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the unknown hitler: nazi roots in the occult
on april 6, 1919, in bavaria, left wing socialists and anarchists pro-
claimed the bavarian soviet republic. the brains of the revolution were
a
group of writers who had little idea of administration. life in munich
grew
chaotic. the counter-revolutionary forces, the whites, composed
of various
groups of decommissioned soldiers known as "frei corps",
equipped and
financed by the mysterious thule society, defeated the
bavarian soviet within
a matter of weeks.
many other decommissioned soldiers waited out the turbulence in
barracks, pfc
adolph hitler among them. after the bavarian republic had
been defeated by the whites, in may, hitler's superiors put him to work
in the post revolution
investigating commission. his indictments injected
ruthless efficiency into
the kangaroo courts as he fingered hundreds of
noncommissioned officers and
enlisted men who had sympathized with
the communists and anarchists. he was subsequently sent to attend
special anticommunist training courses and
seminars at the university
which were financed by the reichswehr
administration and by private
donors from the thule society. this led to an
assignment in the intelli-
gence division of the postwar german army, to
infiltrate groups that could
organize the working classes while the communists were weak. on a
september evening, 1919, hitler turned up in the
sternecker beer hall
where members and friends of the budding german workers party had
gathered. he quietly listened to the presentation by engineer
gottfried
feder, a thule society member, who talked about jewish control over
lending capital. when one of the other group members called for bavaria
to break away from the rest of germany, hitler sprang into action. the
astonished audience stood by while his highly aggressive remarks and
compelling oratory swept through the room. after hitler had finished his
harangue, party chairman and founder, anton drexler, immediately asked
him to a meeting of the party's steering committee held a few days later.
he was
asked to join the committee as its seventh member, responsible
for advertising and propaganda.
back in 1912, several german occultists with radical anti-semitic inclina-
tions decided to form a "magic" lodge, which they named the order of
teutons.
the main founders were theodor fritsch, a publisher of an anti-
semitic
journal; philipp stauff, pupil of the racist guido von list, and hermann
pohl, the order's chancellor. (pohl would drop out three years later to found
his own bizarre lodge, the walvater teutonic order of the holy grail.) the
order of teutons was organized along the lines of the free masons or the
rosicrucians, having differing degrees of initiation, only persons who could
fully document that they were of pure "aryan" ancestry were allowed to join.
in 1915, pohl was joined by rudolf blauer, who held a turkish passport and
practiced sufi meditation. he also dabbled in astrology and was an admirer
of lanz von liebenfels and guido von list, both pathologically anti-semitic.
blauer went by the name of rudolf freiherr von seboottendorf. he was very
wealthy, although the origin of his fortune is unknown. he became the grand
master of the bavarian order and he founded the thule society, with pohl's
approval, in 1918.
after the bavarian communist revolution of 1918, the thule society became
a
center of the counterrevolutionary subculture. an espionage network and
arms
caches were organized. the thule club rooms became a nest of resist-
ance to
the revolution and the munich soviet republic.
journalist karl harrer was given the job of founding a political "worker
circle".
he realized that the workers would reject any program that was
presented to
them by a member of the conservative "privileged" class. harrer
knew that
the mechanic anton drexler, who was working for the railroads, was
a well-
known anti-semite, chauvinist and proletarian. with drexler as
nominal chair-
man, harrer founded the german workers party in january 1919.
the german workers party was only one of many associations founded and
controlled by the thule society. the thule was the "mother" to the german
socialist party, led by julius streicher, and the right-wing radical oberland
free corps. it published the munich observer [note: Munich is the Capitol
of Bavaria. - Wol.], which later became the
national observer. hitler became
the most prominent personality in the
party. he caused harrer to drop out,
and he pushed drexler, the nominal
chairman, to the sidelines. he filled
key positions with his own friends
from the thule society and the army.
during the summer of 1920, upon his
suggestion, the party was renamed
the national socialist german worker party
(nasdap). the new name was
intended to equally attract nationalists and proletarians.
