Introduction

This chapter unveils how the SS and policemen involved with the destruction of the European Jews experienced a twofold feeling of intoxication. First, these men went east in an imperial campaign of mass murder during which they exercised power over life and death. Second, the occupiers integrated drinking rituals into their daily routines in order to commemorate and celebrate masculine virtues of camaraderie and shared violence. The chapter discusses the promotion of a metaphorical intoxication among the German populace and how it extended to traditional holidays and massive Nazi rallies, parades, and ceremonies. It exposes the widespread practice of alcohol consumption and the horrific consequences of prohibitions on drinking during duty hours on the conquered peoples. While habitual drunkenness on duty by SS and policemen within the “old Reich” transgressed organizational norms and was punished, this chapter unfolds the testimonies given by witnesses, accomplices, and bystanders about the stories of perpetrators in the East who routinely drank on duty and whose brutality noticeably increased after their intoxication.