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Adolf Hitler was not a fan of astrology, although it was popular in Germany. In 1923, an astrologer named Elsbeth Ebertin wrote in her almanac, A Glance into the Future, that “a man of action born on 20 April 1889” — everyone knew who that was — should exercise caution that November. Annoyed, Hitler forged ahead with his plan to seize power in Munich. When the Beer Hall Putsch, as it was called, failed, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison. He served nine months — just long enough to complete Mein Kampf.

In 1933, when he became chancellor, his birth chart was widely discussed, and not always favorably, with the result that by 1934, astrology was essentially banned. But as the Romans learned centuries before, astrology never disappears for long. In 1939, a Swiss astrologer named Karl Ernst Krafft, a staunch supporter of the Third Reich, alerted a friend in Germany that between November 7 and 10, Hitler’s life would be in danger. And sure enough: an assassination attempt was made, a bomb exploded. Hitler was unharmed, having left the building earlier than expected, but Krafft was dragged in for questioning. He convinced the authorities that he had not been involved and he ended up in Berlin, working for the Nazis. They directed him to parse the prophecies of Nostradamus to see what lay ahead. He found that the quatrains augured well for the future of Nazi Germany.

But no one was safe in Nazi Germany, including Krafft. When one of Hitler’s henchmen, Rudolf Hess, took off in a small plane and crash-landed in Scotland in 1941, the Nazis blamed his unofficial solo flight on his unhinged mental state and his interest in astrology. Another crackdown followed. Astrologers were arrested and their libraries confiscated. Most were only forced to stop practicing, but a few, including Krafft, were imprisoned and sent to concentration camps. After a year in solitary, Krafft died in January 1945 while being transferred to Buchenwald.

Meanwhile, astrology may have been banned, but members of Hitler’s inner circle were consumed by it. In April 1945, joseph Goebbels examined Hitler’s chart and that of the Third Reich and announced that a turn-around in the war was imminent. When Franklin Roosevelt died in office later that month, he was jubilant, certain that this meant victory. It did not. Within weeks, Goebbels and Hitler committed suicide, and Germany surrendered. Astrology is still recovering from the embarrassment of the association.