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich and Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age.

Norman Ohler did not write this page.

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11 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Norman Ohler has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe German Navy, which insisted afterwards that it had kept its ethics, bought concentration camp prisoners from the SS to test methamphetamine-and-cocaine combinations on them.

    Their wordsSo the Navy hired the shoe runners unit from the SS, paid them money, and then gave them drugs, different kinds of drug combinations, methamphetamine combined with cocaine and chewing gum and all kinds of things. So this is a big thing, you know. And there are documents to it.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 2nd of 22 in this recording

  3. Our readingDrugs are the missing link historians never had for the one thing they could not explain: why Hitler went from militarily effective to disastrous.

    Their wordsAnd he said this is actually the missing link that historians did not have, especially to explain Hitler's degeneration as a leader. He made very good decisions, good in meaning militarily effective decisions in the beginning of the war, and very bad decisions for the German war effort towards the end. And you can link that to drugs.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 3rd of 22 in this recording

  5. Our readingHitler's decision to attack the West was ideological and irrational, and his own high command planned a coup in November 1939 to stop him ordering it.

    Their wordsHis officers didn't think so. High command said, “No, we're not going to attack the West; we're going to lose.” And Hitler was fanatic about it, he really wanted to attack it. They were planning a coup against him in November 1939 just to prevent him ordering the attack on the West, because it would have been a catastrophe for Germany.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 5th of 22 in this recording

  7. Our readingThe idea of driving the whole German army through the Ardennes, not the methamphetamine, is what won the campaign in the West.

    Their wordsThat was the victorious idea. So it's not the drugs. Actually, that idea to go through the Ardennes Mountains, if you think monocausal, you would say that's the reason. That idea was genius, and Hitler immediately understood it, because before, the plan was to attack in the north of Belgium, which is the same as World War I.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 6th of 22 in this recording

  9. Our readingAn entire army was prescribed methamphetamine by written decree, with dosages, intervals and side effects specified.

    Their wordsAnd he gave lectures in front of the officers, and he wrote a stimulant decree where a whole army is prescribed a drug, in this case methamphetamine. How much should be taken? At what intervals? What are the side effects?

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 7th of 22 in this recording

  11. Our readingThe Wehrmacht lost its innocence in Rommel's night push through the French countryside, driving tanks over sleeping men.

    Their wordsThat is when the Wehrmacht lost its innocence in that push of Rommel through the French countryside, because you don't do that, you know? Your enemy is sleeping.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 8th of 22 in this recording

  13. Our readingFrance had a drug regulation too — three quarters of a litre of red wine per man per day — which is why its army was asleep when the meth-fuelled Germans arrived.

    Their wordsBecause the French also had a drug regulation. They received three quarters of a liter of red wine per man per day. So, of course, at night they're going to be sleepy on red wine, and the Germans were on meth and they were just running over them.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 9th of 22 in this recording

  15. Our readingThe order to stop the tanks outside Dunkirk threw away a complete victory over Britain: the whole British military was encircled and got out.

    Their wordsSo the tank generals received the Halte Befehl, the stopping order. They didn't believe it when they received it because this would have been a complete victory over Great Britain. This would have been the end of Great Britain. The whole British military was encircled, but they did get out through Dunkirk.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 11th of 22 in this recording

  17. Our readingHitler stopped the tanks at Dunkirk because he feared his own high command and had been convinced by Göring's morphine-high promise that the Luftwaffe could finish the job.

    Their wordsThis was just because Hitler was afraid of the power of his army high command, and convinced by Goering's morphine-high vision that he would stop it with the air force, which he couldn't.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 12th of 22 in this recording

  19. Our readingThe German war machine could only ever win lightning wars, because it was always the weaker side.

    Their wordsAnd the German war machine could only win in so-called speed wars, like lightning war. Only if they would do it very fast and surprise, because they were always weaker, basically.

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 14th of 22 in this recording

  21. Our readingBritish intelligence dropped its plans to assassinate Hitler because a drugged, malfunctioning Hitler was better for Britain than whoever would replace him.

    Their wordsAnd I spoke with Anthony Beevor once about the attempt of British intelligence to assassinate Hitler, and he had seen some evidence that at the point in time, they dropped those plans because they knew that drugged Hitler or malfunctioning Hitler, which he was after, you know, the summer of 1943, is better for Britain than, you know, killing Hitler and then having to deal with, like, some kind of, you know, maybe the army would have taken over the country

    ↗Norman Ohler: Hitler, Nazis, Drugs, WW2, Blitzkrieg, LSD, MKUltra & CIA | Lex Fridman Podcast #481youtube.com 16th of 22 in this recording