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The Nazis were among the most extreme groups in history, driven by a fanaticism so intense that they executed millions who didn’t align with their ideology. This same zeal led them to devise schemes so absurd that they border on madness. This list highlights the grandiose and irrational mindset the Nazis employed in their quest for total control, whether over their adversaries or their own populace.
10. Their Attempt to Create a Super-Cattle Breed
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Nazis embarked on a mission to revive the extinct aurochs, a species of cattle. Julius Caesar once described these beasts as nearly elephant-sized and fiercely aggressive, revered by ancient hunters and warriors as symbols of bravery. The aurochs' legendary status aligned with the Nazis' vision of a superior Aryan heritage. With Nazi backing, zoologists Lutz and Heinz Heck spearheaded efforts to resurrect this ancient breed.
They implemented various selective-breeding initiatives with different cattle breeds to create a genetically flawless auroch. The result was a smaller, less robust version of the auroch, later dubbed “Heck cattle.” Many of these animals perished during World War II, but the surviving ones were relocated to a Belgian reserve. In 2009, over a dozen Heck cattle were moved from the reserve to a farm in Devon, UK—a far cry from the British invasion Hitler had envisioned.
9. Their Scheme to Brainwash Germans Using Nationwide Cable TV
In a chilling parallel to George Orwell’s 1984, the Nazis sought to manipulate the German populace through television. Adolf Hitler and his propagandists recognized the power of televised broadcasts in influencing public opinion. They enlisted Walter Bruch, an engineer known for developing CCTV systems to monitor rocket tests, to help achieve this goal.
Bruch proposed a broadband cable network stretching from Berlin to Nuremberg. Public television screens would display Nazi propaganda, including shows like Family Chronicles: An Evening With Hans and Gelli, which depicted the ideal Aryan family life. Another grim proposal involved airing footage of executed traitors. Fortunately, Germany’s defeat halted these plans before they could be fully realized.
8. Their Attempt to Hijack Christmas
The Nazis went to extreme lengths to align everything with their warped ideology, including Christmas. Initially, they sought to ban the holiday but failed due to its immense popularity among Germans. Unable to eliminate it, they instead aimed to distort Christmas entirely, promoting it as a winter solstice celebration.
Traditional symbols like Santa Claus were replaced with Odin, and biblical figures such as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were reimagined as Aryan icons. Even the Christmas tree was altered, with Nazi swastikas and runes taking the place of classic ornaments. Christian carols were swapped for songs praising the Aryan race. This absurd effort to redefine Christmas culminated in the Nazis portraying Hitler as the Messiah. As the war worsened, they repurposed Christmas to honor their fallen soldiers, a move largely ignored by a populace focused on survival.
7. Their Plan to Relocate Jews to Madagascar
Following their swift conquest of France in 1940, the Nazis aimed to transform Madagascar, a French colony, into a Jewish settlement. They intended to deport all European Jews, whom they accused of occupying the “lebensraum,” or living space, of Germans. While exile seemed preferable to mass murder, the Nazis planned to isolate the Jews on the island, severing all ties to the outside world. They also anticipated that tropical diseases and internal conflicts would lead to the Jews' eventual demise—solving their so-called problem.
However, the plan hinged on the Germans defeating and seizing the British Royal Navy’s ships to facilitate the transportation. When this failed, they explored alternatives like exiling Jews to Siberia or the Arctic, especially after invading the Soviet Union. As the war prolonged, the Nazi leadership grew impatient and abandoned the exile plan, opting instead for the outright extermination of the Jewish population.
6. Their Initiative to Create the Perfect Aryan Woman
Under Nazi rule, every effort was made to maintain the so-called racial purity of their society. Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, the highest-ranking female official in the Third Reich, collaborated with the SS to establish bride schools. These institutions trained German women in the art of being ideal Aryan wives and mothers. Attendance was strictly limited to German women, excluding all others. The curriculum, spanning six weeks, covered essential domestic skills like cooking and housekeeping.
Graduates who successfully completed the program received a certificate, marking them as suitable candidates for marriage and motherhood. Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader and a staunch advocate of the initiative, emphasized that it was a patriotic duty for German women to bear children who met the regime's racial ideals. However, as the war progressed and the demand for labor increased, this ideology waned, with more women being drafted into industrial roles to offset the shortage of male workers.
