Original subtitles

Narrator: THE NAZIS AND THEIR RUTHLESS PURSUIT OF WORLD DOMINATION

IS THE STUFF OF LEGEND,

BUT IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THE IDEA

THAT HITLER WAS USING BLACK MAGIC

AND WITCHCRAFT IN HIS QUESTS TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD?

FOR THE NAZIS, THE OCCULT WAS LIKE OXYGEN.

IT WAS THE BACKBONE OF THEIR IDEOLOGY.

THEY WERE TRYING TO USE PSEUDO-SCIENCE OF THE TIME

TO JUSTIFY WHY THE ARYAN RACE WAS SUPERIOR.

Picknett: THEY BASICALLY TURNED NORMAL, CIVILIZED

HUMAN BEINGS INTO MONSTERS,

SO THAT HAS TO BE A SINISTER OCCULT RITUAL.

Farrar: IF MAGIC IS EVER USED TO DESTROY SOMETHING IT IS USED

TO DESTROY EVIL,

SUCH AS STOPPING THE NAZIS FROM INVADING BRITAIN.

Felix: IF THE NAZIS HAD STOPPED ALL THIS NONSENSE WITH ASTRONOMY,

ASTROLOGERS, DOWSING, TAROT CARDS,

IF THEY'D STOPPED ALL THAT AND GOT ON

WITH THE WAR PROPERLY,

I THINK THEY'D PROBABLY HAVE BEATEN US.

¶

¶

¶

FORBIDDEN HISTORY - SEASON 6 EP - 7 - Hitler's Occult Conspiracy

Subtitles Diego Moraes

Narrator: IN THE YEARS LEADING UP TO NAZI GERMANY'S DECLARATION OF WAR,

A BIZARRE OBSESSION BEGAN TO TAKE HOLD

WITHIN THE NEWLY-FORMED POLITICAL PARTY.

A STRANGE TWISTED MYTHOLOGY BASED ON ANCIENT PAGAN BELIEFS

AND SORCERY, WAS BEGINNING TO EMERGE.

Dr. Selwood: TODAY, WHEN WE THINK OF NAZISM,

WE TEND TO LOOK AT A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

THAT WAS BENT ON TERRITORIAL CONQUESTS

AND ON RACIAL EXTERMINATION.

BUT ACTUALLY IT'S BROADER THAN THAT.

THERE'S A MORE PHILOSOPHICAL PART OF NAZISM AS WELL.

Picknett: THE NAZIS SUBSCRIBED TO AN EXTREME VERSION OF ARIOSOPHY.

ARIOSOPHY WAS THE IDEA

THAT THERE WAS AN ANCIENT GERMANIC ARYAN RACE,

THAT WAS A PURE RACE, A STRONG RACE.

Gough: THIS NOTION OF THIS ANCIENT, MYSTIC, ARYAN RACE

THAT'S BEEN AROUND THOUSANDS OF YEARS,

THEY FELT THAT GAVE THEM ENTITLEMENT.

AND WAS THE MOTIVATION AND THE JUSTIFICATION

FOR ALL OF THEIR DESPICABLE ACTIONS.

Narrator: HEINRICH HIMMLER WAS HITLER'S SECOND IN COMMAND

AND THE MAN CHIEFLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING

NOT ONLY THE BELIEF IN THE OCCULT,

BUT ALSO THE IDEA THAT THE NAZIS REALLY WERE DESCENDED

FROM A SUPER RACE OF BEINGS.

Gough: HEINRICH HIMMLER WAS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN IN GERMANY.

HE WAS HITLER'S RIGHT HAND MAN AND THE COMMANDER OF THE SS.

Dr. Bellinger: HE WAS A RABID OCCULTIST.

AND REALLY BROUGHT TO HITLER

A WHOLE PANOPLY OF PROPAGANDA TOOLS

THAT HE COULD USE TO JUSTIFY WHAT THE NAZIS WERE DOING.

AND TO REALLY PLACE IT IN THE ROOTS OF A FALSE ARYAN MYTHOLOGY

DESIGNED TO MAKE THE AVERAGE GERMAN PERSON FEEL NOT JUST OKAY

WITH WHAT HITLER WAS DOING, BUT PROUD OF IT.

McMahon: HEINRICH HIMMLER WAS THE FOUNDER AND THE HEAD OF THE SS.

HE ALSO ENDED UP LEADING THE GESTAPO

AND EVENTUALLY FOUNDED THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

THAT KILLED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

AND WHAT DROVE HIM IN HIS MISSION

WAS THIS UNDERLYING BELIEF THAT THE GERMAN PEOPLE

WERE SET APART FROM THE REST OF HUMANITY.

AND IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT,

HE DELVED VERY DEEPLY INTO THE OCCULT.

HE NEEDED TO FIND A SUPERNATURAL BACK STORY TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE

AND THAT LED HIM ON THE TRAIL OF THE HOLY GRAIL.

IT LED HIM TO SEND PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD

LOOKING FOR NON-EVOLUTIONARY ROOTS OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE.

Narrator: ERIC KURLANDER IS A HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR

WHO HAS RESEARCHED NAZI OCCULTISM FOR DECADES.

HE HAS TRAVELED TO QUEDLINBURG CASTLE,

A 1,000-YEAR OLD FORTRESS IN CENTRAL GERMANY

TO UNCOVER THE ORIGIN OF HIMMLER'S OCCULT OBSESSION.

SO WE'RE APPROACHING THE QUEDLINBURG CASTLE AND ABBEY

WHICH WAS FOUNDED 1,100 YEARS AGO BY HENRY THE FOWLER,

THE GREAT SAXON KING.

HENRY THE FOWLER WAS SEEN AS MORE AUTHENTICALLY GERMAN

THAN OTHER GERMANIC KINGS OF THE MIDDLE AGES,

BY HEINRICH HIMMLER, THE REICH'S FUHRER SS,

WHO DECIDED THAT THIS WOULD BE A SITE

WHERE YOU COULD CELEBRATE GERMANIC PAGANISM.

Dr. Bellinger: HENRY THE FOWLER WAS KING HEINRICH THE FIRST

AND HE UNIFIED FOR THE FIRST TIME,

THE GERMAN STATE IN 956

AND BROUGHT TOGETHER EVERYBODY OUT OF WARRING TERRITORIES.

AND IT WAS THE LAUNCH OF WHAT BECAME KNOWN AS THE FIRST REICH.

SO IT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE THAT HIMMLER WAS GOING

TO APPROPRIATE THIS MYTH FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES.

Kurlander: SO HIMMLER WAS RAISED CATHOLIC,

BUT HE VERY EARLY ON REJECTED HIS CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING.

AND SOUGHT TO CREATE THROUGH THE SS,

A KIND OF PRE-CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITION IN GERMANY.

AN ARIO-GERMANIC RELIGION.

ONE WAY HE WAS GOING TO DO THAT

WAS BY TAKING CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS,

LIKE CHRISTMAS AND REPLACING THEM

WITH THE OLD WINTER SOLSTICE FESTIVALS,

THE YULE CELEBRATIONS OF PRE-CHRISTIAN PAGAN TRADITION.

