Nazi occultism

:"This article describes speculative theories about Nazism. Semi-religious developments within post-1945 Nazism are discussed under the term neo-völkisch movements."

Nazi occultism refers to several highly speculative theories about Nazism, also called the Nazi Mysteries. ["The Nazi Mysteries" is the title of Chapter 6 of Goodrick-Clarke's 2002 book Black Sun where he uses this designation interchangeably with "Nazi occultism", the term he coined in Appendix E of his 1985 book The Occult Roots of Nazism. Cp. Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 107-128] With the publication of "Le Matin des Magiciens" in 1960, this kind of speculation has became part of popular culture. However, it goes back to several publications in the occult milieu in France and England from the 1940s, and notably to Hermann Rauschning's "Hitler Speaks". The recurring motive of this literary genre is the thesis that the Nazis were directed by occult agencies of some sort: black forces, invisible hierarchies, unknown superiors, secret societies or even Satan directly. Since such an agency "has remained concealed to previous historians of National Socialism," [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 218] they have dismissed the topic as modern cryptohistory. The actual religious aspects of Nazism, including the question of its potential occult and pagan aspects, are a different topic.

Nazism and occultism

"The Modern Mythology of Nazi Occultism" is the title of Appendix E of Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's seminal work "The Occult Roots of Nazism". On nine pages, the Oxford historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke here surveys the most influential books that have attempted to explain the rise of Nazism as the work of a "hidden power". That Goodrick-Clarke's book includes such an appendix is not without reason. One of the difficulties of the book's subject (the racist-occult movement of Ariosophy, a major strand of Esotericism in Germany and Austria, and its potential influences on Nazism) lies in that it can be regarded "as a topic for sensational authors in pursuit of strong sales." [Goodrick-Clarke 2004: vi.] Some of this modern mythology even touches Goodrick-Clarke's topic directly. The rumor that Adolf Hitler had encountered 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, concerning, for example, the Vril Society or rumours about Karl Haushofer's connection to the occult. The most influential books were Trevor Ravenscroft's "The Spear of Destiny" and "Le Matin des Magiciens" by Pauwels and Bergier.

In Ravenscroft's book a specific interest of Hitler concerning the Spear of Destiny is alleged. With the annexation of Austria in 1938, the Hofburg Spear, a relic stored in Vienna, had actually come into the possession of the Third Reich and Hitler subsequently had it moved to Nuremberg in Germany. It was returned to Austria after the war.

Modern theories of Nazi occultism

By its very nature the study of occult influences on the Nazis attracts sensationalistic authors who often seem to lack the ability or the patience to conform to the scientific method of history. "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 discusses "The Modern Mythology of Nazi Occultism". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985, 217-225] He refers to the writers of this genre as "crypto-historians". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985, 218] As their possible motive he mentions a "post-war fascination with Nazism". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985, 217] Mattias Gardell, a historian who researches a related field, points at another explanation:

:In documentaries portraying the Third Reich, Hitler is cast as a master magician; these documentaries typically include scenes in which Hitler is speaking at huge mass meetings. [...] Cuts mix Hitler screaming with regiments marching under the sign of the swastika. Instead of providing a translation of his verbal crescendos, the sequence is overlaid with a speaker talking about something different. All this combines to demonize Hitler as an evil wizard spellbinding an unwitting German people to become his zombified servants until they are liberated from the spell by the Allied victory after which, suddenly, there were no German Nazis left among the populace. How convenient it would be if this image were correct. National socialism could be defeated with garlic. Watchdog groups could be replaced with a few vampire killers, and resources being directed into antiracist community programs could be directed at something else. [ Gardell 2003, 331]

Gardell obviously refers to documentaries such as History Channel's documentary "Hitler and the Occult". [The History Channel online Store: [http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76782 The Unknown Hitler DVD Collection] ] [Another critique of Hitler documentaries: [http://archive.salon.com/may97/media/media970508.html Mark Schone - All Hitler, all the time] ] 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. ["Even with all I know, if in this cell Hitler should come to me and say 'Do this!', I would still do it." - Joachim von Ribbentrop, 1946] 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, 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 in on Hitler's bunker to about several hundred meters and he did not want to be captured alive.

Well-known religious figures like Pope Pius XII and Pope Benedict XVI spoke about a demonic possession of Hitler; Pope Pius XII even performed an exorcism on Hitler at a distance, but supposedly failed every time [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=402602&in_page_id=1770 The Daily Mail newspaper. Hitler and Stalin were possessed by the Devil, says Vatican exorcist. Retrieved on August 2007] ] [ [http://www.catholic.net/us_catholic_news/print.phtml?article_id=4704 Vatican exorcist: Hitler Knew the Devil] ] . For a demonic influence on Hitler, Hermann Rauschning's "Hitler Speaks" is brought forward as source, [ [http://www.plim.org/demonleaders.htm Demonic Possession of World Leaders] ] although most modern scholars do not consider Rauschning reliable. [Theodor Schieder (1972), "Hermann Rauschnings "Gespräche mit Hitler" als Geschichtsquelle" (Oppladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag) and Wolfgang Hänel (1984), "Hermann Rauschnings "Gespräche mit Hitler": Eine Geschichtsfälschung" (Ingolstadt, Germany: Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle), cit. in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2003), "Black Sun", p. 321.] (As Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke summarises, "recent scholarship has almost certainly proved that Rauschning's conversations were mostly invented".) [Goodrick-Clarke (2003: 110). The best that can be said for Rauschning's claims may be Goodrick-Clarke's judgment that they "record ... the authentic voice of Hitler by inspired guesswork and imagination" ("ibid.").] Similarly to Rauschning, August Kubizek, 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." [ [http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?page=book&q=1194.6.0.4 “Hitler and the Holy Roman Empire”] ]

Conspiracy theory "cults frequently identify German National Socialism inter alia as a precursor of the New World Order." [Goodrick-Clarke 2002: 288.] With regard to Hitler's later ambition of imposing a National Socialist regime throughout Europe, Nazi propaganda used the term "Neuordnung" (often poorly translated as "new order", while actually referring to "re-structurization" of state borders on the European map and the resulting post-war economic hegemony of Greater Germany), [Safire, William. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDB143FF934A25751C0A967958260 The New York Times] . Retrieved on November,2007] so one could probably say that the Nazis pursued "a" new world order. But the claim that Hitler and the Thule Society conspired to create "the" New World Order (as put forward on some webpages) [ [http://www.newswatchmagazine.org/weekly_editor/9.22.00.htm Historic Results of Hitler's Thule Societies pursuit of the NWO] ] is completely unfounded; the Thule Society did not have this impact on Nazism and Hitler never attended any of their meetings. [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 201; Johannes Hering, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Thule-Gesellschaft", typescript dated June 21, 1939, Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, NS26/865.]

Various conspiracy theory websites also claim that the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley sought to contact Hitler during World War II as well. [ [http://www.illuminati-news.com/aleister_crowley1.htm Illiminati-News: Aleister Crowley] ] [ [http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_lavello_051403_occult.html Occult Symbolism: As American as Baseball] at Alex Jones' prisonplanet.com] Crowley's own writings from that time [which?] indicate that he believed that he (Aleister Crowley) was indirectly responsible by virtue of having summoned Horus, (a god of war) as conquering king of the new aeon. According to Crowley, the birth of this new intelligence and aeon caused ripples of war and authoritarianism to rearrange the Earth.Fact|date=September 2008Despite several allegations and speculations to the contrary (e.g. Giorgio Galli) there is no evidence of an encounter between Crowley and Hitler.Hakl 1997:205] In 1991, John Symonds, one of Crowley's literary executors published a book: "The Medusa's Head or Conversions between Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler", which has "definitely" to be understood as a 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 being made in a letter from René Guénon to Julius Evola dated October 29, 1949, which later reached a broader audience.

If Hitler (and also Stalin) or the Nazis in general, were the agents of Satan, or "'black forces', 'invisible hierarchies', 'unknown superiors' or any other 'discarnate entity'", [Goodrick-Clarke 1985, 218] this would be a convenient explanation. Explaining Hitler's rise to power, the Second World War and possibly even The Holocaust by the means of the paranormal seems to serve the function of protecting the authors and readers alike from having to deal with this rationally.

:"The truth, however, is that millions of ordinary German workers, farmers and businessmen supported the national socialist program. [...] They were people who probably considered themselves good citizens, which is far more frightening than had they merely been demons." [ Gardell 2003, 331,332]

Crypto-historic books on Nazi occultism

Goodrick-Clarke examines several pseudo-historic "books written about Nazi occultism between 1960 and 1975", that "were typically sensational and under-researched". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 224, 225.] 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". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 218.] 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'". [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 225.] Books debunked in Appendix E of "The Occult Roots of Nazism" are:
*Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, 1960, "Le Matin des Magiciens" [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 219-220.]
*Dietrich Bronder, 1964, "Bevor Hitler kam" [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 221.]
*Trevor Ravenscroft, 1972, "The Spear of Destiny" [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 221-223.]
*Michel-Jean Angbert, 1971, "Les mystiques du soleil" [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 224.]
*J.H. Brennan, 1974, "Occult Reich" [Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 221.]

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" [If "The Unknown Hitler" is quoted correctly in [http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Vril_Society.htm The Vril Society, the Luminous Lodge and the Realization of the Great Work] , then this book makes false allegations about Karl Haushofer and G. I. Gurdjieff.]
*Alan Baker, 2000, "Invisible Eagle. The History of Nazi Occultism" [Chapter 5 of the [http://plausible.custompublish.com/getfile.php/217726.476.xauysabydy/invisible.eagle_alan.baker.pdf Free online version] of "Invisible Eagle" is mainly based on Ravenscroft.]

Alleged Germanic-pagan influence

The use of runic symbology and the existence of an official Nazi government department for the study of the Germanic ancestral heritage (including paganism) have lent some credence to the idea that there was a pagan component to Nazism. As early as 1940, the occult scholar and folklorist Lewis Spence identified a neopagan undercurrent in Nazism, [Spence, Lewis, Occult Causes of the Present War, 1940: p85.] for which he largely blamed Alfred Rosenberg, and which he equated with "satanism". He further connected Nazism to the Illuminati. [Spence 1940.]

Occultist or neopagan authors like Stephen McNallen, Stephen Flowers and Michael Moynihan (Flowers and Moynihan being translators of "The Secret King") argue however that the Nazis' occult and runic pretensions amounted to a distortion and misrepresentation of the ancestral religion, Odinism. [http://www.runestone.org/RS32/books/index.htm, http://www.runestone.org/lep4.html, http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wyrd/odinvsnazi.html; "The Myth and Reality of Occultism in the Third Reich" lecture by S. E. Flowers, November 12th, 2006. http://www.woodharrow.com/lectureseries.html.] Thus McNallen denounces "the lie that 'Hitler was a pagan' or that 'Asatruar trace their roots to Nazi Germany'". [Review of "The Secret King" by Stephen A. McNallen, (http://www.runestone.org/RS32/books/index.htm).] In an article entitled "The Wiligut Saga" featured in "The Secret King", Adolf Schleipfer points out the differences between Wiligut's beliefs and those generally accepted within Odinism. Flowers, who is also a scholar of Germanic religious history, contends that

:The "Ahnenerbe" and the "Totenkopf Orden" made more practical use of Judeo-Christian and Manichean techniques and ideas in their magical traditions and organizational principles....One brief glance at a book on ancient Germanic and old Scandinavian culture and religion will show the massive degree to which the Nazis perverted the egalitarian systems of the ancients into a totalitarian scheme ... just as the Christian evangelists would employ old pagan symbols (such as the cross) to convert the heathens and then gradually infuse those venerable symbols with a contrary significance, so too did the Nazis employ old Germanic symbolism (which was very popular at that time) and infuse it with non-Germanic concepts for manipulative purposes. [Flowers 1984: 16.]

