Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, was deeply fascinated by the occult and pseudosciences. In 1936, during the Berlin Olympics, he met the young naturalist Ernst Schäfer, with whom he shared a passion for the Eastern world and its spirituality. Himmler was convinced that his organization, the SS, was inspired by ancient Hindu warriors. In 1935, he founded the Ahnenerbe (Society for the Study of German Ancestral Heritage) to study the origins of the Aryan race and support Nazi racial theories.

Himmler’s fantasies combined mythology with pseudoscience. For instance, he believed that Atlantis had been the cradle of the Aryan race and was destroyed by cosmic cataclysms, as suggested by Hans Hörbiger's "cosmic ice" theory. This theory claimed that Earth had been struck by frozen moons, causing cycles of destruction and rebirth of civilizations, including the alleged sinking of Atlantis. Himmler received full support from Hitler, transforming the SS into a quasi-religious organization. Their headquarters was established in Wewelsburg Castle, Westphalia, a site laden with symbolism for German nationalism. Here, a select group of Nazi leaders, known as "the Circle of Twelve," participated in rituals and ceremonies celebrating Nazi mysticism and the cult of Aryan superiority. At the castle, Himmler also organized the millennium celebration of the death of Henry I of Saxony, a key figure for Germanic unity according to the Nazis.

The Ahnenerbe aimed to provide archaeological and scientific evidence to legitimize Nazi theories, but its studies were manipulated to confirm preexisting racial prejudices. From 1935 until the outbreak of the war, numerous expeditions were organized across Europe and Asia, including Schäfer's 1938 expedition to Tibet, to seek evidence supporting Himmler’s theories of Aryan supremacy and ancient human history.