Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race [Hardcover]

Christopher Hale (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0785822542 | ISBN-13: 978-0785822547 | Publication Date: May 15, 2008 | Edition: First Edition

Why would the leader of the Nazi's dreaded SS, the second most powerful man in the Third Reich, send a zoologist, an anthropoligist, and several other scientists to Tibet on the eve of war? This book is the bizarre and chilling story of one of history's most perverse, eccentric and frightening scientific expeditions.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Why would the leader of the Nazi's dreaded SS, the second most powerful man in the Third Reich, send a zoologist, an anthropoligist, and several other scientists to Tibet on the eve of war? This book is the bizarre and chilling story of one of history's most perverse, eccentric and frightening scientific expeditions.

From the Inside Flap

It is a pilgrimage that thousands have taken in search of enlightenment, inner peace, or even sheer adventure. When five officers of the Nazi SS made the arduous journey to Tibet’s forbidden city of Lhasa in the winter of 1938, however, the objects of their quest were mysterious, sinister, and, ultimately, deeply malevolent. Under orders from Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, these scientists were to find proof of a bizarre historical fantasy, lay the groundwork for a global political and military strategy, and pinpoint the origins and remnants of the Aryan "master race."

Himmler’s Crusade tells the riveting tale of one of the most perverse, eccentric, and frightening scientific expeditions in history. Based on a wide range of previously unused sources, including journals, new interviews, and original research in German archives as well as in Tibet, this real-life drama combines the highest standards of narrative history with the high adventure and exotic locales of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Central to this chilling tale is the complex and problematic character of Ernst Schäfer, the expedition’s leader. A serious and extremely competent young zoologist, Schäfer was so consumed by ambition that he was eager to become Himmler’s protégé and to do anything his patron commanded in return for opportunity, fame, and influence at the very highest levels of Nazi power. Though they had their own projects to pursue, Schäfer’s team spent most of its time in Tibet doing Himmler’s bidding, which included sowing the seeds of rebellion, undermining Britain’s relationship with the Tibetan ruling class, and confirming Himmler’s grotesque theories about the origins of the Aryan race.

Part spy thriller, part detective yarn, and all real-life adventure, Himmler’s Crusade takes you from Himmler’s SS stronghold at Wewelsburg Castle, where he inculcated elite SS recruits with the appropriate racial thinking, to the dizzying Himalayan heights, where Schäfer and his team examined Tibetan nobles for signs of Aryan ancestry. It asks penetrating questions about the relationship between science and politics and sheds new light on the occult theories that obsessed Himmler and his fellow Nazis. Supplemented with dozens of fascinating photos taken during the expedition, this engagingly told tale provides deep insight into one of the strangest episodes in the tumultuous months just prior to the outbreak of World War II. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 422 pages
• Publisher: Book Sales, Inc.; First Edition edition (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785822542
• ISBN-13: 978-0785822547
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science > History & Philosophy > History of Science

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Account of History, October 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race (Hardcover)

This is a brilliant and incredibly well researched book analyzing a little known, but powerfully important, part of Nazi history. I picked the book to read because it received such a stellar review by Michael Burleigh, the most renowned international authority on the Third Reich. Immediately, I was entranced by every aspect of Hale's account of an SS-sponsored expedition to Tibet in 1938-39. Hale goes way beyond doing a comprehensive book study of the subject. He actually conducted his own expedition to Tibet, retracing the steps that the SS-sponsored expedition leaders took and interviewing individuals who were either part of the expedition or who were associated with it. For example, throughout the book Hale provides astonishing information from his interviews with Bruno Beger, an anthropologist and SS member who would later be brought to trial and imprisoned for selecting over 100 inmates for "study" at Auschwitz (all of whom were gassed). I would recommend Hale's book for anyone interested in the origins and perpetuation of Nazism. Himmler's Crusade is already a classic in the field.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bewildering (written) History Channel documentary, March 13, 2005

By 

Adrian "Increasingly critical reader" (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race (Hardcover)

Remember Indiana Jones? Weren't those silly scenes fro "Raiders" quite hilarious, with the Nazis searching for the "Arc of the Covenant"? Well... read this book, and you may not find them so amusing next time around.

Christopher Hale, a BBC documentary producer, really knows how to present and tell a story, no matter how unbelievable and apparently preposterous it may seem at first. After all, what would the Nazis be doing in Tibet in 1938-39, right? Worng! Turns out they were there, and not on a picnic trip: they were actively looking for their Aryan roots, visting the forbidden city of Lhasa, meeting with the current regime (and making the British rather nervous at that), while the new Dalai Lama was being found and brought to Tibet .

The story of Ernst Schäfer -who after the war denied any wrongdoing to his allied captors- and his four team-mates makes for an enjoyable and very entertaining reading, while Hale's subtle but precise insights and ocassional humorous remarks all you (the reader) to participate on his unique documentary-producer perspective.

Far from offering his own ideological perspective, Hale limits himself to describing -with his keen ability to look beyond the evident and the superficial- closing up the book with a simple yet well structure "moral" (to give it a name) on the inherent dangers of believeing that myths are essentially harmless: as he's so clearly explained -and history frequently demonstrated- a nation's inherent and underlying beliefs can lead it to far away places.

In summary: if you enjoy cuddling up with a good history book, and don't feel the need to read a doctoral thesis on the occult roots of Nazism (for which Nicholas Goodrich-Clarke is the best path to follow), get a hold of this very well researched and smartly illustrated book (the pictures do tell a whole story here), written from the unmistakeable perspective of a TV-documentaries' producer (you feel like you're watching the documentary on the History Channel). It's an amazing story, proving once again that truth is always far ore incredible than fiction.

36 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a compelling book, October 23, 2003

By 

Peter G. Buckley "petermenlo" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race (Hardcover)

I found this account of the Himmler sponsored expedition to find the mythical origins of the Aryan race utterly absorbing, not only because it sheds light on one of the odd, yet central strands of the Nazi cosmology but also because of the ways in which it was observed by the British. I had little idea that Tibet formed the locus of Western spiritual projections over so many decades.