Claim:
Adolf Hitler suffered from a digestive disorder that caused him to fart frequently.
Evaluation:
For years, a rumor has circulated that Adolf Hitler suffered from a digestive disorder that caused him to frequently flatulence. The claim has been appearing on Reddit for at least 13 years, and a post from early 2024 included details of the medical treatment he followed:
This post was upvoted 29,000 times and had received 1,500 comments at the time of writing. The rumor also spread on X (formerly Twitter) from 2011 (archived), And repeated in the Years since Then.
This claim is true. In a secret file published in England in 2009, one of Hitler’s advisers wrote that he had terrible table manners. The document also mentioned his indigestion.
Other scientific sources have also pointed to his gastrointestinal problems, including a 2005 article in the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, which said it appeared to have been a lifelong condition:
According to his own account, he had suffered from recurrent abdominal colic, alternating with diarrhea and constipation, since childhood, and from what he described as “flatulence clearly associated with episodes of stress or crisis.” Clinical features suggest spastic colon or irritable bowel syndrome, but these terms do not appear in the medical records.
Hitler was also a hypochondriac, obsessed with the idea that he might die young. For this reason, he took his personal doctor with him everywhere he went. The doctor, Theodor Morell, reportedly used unorthodox treatments that most likely affected Hitler’s mood and ability to think rationally, especially toward the end of World War II. This has led some historians to theorize that the condition and subsequent treatment hastened the downfall of Nazi Germany, according to Daven Hiskey of the YouTube channel Highlight History.
Treatment consisted in part of Mutaflor tablets, a drug that is still available today. The tablets are “enteric,” meaning they do not dissolve until they reach the intestine, and contain a “non-pathogenic strain of E. coli.” Morell also administered tablets of atropine and strychnine, known as Dr. Koster’s Antigaspills.
He also gave Hitler cocaine eye and nose drops, as well as daily injections of methamphetamines, opioids, glucose, testosterone, estradiol (which mimics the female hormone estrogen), and steroids. The journal article provides a complete list of the drugs Hitler received while in Morell’s care.
In the secret file found and published in 2009, the adviser also mentioned Hitler’s poor eating habits. An article in the Daily Mail quoted the adviser:
Hitler ate vast quantities of cake (this cake-eating was responsible for a slight indigestion and resulted in his already not-so-happy figure being beautified by another bay window).
The dossier was to be destroyed shortly after Hitler’s death.
Sources:
“Adolf Hitler had bad table manners and suffered from flatulence.” The Telegraph17 February 2009, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4678840/Adolf-Hitler-had-poor-table-manners-and-suffered-flatulence.html.
Doyle, D. “Hitler’s Medical Care.” The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of EdinburghNo. 35, 2005, pp. 75–82, https://antville.org/static/sites/infam/files/hitlers_medical_care.pdf.
Beckers, Milan, et al. “Intestinal complaints in Berlin: Could Adolf Hitler’s intestinal problems be related to Parkinson’s?” European NeurologyVolume 86, No. 3, July 2023, pp. 222–27. Silver chairhttps://doi.org/10.1159/000530166.
Highlight gradient. How Hitler’s Flatulence Defeated Nazi Germany. 2023. YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gt6fHJ4Vw0.
Preskar, Peter. “Adolf Hitler farted like a horse.” mediumMay 5, 2021, https://short-history.com/adolf-hitler-farting-b7e27477971b.
Salkeld, Luke. “Hitler had shocking table manners, stuffed himself with cake and suffered from flatulence, reveals a never-before-seen profile.” MailOnline17 February 2009, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1147744/Hitler-shocking-table-manners-gorged-cake-suffered-flatulence-reveals-seen-profile.html.
Zhang, Lisai et al. “Meteorism.” StatPearlsStatPearls Publishing, 2024. PubMedhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430851/.
