MILITARY GENERAL World War II –
First Edition. SCARCE.
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- viii, 310p, [8]p of plates : ill., facsims, ports ; 24cm. #261225
- Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945
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- Germany. Hitler, Adolf. Medical aspects. – Correspondence, diaries, etc.
- Includes index.
- Irving, David, 1938-
- Morell joined the Nazi Party when Hitler came to power in 1933.[2] In 1935, Hitler’s personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, was successfully treated by Morell. Hoffmann told Hitler that Morell had saved his life.[6] Hitler met Morell in 1936, and Morell began treating Hitler with various commercial preparations, including a combination of vitamins and hydrolyzed strain of E. coli bacteria called Mutaflor (probiotic strain, isolated in 1917),[7] which successfully treated Hitler’s severe stomach cramps.[2][6] Through Morell’s prescriptions, a leg rash that Hitler had developed also disappeared.[6] Hitler was convinced of Morell’s medical genius, and Morell became part of his social inner circle.[8][9]
Some historians have attempted to explain this by citing the reputation he had gained in Germany for success in treating syphilis, along with Hitler’s own (speculated) fears of the disease, which he associated closely with Jews.[10] Others have commented on the possibility that Hitler had visible signs of Parkinson’s disease, especially towards the end of the war.[11]
Hitler recommended Morell to others of the Nazi leadership, but most of them, including Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, dismissed Morell as a quack. As Albert Speer related in his autobiography:[12]
When Hitler was troubled with grogginess in the morning, Morell would inject him with a solution of water mixed with a substance from several small, gold-foiled packets, which he called “Vitamultin”. In 1943, Ernst-Günther Schenck, Nutrition Inspector for the Waffen SS and the Wehrmacht, became suspicious of the substance. Believing it was possibly inert or made up of diluted ingredients he sent some to the nutrition inspector’s office for testing. The report he received indicated the substance did contain certain vitamins but also methamphetamine, a substance known even then to be highly addictive and strictly controlled as a result. Schenck showed the results to Reich Health Leader Dr. Leonardo Conti who informed Heinrich Himmler. Himmler’s response was that the matter should be dropped immediately.[13]
Speer characterized Morell as an opportunist who, once he achieved status as Hitler’s physician, became extremely careless and lazy in his work. By 1944, Morell developed a hostile rivalry with Dr. Karl Brandt, who had been attending Hitler since 1934. Though criticized by Brandt and other physicians, Morell was always “restored to favor”.[14]
Morell was not popular with Hitler’s entourage, who complained about the doctor’s crude table manners, poor hygiene, and body odor. Hitler is said to have responded, “I do not employ him for his fragrance, but to look after my health.”[15] Hermann Göring called Morell Der Reichsspritzenmeister, (“Reich Master of Injections”), and variations on that theme,[16][17] implying that Morell resorted to using drug injections when faced with medical problems and overused them.
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