“A thousand years before Rome was founded, the Germanic tribes had already reached a high cultural level,” said Hitler (Mees 266)

                    “According to a Greek legend, there is a civilization known as ‘prelunar,’ and we can see in the legend an allusion to the empire of the lands of Atlantis that sank into the ocean,” said by Hitler 21-22 October 1941, night (Brunner 262)

        During the regime under Hitler they had a fascination with the perfect race, the Aryan race and proving that the Germans were not descendant of a Jew (Abraham) but from a much more ancient peoples.  With this ideological view of the flawless race the National Socialists set out to find this said “perfect race.”  Also, the fact that Germans lacked a prehistory was another reason they set out to find Atlantis and an ancient predecessor.  Utilizing Rudbeck’s idea of Atlantis being found in Sweden i.e. the perfect emblem of the Aryan race, Hitler’s National Socialists claimed that the people of Atlantis were the ancestors of the Germanic peoples.  Although, they still placed the continent of Atlantis in the Atlantic they liked to view the Atlanteans as Swedish, which is much more an archetype of the Aryan race (tall, blond, blue eyed, etc.). The claim even lead to the idea that Jesus was indeed not a Jew because the ancestors of the German peoples had spread as far as Palestine making Jesus’ blood line not Jewish.  When the Nazis came to full power a book written by a prominent geographer and Führer of the German Press Albert Hermann propelled this proclamation that the Germans were descendants of Atlantis. 

        Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was highly involved in the Nazi Party.  Himmler was Reichsführer-SS (Head of the SS), which means he supervised internal and external police and security forces including the Gestapo, and was inferior in rank only to Hitler.  The Abnenerbe Institut (National Heritage Institute) founded by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth and Richard Walther Darré in 1935 became a leading think tank in Nazi German.  In this Institut they conducted a lot of research and expeditions on various subjects and places such as, Bayeux Tapestry, expeditions to the Middle East, Tibet, Ukraine, and medical experiments.  In the Abnenerbe Institut discussion of Atlantis was very common and was utilized to encourage SS ideology.  In this institute they were the first to come up with Helgoland (sacred or holy land), which became an alternate name for Atlantis.  This institute further harbored and dictated the idea that ancient Germans were not descendant of Jews but that they came from Atlantis. The Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler took a personal interest in Atlantis and its possible descendants from Atlantis.  In addition, Himmler was very interested in archaeology and antiquity even bringing an archaeologist (Alexander Langsdorff) with him to meetings in Rome.  In the Institut they set out to search for the ancient civilization using many archaeologists such as, Wilhelm Teudt to find this unknown civilization to prove that the Aryan Race was from Atlantis.  Himmler sent out these archaeologists all over the globe to search out for this connection and he also used to scientists to find genetic similarities in Germans to find a connection to prove a common ancestry from Atlantis.  Himmler often visited the archaeologist sites to see how they were coming along on there findings.  The Atlantis/Thule myth was closely related to the idea of Glacial Cosmogony because Atlantis being the earthly paradise and home for the Aryan race, Glacial Cosmogony guaranteed that Atlantis would re-emerge from the water.  It became a dominant theme in Science Fiction in the 1920s and 1930s.  This paved the way to start “Aryan science,” which entailed that the Germans would make it their goal to racially purify and attempt to go back to Atlantis. The Abnererbe Institut created propaganda for the pseudo-sciences and they aided in the idea and continuation of the Atlantis myth. 

        Edmund Kiss the Government Building Counsellor (Regierungsbaurat), wrote several novels on Atlantis and Glacial Cosmogony.  In all his books he writes how the Aryan race or what he calls them in his book “Ases” have a great kingdom and they have slaves with brown skin.  Also, in his book he makes a point that the slaves are highly impressed with this Nordic race and want to bring this back to their homeland so it will be just as remarkable.  His book essentially captures all the fascist ideology, community, discipline, racially pure, nationalism, etc.  The Nazis wanted to find Atlantis because then they could repopulate it with the White races and have their perfect fascist society.  It was merely idealism and false hope. 

        Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) acquired a Ph.D. in Moscow and had many theories on religion and race.  Alfred Rosenberg created a group called Amt Rosenberg that had a group of archeologists smaller than in the Abnenerbe Institute.  In this group they latched onto Rosenberg’s theories of history.  Rosenberg believed that the pure blooded men from Atlantis and the Jewish people were in an eternal fight.  He alleged that the Germans were survivors from Atlantis that came to Germany after the destruction of the famed city.  He viewed the Germans as a completely separate race.  His group at Amt Rosenberg was wholly devoted to find archaeological evidence that proved this to be true. 

        Even streets were designed to commemorate Atlantis as the perfect place for the Nazi Aryan race to go, Böttcherstraße in Bremen Germany has a house of Atlantis. The patron of the Böttcherstraße, Ludwig Roselius, said, “The House Atlantis is intended to make every German ask himself the question: What do you know about the proud past of your ancestors? Have you thought back to the time of Rome, Greece, and Egypt; do you know that these three great cultures were originated by the men of the north, your forefathers?” (Henderson 178).  Obviously, there was not much luck on the Nazi side in any aspect at the group of Amt Rosenberg found nothing.  The use of Atlantis brought about validation to the Nazis to kill the Jews because they were the imperfect ones not from Atlantis.  The Nazis used this as a political tool if nothing else to perpetuate their idealism and genocide.

   

                                                  L: The Perfect Aryan from

                                                  the 1938 German film

                                                  “Olympia”

                                                  R: Pictures of the German

                                                  Races