Nazi Mysticism
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The association 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) i ...
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
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
since at least the early 1940s (during
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 opposing ...
), and gained renewed popularity starting in the 1960s. Historian
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 ...
analyzed the topic in his 1985 book ''
The Occult Roots of Nazism ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935'' is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria betwe ...
'', in which he argued there were in fact links between some ideals of
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 Aryans, was i ...
and Nazi ideology. He also analyzed the problems of the numerous popular occult historiography books written on the topic. Goodrick-Clarke sought to separate empiricism and
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
from the modern
mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
of Nazi occultism that exists in many books which "have represented the Nazi phenomenon as the product of arcane and demonic influence". He evaluated most of the 1960 to 1975 books on Nazi occultism as "sensational and under-researched".


Ariosophy

Historian
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 ...
's 1985 book, ''
The Occult Roots of Nazism ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935'' is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria betwe ...
'', discusses the possibility of links between the ideas of the occult and those of Nazism. The book's main subject is the racist-occult movement of
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 Aryans, was i ...
, a major strand of nationalist
esotericism in Germany and Austria Germany and Austria have spawned many movements and practices in Western Esotericism, including Rosicrucianism, theosophy, anthroposophy and ariosophy, among others. Early Esotericism Knights Templar and Freemasonry The original Knights Templ ...
during the 1800s and early 1900s. He introduces his work as "an underground history, concerned with the myths, symbols, and fantasies that bear on the development of reactionary, authoritarian, and Nazi styles of thinking," arguing that "fantasies can achieve a causal status once they have been institutionalized in beliefs, values, and social groups."''
The Occult Roots of Nazism ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935'' is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria betwe ...
'', Introduction.
In Goodrick-Clarke's view, the Ariosophist movement built on the earlier ideas of the Völkisch movement, a traditionalist,
pan-German Pan-Germanism (german: Pangermanismus or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the German-speaking people – and possibly also Germanic-speaking ...
response to industrialization and
urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
, but it associated the problems of modernism specifically with the supposed misdeeds of
Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, Kabbalism, and Rosicrucianism in order to "prove the modern world was based on false and evil principles". The Ariosophist "ideas and symbols filtered through to several anti-semitic and Nationalist groups in late Wilhelmian Germany, from which the early Nazi Party emerged in Munich after the First World War." He demonstrated links between two Ariosophists and
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
.


Modern mythology

There is a persistent idea, widely canvassed in a sensational genre of literature, that the Nazis were principally inspired and directed by occult agencies from 1920 to 1945.Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 217.
Appendix E of Goodrick-Clarke's book is entitled ''The Modern Mythology of Nazi Occultism''. In it, he gives a highly critical view of much of the popular literature on the topic. In his words, these books describe Hitler and the Nazis as being controlled by a "hidden power ... characterized either as a discarnate entity (e.g., ' black forces', ' invisible hierarchies', ' unknown superiors') or as a magical elite in a remote age or distant location". He referred to the writers of this genre as " crypto-historians".Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 218. The works of the genre, he wrote, In a new preface for the 2004 edition of ''The Occult Roots of Nazism'', Goodrick-Clarke comments that in 1985, when his book first appeared, "Nazi black magic" was regarded as a topic for sensational authors in pursuit of strong sales." In his 2002 work '' Black Sun'', which was originally intended to trace the survival of occult Nazi themes in the postwar period,Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 6. Goodrick-Clarke considered it necessary to readdress the topic. He devotes one chapter of the book to "the Nazi mysteries", as he terms the field of Nazi occultism there. Other reliable summaries of the development of the genre have been written by German historians. The German edition of ''The Occult Roots of Nazism'' includes an essay, "Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus" ("National Socialism and Occultism"), which traces the origins of the speculation about Nazi occultism back to publications from the late 1930s, and which was subsequently translated by Goodrick-Clarke into English. The German historian Michael Rißmann has also included a longer "excursus" about "Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus" in his acclaimed book on Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs. According to Goodricke-Clarke, the speculation of Nazi occultism originated from "post-war fascination with Nazism". The "horrid fascination" of Nazism upon the Western mindGoodrick-Clarke 2002: 107. emerges from the "uncanny interlude in modern history" that it presents to an observer a few decades later. The idolization of Hitler in Nazi Germany, its short-lived dominion on the European continent and Nazism's extreme
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
set it apart from other periods of modern history. "Outside a purely secular frame of reference, Nazism was felt to be the embodiment of evil in a modern twentieth-century regime, a monstrous pagan relapse in the Christian community of Europe." By the early 1960s, "one could now clearly detect a mystique of Nazism." A sensationalistic and fanciful presentation of its figures and symbols, "shorn of all political and historical context", gained ground with thrillers, non-fiction books, and films and permeated "the milieu of
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
."


Historiography concerning ''The Occult Roots of Nazism''

''The Occult Roots of Nazism'' is commended for specifically addressing the fanciful modern depictions of Nazi occultism, as well as carefully reflecting critical scholarly work that finds associations between Ariosophy and Nazi agency. As scholar Anna Bramwell writes, "One should not be deceived by the title into thinking that it belongs to the 'modern mythology of Nazi occultism', a world of salacious fantasy convincingly dismembered by the author in an Appendix," Bramwell, Anna. 1988. "Review". The English Historical Review 103 (407). 156. referring to the various written, depicted, and produced material that delves into Nazi occultism without providing any reliable or relevant evidence. Instead, it is through Goodrick-Clarke's work that several scholarly criticisms addressing occult relevance in conjunction with Ariosophist practices arise. Historians like
Martyn Housden V. Martyn Housden is reader in modern history at the University of Bradford. Housden's research interests relate to the history of refugees, Fridtjof Nansen, the League of Nations, the psychoanalysis of Erich Fromm, the history of national minor ...
and Jeremy Noakes commend Goodrick-Clarke for addressing the relationship between Ariosophic ideologies rooted in certain Germanic cultures and the actual agency of Nazi hierarchy; the problem, as Housden remarks, lies in the efficacy of these Ariosophic practices. As he remarks, "The true value of this study, therefore, lies in its painstaking elucidation of an intrinsically fascinating subculture which helped colour rather than cause aspects of Nazism. In this context, it also leaves us pondering a central issue: why on earth were Austrian and German occultists, just like the Nazi leadership, quite so susceptible to, indeed obsessed by, specifically aggressive racist beliefs anyway?" Noakes continues this general thought by concluding, " oodrick-Clarkeprovides not only a definitive account of the influence of Ariosophy on Nazism, a subject which is prone to sensationalism, but also fascinating insights into the intellectual climate of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century." These reviews reflect the greatest dilemmas in Nazi occultist scholarship; the discernment between actual efficacy of possible occult practices by Nazi leaders, purpose of these practices, and modern notions and applications of occultism today largely impact the appropriate scholarship in general in making connections between plausible Nazi Ariosophic practices and blatant popular myth. The linkages Goodrick-Clarke makes concerning Ariosophy and German society are further detailed in Peter Merkl's ''Political Violence under the Swastika'', in which "pre-1933 Nazis", various
NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
members, volunteered to write their memoirs and recollections about the rise of the Nazi Party in order to provide a coherent, statistical analysis of the motivations and ideals these early members hoped to pursue in German politics. From the findings, Merkl has found, through statistical evidence, that there were aspects of ideology within German society that favored intense German nationalism, ranging from what was considered to be a "German Romantic", one who was "beholden to the cultural and historical traditions of old Germany..." to someone classified as a part of an alleged "Nordic/Hitler Cult", one who followed Voelkisch (traditional, antisemitic) beliefs. To further prove the point, Merkl discovered that of those willing to submit their testimonies, "Protestants tended to be German Romantics, Catholics to be anti-Semites, superpatriots, and solidarists. Areas of religious homogeneity were particularly high in anti-Semitism or in the Nordic-German cult," of which members of both religious groups were prone to "Judenkoller", an alleged sudden and violent sickness that would manifest either in blatant hatred or hysteria at being within proximity of Jews. Coincidentally, Merkl mentions a relationship to this Nordic/German-agrarian cult in relation to the 19th century to a "crypto-Nazi tradition", despite being written ten years prior to ''The Occult Roots of Nazism''. Some of this modern mythology even touches Goodrick-Clarke's topic directly. The rumor that Adolf Hitler had encountered the Austrian monk and antisemitic publicist Lanz von Liebenfels, already at the age of 8, at Heilgenkreuz abbey, goes back to ''Les mystiques du soleil'' (1971) by Michel-Jean Angbert. "This episode is wholly imaginary."Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 224. Nevertheless, Michel-Jean Angbert and the other authors discussed by Goodrick-Clarke present their accounts as real, so that this modern mythology has led to several legends that resemble
conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
, concerning, for example, the Vril Society or rumours about
Karl Haushofer Karl Ernst Haushofer (27 August 1869 – 10 March 1946) was a German general, professor, geographer, and politician. Through his student Rudolf Hess, Haushofer's conception of Geopolitik influenced the development of Adolf Hitler's expansi ...
's connection to the occult. The most influential books were Trevor Ravenscroft's ''The Spear of Destiny'' and ''
The Morning of the Magicians ''The Morning of the Magicians: Introduction to Fantastic Realism'' (french: Le Matin des magiciens) is a 1960 book by the journalists Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier. As the authors disclaim in their preface, the book is intended to challeng ...
'' by Pauwels and Bergier.


