# mysticism and WWII **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792 "2004-11-26T21:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnsonra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@johnsonra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnsonra)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/1 "2004-11-26T21:43:41Z")
I’ve heard both FDR and Hitler were very into mysticism and mystic research during WWII. I’ve been dieing to read some books on this but the only ones I find seem to be Art Bell rejects who want to tell me how FDR was also an alien from Atlantis who can give me a Tarot card reading. Has anyone heard or read anything on this theory? Am I just taking the Indiana Jones movies a little too literal? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/2 "2004-11-26T22:12:23Z")
> [@johnsonra](#): > > I’ve heard both FDR and Hitler were very into mysticism and mystic research during WWII. I’ve been dieing to read some books on this but the only ones I find seem to be Art Bell rejects who want to tell me how FDR was also an alien from Atlantis who can give me a Tarot card reading. Has anyone heard or read anything on this theory? Am I just taking the Indiana Jones movies a little too literal? Hitler and his cohorts were not into mysticism anymore than any person attending church is or any person saluting the flag. One way a new regime tries to gain legitimacy is to link themselves with the past. Their adoption of the swastika being one aspic, Nazism was an outgrowth of the older _voelkische_ societies. One could liken it the the Japanese Buddhists who still embrace the older Shinto practices. But it is always the current ideology which shapes the practicing of the older rites and rituals. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/3 "2004-11-26T23:28:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Hitler and his cohorts were not into mysticism anymore than any person attending church is or any person saluting the flag. One way a new regime tries to gain legitimacy is to link themselves with the past. Their adoption of the swastika being one aspic, Nazism was an outgrowth of the older voelkische societies. One could liken it the the Japanese Buddhists who still embrace the older Shinto practices. But it is always the current ideology which shapes the practicing of the older rites and rituals. A fascinating philosophical position which does not in any way, shape or form answer the question. It is also arguably factually wrong. As noted in Cecil’s column on the subject Hitler and the top Nazi’s had a fairly ambiguous relationship with Christiantity. On the whole it seemed they preferred a blood-and-soil religion, like the ancient Germanic polytheism, over weak Christian morals (not that they were above exploiting any religous impulse if it could be turned to them). The leadership did, at various times, fall under the sway of certain occult practices and practicioners, including at least one rather creepy charlatan whose name I forget of the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/4 "2004-11-26T23:52:08Z")
The Nazi Party was rooted in the Thule Society, an occult brotherhood founded at the end of WWI. A more knowledgeable poster may be able to provide more details. [http://www.crystalinks.com/thule.html](http://www.crystalinks.com/thule.html) ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/5 "2004-11-27T00:56:43Z")
I don’t know so much about the other two, but Canada’s wartime Prime Minister, **Willam Lyon Mackenzie King** was a firm believer in spiritualism. [cite]([www.globalseek.net/CoNTiNeNTs/](http://www.globalseek.net/CoNTiNeNTs/) NAMeRiCa/CaNaDa/ADDiTiONaL/ADDiTiONaL/king.html) > [@](#): > > King was a spiritualist. Caught up in the fad of spiritualism in the 1920s, King continued to hold seances throughout his life. With a few close friends and sometimes a medium, King regularly communicated with the spirits of his mother (to whom he was excessively devoted), his grandfather (the leader of the 1837 Rebellion, William Lyon Mackenzie), his predecessor Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the great nineteenth century British Liberal Prime Minister Gladestone, as well as Saints Luke and John, all of who advised him on his career and politics. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/6 "2004-11-27T01:32:29Z")
I’ve gotten the impression that Hitler’s only religion was German Nationalism. Anything else seemed to be more or less for show. On the other hand, Himmler was apparently really into all the mytiscal crap and even set up his own occultish agencies in the German Government. In particular, there was the Ahnenerbe, set up my Himmler in the mid 1930’s, whose main job was to look for Atlantis and the Holy Grail and stuff like that. No doubt, some of the more grounded members of the Nazis Upper Escholn felt Himmler was just a wee bit nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/7 "2004-11-27T13:32:06Z")
FDR was a member of [, which is some sort of masonic offshoot. It’s not mystic. He was officially [url="[http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fdrfaq.html#"]episcopalian.](http://www.pythias.org/"The](http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fdrfaq.html#%22%5Depiscopalian.%5D(http://www.pythias.org/%22The) Fraternal Order of Knights of Pythias[/url) I don’t think that qualifies as mystic, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/8 "2004-11-27T13:34:05Z")
FDR was a member of [The Fraternal Order of Knights of Pythias](http://www.pythias.org/), which is some sort of masonic offshoot. It’s not mystic. He was officially [episcopalian.](http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fdrfaq.html#) I don’t think that qualifies as mystic, though. Preview is my friend :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysticism-and-wwii/276792/9 "2004-11-27T14:51:51Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Their adoption of the swastika being one aspic… Swastika in aspic–can I have the recipe? (I thought Hitler was a vegitarian.)