The claim that Hitler and the Nazis were obsessed with the occult is [embedded](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=nazi%20occult&x=0&y=0) [in](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQtwIwAA&url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4360800110742625275&ei=5vexTeDbG6rt0gH-yICzDw&usg=AFQjCNHVE8mLJ20o143M6rk8h3IFzmqohA&sig2=3u4ygD21hQ8QTMbpkGXpYA) [our](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism_and_occultism) [pop](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195938/combined) [culture](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082971/combined) [now](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/combined), and often repeated in documentaries as if it is an established fact. (At least in the kinds of [documentaries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Occult_History_of_the_Third_Reich) that run on the History Channel.)

I am familiar with Otto Rahn, the German medievalist who was inducted into the SS and instructed to do research on the connection between German and French Grail traditions. What I've never seen any proof that Rahn's research was funded because of a belief in the occult, as opposed to the more political aim of proving some sort of territorial claim over France, however tenuous. I'd love some sort of primary reference as to Himmler's exact motives.

Is there any truth to the larger Nazi/occult claim? Do we have writings by Hitler or other high ranking Nazi officials on the subject of the occult? Is there good evidence that the Nazis actually expended significant manpower and money to find the Holy Grail or the Spear of Destiny? Obviously, I mean beyond the usual looting of museums that goes on in any conquest.