Thread by @EsotericRelics

The fascinating relationship between Joan of Arc and the Third Reich: (A Thread)

Many of the elusive findings of the SS’s “Hexenkartothek” echo the ideas of earlier anthropologists including Margaret Murray, who invest a great deal of attention to Joan of Arc, whose last name was officially recorded as “Tart” in her witchcraft trial..

In 1921, anthropologist Margaret Murray argued Joan was identified as a witch by the religious authorities, but what they called witchcraft was, in fact, a survival of an "old religion" of Europe. She envisions Joan as leader in a “pagan” mold that was a rival to the Church.

She argues that Joan was seen as a cult icon derived from worship of the virgin huntress known as Diana, or “Skadi” in the Germanic religion. Murray claimed this pagan influence still composed the religious feeling of rural people this is why Joan inspired the ordinary soldier:

“The men-at-arms, drawn from the lower orders, followed without hesitation one whom they believed to have been sent by their God, while the whole army was commanded by Marshal Gilles de Rais, who apparently tried to belong to both religions at once..” — Murray

There is also a recurring legend among older French myths proposing that Joan was the illegitimate daughter of Duke Charles d'Orléans, a member of the Capetian house of Valois, a descendent of the Karolinger bloodline of Charlemagne, placing her in a royal Germanic bloodline..

Joan as an anti-clerical Germanic figure continues into the early modern era. Édouard Adolphe Drumont, founder of the Antisemitic League of France, depicts her as an antisemitic icon and hero against “organized Jewry,” and a “Baptized Aryan”, in La Libre Parole, May 30, 1894.

Das Mädchen Johanna is a 1935 Nazi historical film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Angela Salloker. It depicts the life of Joan as a female embodiment of a Führer figure. The press abroad detected parallels between the presentation of France in 1429 and Germany in 1935..

The veneration of Joan by the Third Reich continued during the occupation of France, where German soldiers stationed in the vicinity of statues of Joan would reportedly make a pilgrimage to her statues, in such places as Rigny-le-Ferron, baffling many local French onlookers.

Parallels between Joan and Hitler were not exclusive to his political allies:

“Hitler smiled pleasantly and had a sort of appealing and affectionate look in his eyes.. As I talked with him I could not help but think of Joan of Arc.."

— Robert Fisk, Canadian Prime Minister

If I ever made a Youtube channel I would probably cover this subject first because I have rarely seen it discussed.