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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that clearly deserves reprinting and circulation
The importance of THE OCCULT AND THE THIRD REICH by two French scholars as translated by Lewis A. M. Sumberg of the University of Tennessee can scarcely be overstated. It was a vital resource in drawing the obvious parallels between the Nazism of the 30s and 40s and the modern New Age Movement. For sure, it does not give all the picture, but it supplies missing puzzle...
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Published on September 12, 2007 by Constance E. Cumbey

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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading but....
This book poses the hypothesis that Naziism was an occult movement of neo-gnostics whoses goal was to eradicate Judeo_Christian culture. It is presented as a scholarly investigation.It is rare to find a book about Nazism which tries to understand the inner spirit of the movement rather than merely describing it as a brutal group of power hungry racist thugs.On the other...
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Published on March 5, 2004

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that clearly deserves reprinting and circulation, September 12, 2007
By Constance E. Cumbey (Bloomfield Hills, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of Nazism and the Search for the Holy Grail (Paperback)
The importance of THE OCCULT AND THE THIRD REICH by two French scholars as translated by Lewis A. M. Sumberg of the University of Tennessee can scarcely be overstated. It was a vital resource in drawing the obvious parallels between the Nazism of the 30s and 40s and the modern New Age Movement. For sure, it does not give all the picture, but it supplies missing puzzle pieces unavailable elsewhere, except perhaps in the video series now conveniently available on line about the Nazis and the occult. I would well suspect the New Agers do not like the book -- it unmasks them to anybody reading it with knowledge of the buzzwords, spiritual practices and legendry of the modern New Age Movement. Buying it at any price is a good deal; however, the book deserves reprinting and McGraw Hill well knows there has been tremendous demand for it. How about it? Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy, worthy read., November 19, 2005
By John McLaughlin (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) This review is from: The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of Nazism and the Search for the Holy Grail (Hardcover)
I found this book in 1988, while researching the claim that Mary Magdeline's left arm was housed as a relic at Simopetra Monastery on Mt. Athos, Greece (I saw it ).

Once I started to read The Occult and the Third Reich, I couldn't put it down. The theories were so credible that you had to think that the historians and governments deliberately tried to rewrite the history of Nazi Germany in their own view.

The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of Nazism and the Search for the Holy Grail



What the book expertly does is to offer the National Socialism movement as a quasi religious quest. Readers of Eric Hoffer's True Believer will understand immediately.

Much of the factual evidence presented is very speculative. The authors idolize Otto Rahn, a Nazi who wrote the Crusade Against the Grail and Lucifer's Court. He was the first to publicly connect the 12th century Cathari of southern France to the Holy Grail and an alternative stream of Christianity.

Nevertheless, this book answered a lot of questions and filled in a gap of Hitler's almost unbelievable quest for complete world domination with a nation behind him. The book details correctly the order of the Nazi SS that was styled after King Arthur's Round Table. The Nazi movement was a religion to the chosen few.

I continued my research into the book's accuracy. At one point, I telephoned the Nazi desk expert at the CIA with a couple of questions. The agent told me that this book was his bible.

The Occult and the Third Reich is the beginning of all the alternative books on the Holy Grail and the Cathars. It may not be entirely accurate, but with only 3,000 English books in print, it was the blockbuster on the new genre. It inspired my own science fiction book: G.R.A.I.L. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading but...., March 5, 2004
By A Customer

This review is from: The Occult and the Third Reich: The Mystical Origins of Nazism and the Search for the Holy Grail (Hardcover)
This book poses the hypothesis that Naziism was an occult movement of neo-gnostics whoses goal was to eradicate Judeo_Christian culture. It is presented as a scholarly investigation.It is rare to find a book about Nazism which tries to understand the inner spirit of the movement rather than merely describing it as a brutal group of power hungry racist thugs.On the other hand, I found this book highly speculative and ultimately unable to clinch it arguement. Worth reading but you won't find any answers.
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The murderous deeds of Hitler's Third Reich are still widely recalled today, but what is less well-known is the strange concoction of beliefs that underpinned the Nazi regime.
In the early 20th Century, the young Adolf Hitler was just one of many German-speaking people attracted by a new Germanic mythology that combined ancient legends and esoteric cosmologies with cutting-edge theories of genetic science. In the hands of the Nazis, the result was a new ideology that saw racial purity as the key to human destiny.

This was a belief-system of arcane rituals and potent symbols, with the ancient swastika appropriated for the Nazi cause. By the time of the Third Reich, Hitler and the Nazis had evolved an entirely new faith, complete with holy book, venerated relics and a priestly elite in the form of Himmler's SS. It was a religion based on obedience, power, and the cult of the leader, with Hitler himself conceived in Messianic terms.

