"The Occult Roots of Nazism, Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence
on Nazi Ideology" by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (New York University
Press, 1992, 293 pages)
In <The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their
Influence on Nazi Ideology> Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, an historian at
Oxford University, traces how fantasies of occult forces,
pseudo-science and racism made an indirect but significant
contribution to the Nazi rise to power and the Holocaust.
Of course, Goodrick-Clarke does not attribute Nazi influence directly
to occult forces. Since the end of World War II some journalists
have published exaggerated accounts of occult groups in the Third
Reich and taken the claims of obscure cults at their word.
Goodrick-Clarke's book is not an expose of evil magic, but an account
of how marginal, atavistic ideas eventually came to influence Nazi
policy and thus the destiny of modern Europe.
Goodrick-Clarke describes occultism as based on ersatz religious
doctrine dating back to the 1st Century A.D. including Astrology,
Gnosticism, and Hermeticism (writings attributed to a legendary
Egyptian magician, Hermes Trismegistus). The Renaissance and the late
18th Century each saw a revival of interest in such ancient magical
and pseudo-scientific texts.
Goodrick-Clarke attributes each successive wave of occultism to
political and social upheavals of the time-the decline of the Roman
Empire, the development of scientific methodology, the growth of
rationalism-which seemed to raise doubts about traditional religious
beliefs and institutions.
The 19th Century saw another revival of occultism in Europe which
Goodrick-Clarke attributes to the industrial revolution and the
abrupt displacement of traditional ways of life. One of the major
occult trends of the time was Theosophy developed by the Russian,
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (183 1 - 189 1) . Her works were largely a
plagiarism of earlier occult and Hindu writings. In <The Secret
Doctrine> (1888) she mixed traditional Hindu teachings and
contemporary archaeological speculation to form a systematic doctrine
that described a cycle of creation, growth, decline and eventual
rebirth of the universe. Blavatsky's rehash of Hindu teachings
influenced occultists of all kinds, but she added one original
element that became particularly significant for Aryan occultists.
Blavatsky identified each cycle in the history of the universe with
the emergence of a new race; depending on the phase of the cycle in
progress a given race represented an advance or decline in spiritual
perfection. This idea was later elaborated and given a more explicit
racist interpretation by Aryan occultists.
Ariosophy (wisdom of the Aryans) as Aryan occultism came to be
called, first surfaced in Austria in the 1880s and later spread into
Germany. Goodrick-Clarke argues that the emergence of Ariosophy was
sparked by rapid social and economic changes in Austrian society near
the turn of the century. German-speaking people achieved political
unity with the establishment of the Second Reich in 1871, but even
then many ethnic Germans remained within the borders of
Austria-Hungary. The period from 1860 to World War I in Austria was a
time of rapid industrialization and Slavic immigration; during this
time the population of Vienna nearly tripled and the ethnic
demographics of the city changed significantly so that Germans formed
only a plurality of about 35 percent.
A <voelkisch> (or people's) movement that emphasized the cultural
unity of all German-speaking people became a strong influence in
Austrian society. As Goodrick- Clarke describes it, the <voelkisch>
movement presented "an idealized image of medieval Germany. . . to
prove her claim to spiritual unity, even if there had never been
political unity." <Voelkische> groups were formed that emphasized the
importance of German literature and mythology, the beauty of nature
and the traditional lifestyle of German peasants. Along with
furthering real or imagined aspects of German culture, <voelkische>
groups also denounced Slavic immigrants, Jews and other potential
competitors for political influence in Austria.
The <voelkisch> movement also contained a strong anti-Catholic
element. Georg von Schonerer (1842- 1921), the leading exponent of
the pan-Germanism in Austria, started a <los von Rom> (break with
Rome) movement in 1898 to encourage German conversion from
Catholicism to Lutheranism. Schonerer was not motivated by a
principled dispute with Catholic doctrine, but by a desire to use
Lutheranism as a rallying point against Slavic immigrants and for
pan-German unity.
