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Potomac Books

Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism

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Public interest in Adolf Hitler and all aspects of the Third Reich continues to grow as new generations ponder the moral questions surrounding Nazi Germany and its historical legacy. One aspect of Nazism that has not received sufficient attention from historians of the Third Reich is the doctrine’s origins in the Thule Society and its covert activities. A Munich occult group with a political agenda, the Thule Society was led by Rudolf von Sebottendorff, a German commoner who had been adopted by nobility during a sojourn in the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Europe, Sebottendorff embraced a form of theosophy that stressed the racial superiority of Aryans. The Thule Society attempted to establish an anti-Semitic, working-class front for disseminating its esoteric ideas and founded the German Workers’ Party, which Hitler would later transform into the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party. Several of the society’s members eventually assumed prestigious posts in the Third Reich. David Luhrssen has written the first comprehensive study of the society’s activities, its cultural roots, and its postwar ramifications in a historical-critical context. Both general readers and academics concerned with European cultural and intellectual history will find that Hammer of the Gods opens new perspectives on nineteenth- and twentieth- century Europe. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ POTOMAC BOOKS (February 1, 2012)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 316 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1597978574


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 76


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.1 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #226,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #409 in German History (Books) #589 in Occultism #2,017 in World War II History (Books)


#409 in German History (Books):