to go along with the new name his mass movement also required a flag
with a
powerful symbol. among many designs under consideration, hitler
picked the one suggested by thule member dr. krohn: a red cloth with a
white circle in
the middle containing a black swastika.
hitler wanted to turn the german workers party into a mass-conscious
fighting party, but harrer and drexler were hesitant, due in part to their
woeful
financial situation. the thule society was not yet supplying very
much money
and no one seemed to know how to build up a mass party.
hitler arranged two
public meetings in obscure beer halls, and he drafted
leaflets and posters,
but there was no real breakthrough.
all of this changed dramatically at the end of the 1919 when hitler met
dietrich eckart. most biographers have underestimated the influence
that
eckart exerted on hitler. he was the wealthy publisher and editor-in-
chief
of an anti-semitic journal which he called 'in plain german'. eckart
was
also a committed occultist and a master of magic. as an initiate,
eckart
belonged to the inner circle of the thule society as well as other
esoteric orders.
briefly, the creed of the thule society inner circle is as follows: thule was
a legendary island in the far north, similar to atlantis, supposedly the
center of a lost, high-level civilization. but not all secrets of that
civilization
had been completely wiped out. those that remained were being
guarded
by ancient, highly intelligent beings (similar to the "masters" of
theosophy
or the white brotherhood). the truly initiated could establish
contact with
these beings by means of magic-mystical rituals. the "masters" or "ancients"
allegedly would be able to endow the initiated with
supernatural strength
and energy. with the help of these energies the goal
of the initiated was
to create a race of supermen of "aryan" stock who would
exterminate all
"inferior" races.
there can be no doubt that eckart - who had been alerted to hitler by other
thulists - trained hitler in techniques of self confidence, self projection,
persuasive oratory, body language and discursive sophistry. with these
tools, in a short period of time he was able to move the obscure workers
party from the club and beer hall atmosphere to a mass movement. the
emotion
charged lay speaker became an expert orator, capable of mesmer-
izing a vast audience.
one should not underestimate occultism's influence on hitler. his subse-
quent rejection of free masons and esoteric movements, of theosophy, of
anthrosophy, does not necessarily mean otherwise. occult circles have
long
been known as covers for espionage and influence peddling. hitler's
spy apparatus under canaris and heydrich were well aware of these
conduits,
particularly from the direction of britain which had within its mi5
intelligence agency a department known as the occult bureau. that these
potential sources of trouble were purged from nazi life should not be taken
to mean that hitler and the nazi secret societies were not influenced by
mystical and occult writers such as madame blavatsky, houston stewart
chamberlain, guido von list, lanz von liebenfels, rudolf steiner, george
gurdjieff, karl haushofer and theodor fritsch. although hitler later
denounced
and ridiculed many of them, he did dedicate his book mein kampf to
his
teacher dietrich eckart.
a frequent visitor to landsberg prison where hitler was writing mein kampf
with the help of rudolf hess, was general karl haushofer, a university
pro-
fessor and director of the munich institute of geopolitics. haushofer,
hitler,
and hess had long conversations together. hess also kept records of
these
conversations. hitler's demands for german "living space" in the east
at the
expense of the slavic nations were based on the geopolitical theories
of the
learned professor. haushofer was also inclined toward the esoteric. as
military attache in japan, he had studied zen-buddhism. he had also gone
through initiations at the hands of tibetan lamas. he became hitler's second
"esoteric mentor", replacing dietrich eckart. in berlin, haushofer had
founded
the luminous lodge or the vril society. the lodge's objective was to
explore
the origins of the aryan race and to perform exercises in
concentration to
awaken the forces of "vril". haushofer was a student of the
russian magician
and metaphysician gregor ivanovich gurdyev (george
gurdjieff). both gurdjeiff
and haushofer maintained that they had contacts
with secret tibetan lodges
that possessed the secret of the "superman". the
lodge included hitler,
alfred rosenberg, himmler, goring, and hitler's
subsequent personal physician
dr. morell. it is also known that aleister crowley and gurdjieff sought contact
with hitler. hitler's unusual powers of
suggestion become more understand-
able if one keeps in mind that he had access
to the "secret" psychological
techniques of the esoteric lodges. haushofer
taught him the [hypnotic] tech-
niques of gurdjieff which, in turn, were based on the
teachings of the sufis and
the tibetan lamas - and familiarized him with the
zen teaching of the japanese
society of the green dragon.
