"From the ashes of World War I" "Adolph Hitler attempted to build a sinister new world order led by a so-called race of Aryan supermen spreading a reign of terror unlike any the world had ever known" "Many believe the Nazis conjured strange spirits and followed occult practices that had lain dormant in Europe for thousands of years" "Now, documents prove that their beliefs were based on a perversion of ancient pagan lore a twisting of mythic battles between forces of light and darkness and a terrifying journey into a world ruled by mystics madmen and murderers" "The Himalayas of Tibet ln the 1 930's, the Nazis began searching the top of the world" "for evidence of ancient high priests who they believed were their blood ancestors" "The Nazi belief in these ancestors was to form the foundation of Germany's new religion a religion with Adolph Hitler as its high priest" "lnspiring Hitler's evil crusade was a belief that pure Aryan blood was being contaminated by so-called inferior races and that once rid of foreign elements a new race of Aryan supermen would rule the world" "This was the Nazi interpretation of ancient myths and occult lore dating back thousands of years" "To prove their superiority the Nazis would leave no myth or religion unexplored, in effect borrowing from any belief they could adapt to the Aryan cause" "As a foundation for this new faith" "Hitler needed to eliminate competing religions" "To achieve absolute control he not only used the power of myth but co-opted Christian ritual" "His inner circle, who had strong ties to the occult would help him to accomplish this goal" "Among them were Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess whose correspondence reveals a devotion to astrology and forecasting by the stars" "Nazi Commissioner for Philosophy and Education" "Alfred Rosenberg who wrote the book laying out the tenets of the Nazi religion" "Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda whose diary records his use of astrological forecasts in planning the war against the Allies" "And Heinrich Himmler" "Head of the SS and the Nazi Death Camps whose personal papers revealed that he was the master occultist of the Third Reich and, ultimately, the architect of the new Nazi religion." "At the foundation of this new religion was an ancient occult legend that tells the story of a continent somewhere in the North Atlantic." "There lived a race of super beings who had fallen from grace through evil and vice." "A great flood wiped these beings off the face of the Earth." "But before they could all be destroyed, certain priests escaped by boat, eventually finding their way to India and the high peaks of Tibet." "These escaped priests, believed by mystics to be the original race of Aryan Godmen, were said to be the ancestors of all Indian and European people." "The land was called Atlantis." "Certain German mystics claimed the Atlantis myth was actual history, their proof that Aryans were the chosen people, descended from the super beings of Atlantis, and that they had lost their powers by mating with mere mortals." "ln these theories lay the seeds of Nazi doctrine." "Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler an extreme nationalist, made it his mission to prove that the Germanic peoples were the descendants of the Atlantic master race." "Nationalists, particularly those who believed in the superiority of the Aryan race, always had entertained the notion of a vanished island," "hidden world, some kind of utopia." "Himmler may have thought it was in Tibet and that this master race, the Atlantic Master Race as Himmler liked to call it, might have been in the Tibetan mountains." "Descendants would still be alive." "Himmler believed the occult legend of Atlantis was true." "That the mythical super beings of Atlantis eventually made their way from Tibet to Northern Europe, and that their descendants became the Nordic or Aryan races." "Government-funded expeditions under Himmler's direction were sent to Tibet, searching for evidence of their ancestors." "To document this process," "Nazi researchers took this film footage." "ln 1 946, in a post-war interrogation by the Y.S. Army, the SS scientist who led one of the Tibetan expeditions described his first meeting with Himmler." "He said... "Himmlermentioned his belief that the Nordic race did not evolve but came directly down from heaven to settle on the Atlantic continent, and that ancient immigrants from Atlantis had founded a great civilization in Central Asia."" "Although he was a very rational calculating power broker, he was also a romantic idealist and he certainly believed in these myths." "Otherwise he wouldn't have spent the money and the time and the energy he did sending expeditions to Tibet." "ln Tibet, villages were subjected to full body inspections by Nazi researchers, looking for what the party called "Aryan physical traits"" "... narrowforeheads, long limbs and angular features." "And this, of course, was stepped up by the time the war was on in that by this time" "they were able to do experiments of a rather still innocent type" "on the living object." "What I'm talking about is measuring people's skulls, for instance." "The quest to prove the superiority of the Aryan race soon moved into the criminal." "The Nazis will begin killing people and using their bodies for experiments." "They believed that once they had proven that their ancestors were gods, it would be a simple step to recreate this race of Aryan Godmen through selective breeding." "That you could somehow force human evolution in a sort of hot-house environment by selecting the parents of a child, and then re-breeding their offspring until the day" "when eventually you manage to breed the "superman" "" who was predicted by other occult theories." "Hitler proclaimed..." ""Humanity accomplishes a step up every seven hundred years, and the ultimate aim is the coming of the Sons of God." "All creative forces will be concentrated in a new species." "It will be infinitely superior to modern man."" "All that had to be done was the Aryans had to repurify themselves in order to restore their magical powers, and therefore restore their original identity of being the God-men." "The breeding stock was Himmler's SS." "He recruited only the strongest best-conditioned and what he considered the best-looking young men..." "tall, blond and blue-eyed." "These future warriors had to be well educated, and only from families of pure Aryan heritage." "The SS had been generally rather tall, well made men warriors." "Now this, Himmler did decree this for the SS in so much as they should all be five foot nine inches tall." "Himmler was five foot nine inches tall." "ln addition to their size they had to be of pure blood." "Now for the officers, they had to prove pure German ancestry without interbreeding back to 1 7 50." "Himmler's SS, at one point three million strong, were encouraged to father as many children as possible, regardless of their marital status." ""The SS," he told them "had a sacred duty to their nation and to their Fuhrer to beget healthy Aryan babies."" "One of Himmler's ideas concerned polygamy, the only way in which he could breed the Master Race of it faster was by, in fact, instituting the practice whereby SS men would be able to take more than one wife." "ln 1 935, Himmler created the SS Lebensborn Program, meaning "fountain of life."" "Lebensborn was designed to facilitate the birth, housing and raising of as many pure Aryan babies as possible." "Himmler's program was documented by actual images of Lebensborn babies." "The SS Lebensborn was providing conditions whereby young girls could, in fact, be served by SS studs." "He suggested that young Aryan