Theodor Morell

Theodor (Theo) Gilbert Morell (July 22, 1886 – May 26, 1948) was German dictator Adolf Hitler's personal physician. Morell was well-known in Germany for his unconventional, holistic and alternative treatments.

Quotes

• Hitler would go as white as a sheet and tightly clench his jaws, while his eyes would dilate. Everyone in his entourage would get panicky because these fits were always followed by an order to dismiss or to execute somebody.
  • "Hitler had split personality," first printed Tuesday, May 22, 1945.

About Morell

• In 1936, when my circulation and stomach rebelled...I called at Morell's private office. After a superficial examination...Morell prescribed for me his intestinal bacteria, dextrose, vitamins, and hormone tablets. For safety's sake I afterward had a thorough examination by Professor von Bergmann, the specialist in internal medicine at Berlin University. I was not suffering from any organic trouble, he concluded, but only from nervous symptoms caused by overwork. I slowed down my pace as best I could and the symptoms abated. To avoid offending Hitler I pretended that I was carefully following Morell's instructions, and since my health improved, I became for a time Morell's showpiece.
  • Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 1970.

• No one has ever told me precisely what is wrong with me. Morrell's method of cure is so logical that I have the greatest confidence in him. I shall follow his prescriptions to the letter.
  • Adolf Hitler.

• What luck I had to meet Morell. He has saved my life.
  • Adolf Hitler.

• A gross but deflated old man, of cringing manners, inarticulate in speech and with the hygiene habits of a pig, and could not conceive how a man so utterly devoid of self respect could ever have been selected as a personal physician by anyone who had even a limited possibility of choice.
  • Hugh Trevor-Roper interviewed Morell in 1945.

• You think I am crazy. You will try to give me morphine. Get out of here; you are sacked. Get that medical uniform off. Go home and act as if you had never had anything to do with me.
  • Adolf Hitler, to Morell, in the final days of the war.

• Take off that uniform and go back to being the doctor of Kurfurstendamm!
  • Adolf Hitler, to Morell, in the final days of the war.