Claims

One of the earliest claims of Nazi occultism can be found in
Lewis Spence James Lewis Thomas Chalmers Spence (25 November 1874 – 3 March 1955) was a Scottish journalist, poet, author, folklorist and occult scholar. Spence was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and vice- ...
's book ''Occult Causes of the Present War'' (1940). According to Spence,
Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...
and his book '' The Myth of the Twentieth Century'' were responsible for promoting pagan, occult and anti-Christian ideas that motivated the Nazi party.


Demonic possession of Hitler

For a demonic influence on Hitler,
Hermann Rauschning Hermann Adolf Reinhold Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German politician and author, adherent of the Conservative Revolution movement who briefly joined the Nazi movement before breaking with it. He was the President of the ...
's ''Hitler Speaks'' is brought forward as a source. However, most modern scholars do not consider Rauschning reliable. (As Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke summarises, "recent scholarship has almost certainly proved that Rauschning's conversations were mostly invented".) Similarly to Rauschning,
August Kubizek August "Gustl" Friedrich Kubizek (3 August 1888 – 23 October 1956) was an Austrian musical conductor and writer best known for being a close friend of Adolf Hitler, when both were in their late teens. He later wrote about their friendship in h ...
, one of Hitler's closest friends since childhood, claims that Hitler—17 years old at the time—once spoke to him of "returning Germany to its former glory"; of this comment August said, "It was as if another being spoke out of his body, and moved him as much as it did me." An article "Hitler's Forgotten Library" by Timothy Ryback, published in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' (May 2003), mentions a book from Hitler's private library authored by
Ernst Schertel Ernst Schertel (20 June 1884 - 30 January 1958) was a German author, probably best known for his 1923 '' Magic: History, Theory and Practice''. He had an "astonishingly diverse career", including running an eight-member dance troupe, the Traumbuhne ...
. Schertel, whose interests were
flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...
, dance, occultism, nudism and
BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
, had also been active as an activist for
sexual liberation The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the ...
before 1933. He had been imprisoned in Nazi Germany for seven months and his doctoral degree was revoked. He is supposed to have sent a dedicated copy of his 1923 book '' Magic: History, Theory and Practice'' to Hitler some time in the mid-1920s. Hitler is said to have marked extensive passages, including one which reads "He who does not have the demonic seed within himself will never give birth to a magical world".
Theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...
Alice A. Bailey Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchest ...
stated during
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 opposing ...
that Adolf Hitler was possessed by what she called the ''Dark Forces''. Her follower
Benjamin Creme Benjamin Creme (5 December 1922 − 24 October 2016) was a Scottish artist, author, esotericist, and editor of ''Share International'' magazine. He asserted that the second coming, prophesied by many religions, would come in the form of ''Ma ...
has stated that through Hitler (and a group of equally evil men around him in Nazi Germany, together with a group of militarists in Japan and a further group around Mussolini in Italy) was released the energies of the
Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...
, which, according to theosophical teachings is not an individual person but forces of destruction. According to
James Herbert Brennan James Herbert "Herbie" Brennan (born Ireland, 5 July 1940) is a lecturer and the author of over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for adults, teens, and children. Biography Brennan's '' Man, Myth & Magic'' was published by Yaquinto Publicati ...
in his book '' Occult Reich'', Hitler's mentor, Dietrich Eckhart (to whom Hitler dedicates '' Mein Kampf''), wrote to a friend of his in 1923: "Follow Hitler! He will dance, but it is I who have called the tune. We have given him the 'means of communication' with Them. Do not mourn for me; I shall have influenced history more than any other German."


