OF all the facets of Nazism covered by thousands of books, one that has received little attention is that of the Ahnenerbe, an institute founded by Heinrich Himmler to manufacture archaeological evidence for political purposes.

A mixture of adventurers, mystics and scholars were sent on missions around the globe to confirm the superiority of the Aryan race, which Himmler believed had evolved in the barren plains of the Arctic to rule as the invincible master race.

The author tracked down Bruno Beger, a 90-year-old veteran of the Ahnenerbe who kept a collection of Jewish skeletons during the war. The "kindly and avuncular" man still had his calipers and sliding compasses used to carry out racial measurements in Tibet. And he remained unrepentant, still believing in his twisted science.