girls in Germany who hadn't been able to find a boyfriend or a husband need not forego the pleasures of motherhood." "According to Lebensborn doctrine, an illegitimate child was no disgrace, as long as the mother was genetically fit." "Women were thought to have only one function:" "to breed the children whose offspring the Nazi Party believed would become gods." "An estimated eleven thousand Lebensborn babies were bred between 1 935 and 1 945." "Most of these children never knew their parents." "The SS weekly newspaper declared..." ""Only when the number of cradles constantly exceeds the number of coffins, can we look forward with good cheer to a better future."" "The babies of Lebensborn immediately became property of the state." "Some were raised at Lebensborn homes, while others were adopted and raised by SS families." "During the war, children with Aryan appearance were abducted from conquered nations, and sent to Lebensborn homes in Germany." "Nazi records indicate that two hundred thousand Polish babies alone were kidnapped and placed in Lebensborn homes, where they received careful training in every aspect of Nazi culture and mythology." "Long before Hitler came to power, these beliefs were flourishing against an already racist backdrop." "There were many organizations in Germany and Austria around the turn of the century, which blended racist ideology with occult practices." "But their ideas became popular only at the conclusion of World War I." "The once-mighty empire of Germany had been disarmed and at the mercy of the victorious nations after the First World War." "ln formerly wealthy cities, disabled veterans haunted the streets, like ghosts from another lifetime." "Somebody who grew up in Berlin in the twenties remembers anything, he remembers the urban landscape with cripples from the First World War who, of course, had no pension no nothing, who begged on the streets without legs and arms," "who remembered the great misery of what you might call the urban landscape." "Millions were unemployed lnflation was rampant." "Recession, starvation and poverty were everywhere." "I saw many demonstrations before Hitler came to power, real demonstrations which arose from the suffering of the people," "the mass unemployment and the there from deriving poverty." "And they were shouting slogans like..." ""Give us bread." "Give us work."" "People looked for a scapegoat." "Fear and distrust of foreigners intensified." "Both ends of the political spectrum made a bid for the loyalty of the German people." "After serving with distinction in the First World War," "Hitler was stationed in Munich, where it was his job to infiltrate left-wing organizations for the army." "One assignment changed the course of his life." "He infiltrated an organization that was a backroom political club called the German Worker's Party." "But far from being the Communist organization that its name implied, the Party turned out to be extremely right wing." "Hitler liked what he heard, joined and eventually became leader of the organization." "Attending an early rally where Hitler spoke was a disillusioned war veteran named Rudolf Hess." "And he came back taking three steps by one, jumping up and said, "Hey I saw one this evening." "He's going to bring back Germany to the recommendation it had before the war and this is the only man who is able to do it."" "Hess was convinced the dynamic orator he heard was the long-awaited Messiah, prophesied in German occult circles." "With racist philosopher Alfred Rosenberg," "Hess was a supporter of one of the more prominent groups, the Thule Society, which actively sought a Germanic Messiah," "and was dedicated to the revival of the so-called Aryan Master Race." "Members practiced astrology, sun worship and other occult sciences, thinking that this would help them reach their goal." "Their emblem was a dagger set against a curved swastika." "With a membership that included some of Munich's richest and most powerful citizens, the society financed Hitler's German Worker's Party." "ln 1 920, Hitler's party officially changed its name to the German National Socialist Worker's Party, the NSDAP or, as it would soon become known, the Nazi Party." "With Hitler as its leader, the Nazi Party grew quickly, sweeping people up in a frenzy of fear-mongering and fiery oratory." "He gave them the strong charismatic leader they'd yearned for since the war." "Like many Germans and Austrians at the time," "Hitler lived in an environment that was already hostile to Judaism." "He would have easily found these ideas in popular publications such as Ostara, an overtly racist occult magazine written by a renegade and ultimately defrocked monk and mystic named Lanz von Liebenfels." "Ostara magazine was a good example of how Hitler would have picked up his racism and his anti-Semitism." "He even paid a visit to Lanz's editorial office to obtain back numbers." "lmmensely popular at the time, the journal preached that the Nordic or Aryan races had much to fear from people darker than themselves, and targeted Jews as the most threatening." "The Ostara claimed that the Jews were preventing the Aryans from taking their rightful place as rulers of the world, an eternal struggle dating back to Biblical times." "Headlines read... "Areyoublond?" "Then you are in danger!" "You should therefore read Ostara, publications for blondes and the male rights movement." "The publication outlined what would become the Nazi world view ... racialselection," "Lebensborn and even the Nazi death camps." "With these ideas in place," "Hitler's developing theories of race were ready to be further influenced, this time by Thule Society supporter," "Alfred Rosenberg, the racist philosopher and occultist who would eventually become the Furher's voice in spiritual matters." "ln his book, The Myth of the 20th Century," "Rosenberg reinvented Germanic history and laid out the foundation for the new Nazi creed..." "the religion of the blood." "He saw blood, particularly in a religious sense as the determining factor." "ln other words, a church had to be a church of the blood rather than a church of faith or a church of belief." "The blood tied together the Nordic races." "So for Rosenberg, blood racial stock, racial identity became the key notes of this new ideology." "Rosenberg preached that the blood of a people carried the soul of the race." "I think, if you look back down the esoteric traditions of the West, you find that blood has always been considered as a very important vehicle of the spirit." "It is a sacred substance that contains more than the physical life of each person, but also the spiritual life." "Nordic myth replaced the Christian Bible as the foundation of the new Nazi religion." "ln a pageant orchestrated by Rosenberg and captured on film, the Nazis celebrated their newly-conceived version of Aryan culture and history." "Rosenberg wrote... "Todaya newmythos is dawning, the mythos of the blood." "The belief that the godly essence is to be defended through the blood." "Hitler took Rosenberg's idea further when he wrote..." ""The old beliefs will be brought back to honor again." "The whole secret knowledge of nature of the divine, the demonic." "We will wash off the Christian veneer and bring out a religion peculiar to our race."" "As a symbol for the new religion Hitler chose the swastika." "The swastika can be found all over the world in many different cultures throughout history." "From earliest times, it was the symbol of good luck in China, and to this day, it remains a religious emblem in the Hindu and Buddhist faiths." "It had been carried by knights on shields as a magical protection and it had also had connections, it was non-Christian