COMMENT POSTED TO A REVIEW OF A NORMAN OHLER BOOK IN THE
INDEPENDENT
'Adolf Hitler was a
“gibbering super junkie” '
That kind of highly-colored assertion, much resembling the
political propaganda attacks we now see so often in our newspapers, always leads
me to suspect the author's intentions.
It is a long-known fact that Hitler received injections from
his "doctor," Theodor Morell, but these never came close to producing
what this author asserts. At best, they contributed to the shakes he experienced
in later years.
I've read no evidence for what the author of this book
claims, and one has always to be suspect of claims that come flying out of
nowhere, as it were.
After all, only recently CIA was putting out stupid stuff
about Putin's mental condition.
And we have many sources and counter-checks against this
author's assertion.
Albert Speer for example made a late visit to the bunker to
say good-bye to the man he once so deeply admired.
Speer was an intelligent and discerning observer, but he made
no mention of the author's assertions.
Even more convincing is the fact that Hitler was surrounded
with powerful men jealous of his position, especially the head of the SS,
Heinrich Himmler. The Third Reich government resembled a Middle Ages Court of powerful
earls and dukes.
Himmler in fact sometimes conducted secret investigations to
discover things about Hitler he could use. If what this author claims were
true, he or another of these powerful men would almost certainly have seized
power during that last year.
We also have many records of conversations and meetings, and
I am aware of none confirming this notion.
I am inclined to think this book another "attack"
book on Hitler with little validity. There have been quite a few of them over
the years.
By "attack" book, I'm not including all the
legitimate investigations into the horrors of the Third Reich, but a class of
rather cheap efforts, much resembling yellow journalism, like one that claimed
very bizarre sexual predilections for Hitler or some which described him as
quite mad, something several authoritative psychiatric studies have assured us
was not the case.
Unless the claims can be bolstered by others, I think the book likely to have no standing as history.
