Nazi occultism

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Nazi occultism is an occult undercurrent of Nazism, of minor overall importance. Some historians attest semi-religious elements in Nazism.^[1] Nevertheless, an occult side of Nazism did not exist as such.^[2] The persistent idea that the Nazis were directed by occult agencies is modern cryptohistory, in the sense that such an agency "has remained concealed to previous historians of National Socialism."^[3]

Nazism as political religion?

This article owes much to the research of a single historian, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. His book The Occult Roots of Nazism, first published 1985, is the most important work of reference for this topic. In a new preface to the 2004 edition, Goodrick-Clarke mentions some other serious writers who have examined "the religious and occult aspects of German National Socialism" before him:^[4] Raymond Aron, Albert Camus, Romano Guardini, Denis de Rougemeont, Eric Voegelin, George Mosse, Klaus Vondung and Friedrich Heer. The Occult Roots of Nazism includes a definition of occultism, but Goodrick-Clarke does not put forward a theoretical concept that specifies his view of the relation between Nazism and Religion / Nazism and Occultism. Some other historians would prefer to deal with this topic under the term Political religion, a concept elaborated by Eric Voegelin. Among high-ranking Nazis, Richard Walther Darré, Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler and Alfred Rosenberg are credited with an interest in the occult. Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs in particular have been a question of examination. After 1945, esoteric elements within Nazism were continued and expanded into new völkisch religions of white identity, collectively described as Esoteric Nazism. Influenced by Esoteric Nazism, there is even a contemporary loose network of pagan neo-Nazis.

Ariosophy

The Occult Roots of Nazism is not about Nazism as such. Instead it focusses, as the title indicates, on its possible occult roots, an esoteric movement of the 1900s to 1930s in Germany and Austria that is generically referred to as Ariosophy. According to Goodrick-Clarke, the Ariosophists wove occult ideas into the völkisch ideology that existed in Germany and Austria during that time.^[5] Ariosophy shared the racial awareness which was already current within völkisch ideology,^[6] but in addition to this the Ariosophists drew upon the notion of root races from Theosophy, thus postulating locations such as Atlantis, Thule and Hyperborea as the original homeland of the Aryan race (and its alleged purest branch, the Teutons or Germanic peoples). The ariosophic writings described a time of a glorious ancient Germanic past, in which an elitist priesthood had "expounded occult-racist doctrines and ruled over a superior and racially pure society."^[7] The downfall of this imaginary golden age was explained as the result of the interbreeding between the master race and those considered untermenschen (lesser races). The "abstruse ideas and weird cults [of Ariosophy] anticipated the political doctrines and institutions of the Third Reich"^[8] as Goodrick-Clarke writes in the introduction of his book, motivating the phrase "occult roots of Nazism". However, with the exception of Karl Maria Wiligut,^[9] Goodrick-Clarke has not found evidence that prominent 'Ariosophists' directly influenced Nazism.

Nazism and Occultism

When it comes to the potentially occult aspects, the difficulty with this topic lies also therein that it can be regarded "as a topic for sensational authors in pursuit of strong sales."^[10] Following again Goodrick-Clarke, this field of sensational (pseudo-)history can be termed the modern mythology of Nazi occultism. The relation between Nazism and Occultism has even found its way into the popular culture. The best known example of the representations of Nazi occultism in popular culture would be Indiana Jones. In his third film, this popular American movie character battles the Nazis over the Holy Grail. (Some might find it hard to believe but there is actually a connection between a section of the RuSHA department of the SS and the Holy Grail, centering on the person of Otto Rahn.) Whereas these are fictional accounts, some modern mythology goes as far to resemble conspiracy theories, this concerns e.g. the Vril Society or rumors about Karl Haushofer's connection to the occult. Well known examples of the modern mythology of Nazi occultism would be Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear of Destiny or Le Matin des Magiciens.

Occult aspects within Nazism

Since there has been no independent movement of Nazi occultism, one can not possibly write a history of it. There are only certain occult elements within Nazism that are difficult to connect to each other.

Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs

Main article: Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs

Since 1957, when the Austrian psychologist Wilfried Daim published the important study on Lanz von Liebenfels^[11] enough evidence exists to say that Hitler had been exposed to the ariosophic Weltanschauung in Vienna. However, to which extent he was influenced by it, is not clear. In the research into this question, Hitler's Mein Kampf has even been compared to Liebenfels' Theozoologie in detail. ^[12] According to an online article from the Simon Wiesenthal Center^[13], the influence of the anti-Judaic, Gnostic and root race teachings of H.P. Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, and the adaptations of her ideas by her followers, constituted a popularly unacknowledged but decisive influence over the developing mind of Hitler.

Thule Society and the origins of the NSDAP

Thule emblem

Main article: Thule Society

The Thule Society, from which the NSDAP ultimately originated, was one of the ariosophic groups of the late 1910s.^[14] Thule Gesellschaft had initially been the name of the Munich branch of the Germanenorden Walvater of the Holy Grail, a lodge-based organisation which was built up by Rudolf von Sebottendorff in 1917.^[15] For this task he had received about a hundred addresses of potential members in Bavaria from Hermann Pohl, and from 1918 he was also supported by Walter Nauhaus.^[16] According to an account by Sebottendorff, the Bavarian province of the Germanenorden Walvater had 200 members in spring 1918, which had risen to 1500 in autumn 1918, of these 250 in Munich.^[17] Five rooms, capable of accommodating 300 people, were leased from the fashionable Hotel Vierjahreszeiten ('Four Seasons') in Munich and decorated with the Thule emblem showing a dagger superimposed on a swastika.^[18] Since the lodge's ceremonial activities were accompanied by overtly right-wing meetings, the name Thule Gesellschaft was adopted to arouse less attention from socialists and pro-Republicans.^[19]

The Aryan race and Lost lands

The Thule Society took its name from Thule, an alleged lost land. Sebottendorff identified Ultima Thule as Iceland.^[20] Within the Armanism of Guido von List, to which Sebottendorff made distinct references,^[21] it was believed that the Aryan race had originated from the mythical homeland of Atlantis and taken refuge in Thule/Iceland after Atlantis had become deluged under the sea.^[22] Hyperborea was also mentioned by Guido von List, with direct references to the theosophic author William Scott-Elliot.^[23] In The Myth of the Twentieth Century by Alfred Rosenberg, the second most important Nazi book after Mein Kampf, Thule was also referred to as a lost land or as an Aryan cultural center.^[24] The superiority of Aryans over all other races was a key concept and the members of various Germanenorden lodges saw themselves (the Teutons or Germanic peoples) as the 'purest' branch of the Aryan race.

Formation of DAP and NSDAP

In autumn 1918 Sebottendorff attempted to extend the appeal of the Thule Society's nationalist ideology to people from a working class background. He entrusted the Munich sports reporter Karl Harrer with the formation of a workers' ring, called the Deutscher Arbeiterverein ('German workers' club') or Politischer Arbeiterzirkel ('Political workers' ring').^[25] The secretary of this ring was a certain Michael Lotter, who seems to be of no further relevance, but the most active member was the historically better known Anton Drexler.^[26] Drexler urged the foundation of a political party, and on 5 January 1919 the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP, German Workers' Party) was formally founded.^[27] When Adolf Hitler first encountered the DAP on 12 September 1919, Sebottendorff had already left the Thule Society (in June 1919).^[28] By the end of February 1920, Hitler had transformed the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers Party).^[29] Apparently meetings of the Thule Society continued until 1923. A certain Johannes Hering kept a diary of these meetings which mentions the attendance of other Nazi leaders between 1920 and 1923, but not of Hitler.^[30] That the origins of the Nazi party can be traced to the lodge organisation of the Thule Society is fact. However, the only point in which the NSDAP was a successor to the Thule Society was the use of the swastika. It is possible to trace the origins of the Nazi symbol back through the Thule Society and the Germanenorden to Guido von List,^[31] but it is not evident that the Thulean ideology filtered through the DAP into the NSDAP. Goodrick-Clarke implies that ariosophical ideas were of no consequence: "the DAP line was predominantly one of extreme political and social nationalism, and not based on the Aryan-racist-occult pattern of the Germanenorden [and Thule Society]".^[32] Godwin summarises the differences in outlook which separated the Thule Society from the direction taken by the Nazis:

"Hitler...had little time for the whole Thule business, once it had carried him where he needed to be...he could see the political worthlessness of paganism in Christian Germany. Neither did the Führer's plans for his Thousand-year Reich have any room whatever for the heady love of individual liberty with which the Thuleans romantically endowed their Nordic ancestors."^[33]

Nevertheless, the formative connection with Nazism has made the Thule Society a popular subject of modern cryptohistory. Among other things, it is hinted that Karl Haushofer and G. I. Gurdjieff were connected to the Society,^[34] but this is completely unsustainable.

Aftermath

In January 1933 Sebottendorff published Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlich aus der Frühzeit der Nationalsozialistischen Bewegung (Before Hitler Came: Documents from the Early Days of the National Socialist Movement). Nazi authorities (Hitler himself?) understandably disliked the book, which was banned in the following year. Sebottendorff was arrested but managed to flee to Turkey.

Himmler and the SS

Credited retrospectively with being the founder of "Esoteric Hitlerism", and certainly a figure of major importance for the officially-sanctioned research and practice of mysticism by a Nazi elite, was Heinrich Himmler who, more than any other high official in the Third Reich (including Hitler) was fascinated by pan-Aryan (i.e. broader than Germanic) racialism and by certain forms of Germanic neopaganism. Himmler's capacity for rational planning was accompanied by an "enthusiasm for the utopian, the romantic and even the occult."^[35] Himmler has been claimed to have considered himself the spiritual successor or even reincarnation of Heinrich the Fowler, having established special SS rituals for the old king and returned his bones to the crypt at Quedlinburg Cathedral. Himmler even had his personal quarters at Wewelsburg castle decorated in commemoration of him. The castle was redesigned in a way which reminds on a certain Grails' character; see The "SS-School House Wewelsburg". Himmler had visited the Wewelsburg on 3 November 1933 and in April 1934, the SS took official possession of it in August 1934.^[36] At first the Wewelsburg was a museum and officer's college for ideological education within the SS, but was then placed under the direct control of the office ot the Reichsführer SS (Himmler) in February 1935.^[37] It also seems that Himmler had an interest in Astrology. The astrologer Wilhelm Wulff was consulted by Himmler in the last weeks of the Second World War.^[38] One detailed but difficult source for this is a book written by Wulff himself, Tierkreis und Hakenkreuz, published in Germany in 1968. That Walter Schellenberg had discovered an astrologer called Wulf is also mentioned in Hugh Trevor-Roper's The Last Days of Hitler. In Bramwell's assessment: "Too much can be made of the importance of bizarre cultism in Himmler's activities...but it did exist, and was one of the reasons behind the split between Himmler and Darré that took place in the late 1930s."^[39] The SS had invented its own mystical religion, based very loosely upon imagery taken from Germanic tribal faiths combined with Christianity and "visions" from those figures in order to counter what they viewed as the Jewish-influenced religion of Christianity.^[40] Mystical organizations were created, usually connected with elite SS corps, and adopting specific rituals, initiations and beliefs.^[41] This religion was seen as the German original race-cult religion (ursprüngliche Rassenkult-Religion, a phrase attributed to SS-member Rudolf J. Mund), however, what exactly was indoctrinated in the SS about it is not known.^[42]

