Customer Reviews

The Occult History of the Third Reich

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

_The Occult History of the Third Reich_ consists of two DVDs featuring original footage from Nazi Germany and telling the tale of the occult origins of National Socialism. There are four separate programs: "The Enigma of the Swastika", "The SS: Blood and Soil", "Himmler: The Mystic", and "Adolf Hitler", as well as a separate special feature "Ask the experts". In total the DVD runs for over 3 hours.

"The Enigma of the Swastika" tells the tale of the origins of the swastika as symbol of National Socialism. It begins by noting a period of decline in traditional hierarchy, authority, and religion, and a rise in industry and finance at the beginning of the twentieth century. This decline was not greeted warmly by all those who lived at the time. To compensate, various counter-myths and restorationist schemes were proposed. In Tibet for example, the swastika had long been used as a traditional symbol for good luck. The Russian seer who allegedly visited Tibet, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky proposed that the swastika was the symbol of the Aryan root race. Later, Guido von List, a Germanic mystic, influenced by the ideas of Blavatsky wrote of the lost Teutonic race who worshipped Wotan and referred to them as Aryans. List also was to make use of the swastika as symbol of the Aryans. In the Great War, the swastika became a talisman worn by soldiers. Various secret societies such as the Thule Society, which operated behind the NSDAP, run by Rudolph von Sebottendorf, also made use of the swastika. When Hitler came to power he incorporated a straight-armed and anti-clockwise swastika as the symbol of National Socialism. Also, Alfred Rosenberg, a Nazi philosopher, and the SS were to use the swastika as their own special symbol.

"The SS: Blood and Soil" tells the story of the SS guard, an Aryan elite and supposed "brotherhood of Templars". The SS was commanded by Heinrich Himmler who developed a profound nostalgia for a lost aristocratic elite. Other figures who believed in a hidden elite or hidden masters included Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, and List. Various secret societies including freemasons, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, and the Templars served as models for the SS. The SS wore a special "death's head" insignia. A system of racial hygiene and eugenics was instated in Nazi Germany so as to breed the Aryan superman.

"Himmler: The Mystic" tells the tale of Heinrich Himmler's infatuation with the occult. Himmler began his career as an agriculturalist leading him to stress the importance of the myth of "Blood and Soil" as well as the necessity of Lebensreform. Himmler also was involved in astrology, spiritualism, and herbalism. Himmler commissioned a special bureau of SS archeology, which sought to rediscover lost Aryan civilizations. Karl Maria Wiligut served an important role as an occultist for Himmler's SS. In addition, Himmler sought out Wewelsburg castle as the spiritual center of the SS order.

"Adolf Hitler" reveals the secret history of Adolf Hitler and his involvement with the occult. Hitler read the writings of Jorg Lanz who published Ostara and advocated a system of theozoology. In addition, Hitler was also influenced by the Englishman who praised Germanic culture Houston Stewart Chamberlain and the composer Richard Wagner. Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi philosopher, made popular the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which influenced Hitler's rabid antisemitism. This program shows the destruction wrought by the Third Reich, the use of eugenics, and the death camps.

The wise will avoid the self-appointed "experts" such as Candace Scott and Daniel J. Cragg who understand very little about Nazi Germany or Adolf Hitler, but who spend their time writing dozens and dozens of Amazon.com reviews, thrashing the work of anyone who presents the public with factual details which conflict with their shallow misconceptions. Hitler's interest in the occult has been documented by numerous scholars. Hitler's personal library contained dozens of volumes on the occult. In Mein Kampf Hitler states that his life was saved by a "voice" and he admits to hearing a voice and having visions, e.g. a "vision of the utmost clarity" which convinced him to go into politics (see Mein Kampf). Hitler emphasized that the Nazi-movement was a "religious movement" and he went on to say that those who claim otherwise, know nothing about it. Hitler could have been describing Ms. Scott and Mr. Cragg. Maybe if Ms. Scott and Mr. Cragg (who pretends to be an expert on Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, WWII, the Korean war, the Viet Nam war, etc., etc., etc., but who has published nothing in these areas) actually spent the time to do a little research on these subjects, they would not repeatedly embarass themselves by writing negative reviews about topics they know nothing about. This film is an important work on an important subject.

This is an amazing collection of recently discovered archival footage that is old and extremely valuable in terms of our understanding history so that we are *not* condemned to repeat it...that is, any more than we already have, and continue to. I have a *much* better understanding of the belief systems that underpinned the logic of Hitler's Germany, and understand that a) he was not alone in his fanatacism and b) that these belief systems did not originate in Germany nor did they end there. This is important information to know, to understand and to share. I highly recommend this series to anyone who wants to better understand the world around them, yesterday, today and tomorrow. I felt like I was there.

Although the research on this series of DVDs is rather thin, it should not be dismissed out of hand as some have done. The names of some of the occultists that are thrown around are monumental individuals. Did they influence Hitler, Himmler, etc...? Maybe...maybe not, but to dismiss wholesale is not the way to find answers to difficult questions about a period when it is easier to just villify and condemn. While the research on these DVDs is thin, it could prove an interesting starting place to find more about occult influences from the Fin-de-Siecle to the Second World War.

