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The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler
A fscinating look at Hitler's medical history to determine their historical consequences.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 19, 2011
This book was written in 1978. Which is a plus as well as a minus. The plus is the author's were actually able to interview physicians and colleagues who knew or took care of Hitler. The minus is the field of medicine has advanced exponentially since this book was written. Also, it reads poorly, as the authors did not seem to enlist a good editor.
Also I was trying to remember how I became aware of this book, and how it came to be on my "to read list." Probably from "In the Garden of Beasts."
So.....the book certainly provided new information to me about Hitler. Not that I had read much since a required college course. The authors summarized their research and came up with a hypothesis of what ills afflicted Hitler. And how their being treated affected him and his dictatorship the last one and half to two years of the war. I don't really want to put his diagnosis's in this review. Suffice to to say, addictions can cause very erratic behavior, and when one is already crazed, as was Hitler, it only makes it worse. This book is worth reading, if you can find it, and are interested in another piece of the World War ll puzzle.
Also I was trying to remember how I became aware of this book, and how it came to be on my "to read list." Probably from "In the Garden of Beasts."
So.....the book certainly provided new information to me about Hitler. Not that I had read much since a required college course. The authors summarized their research and came up with a hypothesis of what ills afflicted Hitler. And how their being treated affected him and his dictatorship the last one and half to two years of the war. I don't really want to put his diagnosis's in this review. Suffice to to say, addictions can cause very erratic behavior, and when one is already crazed, as was Hitler, it only makes it worse. This book is worth reading, if you can find it, and are interested in another piece of the World War ll puzzle.
July 15, 2017
This is kind of an interesting concept for a book: tracing the medical history of a given leader (in this case, obviously, Adolf Hitler) to see how that may or may not have affected their choices and involvement in world events. Unfortunately, the book isn't so much about how various medical conditions affected Hitler so much as it is an attempt to simply diagnose those issues. I think it may be a cornerstone of later and current WWII scholarship, as the book was first published in 1979, but in itself it isn't very interesting to me.
The book is also choc-a-bloc full of really precise and therefore impenetrable medical terms. I did happen to have a doctor's appointment while reading it, and my doctor very kindly translated some of them, but for heaven's sake, why would you write "myocardial infarction" instead of "heart attack" in a book that is at least theoretically for non-doctors?
Urgh. Much more interesting to people who can understand it, I think, and maybe not even then. I'd pick up some of the later scholarship that sprung up after this book (like Blitzed, by Norman Ohler, although I haven't read this yet so take it with a grain of salt) rather than this book. It also, of course, deals very heavily with Hitler, although it sticks very closely to his physical symptoms, and is very clear that whatever mental illnesses he may have developed later in life had nothing to do with the atrocities he committed.
The book is also choc-a-bloc full of really precise and therefore impenetrable medical terms. I did happen to have a doctor's appointment while reading it, and my doctor very kindly translated some of them, but for heaven's sake, why would you write "myocardial infarction" instead of "heart attack" in a book that is at least theoretically for non-doctors?
Urgh. Much more interesting to people who can understand it, I think, and maybe not even then. I'd pick up some of the later scholarship that sprung up after this book (like Blitzed, by Norman Ohler, although I haven't read this yet so take it with a grain of salt) rather than this book. It also, of course, deals very heavily with Hitler, although it sticks very closely to his physical symptoms, and is very clear that whatever mental illnesses he may have developed later in life had nothing to do with the atrocities he committed.
December 27, 2025
I wish I was a little more medically-minded, because as a layperson, this was a little dense in diagnoses at times, and I didn't fully understand the implications as I was plowing through them. But overall, very interesting! I appreciated the timelines at the beginning and end, putting his medical history next to historical events. From knowing his vanity started him on laxatives and his digestive issues inspired his elimination/vegetarian diet, to seeing that amphetamines and eyedrops whose active ingredient was cocaine kept him going until they didn't, it's interesting to see how medicine was practiced in a different time, not that long ago.
My question going in was, how much were his medical issues a contributing factor to all his craziness? I think he was morally bankrupt all on his own. Certainly, he was more erratic and impulsive at the end of his life, and that correlates with his increased drug use. But he sounds like he was of sound mind, with periods of depression, and sometimes needed additional medical treatment for effects of previous treatments, which is a cycle that would get anyone down. So he's not off the hook for anything- it's not the sort of drug use that makes a person delusional. But it is possible that I would be interested to read more recent literature on the topic. Were his doctor's notes every found? Has more information been declassified? What happened to his gall bladder? I'm totally going to believe the autopsies skipping over that were political censorship until I have more information.
My question going in was, how much were his medical issues a contributing factor to all his craziness? I think he was morally bankrupt all on his own. Certainly, he was more erratic and impulsive at the end of his life, and that correlates with his increased drug use. But he sounds like he was of sound mind, with periods of depression, and sometimes needed additional medical treatment for effects of previous treatments, which is a cycle that would get anyone down. So he's not off the hook for anything- it's not the sort of drug use that makes a person delusional. But it is possible that I would be interested to read more recent literature on the topic. Were his doctor's notes every found? Has more information been declassified? What happened to his gall bladder? I'm totally going to believe the autopsies skipping over that were political censorship until I have more information.
September 22, 2008
The authors, a psychiatrist and german speaking nurse, build a circumstantial but convincing argument that Adolf was using an incredible amount of methamphetamine from '42-'45.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews