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INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Identification: Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V.
Nationality: Occult Germany
Location: Berlin (HQ)
Nature of the organisation: occult archaeological institute
Number of personnel: unknown
Known affiliations: Thule Society
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July 1, 1935
Under influence of the Thule Society, the Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V., commonly referred to as the Ahnenerbe, is created to support the idea that the modern Germans descended from an ancient Aryan race. The group comprises scholars and scientists from a broad range of academic disciplines, who would spread across the globe on many expeditions in search of artefacts and texts supporting their Aryan beliefs.
Ahnenerbe scholars interpret evidence to fit Hitler's beliefs, and some consciously fabricate evidence to do so. The organisation sends out various expeditions to other parts of the world, intent on finding evidence of ancient Aryan expansion.
The German government used the Ahnenerbe's research to justify many of their policies. For instance, their claim that archaeological evidence indicated that the ancient Aryans lived across eastern Europe was cited in justification of German military expansion into that region. In 1937 the Ahnenerbe undertaking was renamed the Research and Teaching Community of the Ancestral Heritage (Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft des Ahnenerbe).
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| A.E. expedition to an undisclosed site |
NOTABLE EXPEDITIONS
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EGYPT
Year: 1936
Mission: recovery of the Ark of the Covenant, which Adolf Hitler believes will make his army invincible
Travels: Nepal, Cairo, Tanis
Operatives: Colonel Herman Dietrich (A.E.), Major Arnold Toht (Gestapo), Major Gobler (A.E.), René Belloq (French archeaologist for hire)
Rival operatives: Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. (US archeaologist), Marion Ravenwood (US relic hunter)
Mission Summary: after the Ahnenerbe is sent to Tanis for excavation, in search of the Ark, the US Army Intelligence recruits archaeologist Indiana Jones to recover the Ark first. Gestapo officer Arnold Toht is sent to Nepal to recover a medallion which is part of the staff of Ra, in order to locate the Well of Souls, the Ark's resting place. Despite Jones and Ravenwood's attempts, the A.E. are successful in retrieving the Ark. However, all contact with the expedition is lost shortly after the scheduled opening of the Ark.
Current status: the Ark is presumed to be in American hands
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| Colonel Dietrich and Major Toht, in a picture sent to HQ shortly before contact was lost. |
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IRANYear: 1938
Mission: study of the Behistun Inscription
Travels: Iran
Operatives: Walther Wüst (A.E. president), Mrs. Wüst.
Rival operatives: /
Mission Summary: an expedition comprising Wüst and his wife, an amanuensis, an Iranian student, a photographer, and an experienced mountaineer travels to Iran to study the Behistun Inscription, which had been created by order of the Achaemenid Shah Darius I, who had declared himself to have been of Aryan origin in his inscriptions. The inscriptions were recorded atop steep cliffs using scaffolding that was removed after the inscriptions were made. Unable to afford the cost of erecting new scaffolds, the expedition employed a balloon-mounted camera to take detailed pictures of the inscriptions.
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| One of the many pictures taken during the expedition. |
Year: 1938
Mission: recovery of the holy Grail, which Adolf Hitler believes will be the key to his immortality
Travels: Venice (Italy), Castle Brunwald (Austria), Berlin (Germany), Hatay (Turkey)
Operatives: Colonel Ernst Vogel (A.E.), Dr. Elsa Schneider (A.E.)
Rival operatives: Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. (US archaeologist), Henry Jones Sr. (US archaeologist)
Mission Summary: the American archaeology professor Henry Jones Sr. is kidnapped by Colonel Vogel and his Austrian colleague Dr. Elsa Schneider, while searching for the Holy Grail. After rescuing his father from his imprisonment by Colonel Ernst Vogel in the Austrian Castle Brunwald, Indiana Jones travels to Berlin to retrieve his father's diary which contains valuable clues to survive the booby traps guarding the Grail's location. Disguised as a German Army colonel, Jones recovers the diary from Elsa. They catch up with the A.E expedition in Hatay, where it found the temple in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon where the Holy Grail is kept. Indiana Jones is coerced to help them, allowing them to reach the Grail's chamber, where the true Grail is hidden among dozens of false grails. Vogel dies after drinking from a false grail. When Elsa Schneider tries to take the real Grail with her, this causes the temple to collapse around them when she crosses the Great Seal set in the floor at the entrance.
Current status: the Grail is presumed to be lost. Hitler is looking at other avenues to gain immortality, including experiments on lower vampires.
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| Vogel with the Grail. Background: Schneider and Jones; unidentified knightly figure. |
Year: 1943
Mission: recovery of a mysterious scroll that will grant great powers to the reader
Travels: Tibet
Operatives: Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, Blitzkrieg Squad
Rival operatives: /
Mission Summary: the Ahnenerbe tasks Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his Blitzkrieg Squad to travel to Tibet in search of a scroll that contains knowledge that will make its reader powerful, young, and immune to injury. They arrive shortly after a young Tibetan monk is entrusted with guarding the scroll and becomes the new bearer of its powers, forgoing his name. Granted its powers, the monk learns he will need to find his own successor to pass on the scroll in his future, but the German soldiers attack the temple shortly after, and the nameless monk escapes with the scroll after his master is killed.
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| Only known picture of the Bulletproof Monk, taken by an A.E. photographer in Tibet. |