in an overt sense." "It represented the hammer of Thor And, of course," "Thor was the God of Thunder and Power and so on, a very macho patriarchal kind of god." "Among the Norsemen, the swastika was a reminder of the arctic sun, worshipped throughout pagan lore as a bearer of life and good fortune." "For Hitler, the swastika held a different meaning." "He wrote... "lntheswastika, we see the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man."" "ln the operas of Richard Wagner," "Hitler saw victory reenacted time and time again." "Questing knights, epic sagas of Teutonic traditions and Norse mythology of warring forces of darkness and light were a common thread in German culture." "Wagner gave these stories their most triumphant voice." "Adolph Hitler was only twelve years old when he saw his first Wagner opera." "As an adult, he became an obsessive devotee of the composer." "Richard Wagner was the most singularly admired person in Adolph Hitler's life and career ever." "Wagner's genius for pageantry became an inspiration for the grandiose rallies Hitler would soon stage," "rallies where Wagner's music was often played." "The music is absolutely have the effect of a drug completely eliminating the intellectual, the critical approach." "Wagner's opera Parsifal, which glorifies the power of pure blood, was a source of inspiration to Hitler." "It is an epic retelling of the quest for the Holy Grail." "According to legend, the Grail was a mystical vessel bearing sacred blood, and it promised unlimited powers to anyone who drank from it." "It was believed the Grail could only be found by the purest of knights." "ln Parsifal, Wagner brought his own ideology to this story." "Parsifal is proclaiming, on one side and this is very important, he proclaims compassion, but only compassion for the Aryan for the selected one." "Parsifal is a central symbol in Hitler's imagination." "He often spoke of founding the religion of Parsifal again." "And this idea of a Christian Grail knight seeking the mythos of pure blood is central to both Wagner and Hitler's own conception of what Nazi racism was doing in this supernatural sense." "ln 1 938, Hitler commissioned this portrait of himself dressed as a knight." "Hitler's bid for power began on November 9th, 1 923, with an attempted overthrow of the Bavarian government." "Leading a private army called storm troopers, he launched a surprise attack on a beer hall where government leaders were meeting." "With Hess and Rosenberg at his side," "Hitler brashly announced the formation of a new government, then took to the streets, marching three thousand storm troopers through Munich." "They were confronted by police." "Shots were fired and sixteen of Hitler's men were killed." "It was a failed coup, but in the ten years before Hitler seized power, the sixteen would become martyrs." "At that time they were carrying a swastika flag and this sort of fell with the people and the blood of the dead got upon it." "And a ritual arose whereby every new Nazi flag and banner was not empowered until Hitler had touched the flag against this flag." "Nazi blood attained a sacred symbolic power, ritualized and sanctified in the ceremony known as" ""The Rite of the Blood Flag."" "The sort of magical power of the blood of the dead Nazis was transmitted to each Nazi flag, and it was consecrated thereby." "The Blood Flag was the crucifix of Hitler's religion." "It would come to symbolize his new reign." "ln 1 933, Hitler succeeded in becoming "The Fuhrer," the leader." "... atitlewhichwouldcome  to resonate with religious connotations of "the anointed one," "" or even "the Messiah." Adolph Hitler's time had come." "The party is Hitler" "Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler." "With Hitler's elevation to leader, the Blood Religion became the undisputed religion of the Nazi Party, complete with holy days and martyrs" "Propaganda Minister Goebbels orchestrated a ritual in which the sixteen Nazi heroes were honored as martyrs of the Reich who died were resurrected, then achieved eternal life." "Goebbels assured that all Germans would partake in the ceremony by broadcasting it over loud speakers placed on street corners throughout the country." "Part of the message said..." ""The night of the dead the dead march in." "At midnight, a mystical ceremonial play," "The Birth of the Reich." "They fight, die and are victorious, just as the Third Reich was founded."" "According to Hitler, their blood was the holy water of the Third Reich." "I suppose most movements they have their martyrs and those who died in 1 923 they too," "they were considered to be martyrs and they were an example how you should stand firm and defend for what you believe in so there was that religious undertone." "The first martyrs of the Reich became known as the "Sixteen lmmortals."" "ln Munich, the ritual began with a funeral march down the very streets where the immortals fell." "At the front of the procession they carried the Blood Flag." "Along the route, hung huge red flags bearing slanted Germanic runes, the ritual symbol of sacrifice from pagan lore." "So in a way we can see this as a transfer of the Easter procession in Jerusalem up to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher through the stations of the cross." "So there is an obvious copying of Christian ritual." "The bodies of the sixteen heroes were interred in a building known as the Feldenhalle or Temple of Honor." "It would become a Nazi..." "During this annual ceremony, the names of the sixteen were called out, with anonymous voices answering the hero's roll call, as if the dead marched in spirit with the living." "And when I was about sixteen seventeen, my father took me to Munich, and I went to this Feldenhalle and there the coffins were all lined up" "and there were guards standing presenting their rifles and steel helmets, and it was all rather eerie." "And so at many intervals their names were mentioned and they said. ." ""Frederick Muller." And then a voice said, "here."" "Here." "And then the next name "Herman Stammer."" "Here." "It was a religious ceremony." "Here." "With the rituals of his new religion in place," "Hitler unleashed the next step of his plan." "He wrote... "Forcewithoutspiritual foundation is doomed to failure."" "It is a nationalism which determines everything." "Your whole lifestyle, yes, your whole thoughts, everything." "The centerpiece of it, if you like, is that you are willing to sacrifice yourself for your Fatherland." "lndoctrination into the Nazi faith with Hitler as god, began early and continued into adulthood." ""Adolph Hitler is our saviour our hero."" ""He is the noblest being in the whole wide world."" ""For Hitler we live."" ""For Hitler we die."" ""Hitler is our Lord."" "ln 1 933, the Party took over all Germany's youth organizations." "For girls, the compulsory organization was the League of German Maids, where they were taught self-sacrifice to marry young, and that their bodies belonged to the nation." "Ten year old boys became members of the Organization of Young German People." "At fourteen they joined the Hitler Youth, and at eighteen, the Nazi Party." "At each stage, they were taught the Nazi creed of sacred blood rituals, racial superiority and total allegiance to Hitler, even to the death." "I was in the Hitler Youth until I was eighteen." "We were being taught and I believed in it then that it was great to fight for our country and if necessary, to die for our country." "This film shows one way the Nazis instilled this ideal." "A war hero visits a Hitler Youth camp." "It was great to be told that you belonged to the greatest race, the greatest nation on Earth." "I thought that because