A biological threat or a social disease?

Abstract

Racial hygiene -cleansing the Volk of those deemed undesirable by the regime such as anti-socials, biologically defective individuals and races -was at the heart of Nazi policy. This essay will explore whether the Nazi wrath was also directed against drug addicts; or, in other words: was drug addiction considered a biological disease to be eradicated? The answer is no. The Germans believed that drug addiction, unlike mental defi ciency and alcoholism, was not hereditary. Not being hereditary, it presented no danger to the master race but could be cured, despite patients' relapses. Those who were not considered a threat to the race were deemed worthy of life and were treated relatively well.

“A Profound, Abiding Hatred”: An Analysis of Hermann Goering’s Alleged Morphine Addiction

“…As the war progressed and his influence waned, other Nazis seem to have dismissed Goering as little more than a drug addict. One SS commander stated to Gilbert that Goering's "drug addiction and corruption" made him write off Goering as any sort of "moderating" influence on Hitler's increasingly erratic behavior, while one of Joseph Goebbels' aides claimed that Dr. Theodor Morell, Hitler's personal physician, had said that Goering "was becoming more and more a slave to the habit" [5]. In his book Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich, Ohler paints a picture of Goering injecting massive amounts of morphine directly into his veins, directly leading to an ill-fated meeting with Hitler that resulted in the irrational decision to halt the German armies outside of the trapped British forces at Dunkirk [12].…”

“…In 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reich Security Main Office, and possibly working under the influence of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, proposed a law that called for drug addicts to be included on the list of "anti-socials" within the Reich. The cabinet, which included Goering at the time, quickly struck down the proposal, for the bill would have "vastly expanded the policing power of the SS" [5]. After such a rebuff, it would have been in the SS's interest to portray Goering as an incapacitated drug addict.…”

“…Goering himself was aware that his history of morphine addiction was a potential political liability and had his medical records from Långbro destroyed in the early 1930s. However, by this point, the secret was already so well-known that even the foreign diplomatic corps was aware of his history [5]. "Well aware of the dangers of overindulgence," Goering was "determined that never again would he fall victim to the addiction which had brought him low in Sweden" and was careful to monitor his intake of paracodeine beginning in 1937 [17].…”

“…In addition to this, approximately once a year, he would visit the clinic of Professor Hubert Kahle in Cologne to help aid in any withdrawal symptoms, typically in the form of sleeping pills. He believed that this, combined with a sauna at his private mansion, helped control his addiction [5]. Despite his unhealthy weight -nearly 280 pounds at the time of his 1945 capture -Goering also displayed "meticulous attention" to his body [3], though whether this was out of narcissism [3] or a desire to avoid repeating his past negative experiences is impossible to determine.…”

“…Goering had a well-known history of a debilitating morphine addiction that had forced him into involuntary commitment several decades earlier [4]. This, combined with other Nazi's dismissal of him as a "slave" to his addiction [5], has made it easy for both his contemporaries and historians to downplay Goering as "nothing more than [a] self-indulgent, pleasure-seeking, drug-impregnated bag of lard" [6].…”