Nazi Germany used a little courage pill called Pervitin to take Europe by storm. It turns out it was pure methamphetamine.
The methamphetamine-based drug Pervitin was manufactured from 1937 onwards by the Nazis and distributed among the armed forces
The drug was marketed as a pick-up pill which was designed to combat stress and tiredness and created feelings of euphoria. “In the beginning the army didn’t realise Pervitin was a drug: soldiers thought it was just like drinking coffee,”
But the Nazi leadership was well aware of Pervitin’s value as stimulant during combat. After having tried it in 1939 during the German invasion of Poland, the German army subsequently ordered 35 million tablets of Pervitin for soldiers before advancing on France in the spring of 1940.
