Esoteric Nazism, also known as Esoteric Fascism, refers to a range of
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
interpretations and adaptations of
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, esoteric interpretations of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
were adapted into
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
s of
white nationalism
White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...
and
neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
. They included beliefs in finding a mythical
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
.
Notable adherents
Savitri Devi
French-born Greek-English writer
Savitri Devi
Savitri Devi Mukherji (born Maximiani Julia Portas, ; 30 September 1905 – 22 October 1982) was a French-born Greek fascist, Nazi sympathizer, and spy who served the Axis powers by committing acts of espionage against the Allied forces in In ...
was the first major post-war exponent of what has since become known as Esoteric Hitlerism. According to that ideology, subsequent to the fall of the Third Reich and Hitler's suicide at the end of the war, Hitler himself could be
deified
Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term ha ...
. Devi connected Hitler's
Aryanist ideology to that of the pan-
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
part of the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
, and activists such as
Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...
. For her, the
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
was an especially important symbol, as she felt it symbolized Aryan unity of Hindus and Germans.
Savitri Devi, above all, was interested in the
Indian caste system
The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of classification of castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mu ...
, which she regarded as the archetype of racial laws intended to govern the segregation of different races and to maintain the pure blood of the fair-complexioned Aryans. She regarded the survival of the minority of
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
s among an enormous population of many different Indian races after sixty centuries as a living tribute to the value of the Aryan caste system.
Savitri Devi integrated Nazism into a broader
cyclical framework of Hindu history. She considered Hitler to be the ninth
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
of
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
, and called him "the god-like Individual of our times; the Man against Time; the greatest European of all times", having an ideal vision of returning his Aryan people to an earlier, more perfect time, and also having the practical wherewithal to fight the destructive forces "in Time". She saw his defeat—and the forestalling of his vision from coming to fruition—as a result of him being "too magnanimous, too trusting, too good", of not being merciless enough, of having in his "psychological make-up, too much 'sun'
eneficenceand not enough 'lightning.'
ractical ruthlessness, unlike his coming incarnation:
"Kalki
Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exist ...
" ''will act with unprecedented ruthlessness''. Contrarily to Adolf Hitler, He will spare not a single one of the enemies of the divine Cause: not a single one of its outspoken opponents but also not a single one of the lukewarm, of the opportunist
Opportunism is the practice of taking advantage of circumstances – with little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. Opportunist actions are expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives. The term ...
s, of the ideologically heretical
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
, of the racially bastardised, of the unhealthy, of the hesitating, of the all-too-human; not a single one of those who, in body or in character or mind, bear the stamp of the fallen Ages.
Robert Charroux
Unlike most
ancient astronaut
Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a pseudoscientific hypothesis which holds that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this ...
writers,
Robert Charroux
Robert Charroux was the best-known pen-name of Robert Joseph Grugeau (April 7, 1909 – June 24, 1978). He was a French author known for his writings on the ancient astronaut theme.
Career
Charroux worked for the French post office and wrote e ...
took a large interest in
racialism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more ...
. According to Charroux,
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
was situated between
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
and was the home of a
Nordic white race
White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.
Description of populations as " ...
with
blonde hair
Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...
and
blue eyes
Eye color is a polygene, polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye's Iris (anatomy), iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the Turbidity, turbid medium in the Stro ...
. Charroux claimed that this race was
extraterrestrial in origin and had originally come from a cold planet situated far from the sun. Charroux also claimed that the white race of the Hyperboreans and their descendants, the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
, had dominated the whole world in the ancient past. Some of these claims of Charroux have influenced the beliefs of Esoteric Nazism such as the work of
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano (10 September 1917 – 28 February 2009), was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he lat ...
.
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano (10 September 1917 – 28 February 2009), was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he lat ...
, a former
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an diplomat, is a major figure in Esoteric Nazism. Author of numerous books including ''The Golden Ribbon: Esoteric Hitlerism'' (1978) and ''Adolf Hitler, the Last Avatar'' (1984), Serrano is one of a number of Nazi esotericists who regard the "Aryan blood" as originally
extraterrestrial:
Serrano finds mythological evidence for the extraterrestrial origins of man in the Nephilim
The Nephilim (; ''Nəfīlīm'') are mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are large and strong. The word ''Nephilim'' is loosely translated as ''giants'' in some translations of the Hebrew Bible, but left untranslated in others. ...
allen angels Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to:
Buildings
* Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee
* Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas
* Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...
of the Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
... Serrano suggests that the sudden appearance of Cro-Magnon Man with his high artistic and cultural achievements in prehistoric Europe records the passage of one such ''divya''-descended race alongside the abysmal inferiority of Neanderthal Man
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While the ...