All of these diverse elements-anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism,
pan-German aspirations, and dislike of industrial society-came
together in the work of Guido von List (18491919). List began his
career in Vienna as a novelist and playwright who specialized in
themes of German history and mythology. His early novels described
the rituals of pagan sun worship, the adventures of Teutonic warriors
and the resistance of German tribes to the Roman Empire. But List
considered himself more than just a Romantic writer: he styled
himself a mystic and nature worshiper who had clairvoyant
recollection of ancient Aryan history and religion. He claimed that
his novels were not simply fiction but accurate historical
reconstructions based on his ancestral memories of the distant German
past.
List gradually shifted his work from literature to a kind of
revisionist interpretation of German history. Goodrick-Clarke
describes List's version of German history as "a personal mythology,
by means of which List imposed a set of modern German nationalist
meanings upon cultural objects." List claimed all previous accounts
of German history were inaccurate. He believed that the Germans had
an advanced civilization long before the Roman Empire. According to
List, Wotanism had been the ancient Aryan religion-although, in fact,
List's description of Wotanism was mostly lifted from Theosophy (in
particular he borrowed Blavatsky's idea of "root races" and her
cyclical view of history). As evidence of this lost tradition, List
interpreted folk- tales, place-names and heraldic symbolism as a kind
of secret code that had been formulated by the Aryan priesthood to
pass on their occult teachings in the face of Christian persecution.
List claimed that a sexual morality which prohibited breeding with
racial inferiors had been the foundation of Aryan society. List
outlined a code of racial purity he claimed had once been practiced
by Germans as a kind of ancient eugenics program; families were
required keep records certifying their racial purity; education,
public service and all legal rights were reserved exclusively for
Germans; nonAryans were fit only to be slaves. List argued that these
policies could once again be put to use for the renewal of modern
Germany. Goodrick-Clarke notes "these ideas, published as early as
1911, bear an uncanny resemblance to the Nuremberg racial laws of the
1930's and the Nazi vision of the future."
Lists revision of the ancient German past culminated in a conspiracy
theory that explained the tribulations of modern Austria. He
explained that the downfall of Aryan civilization was caused by a
backlash of primitive people lead primarily by Christians- indeed,
Christianity was little more than a front organization for racially
inferior people jealous of Aryan accomplishments. Christian values of
humility, charity and respect for the weak were mere disinformation
designed to undermine Aryan unity and self-confidence. In modern
times the assault on Aryan culture was continued by capitalism,
socialism, Jews and the Catholic Church. All of these movements
supposedly coordinated their efforts through an entity List called
the Great International Party, a phantom organization that List
claimed was dedicated to the fall of Aryan civilization.
In 1908 the List Society was formed by List's followers to sponsor
readings of his works and spread his ideas throughout Austria and
Germany. One of the founding members of the List Society was another
Austrian, Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels (1874- 1954), who eventually went
on to start his own Aryan cult. Lanz had been a member of a
Cistercian monastery from 1893 to 1899 and had received an extensive
education in ancient languages and Old Testament history. He
eventually broke with Catholicism to develop his own occult theology.
After studying then current discoveries in anthropology and physics,
Lanz produced a work called <Theo-Zoology or the Lore of the
Sodom-Apelings and the Electron of the Gods> (1905). Lanz believed
there had once existed a super-human race of creatures gifted with
psychic powers of telepathy and telekinesis. These gods had
miscegenated with animals to produce half-human/ half-animal
creatures which were put to use as concubines. Modern man was a
distant remnant of the original god-like race whose psychic abilities
had atrophied as a result of breeding with biological inferiors
(again, some of these ideas had first been suggested by H.P.
Blavatsky and other Theosophists.)
Lanz differed from List by believing that Judaism and Christianity
had originally been Aryan religions. As God's chosen people Aryans
were the least contaminated race of humanity; the Old Testament had
been written for benefit their as a warning against the dangers of
miscegenation (now, that's revisionist history!). Jesus was the last
survivor of this psychically gifted race and had been crucified by
racial inferiors jealous of his power. Lanz interpreted the teachings
of Jesus as an allegory for the evolutionary process; good was
evolutionary progress toward Godlike power, while evil was synonymous
with racial degeneration.
