The Myth of the Nazi Steroid

Abstract

The myth of the ‘Nazi steroid’ has persisted over the past four decades in the absence of any reliable evidence to support it. This essay traces the myth back to a short article that appeared in the respectable American journal Science. Our examination of the paper trail suggests that the myth was started by a rumour that the Science journalist converted into a hypothesis. Two factors account for the impressive career of this fantasy. First, it is striking how many writers were willing to transmit this claim to their readers in an uncritical manner on the undocumented assumption that it was a plausible idea. The second factor is how the world has imagined the Nazi regime. It has been credited with the capacity to commit virtually any perverse act, no matter how improbable or bizarre it may seem. In the last analysis, the myth of the ‘Nazi steroid’ confirms once again a widespread fascination with the Nazis that includes a masculine megalomania that is best represented by the legendary sadism of the Nazi criminal regime. It is, therefore, no accident that the ‘male hormone’ and its reputation as a catalyser of male aggression have become a symbol of the Nazi ethos.