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53. Morell, discussion memo, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/45.
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54. Ibid.
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55. BArch R42/5281–5182, letter from August 20, 1942; see also BA R38/0156–0157, letter from January 25, 1943.
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56. Communication from Reich Commissar Koch, August 29, 1942, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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57. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 2, letter from Morell to his wife, September 22, 1942.
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58. Communication from Reich Commissar Koch, August 29, 1942, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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59. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 2, letter from Morell to Koch, September 22, 1942.
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60. See also letter to Dr. Möckel of April 1, 1944: “Your seminal academic work interests me, as does your love of drugs.” In this context see also Morell’s letters to Koch, December 14 and 17, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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61. See Karl Schlögel, Die Zeit, October 30, 2014, p. 19.
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62. Quoted in Schenck, Dr. Morell, p. 267.
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63. Letter from Morell to Koch, October 16, 1942, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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64. Letter from Koch, October 31, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/42. This concerned the abattoirs at Vinnytsia, Kiev, Proskurov, Berdychiv, Zhitomir, Dubno, Darnytsia, Kasatin, Kirovograd, Bila Tserkva, Nikolayev, Melitopol, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Krementchuk, Uman, and Korosten.
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65. Quoted in Schenck, Dr. Morell, p. 253.
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66. Philipp Vandenberg, Die heimlichen Herrscher: Die Mächtigen und ihre Ärzte, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2000, p. 256.
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67. Letter from Morell to District Magistrate Schuhmacher in Lemberg [Lwów], December 12, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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68. From an order from the Führer’s Wehrmacht adjutancy: “Anyone negligently or deliberately using fuel for non-war-deciding purposes will be treated as a saboteur of the war effort.” National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/36.
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69. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 3, record of a discussion with Dr. Mulli, October 9, 1943, at 10:35 p.m.
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70. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 3, letter from Hamma Company to Morell, February 5, 1945.
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71. See, for example, the letter from Morell to Reich Minister Ohnesorge, February 11, 1944: “Took the liberty of making the suggestion that the Führer would like to ask you to deliver a lecture.” National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/41.
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72. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 3, letter from Mulli to Morell, August 10, 1943.
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73. Letter from Morell to Koch, October 28, 1942, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/35.
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74. Draft letter from Theo Morell, re: manufacture of new medical products, March 30, 1944, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/38. In this letter he also writes: “So I had developed, using special ingredients, an injectable liver extract which is the first liver preparation to have no painful side-effects, and which has proved to be extraordinarily effective in experiments by clinicians of my acquaintance and among my friends, as well as in self-administered experiments. . . . I am forced to produce it myself, as specialties of equal value are no longer available on the market and I can no longer treat my patients—I do not need to mention the importance of their remaining in good health—in an orderly fashion if I do not produce and make available my own medications. . . . Bureaucratic difficulties must be differently overcome in the interest of the people’s health and particularly of my patients.”
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75. Goebbels, diary entry for March 20, 1942. Quoted in Peter Gathmann and Martina Paul, Narziss Goebbels: Eine Biografie, Vienna, 2009, p. 95. By now Goebbels had also become so fond of the syringe that Dr. Weber, Morell’s assistant, observed: “The Reich minister now has so many bumps that it’s almost impossible to give him an injection.” Letter from Weber to Morell, June 16, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/34. This also reports, among other things, that Goebbels suffered from severe headaches for three days after an injection of Morell’s liver preparation.
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76. BArch-Koblenz N1348, “Order from the Führer to Investigate a Slivovitz Test on Methyl Alcohol and Other Harmful Substances,” January 11, 1944. The written reply from the field laboratory on the same day: “Smell and taste: like slivovitz. . . . On the basis of this examination, no health concerns about its use.”
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77. Quoted in Ernst Günther Schenck, Patient Hitler: Eine medizinische Biographie, Augsburg, 2000, pp. 389ff.
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78. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, July 18, 1943.
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79. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, December 6, 1943.
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80. Quoted in Rong Yang, “Ich kann einfach das Leben nicht mehr ertragen”: Studien zu den Tagebüchern von Klaus Mann (1931–1949), Marburg, 1996, p. 107. Klaus Mann noted in his diary: “Got some more Euka tablets in a chemist’s, thanks to the stupidity of the pharmacist.” Quoted in Pieper, Nazis on Speed, p. 57.
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81. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, July 18, 1943.
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82. Ibid.
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83. BArch-Koblenz N1348, “Special Entry,” July 18, 1943.
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84. The opioid oxycodone, the effective ingredient of Eukodal, is sold in the United States under the names “Oxygesic” and “Oxycontin,” and in 2010, with a profit of $3.5 billion, was ranked fifth among the most successful medicines. In Germany, oxycodone is known among other things as “Oxygesic” and is the most regularly prescribed opioid for oral use. There are currently 147 permitted medical products containing oxycodone, most in controlled-release formulations (a delayed absorption of the effective ingredient), not least for the treatment of chronic pain. The preparation called Eukodal, which Hitler was given for the first time in the summer of 1943, has not been on the German market since 1990.
