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AS the father of the “master race” Adolf Hitler had to be the epitome of male virility.

If the Third Reich was to rule the world the supreme leader needed to show his followers he was the perfect specimen of physical and mental health.

But for a hypochondriac, manic depressive with Parkinson’s, allegedly deformed genitals and an almost non-existent sex drive, that was rather a tall order.

The 5ft 8ins Fuhrer knew he was fighting a losing battle with his own mind, body and libido.

So Hitler turned to drugs like cocaine and amphetamines to make him a Nazi superman, developing a habit that may have changed the course of history.

A fascinating TV documentary screened next week reveals the full, shocking story of Hitler’s drug abuse, based on recently-discovered records and letters from his physician Dr Theodore Morell – dubbed the “Reichsmaster of injections” by Nazis

Morell administered a cocktail of more than 80 different drugs, tonics and quack treatments from morphine and barbiturates, vitamins and probiotics to bull semen, rat poison and even oil used to clean guns.

Now the sobering question on the lips of doctors, psychiatrists and historians across the globe is whether these drugs played any part in turning a megalomaniac into a genocidal mass murderer.

Were doctors mis-medicating a madman?

In National Geographic channel’s Nazi Underworld – Hitler’s Drug Use Revealed, psychiatrist Professor Nassir Ghaemi claims: “It’s not whether Hitler was an amphetamine addict or not – it’s that Hitler had bipolar disorder and amphetamines made it worse.

"That is the issue. That has never been described before and that would explain a lot why Hitler changed in the late 1930s and the 1940s.”

But many commentators fear these controversial claims play into the hands of Hitler excusers and neo-Nazis…suggesting he was of unsound mind, and could be held only partly responsible for the millions of deaths he ordered?

Holocaust denier David Irving, for example, claims medical mistakes induced Hitler into “euphoric trances”, suggesting he was more or less unaware of his actions.

Last year a cache of letters and medical records came to light in America including medical reports on Hitler commissioned by the US military after the war.

They included a 47-page classified report based on interviews with six of Hitler’s doctors, including Morell.

Hitler met Morell – an obese man with appalling personal hygiene dubbed “a fat, unappetizing quack” by many of the dictator’s aides – thanks to his personal photographer Heinrich Hoffman, whom Morell had treated for gonorrhoea.

The Fuhrer had been suffering chronic eczema which no other medical advisor could control.

He also had persistent stomach cramps and appalling flatulence which many thought were worsened by his love of pea soup and habit of talking while eating.

Morell cured the eczema and prescribed live bacteria which eased the cramps and a delighted Hitler appointed Morell as his personal physician – to the annoyance of his inner circle.

They had good cause. Morell’s vast drug cabinet was later found to contain a gun-cleaning oil which had been banned from human consumption and flatulence pills made from strychnine or rat poison.

Hitler’s digestion problems prompted him to become a vegetarian: not, as Nazi propaganda claimed, because he was an animal lover.

But he took such massive amounts of his “anti-gas” pills that he developed liver problems and jaundice.

Some of his other physicians even speculated that he was being poisoned by Morell.Hitler dismissed them as “fools” and had two of them transferred elsewhere.

The reports show Hitler also snorted powdered cocaine to “clear his sinuses and soothe his throat” and used eye-drops infused with 10% cocaine.

But he had begun to “crave” the drug and his dosage had to be lowered.

Morell also gave Hitler virility injections – containing extracts from the prostate glands or ground testicles of young bulls – to boost his sex-drive so he could keep up with the demands of his lover, Eva Braun, who was 23 years his junior.

Another early form of Viagra prescribed by Hitler’s doctor was a shot of bull’s semen.

Cambridge University historian Richard Evans says: “Morell gave Hitler a preparation called Testoviron, a kind of testosterone preparation, usually before Hitler was going to spend a night with Eva Braun.

“Eva Braun was young and much fitter.Hitler was much older, he was lazy, he didn’t take much exercise and I’m sure he asked Doctor Morell to help him out before he went to bed with Braun.”

There is one well-documented incident when Hitler appears to have been high on drugs during a meeting with Italian dictator Mussolini.

Hitler was desperate to stop Mussolini from changing sides but his hyperactive state shattered the regal setting of the stately Villa Pagani Gaggia in northern Italy.

Richard Evans adds: “We can be pretty sure Morell gave some tablets to Hitler when he went to see Mussolini because of all the descriptions of him in that meeting.

“He’s just hyperactive, completely hyper in every way, talking, gabbling, clearly on speed.”

Morell’s notes also reveal that the “brave” dictator was terrified of cancer, paranoid about colds and took more drugs to control his high blood pressure.

And after shouting his way to power, he was constantly hoarse and had polyps removed from his vocal cords twice.

Morell treated Hitler throughout the war even though other Nazi doctors despised him and blamed him for the dictator’s dramatic deterioration.

After the doctor was captured by the Allies and accused of criminal negligence, he confessed to administering opiates, morphine, barbiturates and amphetamines – sparking further speculation that drugs had exacerbated the dictator’s erratic behaviour.

Psychiatrist Professor Nassir Ghaemi says: “Some of his American interrogators wondered whether he was a double agent, trying to make Hitler so dysfunctional that he couldn’t win, couldn’t achieve what he wanted.”

But other commentators say it is unlikely any of the drugs had an effect on Hitler’s sanity or the outcome of the war.

Hans-Joachim Neumann, author of a book called Was Hitler Ill? explains: “Just 48 hours before his death Hitler dictated his will, as lucid and alert as ever. His mental capabilities were normal.”

Neumann adds: “The Jews were not wiped out because Hitler was ill, but because most Germans followed his decisions. Hitler always knew what he was doing.”

Nazi Underworld – Hitler’s Drug Use Revealed, National Geographic Channel, Tuesday at 8pm.