Mrrzy, Mousethief, et al ....

One thing the Nazis were not (generally) was atheists. They were a very mystical order indeed, especially at the highest levels, convinced that they were ordained to usher in a new civilization, and that they were serving divine power in so doing. Some of Goebbel's last diary entries indicated that as far as he felt, if the Nazi system fell it would mean not only their own destruction, but the end of the entire Cosmos, the collapse of the whole destiny and future of humanity. That's how far out some of those people at the top were in the Third Reich, and that is not atheism. It's a type of deeply religious insanity.

I don't doubt that Hitler had a low view of the conventional Christianity of his day, and considered it weak, but he had his own theories about higher purposes. He was dabbling in some very odd occult stuff, deriving from many ancient traditions, and he somehow mixed it all together in a bizarre way to support his paranoid state of mind, and saw himself as the one who would bring in a superior spiritual civilization (but NOT a kinder, gentler one!). He was envisioning a warrior civilization ruled by the new elite, the Superman, as he saw it, that would crush and enslave the weaker elements in the human race. It was utter madness in the clothing of supposedly divine purpose.

I'm sure that the rank and file of German soldiers for the most part thought of themselves as conventional Christians. They certainly believed they were representing Christian civilization, especially when fighting the officially atheistic Communist forces of the Soviet Union.

Every German soldier in the regular Army had the words "Gott Mit Uns" on his silver belt buckle (God is with us).

Interestingly enough, however, the SS troops do not appear to have had this slogan on their buckles, but a different one! (checked reference materials on World War II, and I can't quite make out what it says on the SS buckles, but it doesn't say Gott Mit Uns) I'd be very curious to know what it did say...the fact is, the SS was expected to be loyal to one and one thing alone...their Fuhrer! (A grisly new religion in the making.)

The intentions of Himmler and Hitler were to eventually replace the Wermacht (regular army) with the SS Divisions. Hitler did not trust the traditional German Army one bit. He considered them to be wedded to outdated concepts of honour, and to be therefore weak and undependable. He was partly right about that (from his point of view)...some of them tried to assassinate him, and it's a pity they didn't succeed.

My own feeling is that the top Nazis were engaged in extreme mysticism and what could be termed "the black arts", and that they combined it willy-nilly with Christianity or any other religious tradition that they could conveniently use to flesh it out and achieve control over the German people. They were spiritually motivated, but in the most dark and destructive manner imaginable. Like all maniacal destroyers, they had convinced themselves that they were doing it for the most laudable reasons...people are great rationalizers.

I would say the same of the Spanish conquistadors, who in the name of Christ (so they said) committed incredible atrocities all over Central and South America...mostly in pursuit of gold.

Anyone can call himself a Christian or call himself an atheist....the question is, what is his hidden agenda? When confronted with a deranged killer, I don't much care at the time whether he calls himself a Christian or an atheist. He's just a deranged killer with pretensions, that's all.

I have always felt that the Lord of the Rings was an allegorical tale reflecting the World War II conflict, and the Dark Lord was definitely in Berlin...and there was another one in Moscow too.

- LH