I was a German, that German blood was running through my veins, that made me superior to all the others." "Hitler stated..." ""l want to see again in the eyes of youth the gleam of the beast of prey."" "The Hitler Youth chanted a song of death." ""We are rising up to face storms of battle." "A hero's death is our right."" "ln other words saying that a seventeen year old would be imbued with a notion that he can claim the right, it must be given to him to lay down his life to die for Fuhrer and Fatherland." ""You are nothing." "Your nation, your race is everything."" "At eighteen, cadets surrendered themselves to the Fuhrer when they took a sacred oath." "Ich Schwere, "l swear."" "And we all had to repeat it and had to have our hands, our fingers, in the air... " to serve Fuhrer," "Volk and Fatherland to serve Fuhrer," "Volk and Fatherland"..." "likeabig  rumble around the place." ""To the last drop of our blood to the last drop of our blood."" "At the core of every German's indoctrination was Hitler's autobiography," "Mein Kampf, or "My Struggle."" "ln it, he outlined the philosophy of the plans for a thousand-year Nazi reign." "Mein Kampf became the Nazi bible." "I thought it was the greatest book ever written." "The Bible is nothing as compared with that." "And I still can quote from it now." "And I mean I read it more than sixty years ago." "ln conjunction with Mein Kampf, the principles of the Blood Religion began to form the basis of Nazi policy." "Forced sterilization laws were enacted." "Even Aryans were investigated for hereditary diseases." "Ailments ranging from tuberculosis and epilepsy to alcoholism and depression were cause for automatic sterilization." "Over four hundred thousand Germans suffered this fate." "Hitler rationalized... "" "The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of clearest reason and if systematically executed, represents the most humane act of mankind."" "Children with health problems were registered at birth." "If their problems persisted," "Nazi doctors would secretly administer lethal injections, telling their parents they died of natural causes." "A euthanasia program was instituted for the mentally and physically impaired." "Propaganda films claimed these were acts of kindness, freeing trapped souls from tormented bodies." "By 1 935, Hitler had created the Blood Laws, which made it a criminal act for a pure German to marry or even have sex with a Jew." "And German Jews were stripped of their rights as citizens." "But the worst was still to come." "Purifying the Aryan bloodline was only half of Hitler's demonic plan." "To finally clear the way for the last stage of human evolution and assure the coming of the Aryan Millennium, the Nazis felt that one obstacle remained:" "the very existence of non-Aryans." "So you began by sterilizing them." "You then find that this was too slow." "And you ended by murdering them in gas chambers, which was quick and efficient and cheap." "Hitler wrote..." ""The gravest and most ruthless decisions will have to be made." "A barbaric measure for the unfortunate who is struck by it, but a blessing for his fellow man and posterity." "The passing pain of a century can and will redeem millenniums from sufferings."" "The idea that the few should be scarified for the good of the many extended even to Hitler's SA, the storm troopers" "Eventually the SA, who were among Hitler's first supporters, became an obstacle, one that he had no qualms about removing." "Without the SA, he probably, he would not have come to power because people were afraid of the SA." "They were rowdies and street fighters." "They broke up demonstrations and they protected their own big meetings." "The middle class and the army came to fear the SA." "To the army, the SS was a more acceptable organization, like themselves, the members of the SS were from the German upper class." "The SS consisted very often of professional people... doctors," "solicitors and so on." "They joined the SS while only working people were in the SA," "and they didn't like each other." "The military offered the Fuhrer a deal:" "their full support if Hitler would eliminate the SA." "Hitler accepted." "And with Himmler, rid the Party of the storm troopers in one night." "The night of the long knife that happened in, on the 30th of June, 1 934, so I was just twelve years old." "I remember it." "The SA had a congress in Vichy, not far from Munich and they were all in bed at night when Hitler and the SS moved." "The SA leadership was rounded up and executed so quickly, so ruthlessly, many never knew why." "It's reported some were still shouting," ""Heil Hitler" when they died." "After the purge of the SA," "Himmler transformed the SS into an elite military order." "ln time they would come to run the concentration camps where Jews and all other enemies of the state were being executed." "But Himmler's vision of the SS was not yet complete." "He planned to turn the SS into Germany's new aristocracy, the "New Supermen" prophesied by Hitler's Religion of the Blood." "Himmler's conception of the SS was no less than the creation of a new blood stock elite for the Nazi order in Europe." "At every stage, the SS was constantly reminded that it was no less than a warrior elite whose values of hardness and military valor were absolutely central to its existence." "And more than that, that they were in fact, ensuring the survival of the race in this way." "Himmler was born a Catholic, but by the time he met Hitler, he was already a confirmed occultist." "It's difficult for us afterwards to equate this man who certainly believed in a God and to," "to link him up with a man who was master of the killing machine in Germany." "But actually, the two things of course, are linked because what he was trying to do was to rout out the forces" "which he believed had corrupted Germany and get back to their pure-blooded forefathers." "Himmler brought a range of unlikely influences to his design for the SS, including the Hindu religion." "During the war, he reportedly traveled with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a holy book from the Hindu religion." "It tells the story of a great battle on the field of righteousness between the forces of good and evil." "The Hindu belief in reincarnation and its rigid caste system appealed to Himmler." "It was a perfect model for a Nazi warrior elite which would rule the world." "Historians now say that Himmler was convinced that he was the reincarnation of King Heinrich, a German leader from the Middle Ages who stopped the Slavs from invading Germany." "As the Nazis prepared to march on Eastern Europe," "Himmler believed he was on the path to realizing his karmic destiny:" "that his SS had returned to the Fatherland to fight a similar holy war." "On the night of July 1 , 1 937, to mark the millennium anniversary of King Heinrich's death," "Himmler staged a sacred reburial rite at Quedlinburg Cathedral, the original location of the great king's castle and the site of his tomb." "Accompanied by solemn music," "Himmler and a group of high-ranking SS officers led a torch-bearing procession to the candlelit crypt." "There, he led them in prayer and meditation." "The king's remains were placed in a new grave and Himmler laid a wreath of oak leaves, a symbol of ancient pagan origin." "He eulogized the man he believed he had been in a past life." "As the sarcophagus was sealed, he pledged to fulfill the king's mission of conquering the lands to Germany's East." "Himmler modeled his SS on the 1 3th Century order of Teutonic knights, who killed and enslaved the people they conquered." "The parallels with Nazi Germany's own practices were unmistakable." "The Reichsfuhrer SS attempted to reinstate the feudal system that the knights had lived by." "As new lands were conquered, each SS officer was to take possession of a feudal estate." "Local people were either killed or turned into slave labor." "Like the Teutonic knights," "Himmler transformed a series of ancient castles into SS training schools that were both military and religious centers." "Here, recruits were initiated into the ways of so-called warrior priests." "ln 1 934, Himmler chose Wewelsberg as his personal castle." "It became a sacred center for the inner core of his elite SS knights." "Himmler chose Wewelsberg because he was told by his occult or spiritual advisor that this was going to be the magical strong point of German resistance" "to a great army from the East, and there would be a great battle there and the Eastern hoards would be turned back." "Himmler had grandiose plans for his medieval castle at Wewelsberg." "But this required a prodigious work force." "To assure an ample supply of slave labor, he built a concentration camp nearby." "From 1 939 to 1 945, four thousand prisoners worked on Himmler's castle." "Nearly a third of them died while working on it." "When one looks at the plans and memoranda and the miniature models that were laid out of how the Wewelsberg would ultimately rebuild it, indeed, looks like the Holy City in Rome." "Wewelsberg is built in the shape of a triangle, with three corner towers." "Around this basic design," "Himmler had plans to build a large colony." "The village would have been demolished and cleared, and they would have created a huge site with interlocking spaces, barricades, other turrets, and circular curtain walls sweeping over a vast area," "creating no less than a kind of SS Vatican." "It was the great northern tower that would become the focus of Himmler's plans to make Wewelsberg an SS occult center." "At the base of the tower Himmler built a crypt." "According to historians, it was a temple to honor the dead SS leaders." "The vaulted ceiling created an eerie acoustic." "And in the middle of the well would have burned a kind of holy fire." "Along the edges of the crypt were twelve pedestals, upon which would have stood urns waiting to contain the ashes of deceased generals." "What would happen is that the SS always had to have the thirteen leadership." "And consequently when an SS general died, he was ritually cremated." "His ashes were placed and then he, his place was taken by a new general." "ln one legend," "King Arthur gathered the twelve most chivalrous knights in a great hall." "ln Himmler's version, he created the Hall of SS Supreme Leaders, in a room above the crypt." "Here he would meet with his twelve highest-ranking SS officers." "A large sun wheel adorned the floor." "This radial pattern was made up of symbols from the ancient Nordic alphabet." "Himmler tried to create a replica of the Grail Chapel from the Arthurian Legend." "A mystical chalice, the Grail was said to have contained sacred blood." "Himmler saw the Grail as an object of immense esoteric or occult power and he believed that if he possessed this physical object, that the war would be won with great ease." "To Himmler, the sacred blood of the Grail legend was pure Aryan blood." "He believed it possessed a magical quality." "His closest advisor on Grail lore was archaeologist, Otto Rahn." "Also obsessed with the Grail legend," "Rahn believed it was hidden in the caves of Southern France." "Himmler was drawn to Rahn's knowledge of the occult and his lifelong pursuit of the Grail." "Once in Himmler's inner circle at Wewelsberg," "Rahn would continue his quest for the Holy Grail, only now as a knight of the Nazi Party." "Himmler personally funded Rahn's expeditions, several of which concentrated on the area around Montsegur in Southern France." "There stood the site of the great fortress of the Cathars, the heretical sect accused of devil worship and wiped out by the Church in the 1 3th Century." "And there was a very strong tradition as indeed there still is, that the Cathars had possessed the secret of the Grail and that just before the castle of Montsegur fell, the three knights of the Cathar order escaped over the walls" "and took something with them, something of great value." "And tradition later said that this was the Grail or that it was the secret of the Grail and that they hid it in the whole warren of caves." "Rahn's expeditions also took place in Germany." "A letter on file from Rahn to SS headquarters suggests that he believed he was close to realizing his lifelong dream." "To bring my work to a successful conclusion, I must personally inspect the sites." "First, I have to go to the Wildenberg ruins, the German castle of the Holy Grail." "There are currently digs under way Heil Hitler!" "But Rahn was never able to secure the ultimate prize, the sacred chalice itself." "ln 1 939, Otto Rahn mysteriously resigned from the SS." "Many believe Himmler issued orders to have Rahn killed once it was clear his quest for the Grail had failed." "Two months later, he was found dead in the Austrian Alps." "The cause of his death remains unexplained." "ln his continued quest to prove the superiority of the Aryan race," "Himmler created a research institute called the Ancestral Heritage Organization." "ln addition to conducting medical experiments on human beings and checking bloodlines to ensure racial purity, the organization's mission was to resurrect and reinterpret occult practices, ancient Germanic myths and pagan lore." "This Nazi film shows one such ritual..." "young girls dancing around the Nordic pagan symbol of war and divine order." "To control all occult knowledge," "Himmler confiscated the libraries and artifacts of any occult society that was not associated with him." "This included secret societies such as the Freemasons, who the Nazi believed were an occult organization created by the Jews to conspire against the Germanic people." "While Himmler suppressed certain occultists, he also advanced the careers of others, such as Karl Maria Wiligut." "ln Wiligut," "Himmler believed he'd found the key to popularizing the ancient pagan tradition in modern Germany." "The mystic became a high-ranking SS officer, and one of Himmler's prized possessions." "Well, the interesting thing about Wiligut is that he is really perhaps the leading example of an occultist" "in the immediate circle and service of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler." "Wiligut believed he was a direct descendant of the Norse god, Thor." "Copies of his papers found in Himmler's personal file reveal that Wiligut believed he possessed extrasensory powers." "One document entitled "The Nine Commandments of God, was signed by Wiligut and initialed by Himmler." "Written in both modern German and the runic alphabet, it suggests that Wiligut thought he was using his powers to rediscover the ancient rites and rituals of Germany's pagan past." "According to Nordic legend, the runic alphabet used by Wiligut was given to mankind by Odin," "the supreme god in Norse mythology." "This sacred alphabet was his gift to mankind." "The runes were derived from, probably from a mixture of ancient signs that were carved on stone in pre-literate times." "And these alphabets actually had meanings, each letter has a meaning." "The hagal rune, protection of the bearer against his enemies." "The odal rune, one's connection to the clan or tribe." "The tyr rune, victory and world order." "The sig rune, the sun or conquering energy." "These symbols appeared throughout the Nordic world on such objects as Viking ships, battle spears and shields." "The alphabets of ancient priests and magicians, runes were believed to be mystical tools for