Nazi Occult History: Werewolves and the Third Reich

⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses Nazi atrocities, antisemitism, concentration camps and unethical human experiments. Discretion is advised.

What happens when a government turns myths into weapons and uses its own twisted ideology to justify real-world atrocities?

In the final years of Nazi Germany, the image of the werewolf became associated with a desperate campaign of resistance against the advancing Allies.

Behind the propaganda lay a regime determined to prolong a war it was losing, punish those who sought surrender, and preserve its grip on a collapsing nation.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 — A Dark Chapter in Real History
02:20 — Hitler, Wolves and Nazi Mythology
05:10 — The Werewolf and the Vampire Narrative
07:50 — Operation Werwolf: Germany’s Last Resistance
09:25 — The Assassination of Franz Oppenhoff
11:35 — Inside the Ahnenerbe
12:50 — Atlantis, Ancient Myths and Racial Pseudoscience
15:25 — Sigmund Rascher and the Human Experiments
17:25 — The Jewish Skeleton Collection
19:10 — The Real Monsters of the Third Reich

SOURCES

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum — Holocaust Encyclopedia: Natzweiler-Struthof (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/natzweiler-struthof)
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum — August Hirt and the medical crimes associated with the Jewish skeleton collection (https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/medical-experiments/august-hirt)
German Historical Museum — The Werwolf organisation and its activities (https://www.dhm.de/archiv/ausstellungen/ordnung-und-vernichtung/en/raum4.html)
Arolsen Archives — Historical records concerning Natzweiler-Struthof (https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/archive/1-1-29-2_01012902-oS)
The 86 victims: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90z8NW9i2Y
The 86 remains: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/86-remains-used-for-nazi-human-experiments-discovered-in-strasbourg-labratory.html
The only remaining audio of Radio Werwolf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxfsZ99bWPY