This is not only the opinion of occultists. Heinz Höhne, an authority on the SS, observes that in practice the organisation was modelled on Ignatius Loyola's Jesuit order and that "Himmler's neo-pagan customs remained primarily a paper exercise". [Höhne 1969: 138, 143-5, 156-57.]

Documentaries about Nazism and the Occult

German

*"Schwarze Sonne" documentary by Rüdiger Sünner. Sünner also produced a book to accompany this documentary.

* [http://www.syberberg.de Hans-Jürgen Syberberg] 's [http://www.german-cinema.de/archive/film_view.php?film_id=404 Hitler - Ein Film aus Deutschland] (Hitler, A Film From Germany), 1977. Originally presented on German television, this is a 7-hour work in 4 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.

English

*"" (1998), directed by Tracy Atkinson and Joan Baran, narrated by Malcolm McDowell.
*The Occult History of the Third Reich, Starring: Patrick Allen, Director: Dave Flitton
**Adolf Hitler - Occult History Of The Third Reich
**The SS: Blood And Soil - Occult History Of The Third Reich
**Himmler The Mystic - Occult History Of The Third Reich
**The Enigma Of The Swastika - Occult History Of The Third Reich
*"Decoding the Past" Episode: The Nazi Prophecies" by the History Channel [ [http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/Conflict/programme_3089.php DECODING THE PAST: Nazi Prophecies] ] [ [http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=74536&browseCategoryId=&location=&parentcatid=&subcatid= Decoding The Past: Nazi Prophecies DVD] ]
*Hitler and the Occult by the History Channel [ [http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=72289 Hitler and the Occult DVD ] ]
*
*In 1994, Channel 4 ran a Michael Wood documentary entitled "Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail", as part of its "Secret History" series. [Robin Cross, " [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/n-s/nazimyths.html The Nazi Expedition] "]
*Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: Occult & Secrets, also known as Volume 3 in the series.
**Rudolf Hess (Occult)
**Hitler's Secret Weapons
**Enigma of the Swastika (Occult)
**Himmler's Castle: Wewelsburg (Occult)
**The Last Days of Hitler
**Decision At Dunkirk/Stalin's Secret Armies(Different editions have different episodes) [ [http://www.amazon.ca/dp/6305202885 Unsolved Mysteries: V1-5 World War Ii (1998)] ] [ [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:OKxPi3EdqgwJ:www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/056775007195.html+%22Unsolved+Mysteries+of+World+War+II%22+VOLUME+3&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=5 Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: Decision at Dunkirk/Stalin's Secret Armies DVD] ] [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/6305202958 Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: The Eagle & The Swastika/The Last Days of Hitler (1998)] ] [ [http://web.singnet.com.sg/~jollyroger/GM2/books/dvd1.htm] Dead link|date=May 2008]
*"MythBusters": Episode: Secret Nazi genetic experiments.

Fictional accounts of Nazi occultism

The image of a connection between Nazism and the occult is a common theme in fantasy fiction. One could ask whether Le Matin des Magiciens should not be considered as fiction, since the authors fail to clearly state that it was fact. Aside from such considerations, there are also many accounts of Nazi occultism that are clearly fictional. The best known example of them would be Indiana Jones. In the first Indiana Jones movie, the hero fights Nazis who have discovered the Ark of the Covenant, which would supposedly grant victory to whatever army carried it into battle. In the third film, the popular American movie character again battles Nazis over a religious artifact: the Holy Grail. [Rebecca A. Umland and Samuel J. Umland, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), "The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings" (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) (Greenwood Press, 1996.), 167-171.] The motive of a Nazi search for the Holy Grail is not wholly fictitious: Otto Rahn, who worked at that time for a section of the RSHA department of the SS actually searched after "rumours" about the Holy Grail.