Nazi archaeology

In 1935 Himmler established with Darré the Ahnenerbe.^[43] At first independent, it became the ancestral heritage branch of the SS. Headed by Dr. Hermann Wirth, it was dedicated primarily to archaeological research, but it was also involved in proving the superiority of the 'Aryan race' and in occult practices. A great deal of time and resources were spent on researching or creating a popularly accepted “historical”, “cultural” and “scientific” background so the ideas about a “superior” Aryan race could prosper in the German society of the time. For example an expedition to Tibet was organized in order to search for the origins of the Aryan race.^[44] To this end, the expedition leader, Ernst Schäfer, had his anthropologist Bruno Beger make face masks and skull and nose measurements. Another expedition was sent to the Andes. Bramwell, however, comments that Himmler "is supposed to have sent a party of SS men to Tibet in order to search for Shangri-La, an expedition which is more likely to have had straightforward espionage as its purpose".^[45]

Karl Maria Wiligut

Among the personnel of the SS, Karl Maria Wiligut could most of all be described as a Nazi occultist. The (first?) biography of him, written by Rudolf J. Mund, was titled: Himmler's Rasputin^[46] (German: Der Rasputin Himmlers, not translated into English). After his retirement from the Austrian military, Wiligut had been active in the 'ariosophic' milieu. Ariosophy was only one of the threads of Esotericism in Germany and Austria during this time. When he was involuntarily committed to the Salzburg mental asylum between November 1924 and early 1927, he received support from several other occultists.^[47] Wiligut was clearly sympathic to the Nazi Revolution of January 1933.^[48] When he was introduced to Himmler by an old friend who had become an SS officer, he got the opportunity to join the SS under the pseudonym 'Weisthor'.^[48] He was appointed head of the Department for Pre- and Early history within the Race and Settlement Main Office (Rasse- and Siedlungshauptamt, RuSHA) of the SS.^[48] His bureau could (much rather than the Ahnenerbe) be described as the occult department of the SS: Wiligut's main duty appears "to have consisted in committing examples of his ancestral memory to paper."^[48] Wiligut's work for the SS also included the design of the Totenkopfring (death's head ring) that was worn by SS members.^[49] He is even supposed to have designed a chair for Himmler or at least this chair and its covers are offered for sale on the web.^[50][51]

Rudolf Hess

According to Goodrick-Clarke, Rudolf Hess had been a member of the Thule Society before attaining prominence in the Nazi party.^[52] As Adolf Hitler's official deputy, Hess had also been attracted and influenced by the organic farming theories of Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy.^[53] In the wake of his flight to Scotland, Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the security police, banned lodge organizations and esoteric groups on 9 June 1941.^[54] When organic farmers and their supporters — and even nudists — were arrested, Agriculture Minister Richard Walther Darré protested to Himmler and Heydrich, "despite a letter from Bormann, warning Darré that Hitler was behind the arrests."^[55] However, the suppression of esoteric organisations began very soon after the Nazis acquired governmental power. This also affected ariosophic authors and organisations: "One of the most important early Germanic racialists, Lanz von Liebenfels, had his writings banned in 1938 while other occultist racialists were banned as early as 1934."^[56]

The Nazis, occult relics and Atlantis

Surrounding the Ahnenerbe Society there was also speculation about Atlantis and the Holy Grail.

The Fortress of Montségur from the 16th century. If the castle that is linked to the myth of the Holy Grail had existed, it was destroyed in 1244.

Otto Rahn had written a book Crusade against the Grail (Kreuzzug gegen den Gral) in 1933.^[57] In May 1935 he joined the Ahnenerbe, in March 1936 he also joined the SS formally.^[58] In September 1935 Rahn wrote excitingly to Weisthor [Karl Maria Wiligut] about the places he was visiting in his hunt for grail traditions in Germany, asking complete confidence in the matter with the exception of Himmler.^[59] Rahn's connection of the Cathars with the Holy Grail ultimately leads to Montségur in France, which had been the last remaining fortress of the Cathars in the Middle Ages. According to eyewitnesses, Nazi archaeologists and military officers had been present at that castle. ^[60] Notwithstanding Trever Ravenscroft's theory on this, the Nazis did not need to search for the Spear of Destiny. With the annexation of Austria in 1938, the Hofburg Spear, a relic stored in Vienna, had already come into the possession of the Third Reich and Hitler subsequently had it moved to Germany (Berlin most likely). It was returned to Austria after the war.

The modern mythology of Nazi occultism

By its very nature the study of the occultist 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.^[61] Appendix E of Goodrick-Clarke's book discusses The Modern Mythology of Nazi Occultism.^[62] He refers to the writers of this genre as crypto-historians.^[63] As their possible motive he mentions a post-war fascination with Nazism.^[64] Mattias Gardell, a historian who researches a related field, points at another explanation:

"Occultists believe, Hanussen may also have imparted occult techniques of mind control and crowd domination" on Hitler. —Hitler and the Occult

"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."^[65]

Gardell obviously refers to documentaries such as History Channel's documentary Hitler and the Occult.^[66][67] As evidence of Hitler's "occult power" this documentary offers e.g. the infamous statement by Joachim von Ribbentrop of his continued subservience to Hitler at the Nuremberg Trials.^[68] 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 about several hundred meters on Hitler's bunker and he did not want to be captured alive. Well-known religious figures like Pope Pius XII and Pope Benedict XVI claim that Hitler was possessed by devils; Pope Pius XII even performed an exorcism on Hitler at a distance, but failed every time^[69][70]. For a demonic influence on Hitler, Hermann Rauschning's Hitler Speaks is brought forward as source,^[71] although most modern scholars do not consider Rauschning reliable.^[72] (As Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke summarises: "recent scholarship has almost certainly proved that Rauschning's conversations were mostly invented".)^[73] 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."^[74] In his later ambition of imposing a National Socialist regime throughout Europe, Hitler used the term "die neue Ordnung" (the new Order),^[75] 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)^[76] is completely unfounded; the Thule Society did not have this impact on Nazism and Hitler never attended any of their meetings^[77]. Various conspiracy theory homepages also claim that the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley sought to contact Hitler during World War II as well.^[78][79] Indeed, 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^[80], 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."^[81]

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".^[82] 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".^[83] 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'".^[84] Books debunked in Appendix E of The Occult Roots of Nazism are:

• Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, 1960, Le Matin des Magiciens^[85]
• Dietrich Bronder, 1964, Bevor Hitler kam^[86]
• Trevor Ravenscroft, 1972, The Spear of Destiny^[87]
• Michel-Jean Angbert, 1971, Les mystiques du soleil^[88]
• J.H. Brennan, 1974, Occult Reich^[89]

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^[90]
• Alan Baker, 2000, Invisible Eagle. The History of Nazi Occultism^[91]

Neopaganism

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,^[92] for which he largely blamed Alfred Rosenberg, and which he equated with “satanism”. He further connected Nazism to the Illuminati. Occultist or neopagan authors like Stephen McNallen, Stephen Flowers (translator of The Secret King) and Michael Moynihan argue however that the Nazis' occult and runic pretensions amounted to a distortion and misrepresentation of the ancestral religion, Odinism.^[93] Thus McNallen denounces "the lie that 'Hitler was a pagan' or that 'Asatruar trace their roots to Nazi Germany'".^[94] 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:

"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."^[95]

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".^[96]

Notes

Referred Literature

• 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)
• 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. (German). Suhrkamp.

List of books about Nazi occultism

• Wiligut, Karl Maria (2001). in Michael Moynihan (editor): The Secret King: Karl Maria Wiligut, Himmler's Lord of the Runes, translated by Stephen E. Flowers, Dominion Press and Runa-Raven Press. 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 [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 [2]
• 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

See also

• Nazi occultism in popular culture
• Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy
• 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

• 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
• Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus? Die Thule-Gesellschaft (German) Article on an information page from the Swiss Reformed Church
• NARA 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.

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

• Hitler and the Occult
• The controversy of the occult reich By John Roemer
• The Unknown Hitler: Nazi Roots in the Occult
• The Nazi Trapezoid - Nazis and the Occult by Tim Maroney
• Odinism vs Nazism
• Hitler, Nazis & the Occult by M. Sabeheddin (New Dawn International News Service)
• The Hidden Origins of Nazism
• Seed of Lamas and Nazis: The SS in Tibet -- 1938-39