New World Order

Conspiracy theorists "frequently identify German National Socialism among other things as a precursor of the New World Order". With regard to Hitler's later ambition of imposing the Nazi regime throughout Europe,
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
used the term ''Neuordnung'' (often poorly translated as "the New Order", while actually referring to the "re-structurization" of state borders on the European map and the resulting post-war economic hegemony of Greater Germany), so one could probably say that the Nazis pursued a new world order in terms of politics. But the claim that Hitler and the
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, n ...
conspired to create a New World Order (a conspiracy theory, put forward on some webpages) is completely unfounded.


Aleister Crowley

There are also unverifiable rumours that the occultist
Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
sought to contact Hitler during World War II. Despite several allegations and speculations to the contrary, there is no evidence of such an encounter.Hakl 1997: 205. In 1991,
John Symonds John Symonds (12 March 1914, Battersea, London – 21 October 2006) was an English novelist, biographer, playwright and writer of children's books. Biography Early life He was the son of Robert Wemyss Symonds and Lily Sapzells. At the ag ...
, one of Crowley's
literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed w ...
s, published a book: ''The Medusa's Head or Conversations Between Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler'', which has definitively been shown to be literary fiction. That the edition of this book was limited to 350 also contributed to the mystery surrounding the topic. Mention of a contact between Crowley and Hitler—without any sources or evidence—is also made in a letter from
René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as ''Abdalwâhid Yahiâ'' (; ''ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā'') was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having writte ...
to
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 defiant ...
dated October 29, 1949, which later reached a broader audience.


Erik Jan Hanussen

The documentary '' Hitler and the Occult'' describes how Hitler "seemed endowed with even greater authority and charisma" after he had resumed public speaking in March 1927. The narrator states that "this may have been due to the influence" of the clairvoyant performer and publicist
Erik Jan Hanussen Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889, in Vienna – 25 March 1933, in Berlin), was an Austrian Jewish publicist, charlatan and clairvoyant performer. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist, mentalist, occultist and astr ...
. "Hanussen helped Hitler perfect a series of exaggerated poses," useful for speaking before a huge audience. The documentary then interviews Dusty Sklar about the contact between Hitler and Hanussen, and the narrator makes the statement about "occult techniques of mind control and crowd domination." Whether Hitler had met Hanussen at all is not certain. That he even encountered him before March 1927 is not confirmed by other sources about Hanussen. In the late 1920s to early 1930s Hanussen made political predictions in his own newspaper, ''Hanussens Bunte Wochenschau'', that gradually started to favour Hitler, but until late 1932 these predictions varied.Frei 1980: 85. In 1929, Hanussen predicted, for example, that
Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...
would return to Germany in 1930 and that the problem of unemployment would be solved in 1931.


