Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology / Edition 1

by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

Overview

Reveals how Nazism was influenced by powerful occult sects that thrived in Germany and Austria almost fifty years before Hitler's rise to power

Over half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich, Nazism remains a subject of extensive historical inquiry, general interest, and, alarmingly, a source of inspiration for resurgent fascism around the world. Goodrick-Clarke's powerful and timely book traces the intellectual roots of Nazism back to a number of influential occult and millenarian sects in the Habsburg Empire during its waning years. These millenarian sects--principally the Ariosophists--espoused a mixture of popular nationalism, Aryan racism, and occultism to proclaim their advocacy of German world-rule. Over time their ideas and symbols, filtered through nationalist-racist groups associated with the nascent Nazi party, came to exert a strong influence on Himmler's SS.

The fantasies thus fueled were played out with terrifying consequences in the realities structured into the Third Reich: Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka--the hellish museums of Nazi apocalypse--had psychic roots reaching back to the millenarian visions of these occult sects. Beyond what the Times Literary Supplement calls "an intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies," this bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814730607
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/01/1993
Pages:	203
Sales rank:	443,185
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is the author of several books on ideology and the Western esoteric tradition, including Hitler's Priestess and Occult Roots of Nazism, which has remained in print since its publication in 1985 and has been translated into eight languages.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read The Occult Rules of Nazism."

-Anthony Storr,

"An extensive survey of . . . theosophy, astrology, and 'ariosophy' (Aryan-racist-occult theories) . . . An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies."

-Times Literary Supplement

Editorial Reviews

"An extensive survey of . . . theosophy, astrology, and ‘ariosophy' (Aryan-racist-occult theories) . . . An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies."

Times Literary Supplement

"If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read The Occult Rules of Nazism."

Anthony Storr

Explores a number of influential occult and millenarian sects in the Hapsburg Empire during its waning years, showing how their ideas filtered through the social and intellectual upheavals of the late 19th and early 20th century to form the underlying belief system of Nazism. Not sensationalist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Goodrick-Clarke's now classic work triumphantly demonstrates that scrupulous scholarship and sound judgement can illuminate a crucial episode in the genesis of Nazism. The political dangers of the new century posed by the mixture of modernity with faith and esoteric mysticism make it particularly timely." - Professor Roger Griffin, author of The Nature of Facism

"An extensive survey of...theology, astrology, and 'ariosophy' (Aryan-racists-occult-theories)... An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies..." - Times Literary Supplement

"If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read The Occult Roots of Nazism." - Anthony Storr, Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists

From the Publisher