fortune telling, casting spells and invoking magical spirits." "You cast the runes, somewhat analogous to a tarot layout." "You throw them and then you read the particular combinations of runes that arise." "It has got the reputation of being an extraordinarily powerful magical system." "As Germany's warrior elite, members of the SS were taught the meaning of the runes." "A photograph that survived the war shows an SS officer at a blackboard teaching the runes to a class of SS recruits." "Many organizations within the Third Reich had their own special rune." "The SS, perhaps the best known, of course used the double Sig rune." "These mysterious figures were worn on the shoulders and helmets of all SS uniforms." "The Hitler Youth used a single sig rune." "These ancient mystical symbols were seemingly everywhere," "serving as a constant reminder to Germans of their pagan past." "After the SS recruit had passed his training and taken the oath, if he was an officer, he was then given the SS dagger which was a sort of hunting knife with a black handle, the SS runes on it," "the swastika and a wreath and the German eagle." "And this was, you know a very prized possession." "Engraved into the dagger were the words," ""My honor is called trust" "SS men received the dagger in a solemn ceremony." "Every member of the SS wore the SS signet ring, but for his inner circle, the elite of the elite," "Himmler personally handed out the death's head ring." "A former high-ranking SS officer Wilhelm Hoettl, still remembers the ceremonious occasion." "The ring was engraved with your name Mine, for example," ""To my Dear Hoettl." "Heinrich Himmler."" "That was inside the ring around a death head." "That was supposed to symbolize the close connection to the SS and to Himmler." "ln a speech given to SS officers stationed at Dachau," "Himmler stated... "Neverforget." "We are a knightly order from which one cannot withdraw, to which one is recruited by blood, and within which one remains body and soul."" "Borrowing from Germany's pagan past and his own Catholic upbringing," "Himmler invaded SS family rituals from the moment of birth." "One picture we have, it shows a full tableau of such a sort of Nazi or Hitler shrine for the purpose of baptism of infants," "An SS altar in place of a crucifix a picture of Hitler." "And the babe would have been presented, if you like, into the community of Germanic warriors through this kind of tableau." "The marriage ceremony also became an SS ritual." "Mimicking ancient Germanic tribes," "SS officers took on the role of the clan leader who presided over marriages." "Himmler himself officiated at one such ceremony." "This rare footage shows one of his SS officers marrying Gretal, the sister of Hitler's mistress Eva Braun." "Rings were exchanged, as well as bread and salt, the ancient pagan symbols for the fertility and purity of the soil." "These ritual activities would take place to imply the pagan community of which every SS man and his bride was now a part." "The Nazi year was marked with celebrations taken from the ancient Germanic calendar." "The maypole festival, initially accepted as a celebration of fertility, was transformed into a show of nationalism and military strength." "Hitler said... "Andsoit is  that this day, the first of May, the land is filled with celebrations of the resurrection of the German people out of eternal inner strife."" "People need festivals to mark the year, and they tried to substitute the pagan festivals for the Christian festivals." "They began to annex the festivals which the pagans had celebrated:" "summer solstice, winter solstice all these festivals, yes." "And shaped them in their own image." "Nazis even began to restore ancient pagan temples, like Externstein, which was dedicated to a solar deity." "At Externstein, during the summer solstice, a shaft of light shines through a window and lines up with a point on the altar." "While Externstein was considered a holy place for Germanic tribes, it is far from unique among ancient temples in tracking the sun's movements." "Himmler was convinced, however, that it was proof of the superior intellect of prehistoric Germanic priests." "ln Nazi Germany, the festival at the Summer Solstice will be turned into a fascist rite." "Traditionally," "Summer Solstice festivals were a celebration of life and of the sun's powers." "Dramatically staged and carefully choreographed, speeches were given preaching self-sacrifice and heroism." "ln this particular ritual," "Propaganda Minister Goebbels gave the speech." "ln ancient times, the bonfire represented the ritual re-lighting of the sun." "ln Nazi Germany, they were tributes to the Fuhrer." "ln the largest of these rituals, torch-bearing troops created symbolic patterns in the night." "At the end of the year, the long night of the Winter Solstice honored Germany's dead." "Himmler explains in his Dachau speech." "The Winter Solstice is not just the end of the year, but it is also the festival on which one thought of the ancestors and of the past." "On which the individual is clear that he is nothing, an atom to be wiped away at any time, while linked in the eternal chain of his lineage by a true humility." "The full calendar of rituals culminated with the Rally at Nuremberg, where the vows between Party and people were renewed year after year." "Tens of thousands of uniformed Nazis joined forces." "The week-long rally was orchestrated to sweep people up in a spectacle of sheer power." "Now every religion has its ritual." "The Nazis had their ritual their mass rituals." "Yes." "And what did it give to people these mass meetings?" "When the merchant leaves his lonely shop and joins in the crowd in action, then he feels one and he's happy." "One with the others and he's happy." "He's lost his loneliness." "Oh, it was great to go to a rally." "All the uniforms and there was an electric atmosphere already before it all started." "There was singing going on and then suddenly it was announced that the Fuhrer come, the Fuhrer is coming." "And then you saw him walking up to the stage and there was shouting of..." "Heil!" "Heil!" "Heil!" "Heil!" "As the Nazi frenzy swept Germany," "Hitler made clear what he expected from the nation." "The Party is the selecting ground for German political leaders." "lts doctrine will be unchangeable." "lts organizations will be as hard as steel." "lts total image, however will be like a holy order."" "The Nazi mass rallies were carefully orchestrated to build to an overwhelming emotional epiphany that evoked a religious fervor." "At the center of this ritual was Hitler." "Everything was constructed to make Hitler look like divinity, a messiah." "Having won the unquestioning support of the German people," "Hitler was now ready to dominate the world." "From the onset of the war in 1 939, country after country fell to the Nazis." "By the winter of 1 942, however the tide turned, and the Nazis began to experience what they thought was impossible... defeat." "As the Nazi war effort grew more and more desperate, they expanded their use of the occult sciences, from research and ritual to a basis for making military decisions." "Certain members of the German Naval Command became convinced that the Allies were already employing mystical forces to wage war against Germany." "They believed that the British successes at locating and destroying German Y-boats had been achieved through occult means," "and that the best way to combat this was also by using the occult as a weapon." "This led Himmler to establish a top-secret institute dedicated to the ancient occult practice of pendulum dowsing." "Over maps of the North Atlantic, clairvoyants would swing an object