History Main / Ghostapo

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rararasputin_6.png]]]]

* In Creator/RobinJarvis's novel ''[[Literature/TalesFromTheWyrdMuseum The Woven Path]]'', a young boy from the modern era named Neil enters a mysterious museum filled with powerful and dangerous artefacts. He ends up transported back in time to World War II London, but in the process unwittingly opens a casket containing Belial, an ancient demon held in the museum's Separate Collection. It is unleashed to wreak more death and destruction on the already wartorn world. Nazi spy Kathleen Hewitt encounters Belial and eagerly accepts his offer for her to become his new high priestess, certain that an alliance with the evil being would ensure a Nazi victory. But in the end he is defeated and her hopes are dashed.

** Defied in ''TabletopGame/WorldWarCthulhu'',While the investigators may encounter the occasional ex-Ahnenerbe SS officer who has uncovered some pre-human tomb, his activities are unsanctioned and as aberrant as those of any other dabbler in the Mythos. There were no magical sacrifices in the concentration camps; the Nazis did not use magic or the Mythos. Keepers are instructed to avoid overusing Nazi exploitation of the Mythos, for it changes the game into an alternate-history weird war, and turns the Mythos into something rational, predictable, diminishing the horror.

** In ''[[ComicBook/TheInvaders]]'' #32-33, a Nazi scientist manages to summon [[Myth/NorseMythology the norse god Donar]] from another world, much to the [[Music/RichardWagner Wagner]]-loving Hitler's joy, and is soon swayed into the Nazi cause under a filmsy Aryan descendance pretext and used to kill UsefulNotes/JosefStalin.[[note]]Another Donar appears in the very first ''Invaders'' issues, but it's just an alien masquerading as the deity; the real one is summoned with the power of anachronistic television.[[/note]] Since AllMythsAreTrue in the ''Marvel'' universe, "Donar" is none other than ComicBook/TheMightyThor.[[note]]Thor abandons the Nazis once he learns about Hitler's genocidal ambition thanks to an early Dr. Doom cameo, and technically doesn't ''kill'' Stalin, just accidentally give superpowers to another superhero disguised as him. Everything MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/Area51'': The Nazis were aided/manipulated by secret aliens on Earth, pursuing ancient mythical artifacts that turn out to be lost alien technology, and were motivated with a belief in Thule, which is essentially a Germanic Atlantic per their view. Additionally the real Thule Society (an early occult group that some leading Nazis were members of) is described as the force behind the Nazi Party driving this. The occult beliefs that some Nazis like Himmler held are highlighted.

** This or StupidJetpackHitler. The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse plays ClarkesThirdLaw ''hard'' when it comes to Asgardian tech. Magic is science, science is magic. Take your pick, because the Asgardians sure don't see any need to.
** In-universe, Hitler himself apparently has no real belief in the occult or advanced technology (as in real life). Erskine tells [[TheHero Steve]] that Hitler simply uses Norse symbology as propaganda, while Schmidt genuinely believes in the Asgardians. Although Schmidt makes a throwaway line about the ''Führer'' "[[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk digging for trinkets in the desert...]]"

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' of course. Not one, but two of the movies and the cinematic [[VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis adventure game]] feature Nazis trying to recover an ancient artifact that will grant them untold magical power, including [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk The Ark of the Covenant]], [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade the Holy Grail]], and other stuff. One of the comic books features Indy searching for TheSpearOfDestiny and having to battle both Nazis and druids to get it. Ultimately, of course, it ends up with the US military, and since ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the destiny of the world lies with the Spear]]'' Hiroshima is nuked almost immediately afterward.

** Deputy Fuehrer Rudolf Hess believed it so much that he was inspired by a dream to make an unauthorized peace proposal by parachuting into Britain to offer it. Hitler quickly disavowed Hess, had his propaganda machine paint him as a total flake and had scores of psychics, mediums etc. rounded up as a scapegoat for Hess embarrassing the Third Reich.

* There's the interesting case of Erik Jan Hanussen, a hypnotist, mentalist, and fortuneteller who has been attributed with teaching Hitler his charismatic form of public speaking, predicting the Reichstag fire that enabled Hitler to seize absolute power, and later being assassinated by the SA for getting too much influence with the Fuhrer. Bear in mind, like most other Nazi-occultism allegations, there is a good chance that a lot of stories associated with him are more sensationalism than fact.

May also overlap with {{Nazisploitation}} and NinjaPirateZombieRobot. SubTrope of WeirdHistoricalWar. SuperTrope to NaziZombies.

* ''Series/TokkyuShireiSolbrain'' has an actual ghost of a female SS officer, known simply as the "Woman of Riga", who also committed large-scale atrocities during the second World War in Nazi-occupied Latvia. Many people have lost their lives over it and they swore a curse upon her as they died. The officer is said to have died with Hitler in an underground bunker when Berlin fell, her spirit resides inside a portrait which was last located in a church in Riga. Her spirit influenced young women to tragically [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]] with some having grandfathers who were allies with Hitler. The spirit also possesses Ako Gunji and would battle Solbrain. At the end, they would then destroy the spirit and her portrait, putting an end of her reign of terror for good.

* The season three episode of ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'', aptly titled "Normandy", has Helen, Watson, Griffen and Tesla (from the war office in England) going against Hitler's own abnormal hunting group, seeming helped by Druitt, who were going to use a Fire Elemental to stop the D-Day Invasion. Watson points out the irony of Hitler going after the imperfect creatures to help in his quest for a perfect world.

* Given the way it blends real world occult history and LovecraftianFiction, this trope's inclusion in the ''Radio/PleasantGreenUniverse'' was inevitable. Nazi occultists play a prominent role in the BackStory, as the current incarnation of the British paranormal defense agency known as "[[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction The Department of Works]]" was created to fight them (though they have antecedents going back at least to the 1600s). RealLife Thule society member and pre-Hitler national socialist Rudolf von Sebbotendorf briefly turns up in the adaptation of ''Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard'' as [[spoiler:a candidate for a previous host of the spirit of the ancient Mesopotamian sorcerer Ipku-Aya]].

* As noted above, a number of neo-Nazi groups have also embraced this trope due to their anti-Semitic sentiments extending to Christianity. [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg Vikernes]], the infamous BlackMetal musician who murdered [[Music/{{Mayhem}} Euronymous]], is an outspoken pagan and Nazi sympathizer, his involvement in a number of church burnings in Norway in TheNineties motivated primarily by nationalist/religious causes that saw Christianity as foreign to Scandinavia. [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59kq93/racists-are-threatening-to-take-over-paganism This article]] by Sarah Lyons for ''Vice'' goes into more detail on how neo-Nazis have latched onto paganism, particularly "reconstructionist" pagan faiths that attempt to recreate ancient pre-Christian religions.

* As noted above, a number of neo-Nazi groups have also embraced this trope due to their anti-Semitic sentiments extending to Christianity. [[Music/{{Burzum}} Varg Vikernes]], the infamous BlackMetal musician, is an outspoken pagan and Nazi sympathizer, his involvement in a number of church burnings in Norway in TheNineties motivated primarily by nationalist/religious causes that saw Christianity as foreign to Scandinavia. [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59kq93/racists-are-threatening-to-take-over-paganism This article]] by Sarah Lyons for ''Vice'' goes into more detail on how neo-Nazis have latched onto paganism, particularly "reconstructionist" pagan faiths that attempt to recreate ancient pre-Christian religions.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastResurrection'' Hitler is actually the right-hand man to Jesus himself, and teams up with his angels. Could count as a subversion depending on metaphysical semantics.

* In a ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'' issue imagining what the book would be like if it had a ComicsMerger with ''Comicbook/BattleAction'', the latter's more conventional war stories have been given a fantastic overlay. ''Major Eazy'' is now about the title character teaming up with a British Museum archeologist to stop occult items falling into the hands of the Nazis, while ''Hellman of Hammer Force'' has been renamed ''Hellman of Hell Force'', and is about the Nazis ''invading Hell''.

On the other hand, the Nazi movement was large and there were various strains to their pan-Germanic ultranationalism. This included mystics, the sort of whackos who believed the Aryan race descended from Atlantis, a super advanced civilization of the whitest whiteness who were lost because of [insert eugenics here]. Or they just believed in magic; the Black Sun was adopted in part because it's the letter S repeated a bunch of time and the SS liked that, but also because it was believed to have magic power. Ariosophy was a brand of esoteric nationalism, itself built on the Völkisch movemnt, that was popular in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century that was woven throughout the Nazi movement.

One other benefit is that within your fantastical world, the true horrors of the Third Reich can "keep up" with your everyday fantastical horrors, rather than being overshadowed. The downside is that it can be a bit, well, [[ThoseWackyNazis silly,]] which can diminish the impact of the factual events; indeed, the Nazis are a common source of EvenEvilHasStandards from more fantastic evils.

* ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' features the Longinus Dreizehn Orden, a group of immortal, magically enhanced Nazis lead by the infamous hangman of the Third Reich, UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich carrying the title of [[Myth/{{Faust}} Mephistopheles]] while Karl Ernst Krafft is a genuine magician having taught them all these secrets, and all seek to have a wish granted by sacrificing the people in Suwahara City. [[spoiler:It ends with (depending on route) Reinhard succeeding with the sacrifice and ascending to become a God while Krafft is revealed to in reality be the {{God}} of the universe, Mercurius, acting under alias]]. Amusingly, for the most part they are Nazis InNameOnly with most of the members just being a ragtag bunch that, in some cases quite literally, where just taken off the street.

* ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' features a group of immortal, magically enhanced Nazis lead by the infamous hangman of the Third Reich, UsefulNotes/ReinhardHeydrich carrying the title of [[Myth/{{Faust}} Mephistopheles]] while Karl Ernst Krafft is a genuine magician having taught them all these secrets, and all seek to have a wish granted by sacrificing the people in Suwahara City. [[spoiler:It ends with (depending on route) Reinhard succeeding with the sacrifice and ascending to become a God while Krafft is revealed to in reality be the {{God}} of the universe, Mercurius, acting under alias]]. Amusingly, for the most part they are Nazis InNameOnly with most of the members just being a ragtag bunch that, in some cases quite literally, where just taken off the street.