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85. William Burroughs, Naked Lunch, Paris, 1959, p. 65.
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86. Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 119.
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87. Quoted in Katz, Prof. Dr. Med. Theo Morell, p. 280.
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88. Letter from Morell to Sievert, August 26, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/45.
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89. Letter from the pharmacist Jost to Morell, April 30, 1942: “Since I need prescriptions as evidence of my cocaine sales and to enter them in the narcotics books, I politely request that you send 5 prescriptions according to the regulations of the BMG [Reich Opium Law] as soon as possible.”
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90. Postcards from this period bear the inscription: “The Führer knows only struggle, work and care. We want to take from him the share that we can take.”
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91. According to Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power, trans. Carol Stewart, London, 1960, p. 295.
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92. Joseph Goebbels, The Goebbels Diaries, trans. and ed. Louis P. Lochner, London, 1948, p. 342.
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93. Letter from Koch to Morell, May 31, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/37.
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94. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, October 7, 1943.
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95. Ibid., November 21, 1943.
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96. Ibid., January 27, 1944.
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97. Letter from a state official, Köglmaier, to Morell, December 10, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication
T253/35.
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98. In this context see also the “Note on the Reporting of Illnesses by Leading Personalities” of December 23, 1942. Here it says: “I not only release doctors, healing practitioners and dentists from their duty of silence toward my Commissar General Professor Dr. med. Karl Brandt, but order them, once the hard-and-fast diagnosis has been made of a serious or grave illness in a leading person or one in a position of responsibility in the state, the Party, the Wehrmacht, the economy, etc., to inform me about such matters. Adolf Hitler.” Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 327.
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99. See, for example, the letter from Frau von Kries, of the Wehrmacht adjutancy to the Führer, to Morell, February 17, 1943: “We are running low on supplies and would therefore be grateful if you could help us out with some medication. Heil Hitler!” IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 2.
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100. Letter from Morell, December 1, 1944, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/37.
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101. Also exemplary in this respect is the letter from an old patient to Morell, from April 14, 1944: “We speak of you and your wife very often, and these memories always cheerfully pep us up.” National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/38.
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102. BArch-Freiburg RH 12–23/1321, carbon, PhIV Berlin, December 20, 1943, to the “director of the service.” See also Holzer, Die Geburt der Drogenpolitik, pp. 254ff.
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103. BArch-Freiburg RH 12–23/1321, B. 125a, signed Schmidt-Brücken and Wortmann, Staff Chemist.
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104. “1 kg cocaine hydrochl. in original packaging from the manufacturers to be issued straightaway to the Department of Counter-Intelligence ZF Vi C.” See BArch-Freiburg RH 12–23/1322, Bl. 123, Wortmann to the Central Medical Department, May 22, 1944, “Secret.”
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105. Verbal communication from Herta Schneider, quoted in John Toland, Adolf Hitler, Bergisch-Gladbach, 1977, p. 920.
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106. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, January 9, 1944.
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107. Ibid.
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108. Ibid., January 29, 1944.
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109. BArch-Koblenz N1348, letter from Morell to his wife, May 16, 1940.
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110. In 1949 Erich von Manstein would be sentenced by a British military court for war crimes. After his release in 1953, as the only former Wehrmacht field marshal he unofficially advised the newly established Bundeswehr (the Army of West Germany) until 1960. In 1955 he published his memoirs, Verlorene Kriege—which deserve to be read critically—in which he attempted to justify his behavior in the Russian war and shift as much responsibility as possible onto Hitler.
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111. See “Marshal von Kleist, Who Broke Maginot Line in 1940, Seized,” Washington, DC, Evening Star, May 4, 1945, p. 1.
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112. Report by Hasselbach, May 29, 1946, p. 3, IRR–Personal Name Files, RG No. 319, Stack Area 230, Row 86, Box 8, National Archives, College Park, MD.
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113. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, March 14, 1944.
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114. From “Life History of Professor Dr. Med. Theo Morell,” p. 6, IRR–Personal Name Files, RG No. 319, Stack Area 230, Row 86, Box 8, National Archives, College Park, MD.
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115. Letter from Dr. Stephan Baron v. Thyssen-Bornemisza, November 5, 1943, National Archives Microfilm Publication T253/45.
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116. IfZArch, MA 617, Roll 2, letter from Morell to Luise Funk, the wife of the Reich economics minister, May 12, 1944. There may have been another reason for the presence of the assistant. Morell had, as Weber later put on record, wanted to “build him up for Hitler, so that he himself would appear dispensable at the right moment and would be able to step down from Hitler’s immediate circle. I would then have had to take his place.” However, Morell’s exit strategy remained only an idea. Until his dismissal he never really tried to leave the innermost circle of power.
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117. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entries, April 20 and 21, 1944.
