Often the rise of Nazi Germany is pinned solely upon Hitler’s shoulders but he was
not a one-man political movement. The Nazi Party was an effort of many like-minded evil
people whose collaborated efforts brought down the Weimar republic and plunge Germany
into yet another devastating battle. Goebbels, Himmler, Goering, Maurice, Morrel, Bormann,
and von Ribbentrop are some of the names who collectively caused the rise of Nazi Germany.
They all committed evil in various forms but not all of their deeds are notorious
enough today. Hitler’s circle of evil not only brought harm to the world but also conspired
against each other and chased fantasy in search of the ultimate power. Welcome to
Nutty History and today let’s find out the filthy secrets of Hitler’s evil circle.
From Captain America in the 1940s to Indiana Jones in the 1980s and then back to Captain
America in the 21st-century movies, we have often watched Nazis hunting mythical relics
and artifacts in pop culture. It may seem silly and exaggerated that a world-threatening power
believed in supernatural elements and pursued them for world domination, but it was indeed
true. Nazis believed in supernaturalism as much as they believed in their superiority over others,
of course, being wrong on both fronts. Joseph Goebbels for instance was in charge of regulating
astrological predictions in Germany and he also chased Nostradamus’s prophecies in hopes of
something that will fit Nazi propaganda. Nazis also tried to find the lost city of Atlantis,
the Ark of the Covenant, and the Holy Grail, among many other hunts, hoping one of these artifacts
will lend them divine intervention in favor of their cause. Most of these… Treasure hunts were
conducted by Schutzstaffel or more commonly known by their acronym, SS. They were spearheaded by
Heinrich Himmler who was one of the most prominent leaders of Hitler’s inner circle. Himmler was a
child of an idealist father who named him after the legendary German king Heinrich,
or Henry the Fowler. Heinrich was the first king to rule a unified German state in 936 AD. One
of Himmler’s treasure hunts was about finding Heinrich’s remains but he failed to accomplish
that as well. His father’s fanaticism played a huge part in turning Himmler into the architect
of the horrible acts committed against the Jewish people, from his mere chicken farmer beginnings
in Bavaria. Even during his farming days, Himmler was daydreaming bizarre contemplations about
abolishing Christianity in Germany. One of the few characteristics that separated Nazism from fascism
was occultism. Nazism wasn’t just an ideology; it was a religion on its own. The shrine of Hitler
and Nazism in Quedlinburg is a testament to that fact. Himmler was so fascinated by his
namesake legendary king that Henry the Fowler’s rugged Nordic attributes played a huge part in
the Nazi perception of the Aryan race. When Hitler rose to power, Himmler and a few of his supporters
in the circle of evil wanted to establish a new neo-pagan religion in the country. Inspired by
the legends of Greek Oracles and the events of witch hunts of the 14th to 18th century, Himmler
concluded that German witches and seers possessed spiritual powers and they should utilize them.
Himmler totally ignored the fact that the witches that were terminated in
Germany during the Middle Ages were actually the victims of fellow German villagers. In reality,
these accusations were vengeful and had no substance behind them. Instead,
Himmler blamed people of Jewish descent for inspiring Catholic priests to commence the witch
hunts in Europe. Ironically, 50 Catholic priests among many men were also terminated for being a
witch during the Witch Mania with Martin Luther playing a crucial part in promoting the hunt.
In 1935, Himmler formed a task force dedicated to researching the existence of witches in Germany.
It was a top-secret operation under the very sponsorships of the Reich Security Service, or
SD. The 14 full-time agents scoured 260 locations across Germany disguised as students to research
witchcraft. The team gathered fourteen thousand books and written material on the subject and
these works of writing not only included reports and historical accounts but fictional novels,
folk songs, and fairy tales as well. By 1944, the researchers had indexed 33,846 records. Himmler
incorporated “Witch Dances” into official SS ceremonies where party members and soldiers
performed to bless the Reich with a thousand years of reign. It is hard to tell if Nazis tried to fly
on broomsticks but Himmler did try to break the stereotypical evil image of witches in Western
culture by attempting to publish a series of short stories about good witches. When the red
army captured the RSHA base in Poland, they thought they discovered a huge Nazi archive
that would help them defeat the Germans. But it was quite a troll moment when they realized these
records contained nothing but stories and poems about witches. The Nazi era was a terrible time
to be a person of Jewish heritage in Germany. We all know the story of Anne Frank who hid in
an annex to hide from persecution. But what was the safest place for a Jewish person in Hitler’s
Germany? A cellar, an attic, perhaps living in the woods? Or, maybe marrying an Aryan person? Well,
there was one place safer than anything else, right under the nose of their persecutor. No,
we are not talking about that god-awful Hitlerstache, we are talking about joining
the Wehrmacht , or better if one could then join the Nationalist Socialist party itself.
