The Pagan/Nazi Myth

Proving that historical ignorance has no political affiliation John Chuckman writing for The Media Monitors Network spins the old “Hitler was ‘pagan’ not Christian” chestnut that gets pulled out from time to time.

“Hitler was a fervent believer in raw Social Darwinism. He actually was a convert to a form of brutal paganism, captivated by the notion that brutality offered the necessary infusion of strength for a people somewhat enfeebled by the ethical norms of his time. He regarded Christianity as a weakness, although he could not openly speak that way. He often clearly misjudged who in fact were the fittest, but his enthusiasm was palpable when talking of the necessity for his generation of Germans to show utter ruthlessness in order to earn future greatness.”

In other words, no Christian (or at least professed Christian) could have committed such atrocities, only a ‘pagan’ could. So for the sake of clarity let us run through Hitler’s actual Pagan connections. Jim Walker from the site nobeliefs.com comes right out and debunks the notion that Hitler was Pagan, atheist, humanist or any other non-Christian philosophy by reading through his “Mein Kampf”, public speeches and other historical looks at the underlying philosophy that drove Hitler.

“People often make the claim that Adolph Hitler adhered to Atheism, Humanism or some ancient Nordic pagan mythology. None of these fanciful and wrong ideas hold. Although one of Hitler’s henchmen, Alfred Rosenberg, did undertake a campaign of Nordic mythological propaganda, Hitler and most of his henchmen did not believe in it .”

I think the two most enlightening quotes from Hitler on matters of faith come from one of his speeches and from his book “Mein Kampf”. In the first quote he twists Christian teachings to justify exterminating Jews and in the second quote he mocks Germans who adhere to ancient pre-Christian customs.

“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.” – Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922

“The characteristic thing about these people is that they rave about old Germanic heroism, about dim prehistory, stone axes, spear and shield, but in reality are the greatest cowards that can be imagined. For the same people who brandish scholarly imitations of old German tin swords, and wear a dressed bearskin with bull’s horns over their heads, preach for the present nothing but struggle with spiritual weapons, and run away as fast as they can from every Communist blackjack.” – Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

So what about all that occult stuff? It is true that a fringe element in the Nazi party were involved in Freemason-styled secret orders, but their belief systems were more a perverted mystic monotheism that incorporated a mish-mash of spiritualism and racist gnosticism than anything resembling ancient or modern Paganism.

Asatru publication The Runestone also explains how Nazi’s wanted nothing to do with traditional Germanic Paganism and in fact persecuted traditional Odinists from that period.

“From the beginning of the Third Reich, Odinists were persecuted. In 1933, Rudolf von Sebottendorff was arrested and exiled. The works of Odinist writers such as Lanz von Liebenfels, Ernst Issberner-Haldane and Reinhold Ebertin were banned. Former membership of an Odinist congregation disqualified anyone from holding rank or office within the NSDAP [Nazi Party]. Things quickly became worse. In 1936 Friedrich Marby, a runemaster and follower of [ Wotan worshipper Guido] von List, was arrested and sent to a camp at Flossenberg; he was released from Dachau in 1945. He was not alone. But the full power of the state was not focused on religious minorities until the 9th of June 1941 when the head of the security police, [Reinhardt] Heydrich, banned a large number of spiritual practices. Among the victims were followers of Rudolf Steiner, followers of von List, and traditional Odinists. Their organisations were dissolved, their property confiscated, and many of their leaders arrested.”

So what am I trying to say? Was Hitler Christian? Obviously not considering how many real Christians he exterminated and imprisoned. But it should be clear that Hitler and the Nazis used and perverted Pagan symbols and ideas in the same manner that he used and perverted Christian ones. Hitler’s faith was one of his own devising, one where he saw himself as a terrible savior figure who held the “solutions” to what he saw as his country’s problems. So the next time you hear someone contrast Christian values against “Nazi paganism” keep in mind that they are most likely selling you something, so think before you buy in.

Tags: Neopaganism