*In 2001, video game publisher Activision released "Return to Castle Wolfenstein", the plot of which focused on Himmler raising an army of zombies to take over the world.

* features the Thule-Gesellschaft, which founded the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (which evolved into the Nazi party), and a fictional occult/mystic quest of the Thule group.

*In the anime film "Urotukidoji 2 - Legend of the Demon Womb" Allied bombers are shown flying over Berlin. It then pans to an elaborate setup with an engineer working on a large scale contraption in order to access the "other world". Hitler is seen from the sidelines in shadows, signalling the work continue.

* In the comic book series Hellboy, the main character is a demon brought to Earth as an infant by Nazi occultists.

* Grant Morrison's comic Zenith presents an alternate reality in which Nazi dealings with the occult have had far reaching consequences.

* In the independent film Outpost, the squad of British soldiers faces a force of ressurected Nazi super-soldiers left in a bunker over sixty years.

Literature

* Dennis Wheatley's novel "They used Dark Forces" (1964) [http://www.denniswheatley.info/firsteditions08.htm] .

*Occult-obsessed Nazis have long been a staple of superhero comic books:
**Neo-Nazis are recurring villains in "Warrior Nun Areala", most notably Dr. Frederick Ottoman, a mad scientist with fleets of Nazi-UFOs and spies in every government.
**In the 1980s, DC Comics writer Roy Thomas invented a retcon to explain why Superman, the Spectre, and the Justice Society of America had been unable to defeat the Nazis: Hitler possessed the Spear of Destiny (Spear of Longinus) which gave him magical control over any superheroes who ventured into his territory.
**In the Marvel Comics comic book series "The Invaders", Thor was summoned by Hitler to battle that superhero group; however, Thor soon realized he was being used, and returned to Asgard.
**The Hellboy comic books and movie also portray the Nazis and the Thule Society as powerful occult figures; in that universe, Hitler lived until 1958 and waged a “secret war” from South America after the collapse of the Third Reich.
**David Brin’s short story “ [http://www.davidbrin.com/thor4.html Thor Meets Captain America] ” and graphic novel "The Life Eaters" center on this theme, as well.
**The Danger Girl comic book features as its villains a modern-day Nazi group called 'The Hammer', which intends to use occult artifacts from Atlantis to establish a Fourth Reich.
*James Herbert's novel, The Spear, deals with a neo-Nazi cult in Britain and an international conspiracy which includes a right-wing US general and a sinister arms dealer, and their obsession with and through the occult with resurrecting Himmler.
*Katherine Kurtz’s novel "Lammas Night" presents Nazis as powerful magicians who must be opposed by British witches.
*The villains of Clive Cussler's novel "Atlantis Found" are modern Nazis who operate out of a secret base in Antarctica who are linked to the ancient culture of Atlantis.
*The Island of Thule is an important location in the Silver Age Sentinels superhero role playing game and collections of short stories based upon the game. It was raised from the Atlantic Ocean by Kreuzritter (“Crusader”), a Nazi superhuman who wears a mystical suit of armor made by a long-disappeared Aryan culture.
*Kouta Hirano's manga series "Hellsing" features Millennium, a group of Nazis with the purpose of creating a reich that will last a thousand years (in accordance with Hitler's vision). This organization is heavily mystical, including among its number a werewolf, a catboy, and an army of 1,000 vampires known as the "Letztes Bataillon" ("Last Battalion"). It is led by a former SS officer whose true intention is the pursuit of absolute war.
*James Twining - "The Black Sun" [ [http://www.jamestwining.com/TBS_Facts/BS_Sun.htm] ]
*James Rollins - Black Order
*Charles Stross features the fictitious Ahnenerbe activities in his "The Atrocity Archives"
*Daniel Easterman's 1985 literatehuh best-seller, "The Seventh Sanctuary", features the Ahnenerbe and a Nazi city in the Saudi desert, where the Ark of the Covenant has been discovered, and from which it is planned that a Fourth Reich will be created.