, an abomination and manifest creation of the demiurge
In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge''. Al ...
... Of all the races on earth, the Aryans alone preserve the memory of their divine ancestors in their noble blood, which is still mingled with the light of the Black Sun. All other races are the progeny of the demiurge's beast-men, native to the planet.
Serrano supports this idea from various myths which assign divine ancestry to 'Aryan' peoples, and even the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
myth of
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
descending from Venus. He also cites the hypothesis of
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
on the Arctic homeland of the Indo-Aryans, as his authority for identifying the earthly centre of the Aryan migrations with the 'lost' Arctic continent of
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
. Thus, Serrano's extraterrestrial gods are also identified as Hyperboreans.
In attempting to raise the spiritual development of the earthbound races, the Hyperborean (a
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
term for god-men) suffered a tragic setback. Expanding on a story from the ''
Book of Enoch'', Serrano laments that a renegade group among the gods committed
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
with the terrestrial races, thus diluting the light-bearing blood of their benefactors and diminishing the level of divine awareness on the planet.
The concept of Hyperborea has a simultaneously racial and mystical meaning for Serrano. He believes that Hitler was in
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as t ...
, an underground centre in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
(formerly at the North Pole and Tibet), where he was in contact with the
Hyperborea
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
n gods and whence he would someday emerge with a fleet of
UFOs
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
to lead the forces of light (the Hyperboreans, sometimes associated with
Vril
''The Coming Race'' is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race''.
Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and th ...
) over the forces of darkness (inevitably including, for Serrano, those of the
Abrahamic religions
The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran.
Jewish tradition ...
who worship the
Abrahamic god
The concept of God in Abrahamic religions is centred on monotheism. The three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, alongside the Baháʼí Faith, Samaritanism, Druze, and Rastafari, are all regarded as Abrahamic reli ...
) in a last battle and thus inaugurating a
Fourth Reich
The Fourth Reich (german: Viertes Reich) is a hypothetical Nazi Reich that is the successor to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich (1933–1945). The term has also been used to refer to the possible resurgence of Nazi ideas, as well as pejoratively of pol ...
.
Serrano follows the Gnostic
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
tradition of the Cathars
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Fol ...
( fl. 1025–1244) by identifying the evil demiurge as Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. As medieval dualists, these eleventh-century heretics had repudiated Jehovah as a false god and mere artificer opposed to the real God far beyond our earthly realm. This Gnostic doctrine clearly carried dangerous implications for the Jews. As Jehovah was the tribal deity of the Jews, it followed that they were devil worshipers. By casting the Jews in the role of the children of Satan, the Cathar heresy can elevate anti-Semitism to the status of a theological doctrine backed by a vast cosmology. If the Hyperborean Aryans are the archetype and blood descendents of Serrano's ''divyas'' from the Black Sun, then the archetype of the Lord of Darkness needed a counter-race. The demiurge sought and found the most fitting agent for its archetype in the Jews.
As religious scholars Frederick C. Grant and
Hyam Maccoby
Hyam Maccoby ( he, חיים מכובי, 1924–2004) was a Jewish-British scholar and dramatist specialising in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. He was known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the origins of C ...
emphasize, in the view of the dualist Gnostics, "Jews were regarded as the special people of the Demiurge and as having the special historical role of obstructing the redemptive work of the High God's emissaries". Serrano thus considered Hitler as one of the greatest emissaries of this High God, rejected and crucified by the tyranny of the Judaicized rabble like previous revolutionary light-bringers. Serrano had a special place in his ideology for the
SS, who, in their quest to recreate the ancient race of Aryan god-men, he thought were above morality and therefore justified, after the example of the anti-humanitarian "detached violence" taught in the Aryo-Hindu tradition.
David Myatt
In the 1980s and 1990s,
David Myatt
David Wulstan Myatt (born 1950) Additionally gone by the pseudonym Abdul al-Qari, is a British author, religious leader, far-right and Islamist militant, most notable for allegedly being the political and religious leader of the theistic Satan ...
developed an interpretation—or revisionist version—of Nazism which, although based on Savitri Devi's three principles of "above", "against", and "in time" individuals, did not involve either ancient mythology or extraterrestrial beings.
