(September 28, 2024 at 2:37 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(September 28, 2024 at 2:20 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: The article largely focuses on the work of Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (an actual historian) who makes the compelling case that occultism in the Third Reich is largely a case of modern mythology and sensationalism. To wit:
Thanks, Brian. That's pretty much the consensus of the many sources, some primary, which I've read. Shirer refers to the rallies as "pagan-like", but that is not the same as "pagan" and a wordsmith like Shirer would be well aware of the distinction. He attended several rallies, including those at Nuremberg, as an accredited journalist, making him a primary source. He also interviewed Speer, the man charged with orchestrating the rallies and designing the accoutrements. Speer reported that Hitler wanted overawing pageantry, not paganism.
Instead of pagan I would call them religious or cult like designed to foster certain atmosphere. And of course there is Hitler religiously loaded language like below quote passage in Mein Kampf*:
Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jews, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
Hitler was canny enough to use religious language seeing as most of the Germany was one or other flavor of christian. I never saw any reputable source claiming that he did not believe or one saying that he was really into mysticism. It's only ever mentioned in context of Himmler when it comes to serious literature, though of course one can consider nazism itself as something quasi religious with it's focus on blood&soil, which hardly fits into this supposedly "rational" ideology.
*https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230623989_5
The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth.
Mikhail Bakunin.
Mikhail Bakunin.