The White (Supremacist) Continent: Antarctica and Fantasies of Nazi Survival

Abstract

This chapter examines a particularly lurid conspiracy theory—that Hitler survived the end of the Second World War and retreated to a hidden base in Antarctica, perhaps with the aid of flying saucers—to explore the relationship between physical and imagined geographies. I am not concerned with the “truth” of the theory: empirical evidence clearly indicates it is not, and there is ample reason to regard it as a useful piece of propaganda for the neo-Nazi cause rather than a truth claim in the conventional sense. Rather, my interest concerns the reasons why Antarctica provides a plausible setting for advancing a myth of persistent Nazi supremacy. The nature of Nazi ideology, in its actual and idealized forms, lent itself well to fantasies of technological supremacy and superhuman/inhuman strength that could tame even the harshest physical geography. Certain historical events before and after the War could be reinterpreted to provide support for such a narrative, lending just enough plausibility to make it a useful addition to an overarching discourse of Nazi survival. Appeals to history and physical geography are thus of limited value in changing what is essentially an ideological commitment.