Instead, Myatt, described as "most commonly associated with the occult wing of the National Socialist movement,
[Jeffrey Kaplan (editor). ''Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. p.216.] focused—in pamphlets such as ''The Meaning of National Socialism'', ''The Enlightenment of National Socialism'' and his ''The Religion of National Socialism''—on what he described as "the numinous" aspects of Nazism, with
Jeffrey Kaplan writing that Myatt described Nazism as "unambiguously a religion while Adolf Hitler is treated unashamedly as the saviour of mankind."
Collective Aryan unconscious
In the book ''
Black Sun'',
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...
reports how
Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
described "Hitler as possessed by the archetype of the collective Aryan unconscious and could not help obeying the commands of an inner voice". In a series of interviews between 1936 and 1939, Jung characterized Hitler as an archetype, often manifesting itself to the complete exclusion of his own personality. Hitler is a spiritual vessel, a demi-divinity; even better, a myth.
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
is a man' ... the
messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
of Germany who teaches the virtue of the sword. 'The voice he hears is that of the collective unconscious of his race.
Jung's suggestion that Hitler personified the collective Aryan unconscious deeply interested and influenced
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano (10 September 1917 – 28 February 2009), was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he lat ...
, who later concluded that Jung was merely psychologizing the ancient, sacred mystery of archetypal possession by the gods, independent metaphysical powers that rule over their respective races and occasionally possess their members.
Common beliefs
Since 1945, neo-Nazi writers have also proposed
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as t ...
and the star
Aldebaran
Aldebaran (Arabic: “The Follower”, "الدبران") is the brightest star in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It has the Bayer designation α Tauri, which is Latinized to Alpha Tauri and abbreviated Alpha Tau or α Tau. Aldebar ...
as the original homeland of the Aryans. The book ''Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival'', by ''
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' (; ), called in English ''Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream'' or ''The Dream of Poliphilus'', is a book said to be by Francesco Colonna. It is a famous example of an incunable (a work of early printing). The wor ...
'' scholar
Joscelyn Godwin
Joscelyn Godwin (born 16 January 1945 at Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, England) is a composer, musicologist, and translator, known for his work on ancient music, paganism, and music in the occult.
Biography
He was educated as a chorister at Christ ...
, discusses
pseudoscientific
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
theories about surviving Nazi elements in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
. ''Arktos'' is noted for its scholarly approach and examination of many sources currently unavailable elsewhere in English-language translations. Godwin and other authors such as
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...
have discussed the connections between Esoteric Nazism and
Vril
''The Coming Race'' is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, published anonymously in 1871. It has also been published as ''Vril, the Power of the Coming Race''.
Some readers have believed the account of a superior subterranean master race and th ...
energy, the hidden Shambhala and
Agartha
Agartha (sometimes Agartta, Agharti, Agarath, Agarta, Agharta, or Agarttha) is a legendary kingdom that is said to be located in the Earth's core. It is related to the belief in a hollow Earth and is a popular subject in esotericism.
History
The ...
civilizations, and underground
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
bases, as well as Hitler's and the
SS's supposed survival in underground Antarctic bases in
New Swabia
New Swabia (Norwegian and german: Neuschwabenland) was a disputed Antarctic claim by Nazi Germany within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land and is now a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20°E a ...
, or in alliance with
Hyperborean
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...
s from the subterranean world.
Relationship to neopaganism
Organisations such as the
Armanen-Orden
The Armanen-Orden (AO; German for "Armanen Order", "Order of the Armanen") was founded as a revival of the Ariosophical Guido von List Society by German occultist Adolf Schleipfer (b. 1947) and his then-wife Sigrun von Schlichting.
The Armanen- ...
represent significant developments of neo-pagan esotericism and
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were developed largely by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryan race, Ar ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but they do not all constitute forms of Nazi esotericism. Some
northern Europe
The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
an
neopagan
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...
groups, such as
Theods
Heathenry is a modern Pagan new religious movement that has been active in the United States since at least the early 1970s. Although the term "Heathenry" is often employed to cover the entire religious movement, different Heathen groups within t ...
,
Ásatrúarfélagið
Ásatrúarfélagið (, ''Ásatrú Fellowship'') is an Icelandic religious organisation of heathenry (in Iceland also called ', " ás faith"). It was founded on the first day of summer (Iceland) 1972, and granted recognition as a registered rel ...
and
Viðartrúar, have explicitly stated that
neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
is not common among their members. On the other hand, there are neopagan organisations with close ties to neo-Nazism, such as the ''
Artgemeinschaft
The Artgemeinschaft Germanic Faith Community (german: Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft; abbreviated AG GGG) is a German NeopaganStefanie von Schnurbein: ''Göttertrost in Wendezeiten. Neugermanisches Heidentum zwischen New Age un ...
