Intelligence Reports - Handouts

[Airbornexo]

OSS / EYES ONLY
DEPARTMENT OF WAR
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES
Washington, D.C.

SUBJECT: SS AHNENERBE

1. The Ahnenerbe (the Ancestral Heritage Research and Teaching Foundation) is a Nazi German think tank that promotes itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal is to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan race, and to experiment and launch voyages with the intent of proving that prehistoric and mythological Nordic populations had once ruled the world.

2. It is well documented that many of the Nazi elite believe in the powers of the occult. Adolf Hitler, Reichsmarschal Rudolf Hess, and Schutzstaffel (SS) chief Heinrich Himmler all regularly consult astrologers for political and military advice. But the influence of the occult on the Nazis is not limited to the hopeful fantasies of the elite. It is institutionalised and came hand in hand with the rise of Hitler.

Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and founder of the Ahnenerbe.

3. In the 1920s, many members of the Nazi party were also members of Thulegesellschaft, or Thule Society. The Thulegesellschaft is an occult society that promotes Aryan superiority by linking the Aryans to the "supermen" of the lost civilisation of Atlantis, which they call "Thule".

4. After Hitler's election as Reichschancellor in 1933, some preliminary occult research was conducted by the Ahnenerbe. Part of Himmler's personal staff its official duties included archaeological and anthropological research designed to support Nazi racial doctrine. It is with this aim that expeditions both publicised and secret are being dispatched across the globe to gather information about the Thule.

JACK T. HARGREAVES
Colonel, U.S. Army
Office of Strategic Services

OSS / EYES ONLY

[Airbornexo]

OSS / EYES ONLY
DEPARTMENT OF WAR
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES
Washington, D.C.

SUBJECT: SS AHNENERBE EXPEDITION TO THE CONGO; MAY 1941

1. OSS operatives in Berlin intercepted a written communique coming from the headquarters of the SS Ahnenerbe to Heinrich Himmler regarding an proposed operation to the Belgian Congo in relation to the Thule. Himmler has marked this expedition as priority one for the war effort. SS-Sturmbannführer Ernst Fadel has been placed in charge of leading the expedition.

JACK T. HARGREAVES
Colonel, U.S. Army
Office of Strategic Services

OSS / EYES ONLY

[Airbornexo]

OSS / EYES ONLY
DEPARTMENT OF WAR
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES
Washington, D.C.

SUBJECT: MISSING SS EXPEDITION; AUGUST 1941

1. Reports have been intercepted via our Berlin agents that Fadel's expedition to the Belgian Congo has gone missing without a trace. Himmler is reported to be furious and has placed SS-Standartenführer Lothar Wahl in charge of leading an operation to determine the fate of the previous expedition.

2. This new expedition is both larger and, more importantly, partially privately funded by member of Nazi society and Academia. Investment via an American Nazi sympathetic company, [CENSORED], will allow the OSS to place agents on the expedition.

3. The primary operational target for this combined OSS / Allied mission is to determine the nature of the Thule target in terms of its significance to the war effort in Europe. All information connected with this unit will be restricted by a special access program cleared by Major General Donovan (OSS).

JACK T. HARGREAVES
Colonel, U.S. Army
Office of Strategic Services

OSS / EYES ONLY