Norman Ohler (born 4 February 1970) is a German ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestselling author, novelist and screenwriter, best known for his book ''Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany'', which has been published in over 30 languages.

Overview

Ohler was born in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1970 and attended journalism school in Hamburg. In 1995 he published ''Die Quotenmaschine'', the world's first hypertext novel in German. His second novel, ''Mitte'', was published in 2001 and praised by '' Der Spiegel'' as his 'masterpiece', followed by his third, ''Ponte City'', in 2002. These three novels form Ohler's ''City Trilogy''. In 2004, Ohler was invited by the German Goethe-Institut to act as

writer-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

in Ramallah. There, Ohler wrote about the life of the Palestinians in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

and published the last interview

Yassir Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

gave, shortly before his death. Ohler has also worked as writer-in-residence in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. In 2008, he co-wrote the movie ''

Palermo Shooting ''Palermo Shooting'' is a 2008 film written and directed by German director Wim Wenders, and starring Campino, Dennis Hopper, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Lou Reed as himself, and an uncredited Milla Jovovich, also playing herself. It was screened at the ...

'' with Wim Wenders, starring Dennis Hopper. In September 2015, Kiepenheuer & Witsch published Ohler's first non-fiction work, ''Der totale Rausch: Drogen im Dritten Reich'', and the following year the book appeared in English as ''Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany''. Upon publication in the US, it became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. In the book, Ohler researches what role psychoactive drugs, particularly stimulants such as methamphetamine, played in the military history of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, concluding that many of the German military and political leadership—especially

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

— used psychoactive drugs during the war. The book was praised by some historians:

Antony Beevor Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works on the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. Early life Born in Kensington, Beevor was educated at tw ...

calls ''Blitzed'' 'a remarkable work of research. Ohler's account makes us look at this densely studied period rather differently';

Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...

describes it as 'very good and extremely interesting ... a serious piece of scholarship very well-researched' and

Hans Mommsen Hans Mommsen (5 November 1930 – 5 November 2015) was a German historian, known for his studies in German social history, and for his functionalist interpretation of the Third Reich, especially for arguing that Adolf Hitler was a weak dictator. ...

, one of Germany's leading historians, refers to ''Blitzed'' as 'changing the overall picture'. However, other historians disagreed with Ohler's approach. German historian,

Nikolaus Wachsmann Nikolaus Daniel Wachsmann (born 1971) is a professor of modern European history in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck College, University of London. Academic career Wachsmann was born in Munich. He graduated from the ...

wrote that Ohler "appears to mix fact and fiction. ..He spices up the evidence, throws in pop culture references (“Teutonic Easy Riders"), and garnishes it with snazzy puns ("High Hitler"). It remains to be seen if this recipe will appeal to anglophone readers. To borrow Ohler's style: will they experience a big buzz, or a bad trip?".

Dagmar Herzog Dagmar Herzog (born 1961) is Distinguished Professor of History and the Daniel Rose Faculty Scholar at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She has published extensively on the histories of sexuality and gender, psychoanalysis, theolo ...

expressed the view that 'Ohler's analysis does not withstand close scrutiny. (…) Anyone seeking a deepened understanding of the Nazi period must be wary of a book that provides more distraction and distortion than clarification.' James Pugh judged that while the book is an 'engaging and entertaining piece of journalistic history', it was 'troubling based on its tone, scholarship and engagement with the literature'.

Richard J. Evans Sir Richard John Evans (born 29 September 1947) is a British historian of 19th- and 20th-century Europe with a focus on Germany. He is the author of eighteen books, including his three-volume ''The Third Reich Trilogy'' (2003–2008). Evans was ...

, Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge from 2008 to 2014, author of ''History of the Third Reich'', called ''Blitzed'' 'a crass and dangerously inaccurate account' He also wrote that the book is 'morally and politically dangerous', because it implies that Hitler was not responsible for his actions. Ohler rejected this claim. Evans replied: "′Blitzed′ belongs not in the world of serious history, but in the new landscape of ‘post-truth’ and ‘alternative facts’". In 2020, Ohler's second non-fiction book appeared: "The Bohemians – The Lovers who led Germany’s Resistance against the Nazis“. "A detailed and meticulously researched tale about a pair of young German resisters that reads like a thriller“, writes The New York Times.

Books

Novels

*''Die Quotenmaschine '' (1998) *''Mitte'' (2001) *''Ponte City'' (2003) *''Die Gleichung des Lebens'' (2017)

Non-fiction

*''Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany'' (2016), *''The Bohemians – The Lovers who led Germany's Resistance against the Nazis'' (2020),

Film

*''

'', screenwriter (2008)

References

External links

* *