Nazi mysticism, occultism, and science fiction

Nazi mysticism in German culture is further expanded upon within Manfred Nagl's article "SF (Science Fiction), Occult Sciences, and Nazi Myths", published in the journal ''
Science Fiction Studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As the name implies, the journal publishes articles and book reviews on science fic ...
''. In it, Nagl writes that the racial narratives described in contemporary German Science Fiction stories, like The Last Queen of Atlantis, by Edmund Kiss, provide further notions of racial superiority under the auspices of Ariosophy, Aryanism, and alleged historic racial Mysticism, suggesting that writings associated with possible Occultism, Ariosophy, or Aryanism were products intended to influence and justify in a socio-political manner, rather than simply establish cultural heritage. The stories themselves dealt with "...heroes, charismatic leader types, (who) have been chosen by fate—with the resources of a sophisticated and extremely powerful technology".Nagl, Manfred. "SF, Occult Sciences, and Nazi Myths". Science Fiction Studies. 1 (3): 190. Nagl considers science fiction pieces like Atlantis further fueled the violent persuasiveness of Nazi leaders, such as Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, as further justification for a "Nazi elite (envisioning) for itself in occupied East European territories". This, in turn, allegedly propagated public support of Nazi ideology, summated by Nagl as "a tremendous turning back of culture, away from the age of reason and consciousness, toward the age of a 'sleepwalking certainty', the age of supra-rational magic".


Crypto-historic books

In the essay that is included in the German edition of ''The Occult Roots...'', H. T. Hakl, an Austrian publisher of esoteric works, traces the origins of the speculation about Nazism and Occultism back to several works from the early 1940s. His research was also published in a short book, ''Unknown sources: National Socialism and the Occult'', translated by Goodrick-Clarke. Already in 1933 a pseudonymous ''Kurt van Emsen'' described Hitler as a "demonic personality", but his work was soon forgotten. The first allusions that Hitler was directed by occult forces which were taken up by the later authors came from French Christian esotericist René Kopp.Hakl 1997: 210. In two articles published in the monthly esoteric journal ''Le Chariot'' from June 1934 and April 1939, he seeks to trace the source of Hitler's power to supernatural forces. The second article was titled: "''L'Enigme du Hitler''". In other French esoteric journals of the 1930s, Hakl could not find similar hints. In 1939 another French author, Edouard Saby, published a book: ''Hitler et les Forces Occultes''.Hakl 1997: 212. Saby already mentions Hanussen and
Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln Ignatius Timothy Trebitsch-Lincoln ( hu, Trebitsch-Lincoln Ignác, german: link=no, Ignaz Thimoteus Trebitzsch; 4 April 1879 – 6 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born adventurer and convicted con artist. Of Jewish descent, he spent parts of his ...
.Hakl 1997: 214. Hakl even hints that Edouard Saby would have the copyright on the myth of Nazi occultism. However, another significant book from 1939 is better known:
Hermann Rauschning Hermann Adolf Reinhold Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German politician and author, adherent of the Conservative Revolution movement who briefly joined the Nazi movement before breaking with it. He was the President of the ...
's ''Hitler Speaks''. There it is said (in the chapter "Black and White Magic"), that "Hitler surrendered himself to forces that carried him away. ... He turned himself over to a spell, which can, with good reason and not simply in a figurative analogy, be described as demonic magic." The chapter "Hitler in private" is even more dramatic, and was left out in the German edition from 1940.Hakl 1997: 211. Goodrick-Clarke examines several pseudo-historic "books written about Nazi occultism between 1960 and 1975", that "were typically sensational and under-researched". He terms this genre "crypto-history", as its defining element and "final point of explanatory reference is an agent which has remained concealed to previous historians of National Socialism". Characteristic tendencies of this literature include: (1) "a complete ignorance of primary sources" and (2) the repetition of "inaccuracies and wild claims", without the attempt being made to confirm even "wholly spurious 'facts'". Books debunked in Appendix E of ''
The Occult Roots of Nazism ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935'' is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria betwe ...
'' are: *
Louis Pauwels Louis Pauwels (; 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer. Born in Paris, France, he wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including ''Esprit'' and ''Variété'') until the 1950s. He partic ...
and
Jacques Bergier Jacques Bergier (; maybe born Yakov Mikhailovich Berger (russian: link=no, Я́ков Миха́йлович Бéргер); Odessa, Paris, 23 November 1978) was a chemical engineer, member of the French-resistance, spy, journalist and writer. ...
, 1960, ''
The Morning of the Magicians ''The Morning of the Magicians: Introduction to Fantastic Realism'' (french: Le Matin des magiciens) is a 1960 book by the journalists Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier. As the authors disclaim in their preface, the book is intended to challeng ...
'' * Dietrich Bronder, 1964, ''Bevor Hitler kam''Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 221. * Trevor Ravenscroft, 1972, '' The Spear of Destiny'' * Michel-Jean Angbert, 1971, ''Les mystiques du soleil'' *
J. H. Brennan James Herbert "Herbie" Brennan (born Ireland, 5 July 1940) is a lecturer and the author of over 100 fiction and non-fiction books for adults, teens, and children. Biography Brennan's '' Man, Myth & Magic'' was published by Yaquinto Publicat ...
, 1974, ''
The Occult Reich ''The Occult Reich'' is a 1974 book about occultism during the Third Reich by J. H. Brennan. See also * ''Zodiac and Swastika'' References * ''A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult'' by Peter Levenda * ''Secret Aryan Cults and The ...
'' * Otto Rahn, 1937, ''Luzifers Hofgesind, eine Reise zu den guten Geistern Europas'' (Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in Search of the Light Bringers). These books are only mentioned in the Appendix. Otherwise the whole book by Goodrick-Clarke does without any reference to this kind of literature; it uses other sources. This literature is not reliable; however, books published after the emergence of ''The Occult Roots of Nazism'' continue to repeat claims that have been proven false: * Wulf Schwarzwaller, 1988, ''The Unknown Hitler'' * Alan Baker, 2000, '' Invisible Eagle. The History of Nazi Occultism''


