The Nazi Moon Base is a trope based on conspiracy theories. It plays off the idea that Those Wacky Nazis, instead of merely being defeated after World War II, fled the Earth to establish a secret lunar outpost where they could continue their plans for world domination from beyond our atmosphere as the Fourth Reich.
Nazi Moon Bases tend to exist at the intersection of several key tropes: Landmarking the Hidden Base, Conspiracy Kitchen Sink, Stupid Jetpack Hitler and Evil Colonialist. It's often depicted as the last refuge of the Third Reich, where cutting-edge technology and secret wunderwaffen (usually involving some combination of flying saucers, mechs, and laser beams) have been continued in secret, just waiting for the right time to strike. If the moon has living creatures, the Nazis will be Chased by Angry Natives there.
This trope is linked to several conspiracy theories about the Nazis having somehow escaped Germany after the war, whether that be to their territory of New Swabia or to the Hollow Earth, as well as conspiracy theories of them having UFOs in their arsenal and having contacted extraterrestrials. It is also linked to Wernher von Braun, a Nazi scientist who during the war developed the V2 rockets (first man-made object to reach space) and post-war was recruited by the USA to work at NASA, playing a big role in the Moon mission.
Sub-Trope of Stupid Jetpack Hitler and Space Base. Often overlaps with Gratuitous Nazis. For more information, see
Wikipedia.
Examples:
- The Legend of Koizumi: The prime minister of Japan battles Adolf Hitler on the Moon in a game of mahjong.
- JSA Classified: In one arc, the disembodied brain of Heinrich Himmler threatens the world with his moon-based railgun.
- Halloween Unspectacular: The aptly named "Robot Connie vs the Moon Nazis" from the tenth edition takes place in an Alternate History where Adolf Hitler and the Nazis fled to the Moon and subsequently started Space World War II.
- In Iron Sky and its sequel Iron Sky: The Coming Race, the Nazis escape to the dark side of the Moon, and come back to invade Earth in 2018.
- Rocket Ship Galileo tells the story of three teenagers who build a rocket and travel to the moon, only to discover a Nazi base left there after World War II. One of the earliest examples of this concept in fiction, and may be the Trope Maker.
- Call of Duty:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: The final Zombies map, Moon, takes place in an abandoned Nazi moon base overrun with zombies, that can be reached by using a teleporter in Area 51.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III: A remastered version of the Call of Duty: Black Ops lunar map is available in the Zombies Chronicles map pack.
- Iron Sky Invasion is a video game adaptation of Iron Sky where you fight back the moon Nazi invasion.
- In Wolfenstein: The New Order, B.J. Blazkowicz inflitrates Mondbasis Eins, a lunar colony set up by the Nazis in the late 50s after their victory in this timeline, in search of the launch codes for a U-Boat nuclear cannon.
- Inside Job (2021): Whilst it's not actually shown, according to "Buzzkill", there is a colony of Nazis on the dark side of the Moon who are a threat to Luna Colony, fitting with the show's premise of every conspiracy theory being true (except Flat Earth).