suspended from a string, attempting to locate the position of Allied convoys." "German Y-boat missions were dispatched, based on the results." "ln this letter written by Himmler, dated January 1 2, 1 943, he refers to dowsing research and training having made great progress during the year." "Still the most common occult arts employed by the Nazis were astrology and prophecy, although they were approached in two distinctly different ways." "Rudolf Hess and Heinrich Himmler genuinely believed in the occult, and used it for making political decisions." "But Joseph Goebbels," "Head of the Propaganda Ministry, wanted to use the occult purely for propaganda purposes, to manipulate people and undermine" "Allied morale." "Goebbels soon became aware of a great source of mystical knowledge, the predictions of Nostradamus." "One of the most celebrated visionaries of all time," "Nostradamus completed his masterpiece of prophecy in 1 555." "The book contains subtle references to a crisis in Britain and Poland in the year 1 939, the year Nazi Germany invaded Poland, nearly four hundred years after Nostradamus wrote his book." "For Goebbels, Nostradamus was a perfect propaganda tool, whose work could be interpreted as predicting a great victory in Germany's future." "Nostradamus' prophecies are written in four line poems called quatrains and they're so dense and esoteric that you can interpret them in many different ways." "To interpret the French prophet," "Goebbels recruited renowned astrologer and Nostradamus expert Karl Ernst Kraft." "A particular quatrain that Goebbels seized on seemed to refer directly to Hitler, and quickly became part of the Nazi leader's mystique." "There's a very famous quatrain which has got the word "hister" in it, which, you know, was everyone was bandying around was saying that that was Hitler." "ln Goebbels' diary, he expressed his excitement when Bernt, a member of his staff, began to formulate a plan to use the prophecy." "Nineteenth of May, 1 942." "Bernt handed in a plan for the occultist propaganda" "Tobe carried on by us." "We are getting somewhere." "The Americans and English fall easily to this kind of propaganda." "We are therefore pressing into service all star witnesses of occult prophecy." "Nostradamus must once again submit to being quoted." "The creation of fake prophecies and fraudulent mysticism to influence the enemy became known as "black propaganda."" "Yes." "They made up a flier of the Nostradamus prophecies and threw them all over France, that France would be destroyed if it did not capitulate." "British lntelligence discovered the deception, and, recognizing its propaganda potential, began to wage their own Nostradamus campaign." "The British actually picked up on this." "They produced a volume of fifty fake Nostradamus prophecies which forecast British victory on the war." "Just as the Nazis had flooded France with fake Nostradamus prophecies, the Allies smuggled their own black propaganda into Germany." "The black propaganda campaign in England soon took a new turn with the arrival of Hungarian-Jewish emigre and astrologer," "Louis DeWhol." "Recruited by British lntelligence," "DeWhol was assigned to work with master counterfeiter, Ellic Howe." "And Ellic's great skill was as a forger." "I mean, you know, forging documents, forging magazines forging Nostradamus quatrains." "Howe and DeWhol decided to create a counterfeit version of" "Germany's leading astrological magazine, Zenit." "They produced two issues in 1 943." "ln these, they would try and make forecasts which would undermine German morale." "The would, for example, say," ""Watch out for June 30th." "It's the anniversary of the Night of the Long Knives."" "Now the purpose behind this forecast was to somehow plant in the minds of the Germans the fact that the SS might now be disloyal to Hitler." "But Howe's master stroke came with a so-called special edition of Der Zenit, dated April, 1 943." "He cleverly waited until July to publish an April edition, thus seemingly being able to predict events he knew would come true." "And what Howe and his colleagues did was to look at the sinking of German submarines, record the dates, and then in producing the April edition," "produce these dates as if they were forecasts." "British lntelligence believed that if these predictions were picked up by the crews of German Y-boats, the result would be a loss of morale and possibly even mutiny." "The British counterfeit Der Zenit, however, contained one glaring error." "They incorrectly titled the magazine Der Zenit, instead of the actual title, Zenit." "Astrology and espionage would soon collide again in what is still considered by many to be the most bizarre incident of the Second World War." "When Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuhrer and one of Hitler's closest friends and advisers made an astonishing solo flight to Scotland." "Hess's idea to make the flight began with his belief that the British, a Nordic race, would be made sympathetic to the Aryan cause, and could even be persuaded to side with the Germans if only Churchill could be overthrown." "One of Hess's mentors, Karl Haushofer, reinforced this idea by telling Hess about a dream he had." "ln it, he saw Hess walking through a Scottish castle with tapestries hanging from the walls, bringing peace between Germany and Great Britain." "ln addition to prophecy, astrology would also come to play a role in Hess's decision to make the flight." "Rudolf Hess, along with Himmler was probably the Nazi, the leading Nazi, most interested in astrology." "He accepted it totally." "Astrologer and close friend Ernst Schulte-Strathaus, cast a horoscope for the Deputy Fuhrer that revealed an auspicious arrangement of the planets." "On May 1 0th, 1 941 , there was a particularly powerful astronomical lineup." "Basically there were six planets in Taurus and a full moon exactly on the opposite side of the zodiac in Scorpio." "And, according to astrological tradition, when you get such a lineup you'll get a major shift in global affairs." "And therefore, it was fair to assume that May 1 0th, 1 941 , could provide the turning point in the war." "There has always been some doubt whether Hess flew to Scotland based upon astrological advice." "However recently discovered documents written by Hess from prison in England include a letter to his mother." "ln it, he asked her to have two documents notarized, a record of Karl Haushofer's dream, and the horoscope cast by Schulte-Strathaus." "Before Hess made the flight, some believe he conferred with the Fuhrer." "Six days before my father flew, there was a discussion between Hitler and my father which lasted four hours." "Nobody knows what they were talking about." "One knows that when the four hours were over, my father and Hitler came from the room, and Hitler had his arm around the shoulder of my father and said," ""Hess, you have been always and still are a very stubborn chap."" "This is a very friendly good-bye." "Whatever words passed between Hitler and Hess, at 5:45 p. m. on May 1 0th, 1 941 ," "Hess climbed into a Messerschmidt fighter and set off for Scotland." "His plan was to meet with the Duke of Hamilton, a man he had met through Karl Haushofer." "Hess hoped to use the Duke to bypass Churchill and attempt to make peace directly with the King of England." "Having written the Duke several letters in advance of his mission," "Hess was expecting a warm welcome." "But the letters that he sent my father were, of course, all intercepted by the Secret Service." "Instead of a greeting party, when Hess entered British air space, he was shot down by the RAF and forced to bail out." "He hurt himself getting out of the aircraft, certainly