Nazi Ahnenerbe was searching for Ark of the Covena

Contrary to an (alas) very popular misconception, Adolf Hitler was neither an occultist nor a magician and his Fuhrerstaat was no “occult Reich”. He was a mystic, not an occultist – and believed in mysticism, not magic (these are very different activities). However, he was an avid collector of works of art (and relics) – and wanted to have all famous relics and artefacts in his possessions.

Hitler was born to a practicing Catholic mother, Klara Hitler, and was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church; his father, Alois Hitler, was a free-thinker and skeptical of the Catholic Church.

In a speech in 1932, Hitler declared himself “not a Catholic and not a Protestant, but a German Christian”. The German Christians were a Protestant group that supported Nazi ideology.

Both Hitler and the Nazi Party promoted “nondenominational” positive Christianity” (statement to that effect was included in official NSDAP program) a movement which rejected most traditional Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus, as well as Jewish elements such as the Old Testament.

Consequently, for Hitler and the Nazis the Ark of the Covenant – like all other Old Testament relics and artefacts – had n spiritual or religious value. At all. Neither did he believe in its magical powers – so for him it was only a “crown jewel” of his gigantic collection. Nothing more.

It is a well-documented fact that in 1938 (right after Anschluss of Austria), under Hitler’s orders, the Holy Lance (spear that allegedly pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross during his crucifixion) with the other Habsburg regalia was placed on a special train and taken to Nuremberg under SS guard. There, it was housed in St Catherine’s Church.

He did want to obtain the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail – but not because he believed that these relics had any magical powers (he didn’t). He only wanted them for his grandiose collection of relics and artefacts.

SS-Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler was interested in magic and in the occult… but only in German magic (ancient and medieval) and in German occult (ditto). So, while he (allegedly) did order his Ahnenerbe (pseudoscientific research empire of the SS) to look for both, it was never a priority for him… of for Hitler – especially after the outbreak of the Second Great War.