from "the unknown hitler" by wulf schwartzwaller, berkeley books, 1990
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the men behind hitler - excerpts from the book by bernard schreiber
thomas robert malthus (1766-1834) was an english political economist and
historian who in 1796 published a book called "an essay on the principle of
population" in which he said that poverty, and thereby vice and misery, are
unavoidable because population growth always exceeds food production.
checks
on population growth were wars, famine, and diseases.
malthus's ideas had great impact, only a few asked on what his claims
were
actually based. yet neither malthus nor his later disciples ever man-
aged to
put forward any scientific proof for his theory. many scientists
have
disproved malthus' theory and the ideology resulting from it.
however, with the book, malthus created an atmosphere which moved
his
adherents in 1834 to pass a new law providing for the institution of
work-houses for the poor, in which the sexes were strictly separated to
curb the
otherwise inevitable overbreeding. this kind of philosophy urged
the calling forth of drastic measures. the full title of charles darwin's
famous book is
not so famous: "the origin of species by means of natural
selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life". in
it he explains the development of life-forms as a struggle for existence.
the result of
this struggle would be a natural selection of those species
and races who
were to triumph over those weaker ones who would perish.
francis galton (1822-1911) was an english psychologist and a half-cousin
of darwin. galton extended darwin's theory into a concept of deliberate
social
intervention, which he said was a logical application of evolution to
the human race. he called his theory "eugenics", the principle of which
was that by encouraging better human stock to breed and discouraging
the reproduction
of less desirable stock, the whole race could be improved.
modern racism really began with arthur count de gabon (1816-1882) who
published his "essay on the inequality of human races". he wrote in of a
fair-haired aryan race that was superior to all the others whose remnants
constituted a tiny racial aristocracy decaying under the overwhelming
weight
of inferior races. a revival of his work in germany began ten years
after his
death by the pan-germans, an extremely nationalistic and anti-
jewish group.
in 1899, gabon's disciple, houston stewart chaimberlain (1844-1927), an
englishman, published "the foundations of the nineteenth century", in
germany. he upheld the german race to be the purest and damned the
inferior
races, the jews and negroes, as degenerate. from this point on,
eugenics,
social darwinism and racial hygiene fused into a single concept.
in 1904 the first chairs in eugenics were instituted at university college,
london, followed by the establishment of the galton laboratory for national
eugenics in 1907. in 1910 the eugenic record office was founded in the
united states, both institutes used the research results of the galton
laboratory of national eugenics to propose practical applications. eugenics
was used an the "scientific" basis upon which racism was fused to politics.
eugenicists believed that the child of a mentally-ill person and a mentally
heathy person would be a mentally-ill offspring. this led to a series of
escalating regimens: separation from society, restraint, separation of the
sexes in defective's colonies, and sterilizations. in great britain one of
the leaders of the mental hygiene movement was miss evelyn fox. she
had been
an active member of the eugenics society before the foundation
of the
national council for mental hygiene, of which she was an officer and
founder.
among the board members was sir cyril burt, who later founded
mensa, a high
i.q. group which espoused eugenic principles. the mental
hygiene movement
drew strongly from the eugenic movements of whatever
country they were in.
shortly after the turn of the century eugenic organizations were set up
throughout the world. while the whole world was being prepared by propa-
ganda
for the sterilization of the insane, the adherents of mental hygiene
and
eugenics were preparing their next step, euthanasia. in the u.s.a.,
dr.
alexis carrel, a nobel prize winner who had been on the staff of the
rockefeller institute since its inception, published his book "man the
unknown" in 1935. in it he suggests the removal of the mentally ill and
the criminal by small euthanasia institutions equipped with suitable gases.
