9 People Who Abused Drugs In Nazi Germany

9. Dr. Franz Wertheim

To cope with the pressures of the war, doctors were prone to taking drugs. Franz Wertheim, a medical officer in the military was no different. In 1940, Wertheim wrote that, "we doctors experimented on ourselves. We would begin the day by drinking a glass of cognac and taking two injections of morphine. We found cocaine to be useful at midday.” Wertheim wrote also that he and his fellow doctors “were not always fully in command of our senses.”

Cocaine use was looked down upon, as the Nazis saw it as a degenerate drug, and falsely associated it with the Jewish community. It was also used heavily in The Weimar Republic- a period of democratic rule in Germany that the Nazis had heavily opposed. Despite this, Cocaine was commonly prescribed by doctors, as a form of pain relief.