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Hitler's Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich . By Richard Weikart . Washington, D.C. : Regnery History , 2016. xxx + 386 pp. $29.99 hardcover.
Book Reviews and Notes
Weikart's study is a well-argued and clear response to the enduring confusion about the nature of Hitler's religion. He is particularly concerned with challenging current arguments that Hitler was a Christian, as advocated by the British scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, among others. Likewise, he challenges common perceptions that Hitler was an atheist, or that his beliefs and policies were the result of a materialist worldview. Others, such as Michael Hesemann, have claimed that Hitler was an occultist and that the evil of National Socialism can only be understood in the context of occult and esoteric influences in early twentieth-century Germany. Alternatively, Weikart presents evidence from the early 1920s to Hitler's death in 1945 to argue that Hitler was a pantheist, one who identified nature with God. As Weikart acknowledges, this is not a new thesis--indeed, some German observers in the Nazi era asserted as much. Instead, he offers clarity to a topic that still divides scholars and the public, and provides the most detailed examination of Hitler's religion in the English language.
Weikart divides his book into ten chapters in which each asks a central question about Hitler's religion, such as "Who influenced Hitler's Religion?" "Was Hitler an Atheist?" and "Who was Hitler's Lord?" He builds a convincing case by utilizing sources...