Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich

Eric Kurlander examines the Nazi regime's relationship with the occult, a topic often dismissed as merely Himmler's personal interest or exaggerated for sensationalism. This history demonstrates that supernatural thinking was deeply embedded in Nazi ideology and practice. The Third Reich drew on astrology, the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and legends of Atlantis to reshape German politics, society, science, and religion. While the regime intermittently suppressed popular occultism and superstition, it simultaneously employed occult practices and esoteric sciences to consolidate power, develop propaganda and policy, and advance its vision of racial utopia and empire. Kurlander's research reveals that the Nazi engagement with the supernatural was complex and multifaceted, showing how irrational ideas gained influence even in a pre-social media era.