September, the fate of Europe hangs in the balance, and an effort to appease Adolph Hitler in the Nazi war machine, Allied leaders handed part of Czechoslovakia, called the Sudaton Land over to Germany. A smiling British Prime Minister Nevill chamberlaind returned from Munich, then came down the steps of his airplane in triumph. And the Prime Minister comes home home to an empire pilled with giant relief, home to a welcome that he will never forget. It seemed like a
true turning point in history. The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved, is, in my view, only the prelu to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. That neither the Czechoslovakia problem nor peace had been remotely achieved. Hitler wasn't done with Germany's neighbor, and he was prepared to seize every advantage he could
to finish the job, even a medical emergency. Six months later, in March nine, Czechoslovakia's President Emil Hotcha came to Berlin to meet with Hitler, Herman Goring, and other Nazi leaders this is scholar Norman Ohler, author of the book Blitzed Drugs and Nazi Germany. During that visit, Girling um put a paper on the desk and set please sign here. This is your capitulation that German troops are coming tomorrow.
If you signed here, no blood will be shared. Hacha refused, but under the stress of the situation, the ailing president suffered what was likely a coronary episode. The historical records show that he actually fainted. Hatcha actually lost consciousness in that room with Hitler, Girling and some other Nazi big wigs. And of course, if Hotcha wasn't awaken functioning, then he couldn't sign the paper that would give his country away
to the Nazis. Luckily, Hitler's personal physician, Theodore Morrell, was standing by. Morell was called and he injected a cocktail into the unconscious Czechoslovakia president. But this cocktail was no Martini. Well, it's not known for certain what was in the drugs that were shot into Hotcha. Most scholars think it was
meth amphetamy. Certainly, the cocktail had the effect that Hotcha came back to life, looked around in the room, and suddenly felt that he could do it, that he could trust these guys, and Girling would then say to him, come on, we will protect you. So Hotcha then signed it and basically signed over the defeat of his country. The next day Germans came and the Czechoslovakia was basically gone.
The very next morning, Hitler invaded Prague without a fight through the snow, the legions of occupation marching to Czechoslovakia. This rapid stroke which is outraged all freedom loving nations of the world. He's got it out with military executive Artiya, rose into Prague and mons God on the ragin the castle of King Winter's Nus. Presently, from a window of the castle you may catch a glimpse of Hitler himself
contemplating his new conquest. Hitler stands alone in that castle window, But there was another man who was certainly in the room, doctor Theodore Morrel, the man who injected the Czech president in Berlin. Throughout the war, he was always at Hitler's side, and the conquest of Czechoslovakia was far from the only way he helped alter the course of the war and history itself. I'm Sean braswell. This is flashback the podcast from Ozzie designed to take you on a ride through
some of history's most remarkable, unintended consequences. Today a story of war and peace, of Madmen and vitamins, the cautionary tale about what can happen when you give powerful people some powerful drugs. If you've ever seen a documentary film about Adolph Hitler or the Nazis, chances are you've seen some of the home movies shot by Hitler's girlfriend, Ava
Brown at the Berghoff the Furor's Mountain retreat. In those remarkable silent color films, you can see a relaxed Hitler chatting with other Nazi leaders like Hammon Gory and Joseph Gebbels on a sun drenched deck with the mountain view behind. The Nazis, eat cake and sit tea and gleefully discuss plans for world domination. One of the figures you see repeatedly but might not recognize, is an overweight bald man with glasses. This was Hitler's personal physician, Dr Theodore Morrell.
What you don't see, of course, is what happens when Ava Brown turns off the camera. That's when things are turned to normal and the Nazis warts are revealed, Brown goes back to biting her lips until they bleed. Dr Morrel is so unhealthy he can barely climb a flight of stair. And Hitler himself when the camera stops, his hands are shaking so badly his teacup rattles loudly in its saucer. The German Fuere is a wreck and a drug addict, and an increasingly deranged one. And there's one
man to thank for it. But believe it or not, this whole thing, and perhaps the most fateful doctor patient relationship in history, starts with a very minor problem, one that World War Two historians don't often pay much attention to Adolph Hitler's insane and unrelenting flatulence. Hitler suffered from pretty bad health. This is Giles Milton, a historian and the author of When Hitler Took Cocaine and Lennon Lost his Brain. He had suffered from stomach crumps, from diarrhea,
from appalling flatulence. I mean this was partly perhaps due to the diet that he ate. He he only ate these sort of watery vegetables which he had purred or mashed, and he ate these virtually every meal. Hitler had such bad gas he would often have to leave the table,
and his dietary problems left him desperate for solutions Norman Ohler. Again, Hitler was always looking for unorthodox treatments, and he did not like his conventional doctors that would send him on diets when he was complaining of stomach cramps and gas, which was his main problem in the In the mid thirties, finally Hitler met someone who could help, even if his methods were a bit unorthodox. Morrel was a celebrity doctor in u Berlin in the early thirties, and he was
known to treat patients for diseases that didn't exist. He was a type of doctor Field Good. Morrell was also something of a medical pioneer. This was a new approach to medicine, and he used especially vitamins. In the beginning. He was sure that if you in checked hi dosages of vitamins into the blood stream of a person, that that person would have more energy, and that it would also elevate the mood of that person. It's not such a crazy idea when we do it. Still today we
take vitamin supplements. But I was walking once in l A and I saw at a health food store an announcement that they were offering injections of vitamin B one. So I guess Morell in away was an avant garde health doctor or fitness doctor. Then in nine three, something happened that made even Berlin's resident doctor feel good uneasy. Someone smeared the word Jew and large letters across the
plaque outside the doctor's office. Morrell was not a Jew, but in the wake of that hate crime, he knew he needed to make sure others knew that as well. His response was that he joined the Nazi Party to show that he was not a Jew. The Jews obviously weren't allowed to join the Nazi Party, and Morrell came
to see the Nazis as more than just protection. This reaction was not what an appalling racist movement, but his reaction was, Yeah, I'm going to join them so they don't, you know, so I can be part of this, uh, this movement. So that was a very opportunist reaction, but it tells a lot about Morele and his later approach in life towards the Nazis. He basically tried to take advantage of them. He was never a real believer in the ideology. He was just a believer in power and
money and even fame. And a few years later an opportunity came knocking that would give the social climbing Nazi vitamin peddler just the chance he desired. One day in the phone rang in Dr Morrell's office. A few hours later, he was being flown to Munich first special vegetarian spaghetti dinner with none other than the Fewer himself. After the dinner, Hitler admitted to the doctor that his digestion was so
poor he could barely function. Giles Milton again, and he turned to Theodore Morrell because third or Morell claimed that he would be able to help him, And help him he did, but in the most unorthodox ways. Morrell studied Hitler in his diet and his resulting digestion. After Hitler down to typical vegetable platter one day, the doctor recorded in his diary that quote constipation and colossal flatulence occurred
on a scale I have seldom encountered before. He began by giving the furer these things, these tiny little black tablets, and they were they were called Dr Custa's anti gas pills, and Hitler was taking sixteen of these pills a day. What he didn't realize is that they contained small quantities of stricken in which of course is a is a poisoning. But the treatment did work on the gas front, Norman Ohler, and it did cure Hitler's um bloating in nineteen thirty
six nenteen thirty seven. And Hitler was so impressed by this effect, which was a big effect on his daily life, that he appointed Morale as his personal physician. Doctor feel Good had gone from being a celebrity doctor to treating the most powerful man in Europe. And for a while everything was great, and Hitler in fact did not get sick for those first years. In Morel's treatment, never got the flu or anything, never got a cold because he was always high on filled to the brim with vitamin
C and other vitamins. By the summer of nineteen one, a healthy Hitler in Germany had taken much of Europe and turned their attention to Russia. At midday on June the twenty two, the peoples of the U. S as I heard the news that Table to war with Germany. Loudspeakers in the principal cities carried the voice of Mr Monitov, announcing that the Nazis were already flinging in the battle about a hundred divisions along up front, extending them a
two thousand miles. The invasion of Russia was a critical juncture in the war, and Hitler was at odds with his generals about the best way to do it. And then Hitler felt ill. He had for the first time. He was ill since the war started, actually since thirty six and since he met Morrel and Um. He had a strong, very strong flu with high fever, and demanded from Morrel that he would give him something that would enable him to go into the military briefing room and
continue his version of the campaign. And so the loyal doctor obliged and gave the few something stronger, a substance that would alter Hitler's physiological makeup and ultimately his conduct of the war, and with disastrous consequences. Do you have an interesting tale about unintended consequences from history or your own life. Please share it with us by emailing flashback at Aussie dot com. That's flashback at os y dot com. We all need a break from the constant cycle to
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