The 'Magical' Third Reich: Occult Interpretations of Nazism

Stories claiming that Hitler survived and took refuge in Antarctica—or even on the Moon—while SS men supposedly traveled to Tibet to search for traces of ancient civilizations are only a small part of the mythology that formed around Nazi Germany. Military historian Dmitry Zhukov step by step refutes such absurdities and carefully examines the popular hypothesis of “occult origins” of Nazism.

Legends about the Führer escaping from a bunker, the “secret Tibetan expeditions” of the SS, Hitler’s pact with the Devil, and other pop-culture sensations are only the tip of the conspiracy iceberg. The notion that occultists may have shaped the political life of the Third Reich is often believed not only by fans of conspiracy theories.

Dmitry Zhukov consistently separates facts from fiction: he explores the origins and staying power of these narratives, tests the arguments of proponents of the “occult version,” and shows what role, if any, esoteric circles could actually have played in shaping the criminal ideology and practice of Hitlerism.