Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #152073 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

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

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.

Customer Reviews

Well-researched but biased
This analysis of the occult roots of nazism is very well researched and informative. The persons and ideology, which to some degree influenced nazism, is described in some detail, and as an overview and fact-finder the book is very good.

I do though find the book's tone and attitude rather condescending and persistently negative towards the mystics and scholars described. "Fantasy", "illusions" and other negatively charged terms appear again and again, and I don't find that quite fair. People like List were mystics, and to really understand if their systems have any value, you have to try at least practice their spiritual methodology, and not just come from a "enlightened" positivistic viewpoint. So in this sense, I don't find that the book gives credit enough where it might be due. And the constant negative adjectives used to describe the persons and ideas in question, makes the book seem less objective. A more neutral descriptive tone would have served the book a lot better.

But as stated earlier, a lot of valuable information is made available in the English language, and for that it deserves 4 stars.

good solid interesting valuable
Rather academic, so sometimes rather dry, but an authoritative and substantial piece of work. Sets the remarkable stupidity of Nazi occultism into a solid historical context.