FOR EXAMPLE, IN THIS ROOM, IN 1936,

HE INAUGURATED THE FIRST FESTIVAL

IN HONOR OF HENRY THE FOWLER, THE GREAT SAXON KING,

WHO FOR HIM REPRESENTED THE PRE-CHRISTIAN GERMAN REALITY

THAT HE WANTED TO RECREATE.

HIMMLER GENUINELY BELIEVED THAT HE WAS EITHER THE REINCARNATION

OR THE DESCENDANT OF HENRY THE FOWLER.

AND HIMMLER, IN HIS DELUDED STATE,

USED TO GO TO THE ABBEY, HOLD SéANCES IN THE ABBEY,

PRAYED AT THE GRAVE OR THE SHRINE OF HENRY THE FOULER.

AND GENUINELY BELIEVED THAT HE WAS ABLE TO CONNECT

WITH THE SPIRIT OF HIS DEAD ANCESTOR.

Kurlander: SO WE'RE STANDING IN THE OLDEST PART OF THE QUEDLINBURG

CASTLE AND MONASTERY.

WHERE HENRY THE FOWLER,

WHO BUILT THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF THIS MONASTERY,

WAS BURIED A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

SO ONE OF THE REASONS THAT HEINRICH HIMMLER

FOUND THIS SPACE SO INTERESTING,

IS IT WASN'T JUST THE SAXON ORIGINS,

THE BASIS OF ARIO-GERMANIC EMPIRE

THAT HE AND THE SS WANTED TO RECREATE,

HE ACTUALLY BELIEVED HE MAY HAVE BEEN

THE REINCARNATION OF HENRY THE FOWLER.

SO THIS SPACE REALLY REPRESENT ONE PART OF WHAT I CALL

THE SUPERNATURAL IMAGINARY THAT MANY NAZIS SUBSCRIBE TO.

IT'S LINKED TO PAGAN RELIGION.

AN ARIO-GERMANIC RELIGIOUS BELIEFS,

KIND OF PRE-CHRISTIAN BELIEFS,

THAT WAS AN IMPORTANT PILLAR OF NAZI THINKING.

IT OVERLAPS IN SOME WAYS WITH OCCULT AND ESOTERIC IDEAS,

BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME THING

AND THAT'S WHY THE QUEDLINBURG IS MORE

A KIND OF PAGAN RELIGIOUS SITE FOR HEINRICH HIMMLER.

Walters: SO WHAT YOU SEE WITH THIS YOUNG HIMMLER,

HE'S VERY IMPRESSIONABLE.

HE LOOKS BACK ALONG THE PRUSSIAN AND GERMANIC PAST,

MYTH AND LEGEND AND THERE HE FINDS EXAMPLES AND STORIES

AND THE KIND OF HEROES, THAT HE ALWAYS WANTS TO BE.

AND SO THEREFORE, HE'S VERY SEDUCED

BY THE WHOLE FEEL OF THAT LEGEND AND MYTH

AND ALSO BY THE ESOTERIC-ISM OF IT.

AND HE REALLY BUYS IN TO ALL THE RUNES AND THE CULTURE

AND THE MAGIC AND ALL THE MUMBO-JUMBO.

Narrator: BUT HIMMLER'S STRANGE BELIEFS IN ANCIENT GERMAN MYTHOLOGY

AND ESOTERIC-ISM,

SOON TOOK A MUCH MORE SINISTER TURN.

WHILE STUDYING FARMING AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN MUNICH,

HIMMLER BECAME FASCINATED WITH BREEDING.

SELECTIVE BREEDING.

NOT JUST ANIMALS, BUT ALSO HUMAN BEINGS.

COULD WE CREATE OR RECREATE MORE IMPORTANTLY, A MASTER RACE?

SINCE HIMMLER BELIEVED THAT THE ARYAN RACE

HAD BEEN PERFECT THOUSANDS OF YEARS EARLIER,

MAYBE YOU COULD USE MODERN BREEDING TECHNIQUES

TO BRING THIS ARYAN UTOPIA BACK INTO BEING.

Dr. Selwood: NAZISM WAS FOR THE WHOLE PERSON.

IT WASN'T JUST ABOUT THE POLITICAL SIDE OF AN INDIVIDUAL.

AND SO ELEMENTS THAT WERE BROUGHT IN,

THE PEOPLE REALLY IDENTIFIED WITH

AND THERE'S SO MUCH LITERATURE FROM THE PERIOD ON THIS,

WAS PARTICULARLY LINKING,

THEY ARE DESCENDED FROM THESE SUPER PEOPLE,

WHO LIVED MILLENIA AGO.

SO THIS IS A TRADITION.

IT'S A CONTINUATION.

THE NAZIS DIDN'T THINK THEY WERE INVENTING SOMETHING.

THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE TAPPING INTO AN ANCIENT FORCE.

Narrator: INSPIRED BY GERMAN PAGANISM, HIMMLER TOOK HIS OCCULT

THINKING EVEN FURTHER AND USED AN ANCIENT CODE

TO CREATE THE MOST FEARED SYMBOL OF ALL.

¶

Narrator: IN THE LEAD UP TO WORLD WAR TWO,

THE NAZIS BECAME INCREASINGLY OBSESSED

WITH ANCIENT GERMAN MYTHOLOGY AND BLACK MAGIC.

McMahon: FROM THE OUTSET, THE NAZIS WERE HEAVILY INFLUENCED

BY OCCULT IDEAS.

HITLER, HIMMLER, AND OTHERS WERE DESPERATE TO PROVE

THAT THE "ARYAN RACE" HAD SOMEHOW ORIGINATED

SEPARATELY FROM THE REST OF HUMANITY.

AND IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT HIGHLY UNSCIENTIFIC THEORY,

THEY NEEDED TO RESORT TO SOMETHING SUPERNATURAL,

SOMETHING OCCULT.

Dr. Bellinger: BY TELLING THE GERMAN PEOPLE THAT THEY WERE DESCENDED

FROM A MASTER RACE, A SUPERIOR RACE OF BEINGS,

THAT LITERALLY DERIVED FROM EPIC MYTHOLOGY OF SUPERB PEACE,

HARMONY, AND ACHIEVEMENT, THIS IS REALLY CANNY.

I MEAN THIS WAS DIRECTLY ADDRESSING

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE DONE UPON

THE GERMAN NATIONAL PSYCHE BY WORLD WAR I.

Narrator: GUIDO VON LIST WAS A KEY FIGURE IN EARLY NAZI OCCULTISM

AND A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON HEINRICH HIMMLER.

Gough: GUIDO VON LIST WAS AN OCCULTIST WHO REVIVED A RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT

WHICH SHOWED THE ANCIENT ARYAN ROOTS OF THE GERMANIC PEOPLE.

AND WHY THIS WAS SO IMPORTANT,

IS THAT IT SERVED AS THE INSPIRATION TO HIMMLER

WHO WOULD LATER ADOPT THESE SAME BELIEFS.

