Health of Adolf Hitler

Trauma

First World War

Supposedly, during World War I, Hitler served as a dispatch runner for the List Regiment of the Bavarian Army. On the night of 13–14 October 1918, he and his comrades were victims of an Allied mustard gas attack near Ypres, Belgium. They had been leaving their dug-out to retreat when the attack occurred, and were partially blinded by it. Hitler received initial treatment in Flanders, and on 21 October was sent to the military hospital in Pasewalk near Stettin in Pomerania. It is believed that instead of being treated for a gas attack, Hitler was being treated for syphilis. It was there that Hitler learned that Germany had asked the Allies for an armistice. He also learned that revolution was in the air. Hitler later claimed that it was while recuperating at Pasewalk that he became a virulent antisemite, although historians consider this to be unlikely, especially when Hitler referred to his conversion in terms of a vision he received. He left the hospital on 19 November, eight days after the armistice was signed. Hitler's claim has been disputed by many historians.

1944 assassination attempt

As a result of the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt – in which he survived a bomb explosion at his Wolf's Lair headquarters – both of his eardrums were punctured, and he had numerous superficial wounds, including blisters, burns, and 200 wood splinters on his hands and legs, cuts on his forehead, abrasions and swelling on his left arm, and a right arm that was swollen, painful, and difficult to raise, causing him to use his left hand to greet Benito Mussolini, who arrived that day for a previously scheduled summit meeting. The punctured eardrums were the most serious of these injuries. Weeks later, blood was still seeping through Hitler's bandages, and he suffered sharp pain in the right ear, as well as hearing loss. The eardrums took several weeks to heal, during which Hitler suffered from dizziness and a loss of balance which made him awkwardly hew to the right when walking. In addition, his blood pressure was high. One unusual result was that the trembling in Hitler's hands and left leg, which had increasingly afflicted him for sometime, abated for a time after the explosion, which Morell attributed to nervous shock; it returned in mid-September.

Syphilis

Hitler's tremor and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been symptoms of tertiary (late stage) syphilis, which would mean he had a syphilis infection for many years. However, syphilis had become curable in 1910 with Dr. Paul Ehrlich's introduction of the drug Salvarsan.

In The Man with the Miraculous Hands, his biography of Dr. Felix Kersten, journalist Joseph Kessel wrote that in the winter of 1942, Kersten heard of Hitler's medical condition. Consulted by his patient, Heinrich Himmler, as to whether he could "assist a man who suffers from severe headaches, dizziness and insomnia", Kersten was shown a top-secret 26-page report. It detailed how Hitler had contracted syphilis in his youth and was treated for it at a hospital in Pasewalk. However, in 1937, symptoms re-appeared, showing that the disease was still active, and by the start of 1942, signs were evident that progressive syphilitic paralysis (tabes dorsalis) was occurring. Himmler advised Kersten that Theodor Morell (who in the 1930s claimed to be a venereologist) was in charge of Hitler's treatment and that it was a state secret. The book also relates how Kersten learned from Himmler's secretary, Rudolf Brandt, that at that time, probably the only other people privy to the report's information were Nazi Party chairman Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe. Interestingly, Morrell was trained as a general practitioner physician. However his specialty was neither dermatology nor venereology but in fact obstetrics and gynaecology. Despite his lack of training, Morrell did treat Hitler (who had an obsessive fear of venereal disease) with Arsenobenzol, designated "606," Salvarsan, Neosalvarsan with bismuth, and iodine salts.

Monorchism

It has been alleged that Hitler had monorchism, the medical condition of having only one testicle. In 2008, a British newspaper reported that in 1916, a German doctor named Johan Jambor had encountered an injured Hitler during the Battle of the Somme. Jambor allegedly asserted that Hitler – who is known to have suffered a groin injury in the battle – had in fact lost a testicle. Jambor had supposedly described the dictator's condition to a priest, who later wrote down what he had been told.

Soviet doctor Lev Bezymensky, allegedly involved in the Soviet autopsy, stated in a 1967 book that Hitler's left testicle was missing. Bezymensky later admitted that the claim was falsified.