This powerful and disturbing series uses rare original footage to tell a story that is as bizarre as it is horrific, and which casts new light on a national movement that came to see evil as a sacred task.
----30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Hitler's Occult Reich. January 7, 2005
By New Age of Barbarism
Format:DVD_The Occult History of the Third Reich_ consists of two DVDs featuring original footage from Nazi Germany and telling the tale of the occult origins of National Socialism. There are four separate programs: "The Enigma of the Swastika", "The SS: Blood and Soil", "Himmler: The Mystic", and "Adolf Hitler", as well as a separate special feature "Ask the experts". In total the DVD runs for over 3 hours.

"The Enigma of the Swastika" tells the tale of the origins of the swastika as symbol of National Socialism. It begins by noting a period of decline in traditional hierarchy, authority, and religion, and a rise in industry and finance at the beginning of the twentieth century. This decline was not greeted warmly by all those who lived at the time. To compensate, various counter-myths and restorationist schemes were proposed. In Tibet for example, the swastika had long been used as a traditional symbol for good luck. The Russian seer who allegedly visited Tibet, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky proposed that the swastika was the symbol of the Aryan root race. Later, Guido von List, a Germanic mystic, influenced by the ideas of Blavatsky wrote of the lost Teutonic race who worshipped Wotan and referred to them as Aryans. List also was to make use of the swastika as symbol of the Aryans. In the Great War, the swastika became a talisman worn by soldiers. Various secret societies such as the Thule Society, which operated behind the NSDAP, run by Rudolph von Sebottendorf, also made use of the swastika. When Hitler came to power he incorporated a straight-armed and anti-clockwise swastika as the symbol of National Socialism. Also, Alfred Rosenberg, a Nazi philosopher, and the SS were to use the swastika as their own special symbol.

"The SS: Blood and Soil" tells the story of the SS guard, an Aryan elite and supposed "brotherhood of Templars". The SS was commanded by Heinrich Himmler who developed a profound nostalgia for a lost aristocratic elite. Other figures who believed in a hidden elite or hidden masters included Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, and List. Various secret societies including freemasons, the Rosicrucians, the Jesuits, and the Templars served as models for the SS. The SS wore a special "death's head" insignia. A system of racial hygiene and eugenics was instated in Nazi Germany so as to breed the Aryan superman.

"Himmler: The Mystic" tells the tale of Heinrich Himmler's infatuation with the occult. Himmler began his career as an agriculturalist leading him to stress the importance of the myth of "Blood and Soil" as well as the necessity of Lebensreform. Himmler also was involved in astrology, spiritualism, and herbalism. Himmler commissioned a special bureau of SS archeology, which sought to rediscover lost Aryan civilizations. Karl Maria Wiligut served an important role as an occultist for Himmler's SS. In addition, Himmler sought out Wewelsburg castle as the spiritual center of the SS order.

"Adolf Hitler" reveals the secret history of Adolf Hitler and his involvement with the occult. Hitler read the writings of Jorg Lanz who published Ostara and advocated a system of theozoology. In addition, Hitler was also influenced by the Englishman who praised Germanic culture Houston Stewart Chamberlain and the composer Richard Wagner. Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi philosopher, made popular the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which influenced Hitler's rabid antisemitism. This program shows the destruction wrought by the Third Reich, the use of eugenics, and the death camps.
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The roots of a volatile belief system September 5, 2000
By Cathleen M. Walker VINE™ VOICE
Format:VHS TapeThis is an amazing collection of recently discovered archival footage that is old and extremely valuable in terms of our understanding history so that we are *not* condemned to repeat it...that is, any more than we already have, and continue to. I have a *much* better understanding of the belief systems that underpinned the logic of Hitler's Germany, and understand that a) he was not alone in his fanatacism and b) that these belief systems did not originate in Germany nor did they end there. This is important information to know, to understand and to share. I highly recommend this series to anyone who wants to better understand the world around them, yesterday, today and tomorrow. I felt like I was there.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Research is thin, but... September 7, 2004
By T. Barnard
Format:DVDAlthough the research on this series of DVDs is rather thin, it should not be dismissed out of hand as some have done. The names of some of the occultists that are thrown around are monumental individuals. Did they influence Hitler, Himmler, etc...? Maybe...maybe not, but to dismiss wholesale is not the way to find answers to difficult questions about a period when it is easier to just villify and condemn. While the research on these DVDs is thin, it could prove an interesting starting place to find more about occult influences from the Fin-de-Siecle to the Second World War.
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