Description
Book SynopsisSixty years after the defeat of the Third Reich, the complexities of Nazi ideology are still being unravelled. This enormously influential book has provided the first serious account of these ideological origins. The book demonstrates the way in which Nazism was influenced by powerful occult and millenarian sects that thrived in Germany and Austria at the turn of the century. These sects (principally the Ariosophists) promoted doctrines of popular nationalism, 'Aryan' racism and occultism to support their advocacy of German world-rule. Their ideas and symbols filtered through to nationalist-racist groups associated with the infant Nazi party, and in time exerted a strong influence on Himmler's SS. Their fantasies were played out with terrifying consequences in the Third Reich: Auschwitz, Sobibor and Treblinka are the hellish museums of the Nazi apocalypse, the roots of which lay in the millennial visions of occult sects. This bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore.
Trade ReviewGoodrick-Clarke's now classic work triumphantly demonstrates that scrupulous scholarship and sound judgement can illuminate a crucial episode in the genesis of Nazism. The political dangers of the new century posed by the mixture of modernity with faith and esoteric mysticism make it particularly timely. -- Professor Roger Griffin, author of The Nature of Facism
An extensive survey of...theology, astrology, and 'ariosophy' (Aryan-racists-occult-theories)... An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies... * Times Literary Supplement *
If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read
The Occult Roots of Nazism. -- Anthony Storr, Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Illustrations Author's Preface to 2004 Edition Foreword Introduction Part 1: The Background 1. The Pan-German Vision 2. The modern German Occult Revival 1880-1910
Part 2: The Ariosophists of Vienna 3. Guido von List 4. Wotanism and Germanic Theosophy 5. The Armanenschaft 6. The Secret Heritage 7. The German Millennium 8. Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and Theozoology 9. The Order of the New Templars
Part 3: Ariosophy in Germany 10. The Germanenorden 11. Rudolf von Sebottendorff and the Thule Society 12. The Holy Runes and the Edda Society 13. Herbert Reichstein and Ariosophy 14. Karl Maria Wiligut: The Private Magus of Heinrich Himmler 15. Ariosophy and Adolf Hitler Appendix A: Genealogy of Lanz von Liebenfels Appendix B: Genealogy of the Sebottendorff Family Appendix C: The history of Ariosophy Appendix D: New Templar Verse Appendix E: The Modern Mythology of Nazi Occultism
Notes and References Bibliography Index
