logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
35m 36s

Hitler's Sex Life

History Hit
About this episode

We all know how the song goes, the one about Hitler having one testicle.


And whilst it's disarming to poke fun at someone so evil, there's an interesting and serious conversation to be had about how Hitler's relationships and sexuality could have shaped him.


Today Kate is joined by Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, to find out more about Adolf Hitler's personal life, his views on sex, and whether there's any truth to the rumours.


Did Hitler have a testicle bitten off by a goat? Was his interest in coprophilia true, or anti-Nazi propaganda? And who was the love of his life?


Let's go Betwixt the Sheets to find out.


This podcast was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long. 


Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Kate Lister, Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Mary Beard and more.


Get 50% off your first 3 months with code BETWIXT. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribe.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Up next
Today
The Boleyn Who Betrayed Henry VIII
She was executed on Henry VIII's orders alongside Catherine Howard, and was sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and the King. She lived in the heart of the Tudor court, and almost made it out alive.It was a time of huge danger, and such high stakes. But who was Jane Boleyn? Traitor, spy ... Show More
42m 40s
Oct 7
Inside Imperial Japan's Brothels
After the first licensed brothel opened in the 17th century, how was sex work thought of in Japan throughout the following centuries?From the brothels in the pleasure quarters, to the rise and popularity of male sex workers and where geishas fit into the picture, Kate is joined b ... Show More
50m 34s
Oct 3
The Scandalous Royal Mistress Who Ruled France
Is this strangest threesome in royal history?!We're endlessly fascinated with the lives of royal mistresses, and this has to be one of the most notorious.It takes place in 16th century France between Henry II, his wife Catherine de Medici and his much older mistress, Diane de Poi ... Show More
37m 45s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
Hitler's Women & Joseph Goebbels (Part 10)
Adolf Hitler, at large once again, finds himself barred from public life. Retreating to the mountains, he finds a new home and a female companion. It won’t be the last of Hitler’s relationships to end in an attempted suicide. Meanwhile, backed by Joseph Goebbels, the self-proclai ... Show More
54m 46s
Dec 2020
Adolf Hitler: The War Years
At the beginning of 1940 Germany was at the pinnacle of its power. By May 1945 Hitler was dead and Germany had suffered a disastrous defeat. Hitler had failed to achieve his aim of making Germany a super power and had left her people to cope with the endless shame of the Holocaus ... Show More
56m 21s
May 2020
Getting Inside the Mind of Hitler
No man knew Adolf Hitler as intimately as his trusted physician, Theodoor Morell. As part of Hitler's inner social circle, he assisted the leader in virtually everything for the entire war years. His unconventional treatments were famed in Germany, and Hitler so trusted the 'mira ... Show More
36m 13s
Dec 2022
Conspiracy: Hitler’s escape to South America
Did Adolf Hitler really make it out of the bunker alive at the end of the Second World War? In the first episode of our new series on some of history’s most well-known conspiracy theories, we explore the idea that Hitler outlasted the downfall of the Third Reich in 1945 and began ... Show More
28m 53s
Mar 2020
Hitler's First Hundred Days w/ Peter Fritzsche
Today I speak with historian, Peter Fritzsche about Adolf Hitler's rise to power and the first one hundred days of Nazi Germany. Support the show and visit our sponsor www.legacy-collectibles.com Hitler's First Hundred Days: When Germans Embraced the Third ReichStories of the Se ... Show More
32m 51s
Dec 2023
Nazi Germany: the myth of the innocent bystander
In 1945, after defeat in the Second World War, many Germans claimed to have known nothing about what had happened to their fellow Jewish citizens – and with that, the idea of the ‘innocent bystander’ was born. But just how true was this claim? Delving into a rich archive of perso ... Show More
37m 18s
Aug 2023
Surviving Hitler and Stalin
Daniel Finkelstein’s parents were born into comfortable Jewish families in Germany and Poland, but the rise of Nazism and the onset of the Second World War turned their lives upside down. Targeted by two of the most destructive regimes in history, they were extraordinarily lucky ... Show More
45m 29s
May 2022
Hitler's American Gamble
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 remains etched in public memory as the turning point of WW2. But in fact, it was Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States – four days later on December 11, 1941 – that changed everything.In this episode, Professor of ... Show More
22m 53s
Mar 2022
Hitler: Night of the Long Knives (Part 14)
To ward off the Western Allies, Hitler takes a trip to Venice to visit Mussolini. At home, meanwhile, Hitler’s paramilitaries, the SA, are growing restless. In a final savage act, the mother of all purges, Hitler will liquidate anyone who has ever wronged him. Under the unassaila ... Show More
55m 59s
Feb 2022
Hitler in Prison & Mein Kampf (Part 9)
Adolf Hitler, now a national celebrity, begins his jail term. Besieged by well-wishers, he has faith his time inside will be short. To keep the Nazi flame burning, he decides to write a new book. “Mein Kampf” will one day make Hitler a best-selling author and a multi-millionaire. ... Show More
45m 5s