Nazi Occultism: Between the SS and Esotericism - Paperback

by Stéphane François (Author), Eriks Uskalis (Translator)

Nazi Occultism provides a serious scholarly study of a topic that is often marred by sensationalism and misinformation.

The Morning of the Magicians by Pauwels and Bergier (1960) gave rise to the idea that a secret society with wide powers, the "Thule society", was the hidden and ignored centre of Nazism. The influence of this very real small group is, however, only a fantasy, a myth. The author, a historian specializing in neo-Nazism, looks back on this speculative construction, its origins, its ideological tinkering and the practices which have succeeded in forming a sort of radical and sulphurous counterculture which has created a fascination with esotericism and Nazism and the SS. To better understand it, he also paints a portrait of some of the authors who contributed to this extremist subculture, such as the Italian esotericist Julius Evola, the Argentine anthropologist Jacques-Marie de Mahieu, Chilean neo-Nazi Miguel Serrano, and the writer Jean-Paul Bourre.

This book will appeal to scholars, researchers and activists as well as general readers with an interest in the history of Nazism and the occult.

Author Biography

Stéphane François is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Mons, Belgium. He is also an associate member of the CNRS, France, and a researcher in the Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités (Societies, Religions, Secularism Group).