Some believed that the Luftwaffe, the air force, was a safer bet as it was under command of Goering
who was known to be loyal to his men. According to Bryan Mark Rigg in his book, Hitler’s Jewish
Soldiers, thousands of full Jews and more than a hundred-thousand part-Jews joined the military
of the Third Reich. Some of the Jewish men who fought in Hitler’s military had been drafted.
Others were patriots whose fathers, grandfathers, and uncles had served in the Imperial Army in WWI,
and dutifully enlisted. One survivor described himself as a German first and a Jew second. Jewish
allegiance to Germany in the early days of the Third Reich is one of the great unrequited love
stories of history. These Jewish army men believed that the segregation laws of Nuremberg and rising
hostility against the Jewish community didn’t apply to them. They were not Ostjuden, whom they
perceived as uneducated and superstitious. One such prominent part-Jewish person was Emil Maurice
who befriended Hitler in 1919, helped to found the Nazi party, and became Hitler’s chauffeur
in 1920. Despite the professional relationship and Maurice’s heritage, Hitler and he remained
good friends for years and Maurice was also part of Hitler’s inner circle. The relationship only
became sour in 1928, when Hitler learned Maurice was in a relationship with Hitler’s half-niece.
Maurice was forced to break up with his girlfriend and was fired as a chauffeur but allowed to remain
a member of the SS. After his Jewish ancestry was revealed, Himmler tried to expel Maurice from the
SS. But according to a secret letter written by Hitler in 1935, the Fuhrer asked Himmler to spare
Maurice and his brothers and informally declared them honorary Aryans. Hitler used the same title
diplomatically and loosely to gain international allies against the allied powers in World War 2
as well as to save the careers of many Jewish and part Jewish senior officers in the SS. However,
that’s where Hitler’s generosity stopped. In 1940, Hitler ordered German armies to get rid
of all Jewish men, even Christians of Jewish descent weren’t spared. But until then these
men were part of everything that Hitler commanded the military to do, so it begs the question. Did
these soldiers know of the camps? Many of them did. Observers claim that these soldiers were
trying to save their relatives or themselves from that fate. But knowing the existence of the camps
was not the same as grasping the reality of annihilation during this horrible time.
It is no secret that Germany fought World War 2 on pills. We all know what ‘blitz’
in blitzkrieg means and if you do not know much about Pervitin please check out our video about
what narcotics were like in World War 2. Link in the description below. But the pills didn’t stop
at military barracks, they went all the way up to the pinnacle of the Nazi leadership. Hitler may
have had all of Germany under his fist but the dictator’s personal physician, Theodor Morell,
had Hitler under the influence of his “medicine”. He regularly injected “Patient A” with hormone
preparations and steroids he had created using animal glands and other dubious ingredients. As
Hitler’s health worsened in July 1943, Morell secretly began treating him with eukodal,
otherwise known as oxycodone. Things got even more complicated when Hitler punctured both of
his eardrums because of the explosion during an attempt on his life called Operation Valkyrie.
Hitler was treated by ENT doctor Erwin Giesing who decided to not consult Morell and administered
the drug infamous as Snow White today in the dictator’s nasal passages with a cotton swab.
Of course, Hitler enjoyed it too much and got addicted to the Colombian past-time. Ironically,
Giesing believed that it was Morell who was slowly poisoning Hitler and he may have been correct.
However, Giesing was in no position to openly accuse Morell as Morell was too close to Hitler.
He considered Morell not only his physician but also his confidant. Morell was the only person
allowed to get closer to Hitler without having his bag checked. Since the attempt on his life,
Patient A needed him more than ever, and with each new injection, Morell gained additional
influence. Moreover, Morell would often refuse to discuss Hitler’s treatment with SS officers,
even keeping his assistants, Karl Brandt and Hanskarl von Hasselbach in the dark.
There was an air of suspicion around Morell that many in Hitler’s inner circle didn’t like
him. Martin Bormann tried to persuade Hitler to change doctors, but Hitler wasn’t ready to listen
to anything against Morell. However, when Giesing noticed symptoms of jaundice on the Fuhrer’s face,
he contacted Morell’s assistant and Hitler’s surgeon Karl Brandt. The two of them tried to
present their case to Hitler against Morell with the aid of Himmler but Hitler dismissed
their suspicions based on a preliminary report of medicines Morell was administrating for Hitler.
As Allied forces were invading Germany from all sides, Hitler was taking 120-150 pills and 8 to
10 injections every week! Do you have any more interesting or weird facts about Hitler and
his inner circle? Tell us in the comments. And as always, thanks for watching Nutty History.