Dr. Bellinger: GUIDO VON LIST WAS A PAGANIST WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE,

LARGELY, FOR THE RUNIC REVIVAL,

WHICH BECAME A REALLY CENTRAL PART OF THE SYMBOLISM

AND ICONOGRAPHY OF THE NAZI PARTY.

AND PARTICULARLY OF THE REGALIA WORN BY THE SS.

Narrator: IT WAS LIST'S TEACHINGS THAT ENCOURAGED HIMMLER

TO TURN HIS TWISTED MIND TO AN ANCIENT LANGUAGE

MADE OF MAGICAL SYMBOLS CALLED RUNES.

GAVIN BONE IS A HISTORIAN AND EXPERT ON RUNES,

WHO BELIEVES THEY ARE THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING NAZI ICONOGRAPHY.

Bone: SO THE WORD RUNE COMES FROM THE OLD GERMAN, "RUNYON"

WHICH MEANS A MYSTERY, A SECRET, TO WHISPER, SOMETHING HIDDEN.

AND THE RUNES ORIGINALLY WERE A SYSTEM OF WRITING

AMONGST THE GERMAN PEOPLES GOING BACK, THEY BELIEVE,

AS FAR BACK AS 200 BC.

THEIR ORIGINS IN NAZI OCCULTISM

DERIVE FROM AN AUSTRIAN JOURNALIST,

PLAYWRIGHT AND AUTHOR NAMED GUIDO LIST.

GUIDO VON LIST BELIEVED THAT THERE HAD BEEN A GERMANIC EMPIRE

THAT WORSHIPED A PAGAN GOD, WOTAN,

AND THAT USED THIS RUNIC SCRIPT.

AND IN FACT, THE NAZIS LATCHED ON TO THIS IDEA

OF THE RUNIC ALPHABET BEING THE TRUE GERMAN ALPHABET.

AND IT INFORMED THEIR ICONOGRAPHY,

IN PARTICULAR THE SS LOGO THAT WE ALL KNOW TODAY.

Bone: VON LIST IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IS THE INTEGRATION OF THE RUNES

INTO THE SS AS SYMBOLS.

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS SYMBOLS THE NAZI'S WERE ASSOCIATED WITH

WAS THE DOUBLE LIGHTNING FLASH, THE DOUBLE SIG

OR THE SCHUTZSTAFFEL... THE SS.

WHICH COMES FROM THE SIG RUNE ALSO KNOWN AS THE SOWILO RUNE.

THIS RUNE WAS ORIGINALLY AS SYMBOL OF SUCCESS,

OF HAPPINESS, OF PEACE.

IT BECOMES TWISTED.

IT BECOMES A SYMBOL FOR VICTORY,

HENCE THE NAZI SALUTE, "ZEIG HEIL" IS "HAIL VICTORY."

HERE YOU SEE THE DOUBLE S PATCH, DOUBLE SIG PATCH.

HERE YOU SEE IT ACTUALLY AS IT

WAS ORIGINALLY IN THE ELDER FUTHARK RUNES.

Dr. Selwood: HIMMLER WANTED THE SS TO STAND

FOR SOMETHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY

AND TO DO THAT, HE INFUSED IT

WITH ALL THESE DIFFERENT CURRENTS OF THE OCCULT.

SO MOST OBVIOUSLY HE DID IT VISUALLY.

SO THINGS LIKE THE SS RUNE,

THE TWO LETTERS S YOU SEE, THE LIGHTNING BOLTS,

THOSE ARE OLD GERMANIC RUNES, IT'S CALLED THE SIG RUNE.

THEY HAVE MEANING. THEY CAN BE INTERPRETED.

MANY OTHER RUNES WERE USED IN SS UNIFORMS, IN SS BANNERS,

ON THE DAGGERS THAT THEY HAD,

ALL SORTS OF ARTICLES OF SS PARAPHERNALIA

WERE ENGRAVED AND EMBLAZONED WITH THESE RUNES.

IT WAS GUIDO LIST WHO INTRODUCED ONE OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN,

AND HAS BECOME OF THE MOST HATED SYMBOLS IN THE WORLD,

AND THAT WAS THE SWASTIKA.

OF COURSE THAT WAS NOT IT'S ORIGINAL GERMAN NAME.

IT HAD SEVERAL NAMES.

THE HAKENKRUIS, THE HOOKED CROSS.

THE FYLFOT, THE MANY-FOOTED CROSS.

NOW ONE OF THE GREAT FALLACIES WHICH HAS OCCURRED

SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR,

IS THE NAZIS, SPECIFICALLY HITLER AND HIMMLER,

REVERSED THE ROTATION.

THAT'S ACTUALLY NOT TRUE.

AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THIS SENSA FROM INDIA,

IT IS IN FACT GOING THE SAME DIRECTION.

THE DOUBLE SIG, IS ACTUALLY THE SAME AS THE SWASTIKA.

IF YOU TAKE THE TWO SIG AND INTERLOCK THEM,

THEY ACTUALLY BECOME THE SWASTIKA.

THEY ORIGINALLY MEANT THE SAME THING.

BUT OF COURSE THE SWASTIKA WAS NEVER ORIGINALLY

A SYMBOL OF HATE.

YOU STILL FIND IT AROUND THE WORLD

IN MANY CULTURES AND TRADITIONS.

AND STILL YOU SEE IN PLACES SUCH AS INDIA, TIBET,

THE SWASTIKA IS STILL IN USE AS A SACRED SYMBOL.

IT REPRESENTS THE SUN.

IT REPRESENTS GOOD LUCK, GOOD FORTUNE.

Walters: YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER THAT THE NAZIS WERE REALLY GOOD

AT THE BRANDING BUSINESS, IS WHAT WE CALL IT TODAY.

I MEAN THERE IS NO BETTER BRAND THAN THE SWASTIKA.

I MEAN IT'S A VERY, VERY POWERFUL ICON

SET ON THE WHITE AND THE RED,

YOU KNOW THESE ARE INCREDIBLY CAPTIVATING COLORS, NORMALLY.

AND THEN THE SYMBOL OF THE SWASTIKA IS VERY POWERFUL

AND EQUALLY THE SS RUNES,

AND THEY WERE RUNES, FROM NORSE CULTURE.

SO OBVIOUSLY YOU EVEN GOT THE UNIFORM OF THE KIND OF ELITE

ARMED UNIT OF THE THIRD REICH WERE DRESSED YOU KNOW,

WITH THESE SYMBOLS, WHICH HAD THEIR ROOTS IN MYTHOLOGY.

Narrator: ERIC KURLANDER IS AN ACADEMIC AND AUTHOR WHO HAS SPEND DECADES

ON COVERING THE NAZIS OCCULT OBSESSION.

CORE TO THE NAZIS TWISTED IDEOLOGY,

WAS A BELIEF CALLED IRMINISM, A PSEUDO-RELIGION,

WHICH SS COMMANDER HIMMLER BELIEVED

WAS WORSHIPPED AT VARIOUS PAGAN SITES

IN ANCIENT HISTORY, ACROSS GERMANY.

