Watch Hitler's Religion

Using archive film material rarely seen before, scenes of Lohengrin directed by Richard Wagner's great-grandson, Gottfried Wagner, and interviews with European specialists, this documentary shows the religious elements of National Socialism. Nazism as political religion is one explanation for the enthusiasm with which people in Central Europe followed Hitler. Fifty years after the end of the Third Reich, Gottfried Wagner staged a new, uncompromising production of Hitler's favorite opera in Dessau. Besides Hitler, the film draws a portrait of four men who inspired the Nazi ideology:

Richard Wagner (1813-1883), who already demanded in 1881 a "Germany free of Jews". August Strindberg (1849-1912), who accused in his racist novella "Tschandala", the female devil Eve of being the mother of subhuman creatures like Jews, Gypsies and Blacks.

Adolf Lanz (1874-1954), who used the word "Tschandala" for his Aryosophy. He later claimed that Adolf Hitler plagiarized his Aryan theory in "Mein Kampf" with only minor changes, making no acknowledgment to Lanz.

Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945), who founded the SS and modeled it on the Jesuit order.

He brought in Karl Wiligut, a follower of Lanz, to be the doctrinal advisor to the SS. Wiligut produced a graduated plan for abolishing also the Christian religion.

Hitler's Religion is a 1996 documentary with a runtime of 45 minutes.