Thule Society

The Thule High Command

Nazi Bastards. – Dean Winchester, 8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler

History

The Thule Society is a group of necromancers with plans of world domination. They originated in Europe and sponsored the Nazi party in its early days. The Judah Initiative was formed to fight them and it was implied that the Styne family assisted in their rise to power.

The Thule High Command, the primary leaders of the Thule Society, were Commandant Nauhaus, Hans, Wolfgang, and Gottfried. The four members of Adolf Hitler's inner circle during World War II who were present when Nauhaus preserved Hitler's soul in his pocket watch before he died.

In Vitsyebsk, Belarus following the Nazi occupation in World War II, the Thule Society established a camp where they carried out terrible magical experiments on the Jewish people in attempts to reanimate the dead. Commandant Eckhart devizes the experiments and records the results, which eventually lead to him being able to revive dead Nazis, in a red ledger. The reanimated soldiers could be killed with a headshot but will come back to life unless the body is burned within twelve hours.

The Judah Initiative raised a Golem, known as the Golem of Vitsyebsk, to destroy the camp, but Eckhart was able to use magic to escape and engulf the compound in flames to cover his tracks, leaving the red ledger behind in the process.

Members

• Commandant Nauhaus (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased: 2016)
• Hans (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased: 2016)
• Wolfgang (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased: 2016)
• Gottfried (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased: 2016)
• Eckhart (8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler; Deceased: 2013)
• Torvald (8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler; Deceased: 2013)
• Befehlsleiter Gumprecht (11.14 The Vessel; Deceased: 1943)
• Christoph Nauhaus (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Former)
• Fritz (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased 2016)
• Adolf Hitler (12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For; Deceased 2016)

Episodes

The signet ring of the Thule Society as worn by Eckhart.

8.13 Everybody Hates Hitler

Torvald, a member of the Thule Society, follows Rabbi Bass, eventually causes him to spontaneously combust in a college bar after he locates the red ledger which both the Judah Initiative and the Thule Society have been seeking for decades.

When Sam, Dean and the Rabbi's grandson Aaron track down the Red Ledger, Torvald tries to take it and shoots magic poison darts into Sam and Aaron until the Golem kills him and the spell is broken. Sam and Dean later burn his body to cover their tracks. The Golem tells them how he was made in the Ghetto of Vitsyebsk to battle the Thule Society. He was sent to destroy the members of the Thule in a Nazi Compound in Belarus. He killed all the men in the Compound except the Commandant; Eckhart, who was able to escape and burned the entire Compound down to ash around the Golem, but the Red Ledger is the sole thing that survived the fire. Sam was able to translate the ledger and determine that it contains the information on magical experiments that were taking place where they try to bring their own dead back to life and a roster of every dead Thule member who was reanimated. Eckhart and his men tracked down Aaron and the Winchesters and break into their safe-house to steal the red ledger. He was able to deactivate the Golem by removing the scroll from its mouth before it can kill him. Eckhart tells them that he was the one who invented and authorized the experiments that can bring the Thule Society members back from the dead. When Aaron causes a distraction, Sam and Dean are able to shoot two of them and Eckhart, but one escapes. After realizing the importance of his legacy, Aaron takes possession of the Golem and vows to continue the work of his grandfather and the Judah Initiative by taking the red ledger with him. Sam was able to make copies of the Red Ledger to update the Men of Letters Bunker's library.

Red Ledger

9.06 Heaven Can't Wait

When Dean is at a loss at what could possibly be causing people to explode in Rexford, Idaho, Sam suggests spontaneous combustion, and that it could be the Thule. Dean tells him he had already ruled them out as the bodies were vaporized and not burned.

11.14 The Vessel

Sam had been looking through the Men of Letters' archives to find a weapon that can stop the Darkness when he found references to the "Ahnenerbe" -- a branch of Nazis devoted to archaeology, and "The Vichy Memorandums," Nazi communications that spoke of a super-weapon that was obtained by the Ahnenerbe that was said to be strong enough to win the war -- the Hand of God. It was soon revealed that the Ahnenerbe was composed of members of the Thule who were looking for supernatural methods to win World War II.

Befehlsleiter Gumprecht, who had been stabbed in the neck by Delphine Seydoux, reveals himself to be a member of the Thule Society, when he tracks down the USS Bluefin to get Delphine and the Hand of God, a fragment of the Ark of the Covenant. Gumprecht is soon killed when Delphine uses the Hand of God, destroying the USS Bluefin and blasting a hole into the fuel tanks of the German Destroyer carrying Gumprecht, incinerating him along with everyone else that was on the sinking ship.

12.05 The One You've Been Waiting For

The Thule Society reemerges attempting to resurrect Adolf Hitler after retrieving the watch containing his soul. To this end, they kill the owner of the pawnshop where the watch ended up in and his customer and begin chasing one of Hitler's descendants Ellie Grant.

The murders committed by the Thule draw the attention of the Winchesters who realize that they are dealing with the Thule Society once more after finding out what the killers had been after. The Winchesters contact Aaron Bass who tells them that he and the Golem have used the Thule's red ledger to hunt down and kill half of the Thule membership recorded within it with Aaron killing six and the Golem killing the rest. Aaron and the Golem have also gotten their hands on some of their documents about a new Thule plot, "Das Blut" (The Blood), but beyond it involving the entire Thule High Command, he knows nothing more about it.

After rescuing Ellie from Christoph Nauhaus, the Winchesters interrogate him about the Thule plot. Christoph finally explains about how his father, Commandant Nauhaus preserved Hitler's soul in the pocket watch and the Thule intend to resurrect him. He also explains how the Thule Society keeps track of all of Hitler's descendants and that Ellie is one of them who was ironically in the same state as the pocket watch. The Thule track down Ellie and Christoph, rescuing Christoph and capturing Ellie. However, due to Christoph disagreeing with his plans, Nauhaus attempts to have him killed by Fritz. Christoph manages to kill Fritz and betrays the Thule to the Winchesters in exchange for protection.

Using Ellie's blood, the Thule are able to make Nauhaus a suitable vessel for Hitler's soul and successfully resurrect him. However, due to spending so long trapped in the watch, Hitler comes back insane to the surprise of the Thule. After locating the hanger used by the Thule with Christoph's help, the Winchesters kill two guards before being captured by Hitler and the Thule High Command. As the Thule and Hitler are distracted with the Winchesters, Ellie breaks free, grabs Sam's gun and uses it to kill Hans. Dean then uses Hans' gun to kill Wolfgang and Gottfried before turning on Hitler. Though Hitler begs for his life, Dean knocks him unconscious and shoots Hitler in the head, killing both Hitler and Nauhaus, which makes Dean very proud of himself for killing Hitler.

Following the fight, the Winchesters and Ellie burn the bodies of Hitler and the Thule High Command, preventing them from ever being resurrected again. The Winchesters let Christoph go, but warn him to run as what's left of the Thule Society will chase him as a traitor for his role in the death of their leadership.

15.14 Last Holiday

Dean once again mentions that he killed Hitler before he and Sam go to the Bunker's grid-control center to repair the electricity, water, and gas.

In a film recorded by Cuthbert Sinclair, it's revealed that Mrs. Butters was rescued from a Thule laboratory by Clifford Henshaw of the Men of Letters in the late 1930's. It also appears that the Thule Society has been active prior to World War II at the time they captured the wood nymph, who killed an entire Nazi battalion composed of over 200 men single-handedly before she was restrained. When she was brought to the Bunker, Cuthbert Sinclair conducted a series of experiments on her to show her the importance of the Men of Letters and their mission. On the film reel, to test her new loyalty and dedication to their cause, Cuthbert orders her to kill a captured Thule agent that has been thoroughly interrogated and is of no more use to them. Mrs. Butters kills the Thule by ripping his head off with her bare hands. As a result, she joins the Men of Letters for service and security.

When confronted by Jack, Mrs. Butters comments that Nazis are hardly men and she believes Jack reveled in watching "that dog's death." She purposefully lured Jack to the film reel left with her case file to see if he's bloodthirsty like Lucifer.

The Thule Society in History

The Thule Society (/ˈθjuːliː/; German: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. The Society is notable chiefly as the organization that sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP), which was later reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party).