The Occult Roots of Nazism : The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890-1935 [Hardcover]

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (Author), Rohan Butler (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1985

Over half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich the complexities of Nazi ideology are still being unravelled. This text is a serious attempt to identify these ideological origins. It demonstrates the way in which Nazism was influenced by powerful occult and millenarian sects that thrived in Germany and Austria at the turn of the century. Their ideas and symbols filtered through to nationalist-racist groups associated with the infant Nazi party and their fantasies were played out with terrifying consequences in the Third Reich: Auschwitz, Sobibor and Treblinka are the hellish museums of the Nazi apocalypse. This bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"astounding work of scholarship... BIG revelation if you've never come across this stuff before... Thank you Tauris Parke" -The Pillbox (Australian Journal) "This book provides the first serious account of the way in which Nazism was influenced by powerful occult and millenarian sects that thrived in Germany and Austria... This bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore." -The Anglo-German Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is a specialist on Nazi ideology and currently Research Fellow in the Western Esoteric Tradition, University of Wales Lampeter. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: The Aquarian Press; 1st edition (1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850304024
• ISBN-13: 978-0850304022
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,169,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid Book, July 28, 2010

By 

Nick (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Occult Roots of Nazism (Paperback)

This is an extremely well researched book of scholarly standard. It's thorough, very much so. So what does this book contain? I'll tell you.

It covers the pre-Nazi period of Germany, roughly from the late 19th century to 1945, without being too specific about the dates. This volume shows the context in which Germans found themselves at the time, all those famous names we have all heard in relation to weird Nazi occultism: Blavastky, Guido von List, Wiligut, etc. All of them are covered thoroughly, biography and all. Arisophy, theosophy, arianism, everything is covered in this serious book.

Thanks to this book, Nazism appears far less mysterious. All the more occult or weird elements of Nazism were present in previous ideas, and all of this is exposed in that book. I always wondered where the swastika's usage really came from and why Hitler doesn't explain its origin in Mein Kampf, and why, apparently, everyone who submitted an idea for a Nazi flag had incorporated the swastika in it, as if it was so well known that it needed no explanation.

Now I know! Everybody vaguely knows that Nazis took the swastika from Tibet or India or something, but few really know the detailed track of it all.

Instead of going for sensational claims, the author is very down to earth, bent on facts and research, and if you want a book that's absolutely serious about the absolutely weird in Nazism, this is the book for you. Rather than mediums and truly occult wise men and women, this book exposes the occultists of the pre-Nazi era as mostly lunatics and/or liars, some of whom spent actual time in asylums and what not.

This book is the best introduction to the pre-Nazi mindset; it makes you realise that Hitler's racism wasn't so much based on science as it was based on (some sort of weird) religion, which then encouraged Nazis to scientifically research its claims.

It sheds such a light on Nazism that you can hardly do without this book, for anyone seriously interested in Nazi history.

Some of these people were very against Christianity and wanted the old pagan religion of Germany back, others interpreted Christianity in a new way, a way that made sense within their ariosophy.

Templar knights, ancient glorious heritage from "Aryans", the possibility to re-awaken those semi-godly gifts of nature through a purification of the race, pan-Germany, all this is covered in the book.

That said, I have to admit that the book was a bit of a let down somehow, but only because I expected far more fantastic claims and such. The author spends a serious amount of time going into the lives of each of these significant contributors to the pre-Nazi mind - which is not at all a bad thing - but you may come to not care all that much for them, and you will probably mix them up a bit, and even forget some of them. This is fine, though, because the point of the book is to make a serious study of the case, not just write a page-turner. I can appreciate that.

So, in conclusion, if you want a serious, scholarly book about the occult elements of Nazism and the people who spread those relatively strange ideas in Germany, this is the book. It's very strict about facts, well-written, complete with footnotes and everything you'd expect from an academic book.

Recommended for the no-nonsense person who wants a clear explanation of occultism within Nazi framework.

PS: only flaw of the book is the author's use of "at" for any and all cities: "at Vienna", "at Berlin", when you'd more usually find "in". But that's a very minor detail, just had to mention it.