The medical casebook of Adolf Hitler

While dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler had major illnesses of three organ systems: gastrointestinal, nervous and vascular. But comparatively little attention has been paid to either the nature of the illnesses or their likely historical significance. Professor Heston and his wife (a nurse whose native language was German) have researched Hitler’s medical history in every available field. After studying recently declassified material in the National Archives in Washington, they tested the information and their medical hypotheses on it by putting specific questions to people who had either known Hitler or had opportunities to observe him. One result of their researches is to show the immense quantities of different drugs which Hitler had administered to him, some of them on a daily basis. The latest standards of modern medical science have been brought to bear upon the evidence, and the book is organised much as a medical ‘work-up’ on a hospital chart. Yet throughout the authors have been at pains to make this fascinating and historically important material intelligible to a nonmedical readership.