British spies considered giving Hitler female hormones

August 15, 2011 by Joseph Fitsanakis

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |

Thanks to the tireless effort of intelligence historians, we now have a brand new revelation from spy archives that can proudly stand alongside the CIA’s acoustic kitty, and the plan to poison Cuban leader Fidel Castro with a chemical that would make his beard fall out. This latest disclosure, however, surely tops the list of lunatic covert-operation schemes. According to newly discovered documents, British intelligence planners seriously considered secretly administering small doses of estrogen into the food of Adolf Hitler, in order “to make his character less aggressive”. According to the documents, British intelligence had managed to recruit a number of agents who were close enough to the German Chancellor to have physical access to his daily meals. It would have been possible, therefore, to tamper with the Nazi leader’s food intake on a routine basis, in an effort to alter his brain chemistry, which, it was hoped, would “soften his character”. The obvious question to ask, of course, is: if British intelligence had access to the Führer’s food, and if his military policies were considered a clear and present strategic threat to Britain’s security, then why not lethally poison him altogether? According to Cardiff University Professor Brian Ford, who discovered the cunning estrogen plan, British intelligence planners knew that Hitler systematically employed food tasters; it would therefore have been close to impossible to employ food poisoning as a method of assassination. Estrogen, on the other hand, is tasteless, odorless, and —if properly dispensed— could have a subtle and gradual effect on Hitler’s brain chemistry and personality. Professor Ford also notes that the estrogen idea reflected the compound’s prominence in research at that time. Indeed, medical research was just beginning to recognize the importance of hormones, and it appears that Britain’s intelligence planners had access to cutting-edge biological research data. Dr Ford also notes that the estrogen idea was only one of countless bizarre plans to apply science and technology in the service of covert operations and sabotage during World War II. He plans to discuss several of these in a new book, to be published in September, entitled Secret Weapons: Technology, Science and the Race to Win World War II.