Books

The Nazis and the Occult – The Third Reich’s Search for Supernatural Power (Paul Roland):

“ – how could a cultured nation which had produced Goethe, Beethoven, Bach, Schiller, Einstein, Kant, Hegel and so many of the world’s greatest thinkers and artists allow itself to be led lemming-like to the precipice of self-destruction by a ragged collective of criminals, misfits, sadists and petty bureaucrats – the very dregs of society?”

prescient parables.


“One man lies beyond all criticism, that is the Fuhrer” – Rudolf Hess

An excellent & well written fast-run exploring the Nazis curious relations with various “occult” pursuits & interests. It is not a fantastical elaboration, but a squarely factual & reserved account that is conducted with concision & revision.


“it is unbelievable, to what extent one must betray a people in order to rule it.” – Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

“Hitler is the awakener of souls, the vehicle of messianic powers. Here is the new leader sent by God the the German people in their hour of greatest need.”

Ignorant, crazy, power slavering, & simply grasping for “theatre” to bait & beguile the masses into the demented demagogue’s perverse biddings, a manic variety of ventures were adopted, implemented or studied.

“The intention of this book is to explain how an ill-educated, psychologically unbalanced nonentity succeeded in mesmerizing an entire nation, why the German people venerated their Fuehrer as a god and how he exercised his power over them to such an extent that they were willing to follow him into the abyss of self-destruction.”

Hitler depicted as a Teutonic Knight in a propaganda illustration by Hubert Lazinger.


“What I am saying would be the cheapest form of romantic nonsense were it not that which has been established by the man or rather – through him – is a reality that is one of the wonders of the century.” Denis de Rougemont

“this was just one of a wave of occult literature published around the time of The Great War to satisfy a growing public appetite for esoteric knowledge ‘alternative’ philosophies.”

Trump – the draft-dodging shit-spurs couch slob – depicted as Rambo in a MAGA propaganda farce.

“It is not necessary to believe in the existence of evil as a conscious entity to unleash it. The intention to dominate and manipulate is sufficient, for evil is entirely man made.”

There is a heavy cynicism, opportunism & simple exploitation of superstitions, faiths, doctrines, myth & fantasy, often purely for the resulting control. What emerges from this jumble of invented, recycled, subsumed or scavenged motley of materials & mediums – spanning folklore, religion & occultism – is a vehicle & a utility for mass manipulation, & the model for the most awful justification for extreme & egregious actions.

“they were all under his spell, blindly obedient with no will of their own – whatever the term for the phenomena might be.” – Albert Speer

A “New Order” required substance, & thus this fell & fabricated concoction was “knocked up” to channel the worst of man.

“The intention of this book is to explain how an ill-educated, psychologically unbalanced nonentity succeeded in mesmerizing an entire nation, why the German people venerated their Fuehrer as a god and how he exercised his power over them to such an extent that they were willing to follow him into the abyss of self-destruction.”

“Hitler’s dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. He was the first dictatorship in the present period of technical development, a dictatorship which made total use of all technical means for the domination of its own country. Through technical means like te radio and the loud-speaker, eighty million people were deprived of independent thought. It was therefore possible to subject them to the will of one man.” – Albert Speer at Nuremberg

I have not read much on the topic, & therefore have little to compare it to, but this is a well written, well illustrated (an excellent use of selected photographies), & appears vigorous & in depth. Roland also has a gift for maximising his writing, rounding-down almost, & keeping the information fast flowing & constantly on track.

“At a mass meeting thought is eliminated. And because this is the state of mind I require, because it secures to me the best sounding-board for my speeches, I order everyone to attend the meetings, where they become part of the mass whether they like it or not.” – Adolf Hitler

What also really, really struck me early whilst reading this book, was the inescapable correlatives to Trump & MAGA. The thought of this relation was totally absent when I began the reading, but the parallels & language are uncanny. It’s actually really quite worrying in all honesty.

“And despite their initial dislike of the petty bourgeois Austrian corporal, German industrialists
came to embrace the New Order.”

“ You know hence forth only one enemy, my enemy … I may order you to shoot down your own relatives, your brothers or even your parents – which certainly God forbid! – but even then you must obey my orders without question.” – Adolf Hitler

“Obedience was equated with religious observance and authority with Divine Will. To question the state and its figurehead was tantamount to questioning the Will of God.”

Aleister Crowley’s bizarre (what else?) relations with Hitler are also investigated.

Crowley is understood to have been staunchly anti Nazi/Hitler, a conclusion that Roland also affirms, albeit with some opacity & intrigue regarding certain elements of the troubled exchange.

“the Nazis have not been the only organization to exploit the power of ritual mass manipulation”

“Hitler may have been an ill-educated Bohemian driven by the basest human instincts, but he intuitively knew how to exploit his innate capacity for manipulating the masses into acting as a mindless mob.”

A very good & informative piece of work & reference, & it’s also massively worth reading for those alarmed about the ming of Trump & MAGA.

Paul Roland, Arcturus, 2007, 250 pages