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118. Since, because of the advance of the Red Army, no more livers were forthcoming from the Ukraine, Morell collected “all the parasite and fluke livers” from Bohemia and Moravia. These were affected by different kinds of trematode worms such as the common liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica) and the lancet liver fluke (Dicrocoelium lanceoluatum). But that didn’t bother Hitler’s personal physician: see letter of October 28, 1944, to Morell from Hamma (T253/34), as well as Morell’s letter to the Reich Minister of the Interior (T253/42): “After the loss of the Ukraine we need a new source of raw material. For well-known reasons it is clear that the requisite amount of entirely suitable, healthy livers in the Old Reich cannot be made available. But so-called parasite livers or fluke livers are entirely suitable for processing into liver extract if certain precautionary measures are followed. This would have the merit of processing a hitherto worthless waste product into a valuable medication.” In this context see also BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, April 20–21, 1944.
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119. BArch-Koblenz N1348, letter from Morell to the economics minister, Funk, May 12, 1944.
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120. Quoted in Katz, Prof. Dr. Med. Theo Morell, p. 24.
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121. Ibid., p. 161.
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122. Goebbels, The Goebbels Diaries, vol. 9, April–June 1944, p. 405.
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123. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, June 10, 1944.
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124. Ibid., Morell entry, July 14, 1944.
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125. Ibid., Morell entry, July 20, 1944.
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126. Erwin Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler,” Wiesbaden, June 12, 1945, Headquarters United States Forces European Theater Military Intelligence Service Center: OI—Consolidated Intelligence Report (CIR), p. 10, National Archives, College Park, MD.
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127. “Adolf Hitler: Aufriss über meine Person,” Der Spiegel, 24/1973, pp. 103ff.
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128. Ibid.
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129. Paul Schmidt, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne, 1923–45, Bonn, 1950, p. 582.
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130. Gottfried Benn, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1: Gedichte 1, Stuttgart, 1986, p. 46.
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131. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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132. Giesing recorded his treatments of Hitler in a yellow diary. Using a secret code, he wrote in Latin and used a combination of symbols that he had invented himself. See Toland, Adolf Hitler, p. 1013.
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133. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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134. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, August 5, 1944.
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135. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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136. Ibid.
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137. Apart from Merck’s Psicain, which was said to lead to cardiorhythmic disturbances in susceptible patients.
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138. Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–45, p. 728: “That Hitler was poisoned by the strychnine and belladonna in the anti-gas pills or other medicaments, drugged on the opiates given him to relieve his intestinal spasms, or dependent upon the cocaine which formed 1 percent of the ophthalmic drops prescribed by Dr. Giesing for conjunctivitis, can be discounted.” It is not eyedrops with 1 percent cocaine, but nasal and palate swabs with a 10 percent content that are the medical historical facts—which signifies a notable difference in the effect of the drug. Hitler’s biographer Fest ignores cocaine completely, while the Hitler researcher Werner Maser does describe the applications in detail, although without drawing conclusions. Werner Maser, Adolf Hitler: Legende M
ythos Wirklichkeit, Munich, 1997.
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139. Schenck, Patient Hitler, p. 507.
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140. See Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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141. Ibid.
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142. Toland, Adolf Hitler, p. 1022.
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143. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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144. Maser, Adolf Hitler, p. 397.
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145. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, October 3, 1944.
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146. Nicolaus von Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, 1937–45, Mainz, 1980, p. 384.
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147. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, September 23–24, 1944. Cf. Morell’s entry for October 17, 1943. The therapeutic daily dose is between 0.5 and 1.0 milligrams. So Hitler was asking for up to four times as much, which clearly exceeds the medical application and has strong psychoactive effects.
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148. Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 362.
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149. BArch-Koblenz N1348, Morell entry, October 30, 1944.
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150. Ibid., October 4, 1944.
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151. Quoted in the report by Giesing, p. 15, in “Hitler, Adolf: A Composite Picture,” Entry ZZ-6, in IRR–Personal Name Files, RG No. 319, Stack Area 230, Box 8, National Archives, College Park, MD.
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152. BArch-Koblenz N1348. All quotations are from Morell’s report on his meeting with Ribbentrop, written in the Regina-Palast-Hotel on June 6, 1943.
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153. BArch-Koblenz N1348, letter from Bormann, June 26, 1944.
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154. Ibid.
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155. BArch-Koblenz N1348, handwritten menu, October 3, 1944.
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156. See G. Liljestrand, Poulsson’s Lehrbuch für Pharmakologie, Leipzig, 1944.
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157. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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158. Quoted in Katz, Prof. Dr. Med. Theo Morell, pp. 295ff.
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159. Giesing, “Bericht über meine Behandlung bei Hitler.”
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160. Morell’s method was clearly inadequate. On the subject of the disinfection of syringes see “Alkohol und Instrument-ensterilisation,” Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift, vol. 67 (1941), which says: “Alcohol is not to be employed in sterilizing needles.”