Documentaries

More than 60 years after the end 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 ...
, Nazism and Adolf Hitler have become a recurring subject in history
documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
. Among these documentaries, there are several that focus especially on the potential relations between Nazism and occultism, such as
the History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
's documentary '' Hitler and the Occult''. As evidence of Hitler's "occult power" this documentary offers, for example, the infamous statement by Joachim von Ribbentrop of his continued subservience to Hitler at the
Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...
. After the author Dusty Sklar has pointed out that Hitler's suicide happened at the night of April 30/May 1, which is
Walpurgis Night Walpurgis Night (), an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night (from the German ), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve (alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess ...
, the narrator continues: "With Hitler gone, it was as if a spell had been broken". A much more plausible reason for Hitler's suicide (that does not involve the paranormal) is that the Russians had already closed to within several hundred meters of Hitler's bunker and he did not want to be captured alive. From the perspective of academic history, these documentaries on Nazism, if ever commented, are seen as problematic because they do not contribute to an actual understanding of the problems that arise in the study of Nazism and Neo-Nazism. Without referring to a specific documentary
Mattias Gardell Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell (born 10 August 1959) is a Swedish historian and scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. He was the first Len ...
, a historian who studies contemporary separatist groups, writes: '' Hitler and the Occult'' includes a scene in which Hitler is seen as speaking at a huge mass meeting. While Hitler's speech is not translated, the narrator talks about the German occultist and stage
mentalist Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precogniti ...
Erik Jan Hanussen Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889, in Vienna – 25 March 1933, in Berlin), was an Austrian Jewish publicist, charlatan and clairvoyant performer. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist, mentalist, occultist and astr ...
: "Occultists believe, Hanussen may also have imparted occult techniques of mind control and crowd domination on Hitler" (see below). Historians have dismissed myths such as those about Erik Jan Hanussen.