This set of 3 DVDs examines the Nazi movement from a wide viewpoint. It is not designed to be an all inclusive authority on the subject and as others have indicated, other resources are available for that. It does offer basic facts combined with lots of stock film footage that is pertentant to the era, which is difficult to find in a single package like this. From this viewpoint it has done well to present basic facts on the links between the occult and the emerging Nazi party.

Nazi Germany had many influences. The influence of the occult on the formation of the Third Reich has occasionally been greatly overstated. But it did exist, and this series is as good an examination of this rather esoteric topic as I've ever seen, certainly far better than the History Channel's recent effort.

The presentation is rather dry, and the video footage can be somewhat repetitive. But if you're interested in early 20th-century European occultism and its contribution, however slight, to the rise of Nazi Germany, this is as good a source of information as there is, apart from Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's book The Occult Roots of Nazism.

This is much better than the cheeseball packaging would suggest. As other reviewers have noted, it IS all archival footage, but it's stuff I've never seen before, a lot of it is in color, and it comes from high quality prints. Admittedly, the narration and the image don't always match up very well, but there just isn't that much footage of Nazi occultism.

I'm no expert, but I disagree that the content is "not just wrong, but inaccurate." I thought the content was basically the same as in Goodricke-Clark's book. And this movie predates that authoritative work by 5 years, so the filmmakers were doing pretty well.

Predictably, the narrator is English and he does use the word "madman" a lot. Hey, there are admittedly a lot of madmen in this story, but the people who make these WWII docs could still benefit from a thesaurus.

If there's problem with this series, it is that there just isn't enough information. It isn't until six minutes into the first episode that "the occult" is even referenced, and the third episode -on Himmler- doesn't mention his name for the first twelve minutes.

But this set still exceeded my expectations on all fronts and -at 209 minutes- it was well worth ten bucks.

This set includes four videos, each approximately 50 min. long. The titles are; The Enigma of The Swastika, SS Blood & Soil, Himmler The Mystic, and Adolf Hitler. They are really informative documentaries showing a brief history of Occultism in Germany and Europe and it's influence on the National Socialist philosophy. Each tape tells of the rise of the Nazis and how the different aspects of the movements ideology and rituals are actually related and derived from the occult teachings of many different people and places. Although much of the information is often repeated on the different tapes, there is an abundance of it which is interesting and also at times disturbing. It tells of occultist followings that are both ancient and recent and how they influenced the ideology of the most notorious political regime in Europe's and possibly the world's history. The only negative thing is the aggravation you are sure to have in adjusting your tracking for a clear picture. The sound is also very, very poor. I had to hook-up my VCR to my stereo and set the volume to maximum level in order to hear anything. There were still times I found myself rewinding again and again trying to decipher what was said at the barely audible parts. The mode these are recorded on is EP (Extended Play). For those of you that don't know what that means, it's used to get the longest possible time out of the tape. Unfortunately, this also tends to mar the quality of both picture and sound. Still, despite this, I don't regret the purchase. I would have awarded 5 stars if not for this.

I have mixed feelings about this release. There is some interesting (non-combat) footage on these DVDs, like Nazi parades of medieval knights, lots of early Hitler shots etc. The theories presented are interesting, although some of them seem a little far-fetched with too little proof. The main downside is that all the material could easily have fit on a single side dual layer DVD, especially if all duplicate scenes were removed. This really upset me, some scenes were a case of uneccessary copy&paste, it is annoying to watch the same footage with the same commentray you just watched on the previous DVD. At this price, I can still recommend it to all people interested in WW2, this is a sort of behind-the-scenes, focusing not on the battles fought but on the mad fantasies leading to WW2.

I owned the 4-tape VHS version by Madacy since about 1999, and consider David Flitton's work to be a masterful tracing of the steps, the influences, the convergence and the culminating rise to power of one of the most sophisticated yet pagan regimes in the history of western culture.

As an historian, I confess to taking detailed notes on about the third round of watching these films, and traced person-to-person, philosophy-to-philosophy, publication-to-publication, movement-to-movement, and link-to-link, and found myself with a veritible map of converging streams of influence which became the flood-tide of Naziism.

I have a personal library of over 3,000 volumes collected over 25 years of professional career, with about 25% dedicated to Theology, 25% to Jewish/Church/Religious history, 25% to American and World history, and about 25% to Military history, with other subjects tangent to all these. My WWII and related items number in the hundreds, and the subject of the Third Reich and the Holocaust number in scores.

I relay all that book blather to assure the reader here that I have found these videos to be an accurate presentation of the subject matter, making many obscure and little-known documented FACTS not only come to light, but to be placed in a very proper context for the understanding of the subject.

In addition, the treatment of the matter is succinct in comparison to what enormity of evidence exists, so it is easy for a novice to view these films and get a good handle on the subject of the "spirituality" behind the rise of the Nazis.

On the other hand, scholars who have researched the matter for years as I have will thoroughly enjoy seeing what will likely be new film footage for them---footage which I was pleasantly surprised to discover still existed. Scholars will also appreciate the interesting and commendable way the producers of these films crafted them, so as to be reminded of a multitude of the most important points from the various books and records in print one has already researched.

I highly recommend these films to every high school and college in America and Europe, and for all historians to view these films and refresh themselves as to the reasons, thought-patterns, and movements which led to the national decay of one of the most sophisticated and cultured peoples on earth, and led them to blindly submit to pagans leading them to complete disaster.

The lessons of history can only be learned if one seeks to discover them and then seeks wisdom to discern them.