Kurlander: SO ARMINISM OR IRMINISM AS THE ARIOSOPHISTS CALLED IT,

BELIEVE THAT THERE IS AN ANCIENT GERMANIC CIVILIZATION

THAT LIVED IN PRE-HISTORY,

WHERE THERE WERE FROST GIANTS AND DWARVES.

AND POTENTIALLY THAT THIS ARYAN CIVILIZATION

HAD ORIGINATED FROM MEETING WITH EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS,

WHICH IS WHY IT WAS SO POWERFUL,

AND HAD A THIRD EYE AND COULD YOU KNOW,

EXERCISE GREATER MENTAL ACUITY THAN NORMAL RACES ON EARTH.

AND THIS SUPERIOR CIVILIZATION PRACTICED A KIND OF RELIGION,

A CULTURE THAT THEY THOUGHT LASTED

UNTIL THE EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD.

AND WAS PRACTICED HERE AT THE EXTERNSTEINE.

Narrator: ALSO COMPARED TO STONEHENGE,

THE EXTERNSTEINE IS A COLLECTION OF GIANT SANDSTONE PILLARS,

USED A PAGAN RELIGIOUS SITE FOR MILLENNIA.

Kurlander: TO THE EXTERNSTEINE ARE A SITE

WHERE HIMMLER'S VARIOUS FANTASIES KIND OF COME TOGETHER.

HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ABOUT A PRE-CHRISTIAN

GERMANIC RELIGIOUS TRADITION, HIS BORDER SCIENTIFIC BELIEFS

THAT YOU COULD USE ARCHEOLOGY AND ASTROLOGY

TO RECREATE THE FOUNDATIONS

OF THIS ANCIENT GERMANIC CIVILIZATION.

AND OF COURSE HIS OCCULT BELIEF,

ALL OF THAT COMES TOGETHER AT THE EXTERNSTEINE.

Dr. Selwood: HIMMLER WAS A NUTTER AND LIKE ALL NUTTERS,

HE WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH PSEUDO-SCIENCE.

SO HE CREATED, WITHIN THE SS,

A DIVISION CALLED THE AHNENERBE,

WHICH MEANS ANCESTRAL HERITAGE.

AND HIS IDEA WAS THAT THIS WOULD BE A THINK TANK

THAT WOULD ROAM THE WORLD

AND GATHER EVIDENCE OF THESE ANCIENT CULTURES

AND DEMONSTRATE THAT HIS RACIAL THEORIES AND THEORIES

ABOUT GERMANIC SUPER PEOPLE, WERE ACTUALLY RIGHT.

Janulis: AND THEY EVEN GOT SCIENTISTS, ARCHAEOLOGISTS, BIOLOGISTS,

ET CETERA IN ON THESE TEAMS GOING AROUND

LOOKING FOR THE ORIGINS OF TRUE ARYANS.

AND THE ANCIENT GIANTS,

THE NIFLHEIM AND THESE SORTS OF THINGS

AND MEASURING PEOPLE'S HEADS OUT IN NEPAL.

AND SO I CAN'T IMAGINE RESPECTED SCIENTISTS

SIGNING UP FOR ONE OF THESE PROJECTS,

UNLESS THEY WERE FORCED TO DO SO POLITICALLY.

Narrator: ACCORDING TO LEGEND, THE IRMINISTS,

LIKE THE MYTHICAL CIVILIZATION OF ATLANTIS,

HAD A FANTASTICALLY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY.

AND HIMMLER BELIEVED THAT IF HE COULD FIND EVIDENCE

OF THIS ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY AT THE EXTERNSTEINE,

IT WOULD PROVE THAT THE GERMAN PEOPLE

WERE DESCENDANTS OF A MASTER RACE

AND THEREFORE, THE TRUE RULERS OF THE EARTH.

SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN THE INSTITUTE

FOR ANCESTRAL RESEARCH, WERE LOOKING FOR,

WAS EVIDENCE OF A SUPERIOR PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION,

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD.

THEY WERE EXCAVATING,

LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE OF THIS SUPERIOR CIVILIZATION.

WHAT THEY FOUND WERE NEOLITHIC TOOLS AND OTHER EVIDENCE

SHOWING THAT THERE HAD BEEN SOME YOU KNOW,

TRANSIENT HUMAN SETTLEMENTS HERE

BUT NOTHING CO-NOTING A GREAT GERMANIC CIVILIZATION.

Narrator: BUT HIMMLER WASN'T DETERRED BY THIS LACK OF

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE.

MEANWHILE, WHAT WERE HITLER'S BELIEFS DURING THIS TIME?

LIKE HIMMLER, WAS HE UNDER THE INFLUENCE

OF BLACK MAGIC AND MYTHOLOGY?

¶

[ SHOUTING IN GERMAN ]

Narrator: NAZISM WAS MORE THAN JUST A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY.

IT WAS A PHILOSOPHY FULL OF OCCULT IDEAS

BASED ON PAGAN MYTHOLOGY.

Gough: THE NAZI OCCULT BELIEFS WERE EXTREME.

FOR A START THEY BELIEVED THAT THEIR LINEAGE

WENT BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

THEY BELIEVED THAT THEIR LIFE WAS SEEDED ON EARTH

FROM A METEORITE FROM SPACE, NOT LIKE THE REST OF US.

Dr. Bellinger: THE OCCULT WAS CENTRALLY IMPORTANT TO THE NAZIS.

LIKE NOT JUST FOR WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT IT MIGHT

EFFECT AS MAGIC,

IT MEANT SO MUCH ON A FALSE BUT,

DEEP, DEEPLY ROOTED MYTHOLOGICAL BASIS,

THAT LEGITIMIZED THE ENTIRE PROJECT.

Narrator: HEINRICH HIMMLER WAS HITLER'S RIGHT HAND MAN

AND FOUNDER OF THE DREADED SS.

HIMMLER FULLY BELIEVED IN THE OCCULT

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE FUHRER HIMSELF?

WHAT INFLUENCE, IF ANY,

DID BLACK MAGIC HAVE ON ADOLPH HITLER?

Janulis: HITLER HAD A VERY UNIQUE SKILL.

HE HAD THE ABILITY TO CAPTURE AN AUDIENCE,

TO CAPTURE THEIR MINDS, THEIR EYES, THEIR ATTENTION

AND THEIR HEARTS ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

AND HE USED THAT TO GREAT EFFECT.

AND HE GOT BETTER AND BETTER AT IT AS HE BECAME MORE

AND MORE POWERFUL WITHIN THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT.

HITLER DIDN'T REALLY USE MAGIC,

ALTHOUGH IS HOLD OVER PEOPLE WAS ALMOST MAGICAL.

AND I THINK THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO BEAR IN MIND,

THAT HITLER PRESENTED HIMSELF AND WAS PRESENTED,

AS A KIND OF MESSIANIC FIGURE.

AND WHAT DO MESSIANIC FIGURES HAVE TO HAVE?

IT'S NOT JUST CHARISMA,

BUT THEY ALSO HAVE TO HAVE THIS SENSE OF OTHER-WORLDLINESS.

Felix: SO WAS IT JUST CHARISMA?

