this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 40 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (6 children)

I know the Nazis we’re all in on occult type shit and “germanic / roman” mythos, is this meme just that Steiner had the same kind of woowoo occult going on?

I thought the Nazis we’re generally against Steiners brand of woowoo

OH I DID MORE GOOGLING:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner_and_race

"Steiner, along with Hübbe-Schleiden and Hartmann, was affiliated with the racist and anti-Semitic Guido von List Society. For many anthroposophists in fact, 'Jewishness signified the very antithesis of spiritual progress and the epitome of modern debasement.'"[334] The theories of theosophy and anthroposophy were "later co-opted by National Socialism"

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 33 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Both stem from romantic and naturalistic idealism, that‘s Part of German culture. Modernity had severed the relationship between the people and the land and nature. Christianity and Judaism were seen as invasive religions, that eradicated the natural indigenous religion.

There‘s an antisemitic strain that rejected modern medicine as Jewish, and favored alternative methods. Homeopathy, Anthroposophic medicine, new Germanic medicine, quackery, and other alternatives were supported by the Nazis.

The Nazis regulated quacks and providers of alternative medicine as Heilpraktiker (healing practitioners), a law that‘s still around today in Germany. This legitimized them in the eyes of the public until today.

It’s all pretty convoluted and there’s no clear line. Nazism as an ideology has a lot of inherent contradictions. It’s both against modernity, for a more ancient indigenous culture, while embracing modernity, technology, media, and revolutionary change. It’s very syncretic.

Anthroposophy and other alternative medicine remains popular in Germany today, especially among the educated middle and upper class. Left-liberal hippies will often send their children to Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) schools, which you can find in every medium sized city. I have personally listened to a Waldorf teacher talk in front a group of 40ish people how the Holocaust was the result of bad karma accumulated by the Jewish people. According to him the Jewish people were were cleansed by it and transitioned now to a higher stage of development.

The success of the German Green Party, organic farming, environmentalism, anti nuclear sentiment, alternative medicine, has a direct cultural origin in the naturalist romantic idealism from the late 19th, early 20th century. The Nazis co-opted some of it, because it fit in with their Völkisch and antisemitic ideas.

Even today, you can find neo-Nazis in Germany, who care a lot about the environment and animal welfare, also following alternative quack medicine. Anti vaccine sentiment was widespread in west Germany before COVID, and the anti-vax movement was easily co-opted by the far right afterwards.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s funny how hippies becoming right wing extremist is a worldwide phenomena. Even without the Nazi influence late stage hippies always end up on the far right. Like in my country the face of the anti-covid movement is a stereotypical white boy hippie with dreds. Like the typical mistrust in the government hippies have creates a lot of overlap with the far-right hence why some hippies become right wing extremist.

[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

Having strong opinions about how people should behave that doesn't align with everyone else’s is a natural path to authoritarianism, regardless of political alignment.

The best defence is accepting multiple ways to live, some hippies are open minded that way and I’d I expect them to be immune, but of course there’s always been the “oh you must not ever put unnatural chemicals in your body” or “we need to return to hunter gatherer dynamics which definitely existed in exactly the way I dream of” nutters, who are ripe for radicalising.

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