Film

*Nazi occult-hunters have been featured in the Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones films. The Ahnenerbe organization was the basis for the Nazi archaeologist villains in these movies. They involve several plots related to Nazi mysticism, especially as related to archaeology. As one of the characters in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" says, Hitler is "obsessed with the occult." "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" connects grail legend with Nazi occultism. [Rebecca A. Umland and Samuel J. Umland, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989)," "The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings" (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) (Greenwood Press, 1996.), 167-171.]
*The Thule Society (including some of their most known members) plays an important role in the "Fullmetal Alchemist" .
*"Constantine" features the Holy Lance as a main plot point. It is found buried in Mexico, wrapped in a Nazi flag.
*"Hellboy" touches upon a fictional group of mysticist Nazis bent on summoning forces from other dimensions.
*"Bulletproof Monk" features a group of Nazis attempting to get the Scroll of the Ultimate, giving them unlimited power of good and evil.
*"Invincible (2001 film)"
*"Unholy" [" [http://www.unholymovie.com/ UnholyMovie.com] "]

Games

*The computer game "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" featured a plotline involving Nazi obsession with the occult. It portrays an organization (SS Paranormal Division) based on the Ahnenerbe practicing occult rituals and magic. The game drew themes of Nazi mysticism, among other things, from its predecessors, "Wolfenstein 3D" and its sequel, "Spear of Destiny", the latter of which also featured a storyline concerning Nazi mysticism. "Wolfenstein", for example, features a number of inspirations from the real-world Nazi regimes, but departs from historical reality in a number of ways. For example, the game aggrandizes the Kreisau Circle to be “an extensive resistance network of paramilitary fighter and informants that aide and abets B.J. in his exploits,” depicts the Thule Society (that Hitler formally disavowed while in power) as a “powerful nest of Nazis who disappear the Black Sun and are deeply entangled in the Reich’s paranormal research efforts,” and goes beyond Himmler’s symbolic use of the Black Sun to make it a “limitless energy source that the Nazis are hell-bent on manipulating toward their own nefarious ends.” [“Real-life Insanity: "Wolfenstein"’s events are fictional, but are inspired by the reality of the Nazi regime,” "Game Informer" 184 (August 2008): 36.]
*The video game "BloodRayne" involves a plotline concerning the Thule society and its members, and features a lot of in-game Thule society imagery.
*A fictional division of the Ahnenerbe, the Karotechia, has a prominent place in the mythology of the Delta Green setting for the role playing game "Call of Cthulhu", and stories based upon the setting. In it, the survivors of the Karotechia, a group founded to study occult tomes and conduct magical research, live on in South America, training sorcerers and cultists to found the Fourth Reich, all under the sway of Hitler's ghost (actually Nyarlathotep in disguise).
*In the game "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb" there is a castle in which there are Gestapo agents searching an occult castle in Prague for items of Occult value.
*The X-Box 360 game "Operation Darkness" features supernatural British commandos (werewolves etc.) fighting Nazi vampires, zombies, and other monsters conjured by Hitler. [Gerald Villoria, " [http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/operation-darkness/822418p1.html "Operation: Darkness" Preview] ," "GameSpy" (Sept. 23, 2007).]
* ÜberSoldier
*In the game "" the main character Nathan Drake comes across a long-abandoned Nazi U-Boat stranded on a waterfall. On it, he finds that the crew are dead and mutilated and a map to a tropic island were the statue of El Dorado was taken to. Near the end of the game, Nathan finds himself in a abandoned German Submarine Base built into the island in which he finds that the Germans had sought for the power of the statue of El Dorado but too late learned that it carries a curse that had mutated them into monsters.

