I personally found Occult Germany to be a fascinating examination of a subject that quickly raises concerns dealing with Nazism, a force we unfortunately still deal with today.
McIntosh gracefully discussed this subject in his introduction, and stated that most of what we’ve heard, such as the Thule Society, and SS occult rituals dealing with Germanic and Norse Gods, tends to be over-exaggerated and/or taken out of context. Yes, the Thule Society was real, but it was shut down, more or less, by the Nazis early on in the regime’s rule. Yes, Himmler did have a fascination with the occult, and did form a division of his SS for those purposes, but again, material evidence is vague and most of it has disappeared since the fall of the regime.
That said, the Nazi era isn’t the only subject McIntosh covers; instead, as someone who has lived in Germany for quite some time, he embraces the other, beautiful history of mystical and occult Germany. McIntosh artfully weaves past and present together, showing a complete picture of the Germany of modern day, and how beliefs in the occult, etc., are still shown disdain because of the Nazi era’s fascination with it.
~ The Modern Merlin