BUT IF IT WAS, SURELY THAT

WOULD HAVE SHOWED MUCH EARLIER IN HIS LIFE.

YOU DON'T JUST LEARN THAT.

YOU'VE GOT IT OR YOU HAVEN'T.

SO IT MUST BE SOMETHING SURROUNDED AS HE WAS,

WITH ALL OF THIS OCCULT,

WITH DOWSES AND TAROT CARDS AND MEDIUMS AND THEN PERHAPS

HE BECAME SOME FORM OF CONDUIT FOR THE WHOLE THING.

AND PERHAPS HITLER REALLY WAS POSSESSED

BY SOMETHING TO DO WITH SATAN OR THE DEVIL

OR SOME OTHER DEITY OF SOME SORT.

PERHAPS IT'S REAL.

[ SHOUTING IN GERMAN ]

Narrator: SO WAS HITLER REALLY CHANNELING DEMONIC FORCES

DURING THE INFAMOUS NAZI RALLIES?

OR IS THERE ANOTHER EXPLANATION?

NEIL TOBIN IS A CHICAGO BORN PLAYWRIGHT AND PERFORMER.

IN 2015 TOBIN WROTE A PLAY ABOUT ARCH-NAZI OCCULTIST

ERIC YON HENDERSON,

THE MAN CREDITED WITH TEACHING HITLER MASS HYPNOSIS.

ERIC YON HENDERSON WAS THE MOST POPULAR PSYCHIC ENTERTAINER

IN GERMANY PRE WORLD WAR II.

HE CONDUCTED PERFORMANCES THAT INCORPORATED HYPNOTISM.

HE WAS A TELEPATHIST... HE READ MINDS.

HE MADE PREDICTIONS.

HE FILLED THE LARGEST PERFORMANCE SPACES IN EUROPE.

Picknett: HE WAS VERY POPULAR WITH THE NAZIS MAINLY

BECAUSE IT IS SAID AT LEAST,

THAT HE WAS HITLER'S TEACHER IN ONE SENSE.

HE TAUGHT HIM STAGE CRAFT.

HE TAUGHT HIM HOW TO HOLD AN AUDIENCE

IN THE PALM OF YOUR HANDS.

HOW TO LOOK THEM IN THE EYE.

HOW TO MESMERIZE THEM.

[ SHOUTING IN GERMAN ]

WHEN WE LOOK AT THE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE,

OF HITLER AT ONE OF THE GREAT RALLIES,

YOU SEE HOW HE USES HIS BODY.

YOU HEAR HOW HE, EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW GERMAN,

YOU HEAR HOW HE USES HIS VOICE FOR EMPHASIS.

YOU SEE THE BROAD GESTURES,

THE SENSE OF DRAMA THAT CAN CARRY THROUGH AN IMMENSE SPACE.

AND ONE HAS TO THINK THAT THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT.

[ SHOUTING IN GERMAN ]

[ CHEERING ]

Dr. Bellinger: THE INTERESTING THING, ERIC YON HENDERSON

WAS NOT THE DANISH PERSON HE CLAIMED TO BE.

HE WAS IN FACT JEWISH AND HE WAS PLAYING WITH FIRE.

ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

Gough: THE FACT THAT YON HENDERSON WAS FOUND MURDERED

WITH A BULLET THROUGH THE BACK AND THE HEAD,

IS PROBABLY DUE TO SEVERAL THINGS.

ONE, THE DISCOVERY THAT HE WAS JEWISH.

TWO, HE WAS SO WEALTHY THAT PROMINENT PLAYERS

IN THE NAZI PARTY, OWED HIM A LOT OF MONEY.

AND ALSO HE HAD PERHAPS BECOME TOO INFLUENTIAL WITH HITLER.

SO THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS ISSUE OF JEALOUSY.

SO THERE WERE MANY MOTIVES

WHY THE NAZIS WOULD WANT TO HAVE HIM MURDERED.

Narrator: IN 1939, WAR BROKE OUT,

BUT THE NAZIS WEREN'T JUST USING BULLETS AND BOMBS

AGAINST THE ALLIES.

THEY ALSO ENLISTED THE POWER OF DARK FORCES.

¶

Narrator: IN 1939, WAR FINALLY BROKE OUT

AND THE NAZIS FORCES OF DARKNESS,

FUELED BY THE TWISTED OCCULT IDEOLOGY OF ARIANISM,

INVADED EUROPE.

MISSILES WERE LAUNCHED, AND BOMBS DROPPED.

BUT IN HIDDEN BUNKERS, A MUCH MORE SINISTER FORCE

WAS BEING PUT TO WORK... WITCHCRAFT.

Felix: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ALLIES AND THE GERMANS,

THE NAZIS, WAS THAT WE WERE USING RADAR

TO FIND THEIR SUBMARINES AND THEIR PLANES.

THEY WERE USING DOWSING PENDULUMS,

THAT'S A PIECE OF STRING WITH A BIT OF BRASS ON THE END OF IT,

OR SOME QUARTZ CRYSTAL.

THEY WERE DANGLING IT OVER A MAP AND LOOKING FOR OUR SUBMARINES.

Dr. Selwood: HITLER EVEN BROUGHT THESE FADDY BELIEFS INTO BATTLE PLANNING.

INSTEAD OF USING INTELLIGENCE AND SPOTTER PLANES

AND ALL THE NORMAL THINGS,

HITLER HAD TEAMS OF DOWSERS AND BIZARRELY,

IT ACTUALLY SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON MORE OCCASIONS

THAN YOU WOULD IMAGINE.

Gough: THE NAZIS WERE SO IMPRESSED,

IT INSPIRED THEM TO TAKE THE OCCULT FAR MORE SERIOUS

AND REALLY PUT A LOT OF MONEY INTO THAT DIVISION OF THE SS.

SO THEY CREATED THIS ORGANIZATION

CALLED THE INSTITUTE FOR OCCULT WARFARE.

FULL OF MEDIUMS AND PSYCHICS WHO ARE USING ALL THESE STRANGE

OCCULT POWERS TO FEND OFF THE WEST.

McMahon: IN THE LAST DESPERATE STAGES OF THE WAR,

THE NAZIS EVEN RELEASED THOUSANDS OF ASTROLOGERS

AND MAGICIANS AND DOWSERS FROM CONCENTRATION CAMPS,

TRYING TO HELP HITLER WIN THE WAR.

¶

Narrator: AS THE NAZI FORCES OF DARKNESS RAVAGED EUROPE,

HITLER HAD HIS SIGHTS SET ON ENGLAND.

THE LUFTWAFFE DROPPED THOUSANDS OF BOMBS.

CHILDREN WERE EVACUATED AND FEAR AND CHAOS SHROUDED BRITAIN

LIKE A GREAT DARK CLOUD.

BUT BENEATH THE SURFACE, AN OCCULT WAR WAS BEING WAGED TOO.

Gough: IT'S FASCINATING WHEN YOU REALIZE

THAT THERE WAS THIS SECRET OCCULT WAR GOING ON

AND IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR THE ALLIES

TO REALIZE THAT THE GERMANS WERE USING MAGIC, MAP DOWSING,

AND WITH GREAT ACCURACY, FINDING THEIR SHIPS.