#589 in Occultism:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Thought provoking read. Make your own judgement.
Depending on your viewpoint this book has something to say or will just be more assumption and guess work. The whole subject of Nazi's and the Occult is contentious and depending on your own personal take this book will appeal or not. I personally take the view that it's worth considering to try and make sense of the Nazis and their beliefs. Personally I think a few of the top Nazis believed in the occult and probably practiced it, chief among them being Himmler and Hess. Others used the occult to reach their own ends. I think Hitler saw the power in the occult and used it to project his power. The use of Runic symbols and such, it served a purpose, but was just another tool to control. The book explains the origins of the Nazi party and how the Thule society had such a dangerous influence over it. Heady stuff for sure and sometimes just a bit unbelievable, but we will probably never know for certain just how much the occult had an influence within and around the Third Reich. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2015 by steve uk
    • Illuminating work
I have, over the years, read a great deal pertaining to the Nazi regime and through other works had read references to how Hitler had come to formulate his ideology of strong central government and his racial views. There were vague references to the Thule Society but there was no real examination of this shadow society. This important work now shines a light on a segment of German modern history that has been obscure in the study of the forerunners of the Nazi ideology. I found it fascinating to make the connections between the views expoused in the Thule Society and those brought onto the world stage by the Nazi regime. I especially enjoyed the description of the Communist takeover of Munich and the fleeing of the government to Bamburg; and then the campaign to retake the city. As an active military officer serving in that area during the Cold War I was certainly familiar with the cities and terrain of the area. This is an excellent work that takes the reader deep into the beginnings of the Nazi ideology. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2012 by Robert Alldredge
    • Excelent book
"The single fact that we owe not one single truth, not one idea in philosophy or religion to the Semitic race is, of itself, ample reward for years of study, and it is a fact indisputable, if I read the Veda and Zend Avesta alright." Albert Pike We seldom realize the importance of what Einstein said "We should be thankful to Indians who taught us how to count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery would have been possible." We fail to recognize the magnitude of the famous British Historian Grant Duff's words "Many of the advances in the sciences that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago." We ignore what the American Historian Will Durant said: "India was the motherland of our race and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages. India was the mother of our philosophy, of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in Christianity... of self-government and democracy. In many ways, Mother India is the mother of us all." Even Nikola Tesla was influenced with Vedanta. In 1903 he met Swami Vivekananda. Did you know that the famous Hindu astronomer, Bhaskaracharya in his Surya Siddhanta wrote: "Objects fall on the earth due to a force of attraction by the earth. Therefore, the earth, planets, constellations, moon and sun are held in orbit due to this attraction." It was not until 1687, 1200 years later did Issac Newton "rediscover" the Law of Gravity. For most westerners this would be surprise. [...] This explains German expedition to Tibet and Yellow Hat colony in Germany. At the end of November 1918, Adolf Hitler returned to Munich and then proceeded to a military camp in Traunstein in south-eastern Bavaria. When the camp was disbanded in April 1919, he went back to Munich, which was still being ruled by a Soviet republic founded by a Polish Kurt Eisner (real name Salamon Kosmanowsky). At the beginning of May, a few days after the communist revolution had been terminated on May 1, 1919 by the Bavarian Freikorps, Hitler was summoned as a member of the 2nd Infantry Regiment to attend a course on political instruction. The purpose of this course of lectures was to provide the soldiers with a background of politics, which would enable them to monitor the many revolutionary and political movements present in Munich at that time. One of the lecturers was a former construction engineer turned economist, Dr Gottfried Feder (1881-1941). His first lecture was entitled "The Abolition of the Interest-Servitude". Hitler was enthralled by what he heard, and this was to be a turning point in his political career. The following quotations from Mein Kampf reflect his initial thoughts. " For the first time in my life I heard a discussion which dealt with the principles of stock exchange capital and capital which was used for loan activities. After hearing the first lecture delivered by Feder, the idea immediately came into my head that I had found a way to one of the most essential prerequisites for the founding of a new party... To my mind, Feder's merit consisted in the ruthless and trenchant way in which he described the double character of the capital engaged in stock exchange and loan transactions, laying bare the fact that this capital is ever and always dependent on the payment of interest. In fundamental questions his statements were so full of common sense that those who criticized him did not deny that au fond his ideas were sound, but they doubted whether it be possible to put these ideas into practice. To me this seemed the strongest point in Feder's teaching, though others considered it a weak point....I understood immediately that here was a truth of transcendental importance for the future of the German people. The absolute separation of stock exchange capital from the economic life of the nation would make it possible to oppose the process of internationalization in German business without at the same time attacking capital at such, for to do this would be to jeopardize the foundations of our national independence. I clearly saw what was developing in Germany, and I realized then that the stiffest fight we would have to wage would not be against the enemy nations but against international capital. In Feder's speech I found an effective rallying-cry for our coming struggle...The struggle against international finance capital and loan capital has become one of the most important points in the program on which the German nation has based its fight for economic freedom and independence." A few weeks later Hitler received an instruction from his superiors to investigate a political association called the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers Party). At this meeting held in the Sterneckerbrau Inn in Munich, about 20 to 25 persons were present. The main speaker was Dr Gottfried Feder. Wikipedia, Gottfried Feder: "From 1917 on, Feder studied financial politics and economics on his own; he developed a hostility towards wealthy bankers during World War I and wrote a "manifesto on breaking the shackles of interest" ("Brechung der Zinsknechtschaft") in 1919. This was soon followed by the founding of a "task force" dedicated to those goals that demanded a nationalisation of all banks and an abolishment of interest. In February 1920, together with Adolf Hitler and Anton Drexler, Feder--who also was a member of the Thule Society drafted the so-called "25 points" which summed up the party's views, and introduced his own anti-capitalist views into the program." Feder was man of National Socialism, term developed in late 19th century in this days Czech republic. But later Germany leaned toward fascism as, wikipedia: "However, despite his implementation of the blood and soil ideology of the Nazis, decentralized factories, generals and Junkers successfully opposed him. Generals objected because it interferred with rearmament, and Junkers because it would prevent their exploiting their estates for the international market. After the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934, where SA leaders like Ernst Röhm and left leaning party officials like Gregor Strasser were murdered, Feder began to withdraw from the government, finally becoming a professor at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin in December 1936, where he stayed until his death in Murnau on 24 September 1941." While Nazism did have fascist overtones, Nazism is not a form of government. Nazism is political ideology implemented through the use of a fascist government system. It is this system that needs to be understood and not the policy employed through it. This is vital since any form of government - yes, including a democracy - can be operated through a fascist structure. It is not exclusive to a dictatorship. Now you may argue that "who cares what the actual meaning of the word is, because it has taken on further societal overtones and inferences which society and it's people now attribute to the word." However, this does not do justice to the reality of the word or the reality of the world we live in today. You see, if we were to associate the word Fascist with Nazi, then we consciously set ourselves up to be oblivious to actual fascist tendencies which do not exhibit the racial or genocidal image that one has of Hitler's master race. In order to analyze the events of the world today, we need a clear understanding of the true nature of Fascism, separate from its societal inferences. That fascist structure of government begins with the co-option of corporate and government interests becoming one in the same. This is the primary transition in the nature and operation of the government apparatus. Corporate power is not so much as protected; it is one in the same as government power. Hence the government is an extension of the corporate powerbrokers in society. Gottfried Feder ideology was decentralized democracy Swiss style. That what national socialism means. But power elites/bankers, against whom DAP was developed, kidnapped NSDAP and the and was as we know it: 6 milion jews were exterminated in IG Farben slave labor camp Auschwitz/Monowitz. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2012 by Goodman
    • The Deep Roots of Prejudice
If you want to understand how the Germans fell victim to the insanity of Nazism, read this book. The author traces the major themes of prejudice common in German and European societies in the centuries leading up to the rise of fascism and the unique role of the Thule society and its various front organizations in advancing in this process. Well researched and written. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2019 by Roger J. Fish
    • Incredible work and eye opening. Details how when a ...
Incredible work and eye opening. Details how when a communist revolutionary group put an aristocratic woman in front of a firing squad- it shifted popular opinion toward any group that had a stance against the Bolsheviks. The realization that a latter 19th century cult was behind the Nazi rise to power, born out of some even more bizarre circumstances that actually lent it credibility makes this work a profound medium for understanding the Third Reich. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2017 by joseph labarbera
    • Fabulous book that sheds light on the roots of facism!
I am just finishing this book that, to me, ranks as one of the best books I've read on the myriad threads that coalesced in the scourge of Nazism. The author's style is riveting and his facts shed new light on the Thule Society philosophy that permeated the Third Reich's leadership. Any student of this period of history would find this book well worth the price and highly thought provoking! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2012 by Sweet Pea #2
    • Good book on Thule
This author takes a deep look at the Thule members, not sure if you can just read one book on this subject, I have many. Little gold nuggets in each to piece together what really did happen. Some of it is bit far fetched to believe.
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2014 by MattJ70
    • Finally, a legitimate, scholarly study
A lot of silly stuff has been published and broadcast about occultism and Nazism, but David Luhrssen's Hammer of the Gods is one of the only books to nail down the facts with careful research. The writing is brilliant and wonderful to read. Let's hear more from this author!
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2012 by Geliot

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