Ernst Schäfer's expedition to Tibet

At least one documentary, ''Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail,'' includes footage from the
1939 German expedition to Tibet This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...
. The documentary describes it as "the most ambitious expedition" of the SS. This original video material was made accessible again by Marco Dolcetta in his series ''Il Nazismo Esoterico'' in 1994.Hakl 1997: 204 An interview that Dolcetta conducted with Schäfer does not support the theories of Nazi occultism, neither does Reinhard Greve's 1995 article ''Tibetforschung im SS Ahnenerbe'' (''Tibet Research Within the SS Ahnenerbe''), although the latter does mention the occult thesis. Hakl comments that Greve should have emphasized more strongly the unreliability of authors like Bergier and Pauwels or Angbert.
Ernst Schäfer Ernst Schäfer (14 March 1910 – 21 July 1992) was a German explorer, hunter and zoologist in the 1930s, specializing in ornithology. His zoological explorations in Tibet served as a cover for his role in the German secret service. He was also ...
's expedition report explicitly remarks on the "worthless goings-on" by "a whole army of quacksalvers" concerning Asia and especially Tibet.


List of documentaries


German

* Hans-Jürgen Syberberg'
''Hitler – Ein Film aus Deutschland''
(''Hitler, A Film From Germany'') (1977). Originally presented on German television, this is a seven-hour work in four parts: The Grail; A German Dream; The End Of Winter's Tale; We, Children Of Hell. The director uses documentary clips, photographic backgrounds, puppets, theatrical stages, and other elements from almost all the visual arts, with the "actors" addressing directly the audience/camera, in order to approach and expand on this most taboo subject of European history of the 20th century. * '' Schwarze Sonne'' (2001) documentary by Rüdiger Sünner. Sünner also produced a book to accompany this documentary.


English

* '' The Occult History of the Third Reich'' (1991), narrated by
Patrick Allen John Keith Patrick Allen (17 March 1927 – 28 July 2006) was a British actor. Life and career Allen was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi), where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada ...
, directed by Dave Flitton. ** Adolf Hitler ** The SS: Blood and Soil ** The Enigma of the Swastika ** Himmler the Mystic * '' Unsolved Mysteries of World War II'' (1992): Occult & Secrets, also known as Volume 3 in the series. (Different releases contain different episodes.) ** Hitler's Secret Weapons ** The Riddle of Rudolph Hess ** Himmler's Castle: Wewelsburg ** The Last Days of Hitler ** Decision At Dunkirk ** Stalin's Secret Armies * In 1994,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
aired a Michael Wood documentary entitled '' Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail'', as part of its " Secret History" series. * '' Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy'' (1998), directed by
Tracy Atkinson Tracy, Tracey, or Tracie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tracy (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname, also encompassing spelling variations Places United States * Tracy, C ...
and Joan Baran, narrated by
Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...
. * '' Decoding the Past'' episode: The Nazi Prophecies (2005) by
The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
.Decoding The Past: Nazi Prophecies DVD


See also

*
Adolf Hitler in popular culture Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, has been represented in popular culture ever since he became a well-known politician in Germany. His distinctive image was often parodied by his opponents. Parodies became much more prominent ...
*
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 Aryans, was i ...
*
Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...
* Black Sun (symbol) * Esoteric Nazism *
Esotericism in Germany and Austria Germany and Austria have spawned many movements and practices in Western Esotericism, including Rosicrucianism, theosophy, anthroposophy and ariosophy, among others. Early Esotericism Knights Templar and Freemasonry The original Knights Templ ...
*
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 o ...
*
Julleuchter Julleuchter (; "Yule lantern") or ''Turmleuchter'' ("tower lantern") are modern terms used to describe a type of earthenware candle-holder originating in 16th-century Sweden, later redesigned and manufactured in Nazi Germany. Swedish artefact ...
* '' Magic: History, Theory and Practice'' *
Nazi archaeology Nazi archaeology was the movement led by various Nazi leaders, such as Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, which encouraged archaeologists and other scholars to look back into Germany's archeological past for research and study in order to streng ...
*
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'' * '' The Occult History of the Third Reich'' *
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 ...
*
Protestant Reich Church The German Evangelical Church (german: Deutsche Evangelische Kirche) was a successor to the German Evangelical Church Confederation from 1933 until 1945. The German Christians, an antisemitic and racist pressure group and ''Kirchenpartei'', ga ...
* Religion in Nazi Germany *
Religious aspects of Nazism Historians, political scientists and philosophers have studied Nazism with a specific focus on its religious and pseudo-religious aspects. It has been debated whether Nazism would constitute a political religion, and there has also been research ...
*
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 ...
* Walter Johannes Stein