SO WHAT DID THEY DO?

THEY HAD TO RETALIATE WITH SOME OCCULT MAGIC OF THEIR OWN.

SO THEY ARE ALLEGED TO HAVE ENLISTED

THE MOST FAMOUS OCCULTIST IN BRITAIN,

ALISTAIR CROWLEY WHO IS SAID TO HAVE HELPED CHURCHILL

BY GIVING HIM THE V FOR VICTORY SYMBOL.

AS FAR AS I KNOW, BRITISH INTELLIGENCE

DID RECRUIT ALISTAIR CROWLEY TO HELP THEM IN THE SAME WAY

AS THE GERMANS WERE DOING AGAINST US.

IT WAS ALISTAIR CROWLEY'S IDEA TO COMBAT THE NORDIC RUNES

THAT THE GERMANS WERE USING,

THEY CAME UP WITH THE VICTORY V SIGN TO SORT OF,

FOR WANT OF A BETTER WORD, POINT AT THE GERMANS,

WHEN THEY WERE POINTING THEIR RUNIC DEVICES AT US.

Narrator: BUT IT WASN'T JUST BRITISH INTELLIGENCE

WHO BEGAN USING MAGIC.

IN THE FORESTS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND,

A COVEN OF WITCHES TOOK IT UPON THEMSELVES TO GATHER

AND PERFORM A RITUAL CALLED THE CONE OF POWER,

IN AN ATTEMPT TO STOP THE IMMINENT NAZI INVASION.

Picknett: OPERATION... CONE OF POWER,

WAS BASICALLY A BUNCH OF MODERN WITCHES

GETTING TOGETHER IN THE NEW FOREST,

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF GERALD GARDNER

WHO MORE OR LESS CREATED MODERN WICCA,

TO DO A RITUAL TO PREVENT THE NAZIS FROM INVADING BRITAIN.

Narrator: PHILIP HESELTON IS PART OF THAT ANCIENT ORDER

OF WITCHES OR WICCA.

HE HAS SPENT DECADES RESEARCHING WHAT HAPPENED

ON THE NIGHT OF THE CONE OF POWER.

Heselton: WE DON'T KNOW HOW OR WHERE, THIS RITUAL TOOK PLACE.

GERALD SAID "WE WERE TAKEN AT NIGHT TO A PLACE IN THE FOREST."

IT WOULD BE IN THE FOREST, IT WOULDN'T BE ANY OPEN AIR.

IT WOULD BE HOWEVER, A CLEARING, SOMETHING LIKE THIS, I RECKON.

SO THAT THEY HAD ENOUGH SPACE TO DO WHAT WAS A REALLY BIG RITUAL.

APPARENTLY, THEY HAD 17 PEOPLE AND THEY HELD HANDS.

RUSHING FORWARD AND AT THE SAME TIME,

GIVING THE WORDING WHICH WAS SOMETHING LIKE,

YOU CANNOT CROSS THE SEA, NOT ABLE TO COME,

NOT ABLE TO COME, YOU CANNOT CROSS THE SEA.

AND THEY REPEATED THAT.

AND IT WASN'T JUST WORDS, IT WAS THE MIND POWER

WAS CONCENTRATED AND WORKING TOGETHER

AND THEY CREATED THIS,

WHAT THEY CALLED A CONE OF POWER.

IT WASN'T PHYSICAL, YOU COULDN'T SEE IT.

BUT IT WAS THERE ON THE PSYCHIC LEVEL

AND WAS SENT OVER SPECIFICALLY,

TO THE GERMAN HIGH COMMAND, TO CHANGE THEIR THINKING.

OF COURSE THE HUMAN MIND IS ONE OF THE MOST FLEXIBLE THINGS.

IT'S ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S EASIER TO WORK MAGIC WITH.

Narrator: JANET FARRAR IS A WICCAN HIGH PRIESTESS

AND IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S LEADING EXPERTS

AND TEACHERS OF WITCHCRAFT.

JANET HAS PERFORMED THE CONE OF POWER RITUAL MULTIPLE TIMES.

Farrar: RITUAL IS A DRAMA.

NOW WITCHCRAFT IS NOT JUST ABOUT RITUAL.

IT'S ABOUT THE EQUIVALENT I SUPPOSE,

OF IN CHRISTIAN TERMS, PRAYER.

THAT'S WHAT MAGIC IS.

IT'S WHEN YOU TRANSPORT YOUR MIND

TO A PLACE WHERE YOU SAY

"I KNOW THIS CAN BE MADE TO HAPPEN."

WHEN YOU PERFORM THE DANCE OF THE CONE OF POWER,

IT FEELS AS IF YOU'RE FLOATING,

AS IF YOU'RE ABOUT SIX INCHES OFF THE GROUND.

AND THERE'S A SENSATION THAT,

NO MATTER HOW FAST YOU'RE DANCING,

THAT YOU'RE MOVING TWICE AS FAST.

AND SOMETIMES YOU GET THE VERY STRANGE EFFECT,

TIME STANDS COMPLETELY STILL.

AND IT'S AS IF THAT CONE OF POWER STOPS TIME.

YOU FEEL TOTALLY ELATED FROM IT,

TOTALLY IN HARMONY WITH THE UNIVERSE,

TOTALLY ELATED INSIDE YOURSELF AND OF COURSE

THIS IS WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE COVEN IN THE NEW FOREST.

THEY WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT THEY WANTED.

THEY'D HAVE GONE HOME THAT NIGHT,

PROBABLY MADE SOME HOT CHOCOLATE AND GONE TO BED.

FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT IT, DON'T TALK ABOUT IT,

DON'T DISCUSS IT AMONGST OURSELVES, IT'S DONE.

IT'S THE FULL STOP.

IT'S THE TELEGRAM THAT'S BEEN SENT.

Narrator: WITH THE ALLIES NOW FIGHTING BACK USING MAGIC, IN GERMANY,

HIMMLER HAD EVEN GRANDER PLANS.

TO BUILD A GIANT NAZI FORTRESS,

BASED ON THE MYTHOLOGICAL KING ARTHUR'S CAMELOT.

¶

Narrator: IN THE MIDST OF WORLD WAR II,

A SECRET OCCULT WAR WAS BEING WAGED

BETWEEN THE RUTHLESS NAZIS AND THE ALLIES.

McMahon: BRITISH INTELLIGENCE WAS AWARE OF HITLER

AND HIMMLER'S RATHER DARK OBSESSION WITH THE OCCULT.

SO MUCH SO, THAT THEY TRIED TO USE THE OCCULT AGAINST THE NAZIS

AND ONE OF THE THINGS THEY DID WAS CREATING A FAKE MAGAZINE,

GERMAN OCCULT MAGAZINE CALLED ZENIT

WHICH WAS CIRCULATED WITHIN GERMANY,

WITH DARK ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS

AGAINST HITLER AND HIMMLER.

AND SUGGESTIONS FRAMED IN AN ASTROLOGICAL KIND OF WAY,

THAT GERMANY WAS BOUND TO LOSE THE WAR.

