Inside the Nazis’ Supernatural Obsession | A Conversation with Historian Eric Kurlander

HISTORY This Week

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History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

June 4, 1941. Reinhard Heydrich transmits a message to all regional governors in the Third Reich: prepare for “action against occult teachings.” Heydrich is carrying out the orders of Adolf Hitler, who is furious at his Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess. Inspired by a horoscope reading, Hess decided to fly a secret mission to Great Britain and sue for peace. But Hess crash-lands in Scotland—the plan doesn’t pan out—and his failure becomes an international embarrassment. So in retaliation, Hitler cracks down on mysticism throughout Germany. Magicians, spiritualists, and faith healers are arrested, their homes get searched, and their books are confiscated. And yet, the “Hess Action” only lasts a few weeks. Because Hitler and many of the top Nazi leaders are also obsessed with the occult, the supernatural, and the fringes of science. How does Nazi Germany embrace the metaphyiscal, mysticism, and mythology? And how do they use these ideas to strengthen their fascist regime? This episode features a conversation with Eric Kurlander, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History at Stetson University and author of Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.2	The History Channel, original podcast.
0:35.1	History this week, June 4th, 1941.
0:41.3	I'm Sally Helm.
0:45.3	One of Adolf Hitler's top officials sends out a message today.
0:50.4	A call to action to all the regional governors of the Third Reich.
0:55.0	They should prepare for action against occult teachings.
1:01.0	Soon enough, that action begins.
1:06.0	Occultists, magicians, spiritualists, faith healers, all over Germany, they're arrested.
1:16.5	One astrologer is lying awake at three or four in the morning when his doorbell rings.
1:22.0	It's the police.
1:25.4	They ransack his drawers, tear his books from the shelves.
1:28.7	He's ordered to dress and marched out the door, taken to prison.
1:37.0	This becomes known as the Hess action,
1:40.4	because it all goes back to an ill-fated diplomatic mission a month earlier by Hitler's deputy furor, Rudolph Hess.
1:49.0	The Nazis are planning to invade the Soviet Union, and Hess is panicking.
1:55.6	He's supposed to be Hitler's right-hand man, though he's actually seen his influence dwindle in recent years.
2:04.6	And he thinks that this Soviet invasion is a terrible idea. So he comes up with a wild scheme.
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