Nazis and Atlantis

Published June 10, 2010

Nazis and Atlantis

One of the most bizarre and tragic outcomes of Plato’s 2,400-year-old story is the fact that it was seized upon by elements in the Nazi regime as part of the foundation for their extreme nationalistic and racist views. The Nazi search for Atlantis was institutionalised with the creation of the SS Ahnenerbe by Heinrich Himmler.

Vanessa Ward has written a useful review of the nationalistic use of the Atlantis story by both Rudbeck and the Nazis^(a).

Heather Pringle adds further insights in her excellent book, The Master Plan^[0032].

Since the war, Nazi philosophy has persisted in a variety of forms, the most extreme being the killing of 77 people by the Norwegian, Anders Breivik in 2011.

Less violent were the writings of Miquel Serrano who offered what he called ‘Esoteric Hitlerism.’^(b) Other Nazi factions are outlined in Joscelyn Godwin‘s book, Arktos^[0789].

From the calm of 21st century rural Ireland, it seems incredible to this compiler, that something as horrific as the Jewish Holocaust could have had any connection, however vague, with the writings of a Greek philosopher who wrote nearly two and a half millennia ago.

Thorwald C. Franke has highlighted^(c) that recently(2017), a small German right-wing group, ‘Pro Deutschland’, has cited on their website the ‘superior civilisation’ of Atlantis in support of their extremist views.

More recently (2021), Franke has taken issue with a Smithsonian video, which implied that a belief in Atlantis was prevalent among the upper echelons of Germany’s National Socialism. However, Franke maintains that apart from Himmler, most senior Nazis, including Hitler had no interest in Atlantis. Anyway, when Franke wrote to the Smithsonian pointing out how they had overstated this Nazi support for Atlantis, he found that his comments were blocked and the same institution failed to respond to a follow-up email^(d)!>In a subsequent newsletter (No. 173), he added further evidence that most of the top Nazi echelons had little or no interest in Atlantis^(e).<

^(a) http://pseudoarchaeology.org/a10-ward.html

^(b) https://spitfirelist.com/for-the-record/ftr-873-the-new-age-fascism-and-the-atlantis-myth/

^(c) https://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis_newsl_archive.htm Newsletter No. 90

>^(d)Atlantis Newsletter Archive – Atlantis-Scout Newsletter No. 167

^(e) https://www.atlantis-scout.de/atlantis_newsl_archive.htm Newsletter No. 173<