Health of Adolf Hitler

The health of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, has long been a subject of popular controversy. Both his physical and mental health have come under scrutiny.

During his younger days, Hitler's health was generally good, despite his lack of exercise and a poor diet, which he later replaced with a mostly vegetarian one. Even then, though, Hitler had a very strong sweet tooth, and would often eat multiple cream cakes at a sitting.^[1][2] Later, however, as the tension and pressure of being the Führer of Germany began to take its toll, Hitler's health took a downturn from which he never really recovered. Exacerbated by the many drugs and potions he was given by his unconventional doctor, Theodor Morell, and undermined by Hitler's own hypochondria, his premonition of a short lifespan, and his fear of cancer (which killed his mother), the dictator's health declined almost continuously until his death by suicide in 1945.

By the time of his last public appearance just days before his death, in the garden of the New Reich Chancellery building, where he reviewed and congratulated teenaged Volkssturm ("People's Storm") and Hitler Youth soldiers for their efforts in the Battle of Berlin against the Soviet Red Army, Hitler was bent over, shuffled when he walked, and could not stop his left arm, which he held behind him, from trembling. His eyes were glassy, his skin was greasy, and his speech could sometimes barely be heard. He looked to be much older than his actual age, which was 56, and hardly resembled the charismatic orator who had led the Nazi Party to power.