hurt himself on landing." "And he wanted to be captured and he thought that he could be taken straight to see my father, just by saying that he wished to see him." "Hess was discovered by a Scottish family, shown here on their farm where the plane crashed." "Hess claimed to have a very important message for the Duke of Hamilton." "But at first they refused to believe that the man who had parachuted into their field was the Deputy Fuhrer of the Third Reich." "My father was told that a German pilot had landed and was asking to see the Duke of Hamilton." "My father went and saw the prisoner who introduced himself as Hess." "It was quite amusing because my father went to see Churchill, and was taken in to see the great man who was about to relax" "and watch a Marx Brothers' film that evening." "Churchill was quite incredulous about this." "I think his words were" ""Do you mean to tell me that the Deputy Fuhrer is in our hands?"" "And when my father said, "l think it could be the case."" "He said, "Well, Hess or no Hess, I'm still going to watch the Marx Brothers film."" "Churchill's strange reaction to this remains unexplained." "A great deal of information about the strange events of May, 1 941 , remain classified in British war files." "The Fuhrer's reaction remains equally puzzling." "Well, Hitler's reaction to Hess's flight was one of his major acting performances." "He made a tremendous performance of surprise, shock, horror and everything else." "When it appeared that Hess's mission had failed, of course, then all the propaganda came out that Hess was a lone madman." "He did it on his own and he was a bit you know, a few cups short of a tea set." "Hitler blamed the entire Hess affair on the advice of Hess's astrologers." "ln response, the Nazi Propaganda Ministry issued an edict called "Action Hess"" "that forbade the public practice of any occult sciences, including astrology." "The result was a further clamp down on the activities of astrologers who were eventually all rounded up in the Aktion Hess, a month after Hess's flight." "They arrested all the prominent astrologers that they knew about and took them away for interrogation." "Karl Kraft, the man who provided Goebbels with the powerful re-interpretations of Nostradamus as well as strikingly accurate astrological predictions, would suffer the ultimate punishment, according to a former colleague." "Eduard Calic was a political prisoner who became friends with Kraft during their time in a concentration camp together." "He said, "Eduard, you will survive but they will kill me because I know too many secrets."" "He went to Buchenwald and he said," ""They will kill me there." And he was killed there." "The astrologers who were arrested under the Action Hess were treated in different ways depending on their use to the Reich." "Those already working for Himmler were released immediately and allowed to continue their work." "During this time," "Himmler came into contact with one of Germany's leading astrologers," "Wilhelm Wulff." "As he was arrested along with all the other astrologers," "Wulff himself used to tell his guards about their horoscopes." "Wulff then started casting horoscopes for General Schellenberg who was head of counter-intelligence under Himmler." "Walter Schellenberg was the chief of the political secret service which was part of the SS." "He was my chief and my friend." "Schellenberg did not believe in astrology, but he made use of it." "When Schellenberg wanted to discuss some matter with Himmler, he would explain that an astrologer had predicted this matter." "ln 1 943, Wulff predicted that Hitler would survive a great danger on the 20th of July, 1 944, that he would fall ill in November of 1 944, and die a mysterious death before the 7 th of May, 1 945." "On the basis of these predictions," "Wulff became Himmler's personal astrologer and one of his most trusted aides." "All of these predictions came to pass." "ln a post-war interrogation by the Allies," "Schellenberg admitted using Wulff to advance his own position." "He believed that Wulff's influence would carry great weight with Himmler." "When I was still in prison with Schellenberg during the proceedings at Nuremberg, we still talked about it, and Schellenberg was very proud that, through Wulff he could influence Himmler." "According to Schellenberg's interrogation, during the final weeks of the war," "Himmler became obsessed with the astrology of a coup, when the stars suggested he might successfully overthrow the Fuhrer." "It was late April, 1 945, when the Soviet troops were already encircling Berlin, already entering the outskirts of Berlin, so the war was pretty well lost." "Himmler remembered a conversation he'd had earlier with Wulff in which Wulff told him that it looked as if there would be disaster for Germany until 1 945." "Reading Hitler's chart," "Wulff saw planetary arrangements that indicated a downfall." "Wulff and Schellenberg continued to urge Himmler to overthrow Hitler and install himself as the leader of the waning Reich." "Both Schellenberg and Himmler tried to curry favor with the Allies." "And intriguingly in the last days of the war, a meeting between Himmler and a representative of the World Jewish Congress, to which Wulff as Himmler's astrologer was present." "Himmler apparently agreed that there should be no more exterminations of Jews." "Despite Hitler's order to continue the exterminations to the end," "Wulff was instrumental in convincing Himmler to temporarily stop the killing." "Having taken this action, it appeared that Himmler was ready to launch his coup." "But ultimately, his fear and loyalty to the Fuhrer prevented him from seizing power." "Himmler remained hopeful that some mystical force of destiny would alter the defeat that was clearly at hand." "Himmler was also very interested in historical parallels between the situation in the mid-forties and previous-historical periods." "Himmler looked back to the previous great German war with Russia," "Sevens Year War fought between Frederick the Great of Prussia and the Russians." "Fortunes have said to have turned then when the Russian Czarina Elizabeth died." "ln April 1 945 President Roosevelt died." "And Himmler took this as a sign that history was about to repeat itself and Germany was going to be saved." "Two weeks later, Goebbels and his entire family descended with Adolph Hitler into the Fuhrer's private bunker." "On April 30th, Adolph Hitler and his bride," "Eva Braun, committed suicide." "Goebbels poisoned his six children, then shot his wife and himself." "Dressed as a common German soldier," "Heinrich Himmler almost managed to escape." "He was arrested by the British, but during a physical examination, crushed a cyanide capsule he kept in his mouth." "At 1 1 :04 P. M. , on the 23rd of May, the Reichsfuhrer who had summoned occult forces in the service of Aryan glory was dead." "ln November, 1 945, several top Nazis were brought to trial by the Allies at Nuremberg." "Rudolf Hess was sentenced to life in prison." "He died there at the age of ninety-three." "Occultist Alfred Rosenberg was found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged in October, 1 946." "The Third Reich, which was to have lasted over a thousand years, ended after only twelve." "Nearly fifty million had died." "Ironically, among them were the first generation of Hitler's so-called "master race"" "who were to father further generations of "Aryan Supermen."" "Throughout history, mythology has had a powerful influence on the human mind." "All cultures have been mythically driven." "However, in Nazi Germany, the linking of political aims to a corrupted mythology led to an evil unparalleled in history."