The Occult Reich

The Occult Reich
Cover of the first American edition
AuthorJames Herbert Brennan
LanguageEnglish
SubjectNazi occultism
PublishedFutura Publications (United Kingdom) Signet Books (United States)
Publication date
1974
Media typePrint
Pages184
ISBN0-86007-012-3
OCLC2078100

The Occult Reich is a book about occultism in Nazism by J.H. Brennan. It was published in the United Kingdom in 1974 by Futura Publications, and published in New York by Signet Books the same year. Brennan advocates there being a meaningful connection between Nazism and occultism, and claims that Adolf Hitler was a Satanist and occultist and Nazism was a satanic enterprise.

Background and publication history

It was authored by Irish writer J. H. Brennan.[1][2][3] It was picked up by publishers simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the United States.[4] The book was published in 1974 in both countries,[5] published by Futura Publications in London in 1974,[6] and in New York with New American Library/Signet, in mass market paperback format.[1][2][7] This edition had 188 pages.[6] It was reprinted in 1976.[8] It was translated into Spanish and Japanese.[5] It is often grouped with other sensationalist books of that era (like those concerning the Bermuda Triangle) and is written in a "fantastical tabloid style". It is generally treated as popular, sensationalist non-fiction rather than a work of academic historical scholarship.

Contents

Brennan, a believer in the truth of there being a meaningful connection between Nazism and occultism, claims that Adolf Hitler was a Satanist and occultist. As evidence for this, he brings up the fact that he had reversed the swastika, which Brennan calls "an indication, for those who had eyes to see, of the satanic nature of the Occult Reich".[2][9] He claims Hitler's appeal to the German people is connected to Franz Mesmer's theory of animal magnetism.[1] Brennan claims that much of Nazi policy was based on Tibetan mystical teachings.[3][9]

Towards the end of the war, Brennan claims, Hitler tried to make a deal with the devil which he fulfilled through military casualties and the mass murder of millions of Jews as a blood sacrifice, before killing himself on a witch feast.[1][2][9]

The claims made in the book are generally ignored by orthodox historians, who view them as conspiracy theories that lack academic bearing on historical studies. Academic historians like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke have discussed such works within the context of the "modern mythology of Nazi occultism," distinguishing them from serious historical research into the actual (limited) influence of Ariosophy and esoteric groups on some early Nazi figures. The book lacks the typical apparatus of historical scholarship, such as notes, an index, or a bibliography, which further distances it from academic non-fiction.[1]

While presented as non-fiction, its core premises and sensationalist approach align it firmly with the conspiracy theory genre. Claims that Nazi policy was guided by secret Tibetan masters (such as the "Green Gloves") or mystical lands like Shambhala are largely post-war fictionalizations and conspiracy theories.[10]

There is no credible historical evidence that Adolf Hitler was interested in Tibetan mysticism or that he sought supernatural powers from the East.[11]

While high-ranking officials like Heinrich Himmler held scientific and occult interests in Tibet, these were used to validate pre-existing racial ideologies rather than to guide government policy.[12]

There is no historical evidence that Adolf Hitler attempted to or did make a literal "deal with the devil" . The idea is largely a product of historical metaphors, religious interpretations, and fictional propaganda.[13]

While the Nazi party exploited various supernatural and pagan mythologies to build their ideology, historians generally agree that specific, credible occult connections for Hitler himself are not supported by evidence.

Reception

The book sold well, and was the most financially successful of any of Brennan's books of the time; he made about £4,000.[5] Nick Freeman wrote it was "still more outlandish" than another outlandish book on the same topic, The Spear of Destiny, but wrote that the book "captured the popular imagination".[8] A review from The Montreal Star noted it as "composed of some irrefutable facts and some imagination-stretching speculation",[3] while Clarence Petersen for the Chicago Tribune said it relied on circumstantial evidence and that "true believers will swallow it whole".[14] Multiple reviewers said that it was, at least, interesting, if far-fetched.[14][15][9]

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, the author of a scholarly book that aimed to explore the true extent of Nazi occultism, described The Occult Reich as one of several books on this topic to reiterate what he described as "bizarre accounts of Nazi satanism, using the stock properties of the Vril Society, the much abused Haushofer, and the Thule Society".[16] Writer Stephen E. Flowers was critical. He called it mostly a "rehash" of The Morning of the Magicians, and said it was "designed to capitalize on the occult Nazi craze of the early 1970s", preceding through "the usual list of suspects" in the context of Nazi occultism.[1] Robert H. West said that, as with most other works from believers, "Brennan holds that magical power is in proportion to the magician's intensity of conviction and passion of purpose", and that he did "not quite insist on devils as personal beings".[2]

References

  1. ^ abcdefFlowers, Stephen E. (2022). The Occult in National Socialism: The Symbolic, Scientific, and Magical Influences on the Third Reich. Rochester: Inner Traditions. ISBN 978-1-64411-575-6.
  2. ^ abcdeWest, Robert H. (1975). "Some Popular Literature of Witchcraft Since 1969". The Review of Politics. 37 (4): 547–556. doi:10.1017/S0034670500015096. ISSN 0034-6705. JSTOR 1406063.
  3. ^ abc"Pick of the paperbacks". The Montreal Star. 31 August 1974. p. 21. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^"A look at last week". Irish Independent. 3 September 1973. p. 6. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ abc"At the age of 18, Herbie decided to be a writer..."Evening Herald. Newspapers.com. 26 August 1980. p. 6. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  6. ^ ab"Occult Reich". WorldCat. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  7. ^"Occult Reich". WorldCat. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  8. ^ abFreeman, Nick (1 November 2006). "'A decadent appetite for the lurid'?: James Herbert, The Spear and 'Nazi Gothic'". Gothic Studies. 8 (2): 80–97. doi:10.7227/GS.8.2.6. ISSN 1362-7937.
  9. ^ abcd"Politics of Black Magic". Northwest Arkansas Times. 30 June 1974. p. 16. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^https://academic.oup.com/yale-scholarship-online/book/15859/chapter-abstract/170736528?redirectedFrom=fulltext
  11. ^https://info-buddhism.com/Nazis-of-Tibet-A-Twentieth-Century-Myth_Engelhardt.html#:~:text=The%20growth%20of%20the%20mythology%20of%20the,for%20the%20emergence%20of%20European%20conspiracy%20myths.
  12. ^https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/nazi-supernatural-ideology-witches-werewolves-vampires/
  13. ^Luethy, Herbert. "And if the source and origin of these events is historically perfectly clear, Görlitz and Quint are nevertheless quite right from a legal point of view: there is no documentary evidence—it was in every case carefully destroyed, the witnesses, most of them, along with it—and throughout his life Hitler trusted himself just as little to paper as he did to any human being. Nothing can be proved about Hitler, for good or for evil, from his birth to his death".
  14. ^ ab"Winners, losers, and the world of the formerly married". Chicago Tribune. 4 August 1974. p. 143. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^"Paperbacks for the patio". Wausau Daily Herald. 28 June 1974. p. 48. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2004) [1985]. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology. London: Tauris Parke. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-86064-973-8.
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