Originally posted by Steve Sherlock
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The author is not a historian. He's a journalist, screenwriter and fiction writer. I watched a few of his interviews on u tube and read a number of articles based on his book. A lot of his comments on the use of Pervitan seem to parrot a 2005 article in der Spiegel magazine. I will reproduce the portion of my book that covered Pervitan later.
His book got mixed reviews from the history community. The positive reviews were generally one liners like eye opening etc. the critical reviews basically accused him of generalizations, lack of facts etc. The author was out to make a buck, I get it. As one of his critics wrote drugs and Nazis is a double whammy.
I don't dispute the use of Pervitan. As I said earlier there were issues during the 1940 French campaign that were acknowledged and corrected by the Germans.Ohler like the author of the Spiegel article only mention Pervitan as an issue during the 1940 campaign.Don't forget Pervitan was an over the counter drug and its effects not widely studied.
In the United States Aderoll a product similar to Pervitan is the drug of choice to treat ADHD in children.
In reading articles based on Ohlers book it appears that he intentionally or unintentionally gives the readers the impression that the Hildebrand firm produced chocolate with Pervitan. These articles refer to this chocolate as Panzer Chocolate or Flyers Chocolate. Of course this is in fact Schokakola. No Pervitan, just caffeine which technically is a drug and form of analeptic.
It doesn't bother me if the general public accepts these generalizations at face value. However as a serious collector and student of the German soldier I just want the facts as boring and unglamorous as they may be. I remember one forum where someone stated that the March Drink was Perivitan. Unfortunately the March Drink is nothing more dangerous then lemon powder.
Jim
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