References


Citations


Other references

* Bruno Frei. 1980. ''Der Hellseher: Leben und Sterben des Erik Jan Hanussen''. Antonia Gruneberg, ed. Cologne: Prometh . *
Mattias Gardell Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell (born 10 August 1959) is a Swedish historian and scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. He was the first Len ...
. 2003. ''
Gods of the Blood ''Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism'' is a book by Swedish scholar Mattias Gardell discussing neopaganism (in particular Germanic) and white separatism, neo-fascism, and antisemitism. It was published by Duke Universi ...
: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism''. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. .


Further reading

* Igor Barinov. 2013. ''Tabu i mify Tret'ego Reikha (Taboo and Myths of the Third Reich)''. Moscow, Pskov. . * Carrie B. Dohe. ''Jung's Wandering Archetype: Race and Religion in Analytical Psychology''. London: Routledge, 2016 . * Florian Evers. 2011. ''Vexierbilder des Holocaust''. LIT Verlag Münster. . *
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 ...
. 1985. ''
The Occult Roots of Nazism ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935'' is a book about Nazi occultism and Ariosophy by historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, who traces some of its roots back to Esotericism in Germany and Austria betwe ...
: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935''. Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. . (Several reprints.) Expanded with a new Preface, 2004, I.B. Tauris & Co. . * Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 2002. '' Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity''. New York University Press. . (Paperback, 2003. ) * Hans Thomas Hakl. 1997: ''Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus''. In: Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: ''Die okkulten Wurzeln des Nationalsozialismus''. Graz, Austria: Stocker (German edition of ''The Occult Roots of Nazism'') * Hans Thomas Hakl. ''National Socialism and the Occult'', Edmonds, WA, Holmes Publishing Group, 2000. . * Eric Kurlander. ''Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017. . * Michael Rißmann. 2001. ''Hitlers Gott. Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewußtsein des deutschen Diktators'' . esp. pp. 137–172; Zürich, Munich. Pendo * Julian Strube. 2012. ''Die Erfindung des esoterischen Nationalsozialismus im Zeichen der Schwarzen Sonne'' . In: ''Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft'', 20(2): 223–268.


External links


The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
– Short article at www.lapismagazine.org.
Magic Realism – A book review
by William Main of ''The Occult Roots of Nazism'', taken from the December 1994 issue of ''Fidelity'' magazine.

Article on an information page from the Swiss Reformed Church. *
NARA The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...
Research Room
Captured German and Related Records on Microform in the National Archives: Captured German Records Filmed at Berlin (American Historical Association, 1960). Microfilm Publication T580. 1,002 rolls
including among, others, files of the Ahnenerbe and the ''Nachlass'' of Walter Darré.
Hitler and the Occult: Nazism, Reincarnation, and Rock Culture

White Blood, White Gods: An Assessment of Racialist Paganism in the United States
– A Senior Honors Thesis by Damon Berry in June 2006.

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 defiant ...
(from ''Il Conciliatore'', no. 10, 1971; translated from the German edition in Deutsche Stimme, no. 8, 1998).
Von Aldebaran bis Vril. Interview über esoterischen Neonazismus
Interview, Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst, April 2013. * {{DEFAULTSORT:National Socialism And Occultism Germanic neopaganism Heinrich Himmler Nazism in popular culture Pseudohistory