German historian Otto Rahn is known for his research on Montsegur Castle and its surroundings. The castle, located in the south of France, was the last stronghold of the Albigonians, and, according to legend, it was in it that the mysterious treasures of the Cathars were kept, among which the greatest was the Grail.
There is a legend that Otto Rahn managed to find the cherished Cup. She was allegedly placed in a secret vault near Paderborg, where she remained until the end of the war, and then mysteriously disappeared.
Much less known is the Icelandic Rana expedition, the results of which are still kept in deep secrecy. So the rulers of the Third Reich decided, and this decision, oddly enough, found an understanding of the leadership of the victorious powers.
So, on June 2, 1936, the motor-sailing vessel "Radgrid" with a displacement of 390 tons leaves the home port of Emden and heads for Iceland. A flag is waving over "Radgrid" - a blue swastika on a white background. The expedition is headed by SS Unterscharfuehrer Otto Rahn, but practically the command is carried out by a certain Markus Birnbacher, a person without titles or titles, except for one - "Himmler's man". Rana, however, is quite happy with this: Birnbacher does not interfere in the scientific part of the expedition, and Rana is not strong in organizational matters and gladly shifts them onto the shoulders of the hardworking Marcus.
The Ahnenerbe Institute also has more modern courts than the Radgrid, but it was Ran who made the choice. Ideally, he said, it would be better to go to Iceland on a clean sailing ship, so as not to "drive away the aura of mental connection with the Great Old Ones." However, safety requirements forced us to put up with a three-hundred-horsepower engine. It was decided to launch it only in cases of emergency, and most of the route "Radgrid" goes under sail.
The voyage's declared purpose is quite respectable: ethnographic research. The great Germanic people are looking for their roots and family ties. And the ship itself, equipped with sails, does not inspire suspicion. Otto Rahn is allowed to pester anywhere in Iceland and conduct scientific research that will undoubtedly benefit both Germany and Iceland.
Ran actively uses this permission. He visits museums, talks with old-timers, collects fairy tales and legends, examines the harsh Icelandic landscapes - and suddenly returns urgently on board the Radgrid. Now they are going to Greenland. The giant, ice-covered island beckons Rahn, as once beckoned to Eric the Red, who gave him the name Green Earth. But poor, unsuitable soil (the ice-free areas of Greenland are harsh tundra) was not Eric's goal, no! Otto Rahn believes that Eric the Red was looking for communication with the gods in Greenland! And they, the gods of the Scandinavian epic, perhaps still inhabit the deserted island (twenty thousand Eskimos can be neglected).
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The short summer of Greenland impressed Rahn: on the rocks there are noisy bird colonies, on the coast - seals and fish. But he is looking for something else. Searches and finds: rock inscriptions, mysterious runes. He makes prints from them, but then decides to split off a layer from the rock and bring the original wisdom of the ancients to Germany. And here a truly secret awaited him! On a rock, he finds the imprint of a winged man!
The imprint is similar to that of the famous Archeopteryx, but Ran is absolutely sure that this is not a bird, but a man! The skull, the structure of the limbs, spine, ribs - all pointed to this. Ancient Greenland was inhabited by winged people!
With all care, Ran removes the print, carefully packs it, and carries it aboard the Radgrid. He searches further - a mysterious castle in the ice, described by the medieval Russian monk Polycarp. He, however, placed the island much to the east, but perhaps Polycarp was wrong?
Otto Rahn finds a huge staircase, carved into the rocks, or rather, several of its steps, extremely similar to those described in the "Pechersk Manuscript" by Polycarp. But these steps do not lead anywhere and break off as suddenly as they appear. Nothing, Ran consoles himself, this ladder may have been thrown, but there must be others!
The Greenland summer is short. We must return. The return trip is without incident. Ran feels victorious and believes that next year he will return to Greenland with a fleet of research ships. They will surely find the Castle of the Gods! And yet - he has evidence of the existence of winged people. The Valkyries served the gods, perhaps he found confirmation of the existence of the Valkyries? Those, it is true, flew on horses, but perhaps he will also find winged horses? A winged man on a winged horse - what could be more beautiful? Associations with Pegasus and Olympus suggest themselves … Over time, people lost their wings, but now, in the era of the revival of the German nation, who knows …
At first, the returned expedition at the top of the Ahnenerbe was enthusiastically received: the predictions of the new prophets are coming true, proof of the greatness of the Nordic race has been found! But! when the imprint of the "winged man" was examined by experts, the enthusiasm gave way to deathly silence. No, there was no talk of falsification at first. Confused by two things. First, the size of the "winged man" was only slightly larger than the crow, which is insulting and funny for the mighty heroes of hoary antiquity. Attempts to argue that this is a child, did not bring comfort: even for a child, the dimensions were small, moreover, the structure of the bones indicated that they were at least ten years old by the time the fossilization process began.
But another problem turned out to be much more serious: the study of the skull print showed that the "winged man" is closest to the Negroid race! The ideologized German science of that time could not admit this in any way. Now they started talking about a malicious falsification, but since the discovery was made publicly, in front of the expedition members, including Himmler's man, Markus Birnbacher, these conversations were considered inappropriate.
They decided to simply shut up the opening of Rana.
Ran himself protests, trying to appeal to the world community, but Ran's membership in the ranks of the SS discredits him in the eyes of the scientific world. To further damage Rahn's reputation, he is sent to the Dachau concentration camp. What he sees in the camp sobering up the scientist, and he submits a report to the Reichsfuehrer SS with a request for immediate resignation.
Ran died under mysterious circumstances in March 1939. The official version is suicide.
The very mention of the Greenland find was banned until the fall of Hitler's Germany.