HITLER AND THE OCCULT

I

t is popularly believed that Adolf Hitler was both influenced and fascinated by the occult. Two arguments are put forward in support of this thesis. First is his demonstrable interest in the Lance of St. Maurice, which he removed with great pomp and ceremony from Vienna and brought to Nuremburg shortly after the annexation of Austria. Second is the fact that he knew a great many influential people in his early years with the Nazi party who were deeply involved in theosophical pursuits. Beyond these two points, however, there appears to be very little else to support the notion.

His biography suggests that Hitler had neither important friendships nor mentors. By the time he stepped into society for the first time in the aftermath of WWI, his personality appears to have been fully shaped from his solitary experience as a near-starving painter of postcards in Vienna (he never had a job with a salary until he joined the army, choosing instead to survive on a pension that was barely adequate to pay his meagre rent). Even when he joined the army Hitler chose to be a message-runner, perhaps the most solitary profession inside the military at that time. Those who employed him as a speaker after the war were struck by his ability to speak extemporaneously on a wide range of topics, and by his hypnotic self-assurance. There is no mention, however, of a mentor then or later. He learned all that he knew about the world, it seems, from his voracious reading. He learned to give a speech by watching parliamentarians give speeches. Though there were plenty about who saw his potential at inciting unrest and sought to exploit it by providing him with financial support, no one, it seems, led him into a pact with the devil. That pact he apparently made in solitude as a young man, when he dreamed of being an artist and imagined himself a misunderstood painter of genius.

The co-conspirators with Hitler during the time leading up to 1922 Putsch saw in Hitler the fulfilment of the leader that he himself finally described in Mein Kampf, written whilst he was in prison. These people embraced him and assisted him as disciples. No one it seems ever treated him as either an equal or someone else's disciple. Certainly there was no individual who called him to task or taught him the ways of the world or introduced him to the theosophical societies of his day. Hitler of course knew people who were deeply involved in the occult and secret societies because everyone did in the 1920s. Theosophy, as it was called, was tremendously popular. It is not proof to say Hitler came under the spell of the occult because he had made political alliances with men who were prominent occultists. It is probably more accurate to say that the occultists were drawn to his unabashed narcissism. He already possessed the diabolical magnetism that they sought to achieve through the Black Arts.

If we dismiss the friendships that could have first introduced him into the world of theosophy and the occult, there remains only Hitler's interest in the Holy Lance to suggest his fascination with the occult. Did he believe that the relic resting in Vienna had pierced the side of Christ? Was there some part of him that wanted to believe that whatever leader carried the Holy Spear into battle could not be defeated? The answer is that we do not know what flitted through his dark and chaotic mind, but it seems very likely the power of the Lance of St. Maurice lay in the fact that several of the greatest German-speaking kings of Europe had possessed it—from Charlemagne to the Hapsburgs. By bringing the Lance of St. Maurice from Vienna to Nuremburg, Hitler sought to restore the holy relic to its original home—the seat of power of the Holy Roman Empire. He also wanted to place himself amongst the great leaders of Europe who had possessed the Lance. Its value to Hitler was, in other words, politically symbolic.

For a divergent view on this lively topic and a wildly speculative narrative of Hitler's relationship with the occult and the Holy Lance in particular, have a look at The Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft.