Most of us know that Hitler believed that the Aryan race was the root of civilisation. But, what we might not know is that the Nazis even went to the extent of establishing an institution to research and provide scientific backing to their claims about the Aryan race
Ahnenerbe
In 1935, Heinrich Himmler, who executed the Holocaust, founded an organisation called the Ahnenerbe (“Ancestral Heritage”) whose claimed goal was to discover “new evidence of the accomplishments and deeds of Germanic ancestors using exact scientific methods”, wrote Christopher Hale, in his book Himmler’s Crusade
Himmler also sanctioned projects to find the lost city of Atlantis, the ‘Holy Grail’ and an expedition to find the origins of the Aryan race in Tibet. A TV documentary Nazi Quest for the Holy Grail explains these by referring to documents discovered by Americans during WWII
‘Reason for Holocaust’
An important figure in the group was Bruno Berger who looked for biological traces of Aryans, The Telegraph quoted Hale as saying. He said the work of these people promoted racial ideas that led to
the Holocaust
Christopher Hale, author of Himmler’s Crusade
There was a cientific culture at the time—we would say it was a pseudo-scientific culture but I think one as to bear in mind that people like Beger thought they were genuine scientists—that was supported by
the SS. Himmler promoted promoted the careers of cademics