The Infidel: The SS Occult Conspiracy

The historical fiction spy thriller begins in an unexpected place, with the execution of theologian-turned-spy Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet, f or the protagonist Ernst Teschler, watching the hanging of his childhood pastor is only a brutal nightmare. It is 1938 , and Ernst is a promising young officer in the German Army. His uncle, the SS General Reinhard Heydrich , has grand and diabolic plans for his nephew. Heydrich is a member of the Black Knights, a satanic coven of SS officers who will devise the Final Solution. The novel is fast - paced with violent action at every turn. The violence caught me off guard, but what did I expect in a World War II novel?  

Gruner began studying the occult connections to the Nazi machine after first learning about Dietrich Bonhoeffer in seminary. Gruner found that the spiritual motivations for the Holocaust have been largely hidden, and through The Infidel, intends to expose the demonic aspects of anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity. He has studied the topic for two decades and interviewed Holocaust survivors and a journalist present at the Nuremberg trials. Gruner chose the historical fiction genre in hopes of reaching a broad audience, young and old, religious and secular. 

The book ends in 1942 as the death camps are being initiated, and I would have liked an epilogue explaining what happens to the historical members of the SS. Gruner is hoping to write a sequel (or two) that would complete the picture of how Satan – through deep-seated cultural anti-Semitism and Heinrich Himmler’s SS occult religion – stoked the Nazis to mass murder and how the God of Israel was and is faithful to his covenant people , even in the midst of the Holocaust. 

After you read this book, you should be ready to joi n the Rev. Dav id Pileggi in Poland for his Narrow Bridge Jewish History tour , which considers some of the historical figures that appear in Gruner’s novel.

^{The Rev. Cariño Casas is the Communications Director of CMJ USA. She began as the media coordinator of Christ Church Jerusalem in 2014. She previously worked as a newspaper copy editor and photojour nalist . Cariño serves as a deacon in the Anglican church in the Pittsburgh area.}