The swastika was adopted by the Nazi Party in 1920. But it was neither the Party's invention, nor its discovery. Since the end of the nineteenth century, the Swastika had been spreading amongst the peoples of Europe. And everywhere, it was the sign of a new and powerful force - a deepening fascination with the arcane, the esoteric and the occult.
By 1934, almost ten years after its creation, the SS was in the process of becoming Hitler's own brotherhood of templars. The handpicked, disciplined and fiercely loyal bodyguard of the Fuhrer, was being transformed into an Aryan Elite - a mystical order dedicated to the creation of an Empire.
In the violent aftermath of the first World War, an increasing fascination with the mystical and esoteric had swept German aristocratic and educated classes. Obsessed with the occult, leader of the SS Heinrich Himmler made it his goal to create a race of superhumans and embarked on the strangest eugenics experiment in history.
In May 1933, Nazi students, Brownshirts and Hitler Youth burn works of literature, philosophy and science by the thousands. Hitler's revolt against the intellect was enshrined in a new religion, a religion devoted to the mysteries of blood and race. A new religion that paved the way to the murder of millions.