Notes

Works Cited

*Anna Bramwell. 1985. "Blood and Soil: Richard Walther Darré and Hitler's 'Green Party"'. Abbotsbrook, England: The Kensal Press. ISBN 0-946041-33-4
*Stephen E. Flowers (as Edred Thorsson). 1984. "Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic". York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc. ISBN 0-87728-548-9
*Mattias Gardell. 2003. "Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism". Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4
*Joscelyn Godwin. 1996. "Arktos: The Polar Myth in Science, Symbolism, and Nazi Survival". Kempton, Ill.: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 0-932813-35-6
*Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 1985. "The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935". Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-402-4. (Several reprints.) Expanded with a new Preface, 2004, I.B. Tauris & Co. ISBN 1-86064-973-4
*———. 2002. "Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity". New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3124-4. (Paperback, 2003. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4)
*H. T. Hakl. 1997: "Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus". de icon In: Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: "Die okkulten Wurzeln des Nationalsozialismus". Graz, Austria: Stocker (German edition of "The Occult Roots of Nazism")
*Heinz Höhne. 1969. "The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS". Martin Secker & Warburg.
*Lewis Spence. 1940. "Occult Causes of the Present War". London: Rider & Co. (Reprint, 1997. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-0051-0)
*Harald Strohm. 1997. "Die Gnosis und der Nationalsozialismus". de icon. Suhrkamp.

List of books about Nazi occultism

*cite book|author=Wiligut, Karl Maria|editor= Michael Moynihan (editor)|others= translated by Stephen E. Flowers|title=The Secret King: Karl Maria Wiligut, Himmler's Lord of the Runes|year=2001|publisher=Dominion Press and Runa-Raven Press|id=ISBN 1-885972-21-0
*"Hitler's Secret Sciences: His Quest for the Hidden Knowledge of the Ancients" by Nigel Pennick
*"Runic Astrology: Starcraft and Timekeeping in the Northern Tradition" by Nigel Pennick
*"The SS Family Book: Procedure for Conducting Family Celebrations", authored by Charles Barger & Ulric of England. Ulric Publishing. - SS Pagan rituals.
*"Reveal the Power of the Pendulum: Secrets of the Sidereal Pendulum, A Complete Survey of Pendulum Dowsing", by Karl Spiesberger, (1962) ISBN 0-572-01419-8 (Der erfolgreiche Pendel-Praktiker) - 1962 [http://www.antiquario.de/webcgi?START=A50&AU=Spiesberger+Karl&TI=Der+erfolgreiche+Pendel+Praktiker&DBN=AQUI&ZG_PORTAL=autor&WID=54653-2660926-92971_1]
*"Rune Might: History and Practices of the Early 20th Century German Rune Magicians" by Stephen Flowers
*"Mythos Schwarze Sonne" by Gerhard von Werfenstein
*"Odinism and Christianity under the Third Reich" by John Yeowell, published by the Odinic Rite in 1993.
*"Unholy Alliance: History of the Nazi Involvement With the Occult" by Peter Levenda, (May 1, 2002, ISBN 0-8264-1409-5)
*"Nazis and the Occult" by Dusty Sklar
*"Hitler and the Occult" by Ken Anderson
*"Zodiac and Swastika: Astrologer to Himmler's Court" by Wilhelm Wulff
*"The Occult Understanding of Hitler and the Nazis" by Cyril Scott
*"Unknown Sources: National Socialism and the Occult" by Hans Thomas Hakl & Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (Translator)
*"Hitlers Visionäre. Die okkulten Wegbereiter des Dritten Reiches" Hitler's Visionaries. Nazism's Occult Roots] by Eduard Gugenberger [http://www.new-books-in-german.com/spr2001/book18a.htm]
*"Astrology and the Third Reich: A Historical Study of Astrological Beliefs in Western Europe Since 1700 and in Hitler's Germany, 1933-45" by Ellic Howe
*"" by Ellic Howe (1968)
*"Astrology and Psychological Warfare During World War II" by Ellic Howe (1972)
*"Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race" by Christopher Hale (Wiley 2003. ISBN 0-471-26292-7)
*"Heinrich Himmler's Camelot: Pictorial/documentary: The Wewelsburg Ideological Center of the SS, 1934-1945" by Stephen Cook (Kressmann-Backmeyer, 1999)
*Spence, Lewis: "Occult Causes of the Present War"; 1940, Rider and Co, London.
*"The Occult Establishment" by James Webb
*"Storm Troopers of Satan" by Michael FitzGerald
*"Das Ende des Hitlermythos" by Josef Greiner
*"Himmler's Black Order 1923-45" by Robin Lumsden
*"Himmler's Crusade: The True Story of the 1938 Nazi Expedition into Tibet" by Christopher Hale
*"Nietzsche, Prophet of Nazism: The Cult of the Superman--Unveiling the Nazi Secret Doctrine" by Abir Taha
*"Reich Of The Black Sun: Nazi Secret Weapons & The Cold War Allied Legend" by Joseph P. Farrell
*"Satan and Swastika: The Occult and the Nazi Party" by Francis X. King
*"Himmler's Castle" by Stuart Russell, J A Bowman (Editor)
*"Hitler and his God: The Background to the Hitler Phenomenon" by Georges van Vrekhem, Rupa & Co. ISBN 81-291-0953-0
*"" by Gerald Suster, ISBN 1-871438-82-9.
*"Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant" by Mel Gordon
*"" by Gerald Suster (1981)
*"Schwarze Sonne (book)" by Rüdiger Sünner
*"The Nazis and the Occult" by Paul Roland

