The Anti-Christian Context of the Genesis of German Nazism

The aim of this study is to identify the genesis of antiChristian ideas in German Nazism and to determine their place within the structure of Nazi ideology. The initial hypothesis regarding the existence of an anti-Christian core in the Nazi worldview is verified. The research is based on the methodological principles of discourse analysis and intellectual history, which allow for the reconstruction of key ideological components and the tracing of their origins, transformations, and continuity within the broader context of German social thought.

The study demonstrates that the roots of Nazi anti-Christian sentiment lie in European Romanticism, the neo-pagan myth, the völkisch movement, Wagnerian circles, and Nietzschean anti-theism. A staged strategy of religious transformation is identified: in the first stage, Christianity was merged with paganism; in the second, Christian elements were removed from the newly constructed religious surrogate; in the third, a “pure” Germanic pagan religion was to be established. A likely fourth stage envisioned the replacement of neo-paganism with its esoteric and hermetic core — an openly misanthropic, infernal, and satanic cult.

The research explores the processes of the Nazification of German Christianity, the institutionalization of Germanic neo-paganism, and the development of Nazi esotericism. It emphasizes that responsibility for Nazism lies not only with Hitler and the NSDAP, but with the broader Western civilization that gave rise to them. Neo-paganism, closely linked to neo-Nazism, continues to function as a significant attractor in the historical trajectory of Western thought.

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