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Monica Black and Eric Kurlander have edited an illuminating and well-conceived volume of the latest research on the occult in Nazi Germany, sure to stimulate new debates on the topic. The contributors explore the cultural and intellectual history of the occult, broadly defined to include esotericism, the paranormal, and border sciences in relation to Nazi Germany. Without exception, the essays insightfully trace the changes in meanings and uses of occult phenomena. Until now the best and most convincing work on German irrationalism, esotericism, and the occult, such as the work of George Mosse, Fritz Stern, and Nicholas Goodrick-Clark, has focused on the roots of National Socialism, and thus tended to emphasize the years leading up to 1933. While the collection includes essays on the occult origins of Nazi Germany, most address the Third Reich itself, the decades after World War II, and even the present day.
Indeed, the book is organized according to this tripartite periodization. The contributions cover a broad range of topics on the occult, including its relationship to modernity and science; the selective suppression and pragmatic uses of various occult figures and practices; and the legacies and continuities of the occult...