Narrator: WITH THE ALLIES NOW ATTEMPTING TO DISPEL THE NAZIS USING MAGIC,

HEINRICH HIMMLER, HITLER'S RIGHT HAND MAN,

WAS STEPPING THINGS UP BACK IN GERMANY.

ERIC KURLANDER IS AN ACADEMIC AND HISTORIAN,

WHO HAS SPENT YEARS RESEARCHING NAZI OCCULTISM

AND HE BELIEVES THAT WEWELSBURG CASTLE IS THE KEY

TO UNDERSTANDING HIMMLER'S BIZARRE CHIVALRIC BELIEFS

CONNECTED TO THE MYTHOLOGICAL KING ARTHUR.

Kurlander: SO, WE'RE ON OUR WAY TO A CASTLE

KNOWN AS THE WEWELSBURG AND HIMMLER,

WHEN HE SAW THE CASTLE FOR THE FIRST TIME,

AND HE CONSULTED WITH OTHER SS LEADERS

ABOUT WHETHER THIS WOULD BE THE RIGHT PLACE TO CREATE

AN ORDER CASTLE FOR THE SS,

A PLACE FOR SS EDUCATION, SS INDOCTRINATION

AND EVENTUALLY ALMOST A KIND OF RELIGIOUS CENTER FOR THE SS.

Dr. Selwood: THE ULTIMATE STATEMENT OF HIMMLER'S OCCULT,

CHIVALRIC BELIEFS, WAS WEWELSBURG CASTLE.

HE PURCHASED THIS AND WANTED TO TURN IT

INTO THE CULT CENTER OF THE SS.

THERE WAS A ROOM IN THE BASEMENT WITH PLACES FOR

THE 12 KNIGHTS OF THE SS WHO ALL HAD DEATH'S HEAD RINGS.

THERE WERE ROOMS ABOVE WITH SOLAR SUNS ON THE FLOOR,

BLACK SUNS FOR OCCULT CEREMONIES AND SS WEDDINGS.

IT WAS TO BE THE TIP OF A SPEAR, THE TOP OF A COSMIC SPIRIT

THAT WOULD BE THE SPIRITUAL CENTER OF THE SS CULT.

WEWELSBURG WAS THE HEART OF HIMMLER'S VISION OF THE SS.

¶

Narrator: KIRSTEN JOHN-STUCKE IS THE MUSEUM CURATOR

AT WEWELSBURG CASTLE, AN EXPERT ON IT'S DARK HISTORY.

Kurlander: RIGHT.

HIMMLER WANTED HIS CASTLE AT WEWELSBURG

TO BE A KIND OF NAZI CAMELOT

AND THAT WAS HUGELY SIGNIFICANT FOR HIM

BECAUSE HE REVERED THE ARTHURIAN KNIGHTS

AND ALSO THE GERMAN LEGENDARY KNIGHT, PARCIVAL,

AS PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN ON THE QUEST FOR THE HOLY GRAIL.

AND HE WAS OBSESSED WITH FINDING THE HOLY GRAIL AS WELL BECAUSE,

HE THOUGHT THAT THE GRAIL, IT WASN'T ABOUT JESUS SO MUCH,

AS FINDING A KEY TO THE UNDERLYING TRUTH

ABOUT THE ARYAN RACE.

HIMMLER WAS FASCINATED BY FAIRY TALES OF KING ARTHUR,

THE HOLY GRAIL.

HE WAS ALSO INTO KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AND STUFF LIKE THAT.

HE WAS FASCINATED BY THE NUMBER 12

AND HE HAD 12 SS OFFICERS WHO USED TO,

I SUPPOSE FOR WANT OF A BETTER WORD, ATTEND,

STAND ROUND THE TABLE,

REPRESENTING THE 12 KNIGHTS OF KING ARTHUR.

Narrator: IN THE NORTH TOWER OF THE CASTLE,

IS A VERY STRANGE ROOM INDEED.

ORIGINALLY A CHRISTIAN PRAYER SPACE,

HIMMLER HAD IT REDESIGNED WITH 12 PILLARS

REPRESENTING THE 12 KNIGHTS AND MYSTERIOUS BLACK SUN SYMBOL.

Kurlander: BUT IF WE LOOK AT THE PLANS FOR THIS ROOM,

THEY TOOK A SACRED SPACE

FROM THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION OF THIS BUILDING

AND THEY MAPPED ONTO IT A MORE PAGAN RELIGIOUS,

GERMANIC PRE-CHRISTIAN SYMBOLOGY.

AND THAT'S CHARACTERIZED BEST, BY THIS SUN WHEEL.

ZONE AND ROD WITH THE 12 DIFFERENT SIG RUNES.

Walters: THE POINT ABOUT WEWELSBURG,

IT'S HIMMLER'S EFFORT TO TRY AND CREATE A CAMELOT.

YOU KNOW, IF HIMMLER IS ARTHUR, WEWELSBURG IS CAMELOT.

THIS IS WHERE HIS HIGH ORDER OF KNIGHTS,

THE SS, WILL HAVE AS THEIR QUAZI-SPIRITUAL HOME.

AND IT'S FROM THERE THAT EVERY SS MAN'S RING, WHEN HE'S KILLED,

WILL BE SENT BACK TO BE HELD IN ETERNITY.

THESE ARE KIND OF RELIGIOUS, CULTIST CONCEPTS

AND WEWELSBURG WAS THE PERFECT PLACE FOR THAT.

Gough: WEWELSBURG IS A CREEPY PLACE TODAY, IT REALLY IS.

YOU WALK INTO THE NORTH TOWER

AND YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE WALKING INTO AN EVIL, RITUAL CENTER

WHERE GOSH ONLY KNOWS WHAT RITUALS WERE PERFORMED,

BUT YOU HAVE SWASTIKAS EVERYWHERE.

YOU HAVE EAGLES, YOU HAVE A BLACK SUN,

YOU HAVE FIRE MARKS ON THE WALLS.

IT REALLY FEELS LIKE SOMETHING BAD HAD HAPPENED HERE

AND IT'S IMBUED IT WITH THAT SORT OF ENERGY.

¶

Kurlander: SO IF WE THINK ABOUT HIMMLER'S PERSONAL JOURNEY,

WE HAVE EVERYTHING THAT HIMMLER ASPIRED TO,

COMING TOGETHER IN THIS SITE.

THE CENTER OF HIS ENTIRE EMPIRE, WHERE HE HOPED AFTER THE WAR,

TO BECOME KIND OF THE SECOND IN COMMAND,

THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT LEADER OF THIS THIRD REICH,

NEXT TO HITLER, HIS RIGHT HAND MAN.

SO IT'S FITTING THAT WE CONCLUDE OUR JOURNEY AT THE WEWELSBURG,

BECAUSE THE WEWELSBURG BRINGS TOGETHER

ALL THREE OF THE STRAINS THAT KIND OF

MADE UP HIMMLER'S SUPERNATURAL IMAGINARY.

Narrator: WITH THE NAZIS NOW MERCILESSLY BOMBARDING

THE ALLIES WITH BULLETS AND SORCERY,

HITLER WAS ABOUT TO LET HIS BELIEF IN THE OCCULT GO TOO FAR.