5. Their Angora Project Prioritized Rabbits Over Human Welfare
The Nazis' treatment of humans stood in stark contrast to their care for animals, a disturbing contradiction most visible in their Angora Project. In various concentration camps, prisoners were compelled to tend to large Angora rabbits. Overseen by Heinrich Himmler and the SS, this initiative involved thousands of inmates breeding rabbits for their fur, which was used to line military uniforms. Some officers even kept these rabbits as personal pets.
The cruelty of this project lay in the stark disparity between the treatment of the rabbits and the prisoners. While millions of prisoners suffered starvation and death, the rabbits lived in spacious enclosures and were fed nutritious meals daily. A camp commandant later admitted, “The best-fed beings in Mauthausen [concentration camp] were the Angora rabbits, which the SS kept as pets.”
4. They Provided Their Troops with Drug-Laced Sweets
A little-known factor behind the early success of Germany’s blitzkrieg, or lightning war, was the Nazis' decision to drug their soldiers. After observing the effects of Pervitin (a form of methamphetamine) on university students, Nazi leaders distributed the drug across all military branches. Pervitin allowed soldiers to stay awake longer and take greater risks. To make consumption easier, the drug was later coated with candy or chocolate. However, addiction to Pervitin led many soldiers to turn to alcohol and opiates to cope with its side effects.
In 1944, the Nazis developed a potent new drug to combat the Allied invasion. Combining Pervitin, cocaine, and morphine, they created D-IX, which was initially tested on prisoners. The drug’s effectiveness was evident as the prisoners exhibited extraordinary strength and stamina. Mass production was imminent, but the Allies' swift advance into Germany halted these plans. Meanwhile, Japan distributed its own methamphetamine variant, Hiropon, to its troops. This drug played a significant role in fostering the Japanese soldiers' refusal to surrender and the determination of kamikaze pilots to carry out their deadly missions.
3. They Envisioned a Fourth Reich
Following Germany’s loss at Stalingrad in 1943, high-ranking Nazi economists and industrialists realized the war was unwinnable. They began preparing for a post-war Fourth Reich, as outlined in the Red House Report. During a meeting in Strasbourg, key industrialists agreed that this new regime would prioritize economic dominance over military might. They planned to financially support the Nazi Party underground until it could reemerge and regain control.
With the Nazi government’s assistance, these industrialists smuggled vast amounts of Germany’s wealth into friendly or neutral nations, particularly in South America. After the war, while most Nazi leaders faced execution or punishment, the industrialists escaped with minimal consequences. Today, some conspiracy theorists claim the Fourth Reich persists, suggesting it operates under the guise of the Germany-led European Union. Whether true or not, the idea remains a topic of intrigue.
2. They Nearly Finished Constructing the World’s Largest Hotel Resort
The Nazis didn’t rely solely on fear and manipulation for control—they also sought to win public favor by offering various perks. As part of their “Strength Through Joy” initiative, they embarked on constructing one of the world’s largest hotel resorts. Located on an island in Germany’s Baltic Sea, Hotel Prora stretched 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and was designed to house 20,000 guests. It boasted lavish facilities, including restaurants, theaters, and even its own railway station. The regime hoped the resort would foster harmony between the working class and their employers, promoting collaboration.
However, the project was abandoned when workers were redirected to arms production after Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. The Soviets later discovered the site and attempted to demolish it, but with limited success. In 2011, the hotel reopened as a youth hostel, drawing tourists and history enthusiasts intrigued by its controversial Nazi origins.
1. They Hired Practitioners of the Occult
While many know that top Nazis dabbled in the occult, fewer are aware that they took it seriously enough to hire occultists for military tasks. Among the most notable were Wilhelm Wulff, Ludwig Straniak, and Wilhelm Gutberlet. Wulff, an astrologer, was assigned to locate Italian dictator Benito Mussolini after his capture. Using his supposed psychic abilities, he succeeded. Straniak, an architect, employed dowsing techniques to accurately pinpoint the location of the German battleship Prince Eugen, which was on a covert mission near Norway.
The most perilous of the trio was Gutberlet, a doctor. As one of Hitler’s earliest and most trusted allies, he claimed the ability to detect Jews even in large gatherings. Hitler valued his skills so highly that he appointed him as a racial advisor, leveraging his alleged powers for the regime’s agenda.