'' or the
Heathen Front
The Allgermanische Heidnische Front (AHF) was an international neo-Nazi organisation, active during the late 1990s and early 2000s, that espoused a form of racial Germanic Neopaganism. It grew from the Norsk Hedensk Front (NHF), which was claimed ...
, and the attraction of many neo-Nazis to Germanic paganism remains an issue particularly in Germany (see
Nornirs Ætt
Since its emergence in the 1970s, Neopaganism (') in German-speaking Europe has diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.
Schmid (2006) distinguishes four main currents:
* Germanic neopagani ...
).
Music
There is a contemporary loose network of small musical groups that combine
neo-fascism and satanism. These groups can be found in Britain, France, and New Zealand, under names such as "Black Order" or "Infernal Alliance", and draw their inspiration from the Esoteric Hitlerism of
Miguel Serrano
Miguel Joaquín Diego del Carmen Serrano Fernández, known as Miguel Serrano (10 September 1917 – 28 February 2009), was a Chilean diplomat, writer, occultist, and fascist activist. A Nazi sympathiser in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he lat ...
. These groups advocate the
anti-modern neo-tribalism
Neotribalism, also known as modern tribalism or new tribalism, is a sociological concept which postulates that human beings have evolved to live in tribal society, as opposed to mass society, and thus will naturally form social networks constitu ...
and "
Traditionalism
Traditionalism is the adherence to traditional beliefs or practices. It may also refer to:
Religion
* Traditional religion, a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group
* Traditionalism (19th-century Catholicism), a 19th–cen ...
" found in the "
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
" mysticist ideals of
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...
's ''
Nouvelle Droite
The Nouvelle Droite (; en, "New Right"), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The Nouvelle Droite is at the origin of the wider European New Right (ENR). Vario ...
'' inspired by
Julius Evola
Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiantly ...
.
Esoteric themes, including references to artifacts such as the
Holy Lance
The Holy Lance, also known as the Lance of Longinus (named after Saint Longinus), the Spear of Destiny, or the Holy Spear, is the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion.
Biblical references
The l ...
, are also often alluded to in
neo-Nazi music Neo-Nazi music may refer to:
*Rock Against Communism
*Nazi punk
*National Socialist black metal
*Fashwave
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, visual art style, and Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s. It is defined part ...
(e.g.
Rock Against Communism
Rock Against Communism (RAC) was the name of white power rock concerts in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and has since become the catch-all term for music with racist lyrics as well as a specific genre of rock music derived ...
) and above all in
National Socialist black metal
National Socialist black metal, also known as NSBM, Aryan black metal, and Neo-Nazi black metal, is a political movement and subgenre within the black metal music scene that promotes neo-Nazism, Fascism, and white supremacist ideologies. NSBM a ...
.
Neo-Nazi Hate Music: A Guide
In popular culture
In the grand strategy wargame
A grand strategy wargame or simply grand strategy game (GSG) is a wargame that places focus on grand strategy: military strategy at the level of movement and use of a nation state or empire's resources. It is a genre that has considerable overlap ...
''Hearts of Iron IV
''Hearts of Iron IV'', also known as HOI4, is a grand strategy computer wargame developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released worldwide on 6 June 2016. It is the sequel to 2009's ''Hearts of Iron II ...
'' by Paradox Interactive
Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independen ...
, there is a conversion mod called "The New Order: Last Days of Europe", which it represents a timeline where the Axis Powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
won World War II. Esoteric Nazism is a present ideology in this alternate timeline and is based on the belief that the mainstream national socialism didn't go far enough in establishing Aryan supremacy. The ideology has different sub-ideologies, like 'Deep Ecology Nazism' and 'Agrarian Spartanism', but the most extreme is the so-called 'Burgundian System', which is mainly practiced by Heinrich Himmler, who leads the fictional SS State of Burgundy. Himmler in this alternate timeline would even go as far as to cleanse the world in nuclear fires so that the Aryan Race can repopulate it.
See also
* Atomwaffen Division
The Atomwaffen Division (''Atomwaffen'' meaning "nuclear weapons" in German), also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, is an international far right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2013 and based in the ...
* Kerry Bolton
Kerry Raymond Bolton (born 1956) is a white supremacist and holocaust denier, and a published author and political activist on those subjects. He is involved in several nationalist and fascist political groups in New Zealand.
Political activism ...
* Cosmotheism
{{cleanup, date=November 2022, reason=Is more like an orphan article. Need to merged or deleted.