¶

¶

Narrator: THE NAZIS' IDEOLOGY OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND HATE

WAS BUILT ON TWISTED PAGAN MYTHOLOGY AND BLACK MAGIC.

Dr. Selwood: ON ONE LEVEL, ALL THIS NAZI OCCULT ACTIVITY IS DEEPLY SILLY

AND A GREAT DISTRACTION,

BUT ON ANOTHER ACTUALLY, IT'S DEATHLY SERIOUS,

BECAUSE THIS SENSE OF SUPERIORITY,

THIS SENSE OF BEING DESCENDED FROM A GREATER RACE,

A DIFFERENT RACE, A RACE APART,

THEY THOUGHT THEY CAME FROM DIVINE SPERM,

NOT FROM THE APES LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

THIS ACTUALLY CREATED A MIND SET THAT WAS CAPABLE OF THE HORRORS

OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND ULTIMATELY,

THEIR OWN DEFEAT BY TAKING ON FAR MORE THAN THEY COULD MANAGE.

¶

Narrator: AND HITLER'S FAITH IN THE OCCULT WAS ABOUT TO SEAL HIS FATE.

McMahon: HIMMLER'S OBSESSION WITH THE OCCULT

HAD AN APPALLING CONSEQUENCE

WHEN IT CAME TO THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD,

BECAUSE APPARENTLY, HE TOLD HITLER THAT IT WOULD BE

OKAY HAVING THE GERMAN SOLDIERS MARCHING INTO THE RUSSIAN WINTER

BECAUSE ARYANS COULD WITHSTAND COLD BETTER THAN NON-ARYANS.

WELL THAT PROVED TO BE ENTIRELY FALSE.

Janulis: SO DESPITE BEING FANTASTIC STRATEGISTS,

ENGINEERS, MILITARY ORGANIZERS,

THEY STILL HAD SOME REALLY INTERESTING WAYS

OF APPROACHING DECISION MAKING.

AND ONE OF THEM WAS THAT THEY WERE USING OCCULT

SORT OF PROCESSES

AND THEY BELIEVED THAT THEY COULD INVADE RUSSIA

AND SUCCEED WHERE NAPOLEON FAILED,

BECAUSE THEIR ANCESTRY DATED BACK TO THE HYPERBOREAN CULTURE,

THE NORTHERN CLIMATE, FIERCE PEOPLE.

AND THEY THOUGHT THAT EVEN IF THEY ENDED UP

STUCK IN RUSSIAN WINTER, THEY WERE TOUGH ENOUGH.

THEY HAD THE GENETIC BACKGROUND.

THEY COULD DEAL WITH IT.

IF THE NAZIS HAD STOPPED ALL THIS NONSENSE WITH ASTRONOMY,

ASTROLOGERS, DOWSING, TAROT CARDS,

IF THEY'D STOPPED ALL THAT

AND GOT ON WITH THE WAR PROPERLY,

I THINK THEY'D PROBABLY HAVE BEATEN US.

¶

¶

Narrator: IN 1945, HITLER COMMITTED SUICIDE

AND NAZI GERMANY SURRENDERED.

MILLIONS HAD BEEN KILLED AND WORLD WAR TWO

WOULD CAST A DARK SHADOW FOREVER

BUT WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE NAZIS?

HOW DID THEY GET SO CLOSE TO WORLD DOMINATION

ONLY TO FALL SO SPECTACULARLY?

Picknett: CERTAINLY NOT EVERY LAST NAZI

WAS INTO WHAT WE WOULD CALL, THE OCCULT.

IN FACT VERY, VERY FEW OF THEM EVER WERE.

AND EVEN HEINRICH HIMMLER WHO WAS THE GREAT NAZI "OCCULTIST"

WAS MORE REALLY OF A,

WHAT WE WOULD THINK OF, AS A NEW AGER.

MORE MYSTICALLY INCLINED THAN, YOU KNOW,

CASTING DARK SPELLS, ALTHOUGH OF COURSE,

HE WAS A NAZI, HE DIDN'T HAVE TO.

Dr. Selwood: THEY WERE DESPERATELY DARK SIDES TO THIS

OCCULT OBSESSION AS WELL.

THE PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF THE FINAL SOLUTION

WAS LEFT TO THE SS AND THERE'S NO DOUBT

THAT THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST HORRIFIC ACTS IN MODERN HISTORY,

WAS CARRIED OUT BY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED

THAT THEY WERE SUPERIOR TO OTHERS.

AND THOSE OCCULT BELIEFS HAD A STRONG COMPONENT

IN CREATING THAT VISION OF THE SS

AS PEOPLE WHO WERE CAPABLE OF, AND ENTITLED TO DO THIS.

Walters: THE NAZI OBSESSION WITH THE OCCULT

IS ONE OF THE REASONS ULTIMATELY WHY PROJECT HITLER,

OR PROJECT THIRD REICH, IF YOU LIKE,

WAS GOING TO BE DOOMED. WHY?

BECAUSE THEY KIND OF SAW THIS IDEA OF A STORY

BEFORE IT EVEN TOOK PLACE.

SO THEY HAD THIS IDEA THAT THERE'S A NARRATIVE

THAT WE'RE GOING TO LAST FOR A THOUSAND YEARS

AND WE'RE GOING TO BUILD THESE ENORMOUS BUILDINGS

AND LEAVE BEHIND ALL THESE RUNES,

AND THIS TEMPLE CALLED WEWELSBURG, EFFECTIVELY.

THEREFORE, YOU KNOW, WE ARE GOING TO BE

THIS NEW KIND OF CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION

THAT HAS IT'S OWN RELIGION AND MYSTICISM.

SO WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS YOU'RE CREATING A NARRATIVE

FOR YOURSELF THAT'S GOING TO GO ON FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.

AND WHAT DOES THAT GIVE YOU?

THAT GIVES YOU AN ENORMOUS SENSE OF ARROGANCE AND HUBRIS.

IT MAKES YOU THINK THAT GENUINELY YOU

ARE GOING TO LAST FOR THAT LONG AND ACTUALLY INSTEAD,

IT DOESN'T REALLY WORK OUT LIKE THAT.

IT GOES FROM 1933 TO 1945,

YOU KNOW, AND IT ENDS WITH A BIG BANG.

¶

Farrar: MAGIC IS NEITHER BLACK NOR WHITE.

IT'S LIKE ELECTRICITY.

YOU CAN PLUG IN SOMETHING SO USEFUL OR AN ELECTRIC CHAIR.

THE ENERGY OF THE UNIVERSE IS NEUTRAL.

PEOPLE WHO MISUSE IT, SUCH AS THE NAZIS,

AND, YES, THAT'S BLACK MAGIC, ENDED UP DESTROYING THEMSELVES.

FROM THE MOMENT THEY PUT THE FINGER IN THE SOCKET,

IT WAS THE ELECTRIC CHAIR, ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LINE.

Subtitles Diego Moraes(oakislandtk) www.opensubtitles.org