In 1909 in the Hofburg Museum of Vienna, a thin, pale, shabby young man stood before the treasures of the House of Hapsburg. Jeweled crowns glittered in their cases. But what transfixed the observer was one small item: the remains of a spear, dull and black with age. The unprepossessing visitor was Adolf Hitler. The object he worshipped was the Spear of Longinus.
The Spear of Longinus is reputed to be the one that pierced Christ’s side as He hung upon the cross. Hitler discovered that there were at least three other “holy” spears in Europe at that time. One was in the Vatican. A second had been taken to Paris at the time of the Crusades. Another was to be found in a church in Cracow, Poland. But the Spear of Longinus, named after the Roman centurion who wielded it, had commanded most attention. The reason: attached to its handle is a nail reputedly used in the Crucifixion.
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Coming up: Why did Adolf Hitler consider the Spear of Longinus his Spear of Destiny?
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
In 1909 in the Hofburg Museum of Vienna, a thin, pale, shabby young man stood before the treasures of the House of Hapsburg. Jeweled crowns glittered in their cases. But what transfixed the observer was one small item: the remains of a spear, dull and black with age. The unprepossessing visitor was Adolf Hitler. The object he worshipped was the Spear of Longinus.
The spear is reputed to be the one that pierced Christ’s side as He hung upon the cross. Hitler discovered that there were at least three other “holy” spears in Europe at that time. One was in the Vatican. A second had been taken to Paris at the time of the Crusades. Another was to be found in a church in Cracow, Poland. But the Spear of Longinus, named after the Roman centurion who wielded it, had commanded most attention. The reason: attached to its handle is a nail reputedly used in the Crucifixion.
The spear is said to have acted as a powerful talisman or charm for Constantine the Great, first Christian emperor of Rome; Charles Martel, who drove the Arabs out of eighth-century France; the emperor Charlemagne; and the Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa. According to tradition, all who possessed the spear were victorious. It was the mystical qualities of the Spear of Longinus that so fascinated Hitler.
An occult obsession
The man who revealed Hitler’s obsession with the Spear of Longinus was an Austrian scholar, Dr. Walter Stein. He struck up a friendship with Hitler prior to 1914 and came to know the man well.
According to Stein, Hitler’s belief in the supernatural powers of the spear led him into the darker realms of magic and the occult. He saw himself as a reincarnation of Landulf II of Capua, a terrifying ninth-century Sicilian tyrant who was also supposed to have obtained possession of the spear. Stein believed Hitler’s rise to power was aided by black magic and the Spear of Longinus.
When Hitler annexed Austria into the Third Reich in 1938, one of the first things he did was to revisit the Hofburg Museum, to claim his “Spear of Destiny.” He arranged for it to be taken by special train, under armed guard, to Nuremberg. There it was placed in a church that, on his instruction, was turned into a Nazi shrine.
When the Allies bombed the city, Hitler ordered the spear hidden in a special-purpose vault deep within the foundations of Nuremberg Castle.
Finally, on the 30th of April, 1945, U.S. troops, who had fought their way into Nuremberg in the face of fierce resistance, entered the vault and came upon the spear. Hitler, by then isolated in his bunker in Berlin, did not know this had happened. But only hours later, he shot himself.
Today, the spear is back in the Hofburg Museum, an ancient relic with a notorious past.
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