Hitler was routinely examined by many doctors throughout his childhood, military service, and later political career, and no clinical mention of any such condition has ever been discovered. Eduard Bloch, Hitler's childhood doctor, told U.S. interrogators in 1943 that Hitler's genitals were in fact "completely normal".

Huntington's disease

It has been speculated that Hitler had Huntington's disease. When many of the physical symptoms shown in newsreels during his later life – his hand tremor and shuffling gait – are coupled with his alleged mental and psychological deterioration, they may also point toward Huntington's. This is only conjecture, since a definitive diagnosis would require DNA testing. Although Huntington's disease was known and considered a hereditary disease during the time period, even appearing in state papers on the sterilisation list, it is not known if Hitler knew of this condition.

Parkinson's disease

It has been speculated Hitler had Parkinson's disease. Newsreels of Hitler show he had tremors in his left hand and a shuffling walk (also a symptom of tertiary syphilis, see above) which began before the war and continued to worsen until the end of his life. Morell treated Hitler with a drug agent that was commonly used in 1945, although Morell is viewed as an incompetent doctor by most historians and any diagnoses he may have made are subject to doubt.

Dr. Werner Haase, Hitler's personal physician, who was in attendance every day from 21 April until Hitler's suicide on 30 April, was convinced that Hitler had Parkinson's. In addition, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, who worked at an emergency casualty station in the Reich Chancellery during April 1945, also claimed Hitler might have Parkinson's disease. However, Schenck only saw Hitler briefly on two occasions and, by his own admission, was extremely exhausted and dazed during these meetings; at the time, he had been in surgery for numerous days without much sleep.

Other complaints

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According to a medical examination from 1924, Hitler was 175 cm tall and weighed 77 kg, making him slightly overweight. Another examination from 1937 reported his height to be 175.26 cm and his weight to be 67.04 kg, which puts him in the normal weight category of the body mass index (BMI).

By the 1930s, Hitler suffered from stomach pains, which could be severe after continued stress. In 1935, a non-cancerous polyp was removed from his throat. Hitler also developed eczema on his legs in 1936, but Morell successfully treated him by the end of 1937. The dictator sometimes wore glasses to study documents, but forbade the publication of photographs of him wearing them.

American journalist Frederick Cable Oechsner claimed that Hitler had a rhinoplasty in Munich sometime after 1933 to correct the shape of his nose, as it was purportedly "a little bulbous at the end and fatty on the bridge"; a 2007 medical analysis was unable to find evidence of this. Hitler's secretary Christa Schroeder similarly claimed that he first donned his toothbrush moustache () to distract from a supposedly large nose, but this was only visibly engorged closer to the end of WWII.

Hitler is often asserted by fringe theories to have faked his death in 1945, implying a marginal mandibulectomyMultiple sources:

• .
• (with certain eyewitnesses providing different stories about why the dental remains might be found detached).Multiple sources:
• According to one report to the FBI, Hitler allegedly made it to Argentina and was suffering from asthma and ulcers.

In 2025, blood from the sofa where Hitler committed suicide was used by Turi King of the University of Bath for DNA analysis. The blood was confirmed to be Hitler's by comparing it to DNA from a relative with shared paternal ancestry. Analysis of the genetic material revealed that he had markers for Kallmann syndrome, a genetic disorder that prevents a person from starting or fully completing puberty. Many males with the syndrome have an undescended testicle and 10 percent have a micropenis; most have low testosterone levels. An additional symptom of Kallmann syndrome is a reduced or total lack of sense of smell. King cites Hitler's facial hair and relatively deep tone in the only known recording of him speaking unofficially as showing that he did enter puberty.

Mental health

Drug use

Prescribed 90 medications during the war years by Morell, Hitler took up to 28 pills a day for his various ailments. He regularly consumed methamphetamine, barbiturates, opiates, cocaine, testosterone (regularly from 1944 on), potassium bromide, and deadly nightshade (in the form of Doktor Koster's Antigaspills).

According to Käthe Heusermann (assistant to Hitler's dentist, Hugo Blaschke) Hitler would accept "only the bare minimum" of anesthetic, sitting motionlessly through a dental extraction in November 1944.

