Behind the brutal image of the Nazi oppressive machine lay an even darker and at times surreal side: the obsession with the occult and the arcane. For many Nazi hierarchs like Himmler, it was not just superstition, but a serious search for relics, knowledge and artefacts that, according to their distorted pseudo-scientific perception, could legitimise their racism and racial policies. In 1930s Germany, brought to its knees by the economic crisis and widespread violence, secret and mystical societies proliferated. From this cultural humus, numerous Nazi theories on the occult developed. According to the Nazis, the possession of spiritual relics and the relationship with the world of spirits and ancient cults went hand in hand with the growth of the Reich's military and political power.

A striking example was Hitler's obsession with the Spear of Longinus, the spear that, according to mediaeval legends, pierced the side of Christ. Legend identifies this spear with the one on display at the Vienna Hofburg, a place Hitler came across in his youth, developing an obsession with this sacred object believing that its possession would give him absolute power. It was no coincidence that after the annexation of Austria to Germany in 1938, the spear was immediately transferred by Hitler to Nuremberg as a symbol of his renewed power.

Another famous relic targeted by the Nazis was the Holy Grail, the cup in which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Central to this obsession was the Nazi writer Otto Rahn who, financed by Himmler himself, undertook a series of excavations and explorations of the caves around the castle of Montsegur in southern France, considered by some to be the last Cathar stronghold and the true hiding place of the Grail. Rahn was found dead in 1940 in mysterious circumstances and the expedition was aborted, but his theories were taken very seriously by the Nazi hierarchs.

Along with these extravagant archaeological expeditions, the Nazis also did not fail to try to use ''magic'' or astrology for war purposes. Seers and astrologers were consulted in the early years of the war, until Hitler decided to officially ban these practices in 1941. In the end, Nazi occultism revealed itself as a tragic mirror of their ideology, a dangerous mixture of pseudo-science, racism and fanaticism that never led to anything concrete. A disturbing testimony to the human tendency to march towards the absurd.