The National Socialists were obsessed with their bizarre racial theories and desperate to subvert the science of archaeology to support the notion of a pure race of ancient Aryan supermen.
Those wacky Nazis. So determined to believe in their theory of “Aryan superiority,” they committed that age-old scientific heresy of making the facts fit the theory rather than vice-versa. Gotta admit, though, that some of their historical shoehorning was pretty inventive, and even a bit entertaining, if one strips them of their unpalatable racist overtones. For example, did you know that the White Aryans (as opposed to the actual, historical Aryans) came from Atlantis? They then went on to found the Hellenic culture AND the Persian Empire! That means at Thermopylae, when Leonidas and his 300 Spartans faced down Darius the Great and his armies, they were basically fighting themselves, since they were all Aryans! Somebody should’a told ‘em and prevented a lot of bloodshed!
The Nazis also “discovered” petroglyphs in Sweden proving that the Swedes, the Swiss, the Danish and Dutch were all descended from this White Aryan “super race,” which they conveniently used to argue that those peoples should join up with their movement. And long before Dan Brown came along to ruffle religious feathers with his DA VINCI CODE, the Nazis were hot on the trail of the Holy Grail. (Not to spoil the story for you, but they dinnae find it.)