"Cosmotheism" is an old term for pantheism and it is associated with the beliefs which were adhered to by many people, including:
* Norman Lowell, the ...
* Julius Evola
Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiantly ...
* ''The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century
''The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century'' (''Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts,'' 1899) is a book by British-born German philosopher Houston Stewart Chamberlain. In the book, Chamberlain advances various racialist and especially ''v ...
''
* German Christians (movement)
German Christians (german: Deutsche Christen) were a pressure group and a movement within the German Evangelical Church that existed between 1932 and 1945, aligned towards the antisemitic, racist and ''Führerprinzip'' ideological principles ...
* Landig Group
The Landig Group ( de-AT, Landig Gruppe) was an occultist and neo- ''völkisch'' group formed in 1950, that first gathered for discussions at the studio of the designer Wilhelm Landig in the Margareten district of Vienna. The circle's most pro ...
* James Mason (neo-Nazi)
James Nolan Mason (born July 25, 1952) is an American neo-Nazi. Mason is an ideologue for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist organization. After growing disillusioned with the mass movement approach of neo-Nazi movements, he began advo ...
* Joy of Satan Ministries
Joy of Satan Ministries, also referred to as Joy of Satan (JoS), is a website and western esoteric occult organization founded in 2002 by Andrea M. Dietrich ( Maxine Dietrich). Joy of Satan Ministries advocates "Spiritual Satanism", an ideolo ...
* Nazi UFOs
In ufology, conspiracy theory, science fiction, and comic book stories, claims or stories have circulated linking UFOs to Nazi Germany. The German UFO theories describe supposedly successful attempts to develop advanced aircraft or spacecraft pri ...
* '' Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy''
* Nazism and occultism
The association of Nazism with occultism occurs in a wide range of theories, speculation, and research into the origins of Nazism and into Nazism's possible relationship with various occult traditions. Such ideas have flourished as a part of popu ...
* Positive Christianity
Positive Christianity (german: Positives Christentum) was a movement within Nazi Germany which promoted the belief that the racial purity of the German people should be maintained by mixing racialistic Nazi ideology with either fundamental or s ...
* QAnon
QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...
* Race of Jesus
The race and appearance of Jesus has been a topic of discussion since the days of early Christianity. Various theories about the race of Jesus have been proposed and debated.''Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblic ...
* Religion in Nazi Germany
A census in May 1939, six years into the Nazi era and after the annexation of mostly Catholic Austria and mostly Catholic Czechoslovakia into Germany, indicates that 54% of the population considered itself Protestant, 41% considered itself Ca ...
* Religious views of Adolf Hitler
The religious beliefs of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, have been a matter of debate. His opinions regarding religious matters changed considerably over time. During the beginning of his political life, Hitler publicly ...
* Religious aspects of Nazism
Historians, political scientists and philosophers have studied Nazism with a specific focus on its religious and pseudoreligious, pseudo-religious aspects. It has been debated whether Nazism would constitute a political religion, and there has al ...
* Order-State of Burgundy
* Thule Society
The Thule Society (; german: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and '' Völkisch'' group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, ...
* Fascist mysticism
Fascist mysticism (Italian: ''Mistica fascista'') was a current of political and religious thought in Fascist Italy, based on Fideism, a belief that faith existed without reason, and that Fascism should be based on a mythology and spiritual mystic ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Dohe, Carrie B. (2016) ''Jung's Wandering Archetype: Race and Religion in Analytical Psychology''. London: Routledge.
* Glinka, Lukasz Andrzej (2014) ''Aryan Unconscious: Archetype of Discrimination, History & Politics''. Great Abington: Cambridge International Science Publishing.
* Godwin, Joscelyn (1996) ''Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival''. Kempton, Illinois: Adventures Unlimited Press.
* Goodrick-Clark, Nicholas (1998) '' Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism''. New York: New York University Press.
* Goodrick-Clark, Nicholas (2002) '' Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity''. New York: New York University Press. . (Paperback, 2003. )
*Guerra, Nicola (2014
''I volontari italiani nelle Waffen-SS. Pensiero politico, formazione culturale e motivazioni al volontariato''
Chieti: Solfanelli. pp. 140–148.ISBN 9-788874-978588.
*Strube, Julian Strube (2012) ''Die Erfindung des esoterischen Nationalsozialismus im Zeichen der Schwarzen Sonne.'' In: ''Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft.'' vol. 20/2 , pp. 223–268, .
{{Authority control
Occultism in Nazism
Conspiracy theories involving Jews
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