The articles of this volume treat the expansion of the Nordic ideology in the first half of the twentieth century. They concentrate on the amalgamation of scientific, religious and political features, which transformed the idea of the North into a mainstay of extreme nationalism. Lacking positive norms and values, the Nordic idea depended on the opposition against everything deemed un-Nordic. Völkisch Nordicism shared with conventional forms of nationalism the enmity with Judaism and Bolshevism and – to a lesser extent – with Anglo-Americanism and Catholicism. Beyond that, it constituted a mythological counter narrative that combined the idea of spiritual kinship with biological lineage, on Pagan as well as on Christian grounds.

Horst Junginger, PD and PhD in history of religions, is currently professor of the study of religion at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. Andreas Åkerlund, PhD in history, is research fellow and research leader at the Department of History at Uppsala University.