Keeping the Nazis from Winning World War II (Again): Counterfactuals in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"

Like reuniting with a long-lost friend, I was pleasantly [sic] surprised to see that the new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, revives the familiar counterfactual premise of the Nazis winning World War II.  

I’ve written a great deal over the years about this “what if” scenario – probably the most explored of all the premises in alternate history.  But it’s been a few years since I’ve discussed it in essayistic form.  

My last opportunity was with the Amazon.Prime streaming series, The Man in the High Castle, which I discuss in my essay, “Fascism in American Culture: How Alternate a History?” in my forthcoming co-edited book (with Janet Ward), Fascism in America: Past and Present, due out this September.  

I wrote the bulk of that essay more than two years ago, however, so it’s been a while.  

The other day, however, I saw my first film in a movie theater since COVID-19 erupted in March 2020, and enjoyed Harrison Ford not only battling Nazis in our own historical (albeit fictional) world, but in a counterfactual world as well.    

Not surprisingly, the film’s plot reflects the current American liberal consensus on the topic of fascism.  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny expresses present-day fears that fascist tendencies are surging here at home and that – as in the 1930s – Hollywood films can potentially combat them.  In a notable twist, however, the film presents its thesis in a counterfactual package.  

Set in 1969, the film depicts the effort of an unrepentant Nazi rocket scientist named Juergen Voller to gain possession of an ancient Greek device designed by Archimedes, known as an Antikythera, to travel back in time.  

His goal?  To kill Adolf Hitler.  

What?  A Nazi wanting to kill Hitler?  Unlike most explorations of this counterfactual premise, where killing Hitler is done by the “good guys” (Anglo-Americans usually) for the noble motive of destroying Nazism, Voller wants to kill Hitler because “Hitler made mistakes” and with his time machine, “I will correct them,” thereby enabling Germany to win World War II and attain global hegemony.  

As he tells Indy in a crucial fight scene (inverting a famous Nazi line from the film, Cabaret), “Yesterday belongs to us.”  

By showing Voller trying to kill Hitler, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny continues the recent trend of films de-demonizing – and subtly normalizing -- the former Fuehrer by showing him to be something less than ultimate evil.  After all, by depicting Voller wanting to kill Hitler because of the latter’s incompetence, the film elevates Voller into a more dangerous threat.  The film also leads viewers to root against Hitler being killed – always a weird spot to find oneself occupying.  

As in Stephen Fry’s novel, Making History (1998), where Hitler’s evil is exceeded by a fictional (and counterfactual) Fuehrer named Rudolf Gloder (and where readers once again awkwardly hope Hitler is not removed from history), the normalized depiction of Hitler in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny shifts attention away from the Fuehrer’s demonic role in German history and places it more on the German people themselves.  The possibility that a different Nazi dictator apart from Hitler might have risen to power besides Hitler reveals that fascism is more deeply rooted in German society.  It confirms that fascism is hardly restricted to lone individuals.  

More importantly, the film also blames the United States for fascism.  While Voller is an unrepentant Nazi, that does not disqualify him from being recruited by the U. S. government as part of its postwar program known as "Operation Paper Clip" to work as a rocket scientist in the nation’s new space program.   The film’s setting in 1969 at the time of the moon landing underscores this connection.  (The film also thereby and reproduces a plot point in the recent Amazon.Prime series, Hunters, featuring Al Pacino).  Without U. S. political support, Voller never would have been in a position to go back in time and win World War II for the Nazis.  As a result, the film blames the democratic U. S. for the postwar survival of Nazism.  

Appearing in the era of Trumpism, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny imparts the clear antifascist message that the U. S. cannot be too vigilant in keeping rightwing forces at bay – no matter how tempting it may appear to collaborate with them.  It would be nice if the GOP establishment would pay attention.  

All that said, the best parts of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny are when Voller and Indy actually go back in time – errantly, to the year 212 BCE during the Roman army’s siege of the Greek city state of Syracuse.  It’s a bonkers segment depicting Roman legions launching metal spears at modern aircraft -- and it is utterly diverting.  Indy actually gets to have a conversation (in Greek) with Archimedes!  

This scene near the film’s conclusion shows some of the madcap potential for cinema to tackle alternate history scenarios straight on rather than tiptoe around them (or avoid depicting them entirely), as is so often the case.  

Hopefully, other directors will realize this potential.