Heinrich Himmler And The Nazi Occultists Who Justified The Holocaust
Unlike the occultists on this list who wanted to achieve fame or reach deeper levels of spirituality, Heinrich Himmler used his mystic beliefs to help Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazis attain their goal of establishing a “superior” Aryan race. As the head of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the main architects of the Holocaust, Himmler helped to create Ahnenerbe, a Nazi organization set on determining a link between the German people and the Aryan “master race” — which Himmler believed was descended from a lost ancient society.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99621Heinrich Himmler was the head of the SS and one of the primary forces behind the Holocaust.
Himmler had become interested in occultism in the early 1920s, well before the rise of Hitler. In fact, he joined the Nazi Party partly because its political views aligned with his beliefs in Germanic mythology.
As the head of the SS, Himmler aimed to transform the organization into an elite, racially pure group of men who personified Aryan ideals. His occultist views that Germans represented a master race formed the basis of the plan to exterminate “lower” races.
Much of the research Himmler and the Ahnenerbe conducted relied on the work of early German occultists. The Nazis used stories of god-like Aryans from Nordic countries to prove that Germans were descended from these so-called superior beings, a claim Himmler used to justify the indiscriminate killing of “lower races.”
Carsten Steger/Wikimedia CommonsHeinrich Himmler and other members of the SS used Wewelsburg Castle as a retreat — and there were rumors that Himmler attempted to practice black magic there.
Himmler studied ancient runes, which inspired the SS logo and other Nazi symbols. He was also fascinated by witchcraft, and he reportedly hoped to create a pagan Nazi religion that utilized solstices, bonfires, and other occult motifs. What’s more, Himmler came to the conclusion that those killed in witch hunts of the past were victims of genocide against Germans by Judeo-Christians — a claim he also used to encourage the hatred of Jewish people.
Just days after Hitler died and the war ended in Europe, Himmler was captured while trying to escape and go into hiding. Before he could be taken prisoner, however, he swallowed a cyanide pill and died within minutes.