in 1933 the nazi party rapidly consolidated its power. in june of that year,
minister of the interior wilhelm frick put in motion the passage of the "law
for the prevention of hereditary diseases in posterity" - the sterilization
law. architect of the law was ernst rudin, professor of psychiatry at the
munich university, director of the kaiser-wilhelm institute for genealogy,
and
of the research institute for psychiatry. a separate legal system was
set up consisting of "hereditary health courts", which could decree sterili-
zation
against a person's will. by 1935 the "nuremburg laws" intended to
insure the racial purity of the nation and was aimed specifically at the jews.
in 1934 the institute for heredity, biology and racial research was founded
at frankfurt university by professor ernst rudin's colleague at the kaiser
wilhelm institute, dr. otmar freiherr von verscheur. von verscheur's
assistant
there was dr. joseph mengele.
in england, dr. charles killick millard, president of the society of medical
officers of health, brought up in 1931 the question of voluntary euthanasia
and proposed a suitable law. later he became fellow founder of the voluntary
euthanasia legislation society. in 1935 lord moynihan, president of the
royal
college of surgeons, founded the euthanasia society .
sterilization and euthanasia were not [originally] the ideas of the nazis...
they were ideas which were supported and promoted throughout the world
by groups with an interest in the development of mental hygiene. germany,
however, was the only country in which the political climate allowed
material-
ization of the final goal of sterilization and euthanasia.
there is not a great deal known about "t4" compared to other aspects of
nazi
germany. t4 was the fuhrer chancellery and the initials came from the
full
address which was tiergartenstrasse 4, berlin. "project t4" was fully
integrated into the organizational structure of the reich and fell under
section
11b. ("mercy-death") of the chancellery of the fuhrer. four cover
organizations
safeguarded the project t4: the realms work committee in charge
of collecting
information on candidates for euthanasia from questionnaires
sent to hospitals,
the realms committee for scientific approach to severe
illness due to heredity
set up exclusively to apply euthanasia to children, the charitable company
for the transport of the 'sick' which transported patients to the killing centers,
and the charitable foundation for institutional care, in charge of final disposition
of the victims' remains.
at the time the questionnaires went out a number of mental hospitals were
being converted for use as killing centers and schools for murder. death
chambers were built disguised as shower-baths and crematoriums, which
were
identical to those later to be established in the death camps in poland.
schooling of the personnel at hadamar mental institution produced perfect
murderers who were used to the smell of burnt flesh, had been taught to trick
people being led to their death and to steel themselves against the crying
and pleading of the victims. on arrival, the victims were stripped, dressed
in paper shirts and forthwith taken to a gas chamber where they were mur-
dered with hydrocyanic acid gas, and the bodies moved to crematoriums by
conveyer belts, six bodies to a furnace. the psychiatrist in charge at hadamar
was
dr. adolf wahlmann, an active member of the german mental hygiene
movement.
after the state had been relieved of the burden of these undesireables, the
operation, still under the direction of eminent mental health psychiatrists
in t4, was expanded under the code of 14f13. from being limited to mental
hospitals and institutions, it now embraced german and austrian inmates
and jews in concentration camps who were sick or invalid. at dachau at
the end
of 1941 a commission composed of 4 psychiatrists under professor
dr. werner
heyde, ss standartenfuhrer and lecturer in neurology and psychiatry
at wurzburg university, arrived at the camp and selected hundreds of patients
incapable of work who were transported to the gas chambers and disposed of.
the extermination camps had followed a separate evolution from the concen-
tration camps that were opened a few months after the nazi rise to power.
these death camps had their headquarters, not in himmler's ss organization,
but in the fuhrer's chancellory (t4). franz stangl (austrian gestapo) said
at the
nuremberg trials that his progression to builder and commander of the
sobibor
extermination camp went through the hartheim and bernberg euthanasia
centers. the original staff at sobibor was taken from hartheim.
during the war eugenics became associated with the nazis and afterwards
a
global whitewashing began. the first step was the reconstitution of the
many
national councils of mental hygiene. the first was the british associa-
tion
for mental health. lady prescilla norman, wife of montagu norman,
governor
of the bank of england, had been working in the mental hygiene
movement since
the 20's. in 1944 they sponsored a congress held at the
ministry of health
in london where they established the world federation of
mental health - wfmh.