Criticism of using Hitler's health to explain Nazism

In a 1980 article, German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler was highly dismissive of all theories that sought to attribute the rise and policies of Nazi Germany to some defect, medical or otherwise, of Hitler's. In Wehler's opinion, besides being extremely difficult to prove, these theories essentially attributed the whole phenomenon of Nazi Germany to one flawed individual.

Echoing Wehler's views, British historian Ian Kershaw argued that it was better to take a broader view of German history by seeking to examine what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies, as opposed to the "personalised" explanations for the Holocaust and World War II.

In his book Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil (1998), American journalist Ron Rosenbaum sarcastically remarked that theories concerning Hitler's mental state and sexual activity shed more light on the theorists and their culture than on Hitler.

Inbreeding as a possible factor

It has been theorised that Hitler's physical and mental health problems were the result of his having been significantly inbred, with his father, Alois Hitler, possibly being his mother's second cousin. Inbred people have a higher chance of having developmental disorders and harmful mutations, ostensibly explaining reports of Hitler's monorchism, but there is no conclusive evidence of this applying to Hitler.

Explanatory notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

References

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2. Maack, Benjamin. (2008-03-28). "Wenn Bilder lügen". [[Der Spiegel (website).
3. (2009). "With Hitler to the End: The Memoir of Hitler's Valet". Skyhorse Publishing.
4. (2003-03-12). "Hitler syphilis theory revived". BBC News.
5. Kessel, Joseph. ''The Man With the Miraculous Hands: The Fantastic Story of Felix Kersten, Himmler's Private Doctor''. Classics of War Series. Springfield, NJ: Burford Books, 2004. {{ISBN. 1580801226.
6. [https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=264091&hilit=Salvarsan Hitler's Health]
7. (19 November 2008). "Nazi leader Hitler really did have only one ball". The Telegraph.
8. Bezymensky L. A. ''Operatsija "Mif" ili skolko raz choronili Gitlera.'' Moscow 1995
9. John, Tara. (February 23, 2016). "The Immortal Myth of Hitler's Deformed Genitals".
10. "Huntington's disease - Symptoms and causes". Mayo Clinic.
11. "Huntington's disease - Symptoms and causes". Mayo Clinic.
12. "Hitler's 'Cure' for Huntington's Disease {{!}} Huntington's Disease Lighthouse Families".
13. (2015). "Adolf Hitler and His Parkinsonism". Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology.
14. O'Donnell, James P.. (2001). "[[The Bunker (book)". Da Capo Press.
15. "Physician describes Hitler's last days".
16. Friedmann, Jan. (2010-06-23). "Adolf Hitler's Time in Jail: Flowers for the Führer in Landsberg Prison". Der Spiegel.
17. Kellerhoff, Sven-Felix. (2016-12-26). "Theodor Morell: So stieg ein Quacksalber zu Hitlers Leibarzt auf".
18. Fuchs, Thomas. (2000). "A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler". Penguin.
19. "Hitler's Personal Photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann".
20. Oechsner, Frederick Cable. (1943). "This Is The Enemy". [[Heinemann (publisher).
21. (1942-06-22). "GERMANY: Inside Hitler".
22. (October 2007). "Did Hitler Have a Rhinoplasty?". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
23. Schroeder, Christa. (2009). "He Was My Chief: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Secretary". Frontline Books.
24. Hett, Benjamin Carter. (2021-11-19). "The Decision That Cost Hitler the War (Published 2021)". The New York Times.
25. (2015-03-30). "Geburtstagsempfang im Berghof auf demObersalzberg bei Berchtesgaden:...".
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29. Ohler, Norman. (13 February 2017). "Hitler's Doctor Said the Dictator Almost Died from a Cocaine Overdose". Vice.
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35. (1942). "Hitler, the man--notes for a case history.". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.
36. "Klara Hitler".
37. (November 2014). "The effect of inbreeding rate on fitness, inbreeding depression and heterosis over a range of inbreeding coefficients". Evolutionary Applications.
38. Bromberg, N.. (October 7, 1974). "Hitler's Childhood". Int. R. Psycho-Anal..