The article doesn't make it quite clear how they "know" that Otto Rahn was the inspiration for Indiana Jones -- he's a bit more of a Belloq character, to my mind -- but it's a fascinating tale nonetheless.
Like Jones, Rahn was an archaeologist, like him he fell foul of the Nazis and like him he was obsessed with finding the Holy Grail - the cup reputedly used to catch Christ's blood when he was crucified. But whereas Jones rode the Grail-train to box-office glory, Rahn's obsession ended up costing him his life.
However, Rahn is such a strange figure, and his story so bizarre, that simply seeing him as the unlikely progenitor of Indiana Jones is to do him a disservice. Here was a man who entered into a terrible Faustian pact: he was given every resource imaginable to realise his dream. There was just one catch: in return, he had to find something that - if it ever existed - had not been seen for almost 2,000 years.
Nazis. I hate those guys.
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Yeah, when they started out explaining that he was like Indy because they were both obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, I had to wonder if they'd even watched the movies. They've got the wrong Dr. Jones.
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