ee also

*Adolf Hitler in popular culture
*The Occult History of the Third Reich
*
*Nazi UFOs
*Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs
*Nazism and religion
*Neofascism and religion
*Positive Christianity
*German Christians
*Protestant Reich Church
*Nazi archaeology
*Führerbunker
*Walter Johannes Stein (known as an esotericist researching on the Holy Grail and source in Trevor Ravenscroft's "The Spear of Destiny"; see: Goodrick-Clarke 1985)

External links

* [http://www.lapismagazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=2 The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke] - Short article at www.lapismagazine.org
* [http://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/NAZIOCCU.TXT Magic Realism - A book review] by William Main of "The Occult Roots of Nazism", taken from the December 1994 issue of "Fidelity" Magazine
* [http://www.relinfo.ch/thule/info.html Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus? Die Thule-Gesellschaft] de icon Article on an information page from the Swiss Reformed Church
*NARA Research Room: [http://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german-records/foreign-records-seized.html#berlin 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.
* [http://www.ewtn.com/library/NEWAGE/HITLEROC.TXT Hitler and the Occult: Nazism, Reincarnation, and Rock Culture]
* [https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/6559/1/White%2520Blood.pdf White Blood, White Gods: An Assessment of Racialist Paganism in the United States] A Senior Honors Thesis by Damon Berry in June 2006.

Pages on the Nazis and the Occult that may not be reliable

* [http://www.geocities.com/nephilimnot/hitler.html Hitler and the Occult]
* [http://www.totse.com/en/religion/the_occult/nazocult.html The controversy of the occult reich] By John Roemer
* [http://www.totse.com/en/religion/the_occult/nazicult.html The Unknown Hitler: Nazi Roots in the Occult]
* [http://www.totse.com/en/religion/the_occult/ The Nazi Trapezoid - Nazis and the Occult] by Tim Maroney
* [http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wyrd/odinvsnazi.html Odinism vs Nazism]
* [http://www.geocities.com/countermedia/hitler.html Hitler, Nazis & the Occult] by M. Sabeheddin (New Dawn International News Service)
* [http://www.blackraiser.com/nazorig.htm The Hidden Origins of Nazism]
* [http://www.gungeralv.org/dg/archives/000497.php Seed of Lamas and Nazis: The SS in Tibet -- 1938-39]