Adventure, Not Agenda: The True Paranormal History Behind Raiders of the Lost Ark

When Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, it quickly became a classic, a thrilling adventure that captured the spirit of old movie serials and brought audiences into a world of treasure hunts, ancient mysteries, and larger-than-life heroes. Watching it today, though, some viewers have started to claim that Raiders is "political" simply because Indiana Jones fights Nazis. But that’s missing the point and the history entirely.

Raiders of the Lost Ark isn’t making a political statement. It’s grounded in real historical fact. Hitler and other senior members of the Nazi party were deeply fascinated by the occult, the supernatural, and ancient artefacts. This obsession wasn’t just a passing curiosity; it was institutionalised within the Nazi regime itself.

In 1935, Heinrich Himmler, one of Hitler’s top lieutenants and the head of the SS, founded the Ahnenerbe, the “Ancestral Heritage Research and Teaching Society.” Its stated goal was to prove the superiority of the so-called Aryan race, but its activities extended far beyond traditional archaeology. The Ahnenerbe sponsored expeditions across the globe in search of relics believed to hold mystical powers or to confirm Nazi racial mythology.

One of the most famous was the 1938–1939 German Tibet Expedition led by Ernst Schäfer. While officially framed as a scientific mission, the expedition was deeply tied to Himmler’s interest in finding traces of an ancient Aryan homeland and uncovering hidden spiritual wisdom. Beyond Tibet, the Nazis also scoured Europe and the Middle East for religious artefacts, including real attempts to locate the Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny, the lance that, according to Christian tradition, pierced Christ’s side during the crucifixion and was believed by some to grant invincibility to its holder.

Their ambitions went beyond biblical artefacts. Himmler’s fascination with Montségur and the Grail is widely known and well documented. Montségur, a ruined fortress in southern France associated with the medieval Cathar heresy and Grail legends, became a point of obsession. Himmler believed that ancient relics tied to these myths could offer tangible power to the Nazi cause. Historian Christopher Hale documents these efforts in Himmler’s Crusade: The True Story of the 1938 Nazi Expedition into Tibet, while Heather Pringle’s The Master Plan reveals how deeply pseudo-science and occultism influenced Nazi research and ideology.

The idea of the Nazis seeking the Ark of the Covenant, as shown in Raiders, fits seamlessly into this documented history of occult-driven quests. It wasn’t a fantasy cooked up by Hollywood, it was inspired by real, disturbing events from history.

While Raiders uses this background to build an exciting story, it doesn’t dive into the horrors of Nazi ideology. The movie doesn’t explore Nazi political beliefs, the Holocaust, or the regime’s crimes against humanity. It simply uses the Nazis as instantly recognisable villains, a storytelling choice rooted in historical fact but stripped of political commentary.

It’s important to be clear: the atrocities committed by the Nazi party must never be forgotten or minimised. Their crimes against humanity are among the darkest chapters in human history and deserve serious remembrance. However, Raiders is not a movie about confronting those crimes. It’s an adventure film set against the backdrop of a 1930s world where the Nazis were already a global threat, both militarily and, as their obsession with the supernatural shows, ideologically unhinged.

The idea of using the real history of the Nazis without making a movie political isn’t unique to Raiders. Another excellent example is Captain America: The First Avenger. That movie also features Nazis, along with the fictionalised division of Hydra, in a quest for supernatural weapons. Like Raiders, it takes inspiration from real history.

During World War II, Nazi Germany experimented heavily with human enhancement programs. Figures like Dr. Josef Mengele, infamous for his horrific medical experiments at Auschwitz, pursued twisted visions of genetic superiority. Meanwhile, the Nazi Lebensborn Program sought to breed a so-called “master race” by manipulating reproduction. Parallel to this, there were efforts in the United States to enhance soldier capabilities through chemical, psychological, and physical experiments, although nothing resembling a true "super soldier" ever emerged. The U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, explored experimental programs that included attempts to enhance endurance, reduce fear responses, and extend the physical limits of operatives.

Books like War Against the Weak by Edwin Black reveal how eugenics-based ideas weren’t limited to Germany but had roots in early 20th-century America. Annie Jacobsen’s Operation Paperclip shows how, after the war, the U.S. government quietly recruited former Nazi scientists to advance its own scientific and military projects, blurring the lines between wartime enemies and postwar ambition.

Captain America fictionalises these concepts, much like Raiders fictionalises Nazi relic hunts. Both films are based loosely on disturbing elements of real history, but they transform them into heroic stories of good triumphing over evil, without becoming political manifestos.

It’s easy to see why storytellers would use the Nazis as villains. They offer an immediate shorthand for evil without needing a lengthy explanation. They aren’t selected to push a modern political message; they’re chosen because their actions and ambitions, even their occult obsessions, make them fit naturally into stories about races against time and battles against dark forces.

Steven Spielberg himself made it clear that Raiders was designed purely as escapism, not as a political film. In a 1981 interview with American Film magazine, Spielberg said, “What we’re doing here is a comic-book movie. It's supposed to be the kind of movie I would have seen on a Saturday afternoon in the 1940s. It’s pure escapism.” He later added, “The Nazis were the obvious villains because you didn’t have to explain to an audience why they were bad. That was the whole point, we could get right to the adventure.” Spielberg’s words leave no doubt: the movie was created to thrill and entertain, not to preach or politicise.

At its heart, Raiders of the Lost Ark remains what it was always intended to be: a thrilling, timeless adventure inspired by history, myth, and imagination. It doesn't push a political message. It doesn’t preach ideology. It simply tells a story of a hero racing against evil to protect powerful relics from falling into the wrong hands.

However, in today’s polarised environment, people often project their own beliefs onto the stories they watch. A movie that was created without political intent can suddenly be labeled as “political” because of the personal or ideological lens through which it’s viewed. While Raiders itself isn’t political, some will inevitably try to frame it that way to fit their modern narratives.

Good storytelling endures because it transcends politics. Raiders of the Lost Ark endures because at its core, it’s about courage, mystery, and the timeless battle between good and evil, and that’s something everyone, no matter their beliefs, can understand.