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Firstly, I think this is a stupid unbelievable question. However, for the sake of getting on S.SE, is there any evidence to for the Nazis using fluoride maliciously for example, to make prisoners more docile?"

Here is one graphic claiming, "Hitler used it to sterilize inmates nad make them more docile."

Anti-Fluoride Graphic

Infowars claims it in graphics too, "Sodium Fluoride, used by Nazis, lowers your IQ."

Infowars Anti-Fluoride Poster

And, the InfoWars site says..

“the Nazi concentration camps used fluoridated water to suppress the will and vigor of inmates. This appears to have been during the 1930s and was the first known example of fluoridated water supplies for a specific population.”

Interestingly the site sources Richard Shames, M.D. graduated Harvard and University of Pennsylvania, however it doesn't say how he came to the conclusion. He also seems kind of sketchy as he offers "consultations by telephone." But, he does have a book that is well reviewed on Amazon.

Lastly, here is a article entitled, Nazi's used Sodium Fluoride with all kinds of claims. Most bold is probably,

"The first occurrence of fluoridated drinking water on Earth was found in Germany's Nazi prison camps. The Gestapo had little concern about fluoride's supposed effect on children's teeth; their alleged reason for mass-medicating water with sodium fluoride was to sterilize humans and force the people into their concentration camps into calm submission. (Ref. book: "The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben" by Joseph Borkin.)"

But the article continues, "The German chemists worked out a very ingenious and far-reaching plan of mass-control which was submitted to and adopted by the German General Staff. This plan as to control the population in any given area through mass medication of drinking water supplies. By this method they could control the population in whole areas, reduce population by water medication that would produce sterility in women, and so on. In this scheme of mass-control, sodium fluoride occupied a prominent place." Presumably the above excerpt continues, "repeated doses of infinitesimal amounts of fluoride will in time reduce an individual's power to resist domination by slowly poisoning and narcotizing a certain area of the brain, thus making him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him."

First page of "Nazi's used Sodium Fluoride"

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  • 4
    I thought this claim was limited to Jack D. Ripper...
    – gerrit
    Dec 13, 2012 at 18:04
  • 1
    @Oliver_C That link and some quotes from it would make an excellent answer. Dec 13, 2012 at 18:11
  • 6
    is this really sufficiently different from the other fluoride questions apart from fulfilling Godwin's law?
    – Ryathal
    Dec 13, 2012 at 18:26
  • 1
    @Ryathal yes, asking if the Nazis used it seems to be quite different, especially when many answers on this site indicate fluoride is toxic and does lower IQ so long as you use concentrations far above those found in water fluoridation. Dec 13, 2012 at 21:06
  • 1
    There is a factual question mixed with a question about motivation here.
    – matt_black
    Dec 13, 2012 at 23:12

1 Answer 1

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Politifact gave this old story about the Nazis and fluoride a "Pants On Fire" rating:

...We tracked down roots of these claims on the Web, reached out to Holocaust historians, contacted well-known critics of water fluoridation, and read book excerpts and magazine articles and news stories. And we can tell you: There's no teeth to this claim.

As a side note, here is a link to an Institute for Science in Medicine white paper on the movement that spreads propaganda like this Nazi myth:

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    There are a few other juicy quotes in the source that would flesh out the point. Including one from an anti-fluoride campaigner. Include a few or summarise the points for a great answer.
    – matt_black
    Dec 16, 2012 at 22:00
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    Always good to see Godwin's Law in action. There have been all kinds of ridiculous claims made about Fluoride, so a Nazi comparison was sure to come up eventually.
    – John Lyon
    Dec 17, 2012 at 0:02
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    "There's no teeth to this claim." - when it comes to anti-fluoridation claims, there seldom is.
    – Golden Cuy
    Oct 12, 2013 at 12:15
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    @kenorb: how can you discard the hypothesis that those are just stories made up by the government to make you believe they are poisoning you with fluoride and study your psychological reaction? Meta-conspiracy theory FTW!
    – nico
    Sep 11, 2014 at 10:34
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    @kenorb: I am not ignoring that. Actually that is a nice paper. Now please read the paper here and you will see that 1) there is no comparison whatsoever between people who drink fluoridated water vs. controls. 2) there is no hormone measurement 3) there is no indication that accumulation of F has anything to do with changes in hormone levels 4) they did not look at pituitary gland (which is waaaaaaay more important than the pineal) 5) F does NOT cause calcification, calcium does. [cont]
    – nico
    Sep 11, 2014 at 12:29

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