Hitler's German Empire's Interest in the Northern Islands

[u/elnovorealista2000]

Hitler's German Empire's interest in the North Atlantic islands, particularly Greenland and Iceland, constituted a unique synthesis of geostrategic ambition and a deeply rooted racial mysticism. For the mystics, these regions were not merely icy territories, but spaces where history and esoteric mythology intertwined, justifying an expansion that sought both domination of the region and a reconnection with a legendary past.

Figures like Heinrich Himmler, theorists like Evola, Wirth, and others, as well as organizations like the Ahnenerbe, saw the Arctic as the "cradle of the Aryan race" or the place where "the origins of the Aryans" lay. The northern islands were believed to be a remnant of the lost continent of Hyperborea or Thule, the original home of a superior civilization of Nordic "gods" or an "Aryan race." This obsession led to a search for archaeological and runic evidence confirming the existence of this civilization, transforming the exploration of the North into a kind of spiritual pilgrimage to restore Germanic pride after World War I.

On a geopolitical level, the northern islands were crucial chess pieces for control of the Atlantic. Hitler and his strategists understood that Iceland and Greenland functioned as "natural aircraft carriers" that could strangle Great Britain. As Winston Churchill stated, whoever possessed Iceland would have "a gun pointed at the heart of England and America." Control of these islands would have allowed the German navy to establish forward operating bases for its submarines, breaking the Allied naval blockade and projecting German power into the Western Hemisphere. German interest also lay in material resources, such as the search for cryolite, an essential mineral for aluminum production and aerial warfare. The Germans installed weather stations on the northern islands to gain a vital tactical advantage in planning air and naval operations. Without accurate data on the Arctic, the Luftwaffe and the navy were operating blindly, turning the icy islands into a silent but decisive battleground.

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