the first elected president of the wfmh was dr. john rawlings rees, a british
psychiatrist associated with the tavistock institute. in 1948 the wfmh was
formally inaugurated at the third international congress of mental health. a
vice-president of the congress was dr. carl g. jung who was described by
fellow vice-president dr. conti as "representing german psychiatry under
the
nazis". dr. jung had been co-editor of the journal for psychotherapy
with
dr. m. h. goering, the cousin of marshal hermann goering.
george
ivonovitch gurdjieff: proto nazi
it may be that the real key to the third reich lies buried in the history of
tibet,
for it was here that karl haushofer, the initiate who taught the
youthful hitler,
first met in literal fact the superman of nazi legend.
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origins of the swastika
by 1945 the thousand year reich had become a smoking ruin. russian soldiers
pressed through the rubble, fighting from house to house, from street to
street
in order to link up with their british and american allies who also
pressed in
inexorably on the heart of the dying capital. before they overran
the eastern
sector of berlin, these russian troops came across something very
strange:
vast numbers of tibetan corpses. the fact is mentioned by maurice
bessy and
again by pauwels and bergier, who set the actual number of bodies
at a thou-
sand. they wore german uniform, but without the usual insignia of
rank.
the religion of tibet is buddhism, but like the zen of japan, it is a brand
of
buddhism far divorced from the indian original. many scholars prefer the
term "lamaism" to distinguish between tibetan buddhism and its parent root.
the religious life of the country is concentrated in a multitude of
monasteries,
many of them built in almost inaccessible mountain regions.
side by side
with the state religion of lamaism, and flourishing particularly in the rural
districts, is tibet's aboriginal religion of bon. the
bon-pas follow a primitive,
animistic creed, full of dark rituals and spells.
if the holy lamas of the buddhist
sects were looked on as personifications
of spiritual wisdom, the priests of bon
had a potent reputation with the common people as magicians.
the nazi leaders were attracted to tibet by those of its secret doctrines
which
filtered through to the west. they believed, those members of the
thule group,
the luminous lodge, and the various other occult organizations
which helped
shape the third reich, in an esoteric history of mankind. and
it was in the
archives of tibetan monasteries that this history was
preserved in its purest
form.
already, in the latter half of the previous century, intriguing hints about
tibetan
secret teachings had been carried to the west by helena blavatsky,
who claimed
initiation at the hands of the holy lamas themselves. blavatsky
taught that her
"hidden masters" and "secret chiefs" had their earthly
residence in the himalayan
region [within subterranean chambers... also Blavatsky wrote about subterranean
secret societies of India, in other metaphysical works of hers. - Wol.]. as soon
as the nazi movement had
sufficient funds, it began to organize a number of
expeditions to tibet and
these succeeded one another practically without inter-
ruption until 1943. one
of the most tangible expressions of nazi interest in tibet
was the party`s
adoption of its deepest and most mystical of symbols - the
swastika.
the swastika is one of mankind's oldest symbols, and apart from the cross
and
the circle, probably the most widely distributed. it is shown on pottery
fragments from greece dating back to the eighth century b.c. it was used in
ancient egypt, india and china. the navaho indians of north america have a
traditional swastika pattern. arab-islamic sorcerers used it. in more
recent
times, it was incorporated in the flags of certain baltic states.
the idea for the use of the swastika by the nazis came from a dentist named
dr. friedrich krohn who was a member of the secret germanen order. krohn
produced the design for the actual form in which the nazis came to use the
symbol, that is reversed, spinning in an anti-clockwise direction. as a
solar
symbol, the swastika is properly thought of as spinning, and the
buddhists
have always believed the symbol attracted luck. the sanskrit
word "svastika"
means good fortune and well being. according to
cabbalistic lore and occult
theory, chaotic force can be evoked by reversing the symbol. and so the symbol
appeared as the flag of nazi germany and
the insignia of the nazi party, an
indication for those who had eyes to
see, as to the occult nature of the third
reich.
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