In 1907 Lanz founded the Order of the New Templars (ONT). The
original Knight Templars had been a military/ religious order founded
after the First Crusade to maintain Christian control of the Holy
Land. Lanz expropriated the name and symbolism of the Templars, but
replaced their chivalric code with his own racist occultism. Aspiring
ONT members had to posses appropriate Aryan physical characteristics
and answer detailed questions about their racial background. Lanz
hoped that ONT members would form the human stock for a selective
breeding program that would eventually restore Man's latent psychic
abilities. In the meantime, Lanz devised ONT rituals, costumes and
forms of address which vaguely imitated monastic practices.
Eventually Lanz raised enough money from wealthy patrons to buy a
castle on the Danube for use as ONT headquarters and place of
worship.
As the Ariosophic movement spread from Austria into Germany it became
more overtly political. Of the many obscure occult groups that
flourished in Germany around World War I, Goodrick-Clarke focuses on
the <Germanenorden>, most of whose members had originally been active
in the List Society or the ONT. The <Germanenorden> was founded in
Munich in 1912 as a secret anti-Semitic organization meant to
counteract the supposed Jewish conspiracy to control Germany. At
first the organization concerned itself mostly with elaborate occult
rituals. In 1918 leadership of the <Germanenorden> was taken over by
Rudolf von Sebottendorff (1875-1945), a German engineer who had
become interested in occultism while living in the Middle East.
Sebottendorff changed the name of the group to the Thule Society and
transformed it from a religious cult into an organization of
political activists dedicated to destabilizing the Weimar Republic.
Among other actions, Sebottendorff organized an attempt to kidnap
Kurt Eisner, the head of the Weimar government (Eisner was later
assassinated by a man with connections to the Thule Society). Thule
Society also members helped organize and train a paramilitary force
that took part in fighting against Communist forces that briefly
seized control of Munich in 1919.
However, Sebottendorff worried that prospective Thule Society members
would be put off by the group's occult orientation. In an attempt to
attract a working class membership, the Thule Society founded a front
organization called the German Workers Party (DAP) that offered the
same anti-Semitic and racist ideas without mentioning occultism. This
was the group that Adolf Hitler first discovered as an army spy in
1919. Hitler was soon elected to the leadership of the organization
and in 1920 he renamed the DAP the National Socialist German Workers
Party (NSDAP) or Nazi Party. Hitler eventually took over ownership of
the Thule Society's treasury and weekly newspaper, and also recruited
Thule Society contacts Rudolf Hess and Alfred Rosenberg who went on
to become important officials in the Third Reich. As the emblem of
the Nazi Party Hitler adopted the Thule Society's insignia, a
swastika.
Hitler not only inherited an organization founded by Aryan
occultists, but he was influenced by policies that had their origin
among Ariosophists. From 1905 to 1916 Lanz von Liebenfels published a
magazine, Ostara (the name of the pagan Goddess of Spring).
Goodrick-Clarke establishes that during his early years in Vienna,
Hitler met with Lanz a number of times to obtain back issues of
Ostara and discuss Lanz's theories on race (this discovery is not
original to Goodrick-Clarke and has been mentioned by Hitler
biographers including Joachim Fest.) Lanz wrote articles for Ostara
advocating polygamy for racially pure Aryan men and sterilization of
non-Aryans-both policies put into practice by the Third Reich. Lanz
also explicitly called for the deportation and extermination of all
non-Aryans living in Germany. Thus it is possible that the idea of
the Final Solution was first planted in Hitler's mind by occultist
who believed the Germans were the Chosen People and Jesus was an
Aryan.
While Hitler might have been influenced by Lanz's ideas on race, he
contemptuously rejected other aspects of occult mystification and
pseudo-history. The Nazi leader who made himself a patron of occult
mysticism was the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, who retained a
self-proclaimed Aryan mystic as part of his personal staff.
Karl Maria Wiligut (18661946) began his career as an officer in the
Austrian Army and saw action during World War I. After the war
Wiligut began to claim that he was the last decedent of an Aryan
priesthood that could trace its origins back to god-like creatures
who inhabited Germany over 200,000 years. Like List, Wiligut claimed
to have clairvoyant recollection of ancient German society and
religion. He corroborated most of List's description of ancient
German history, but he also endorsed Lanz's belief in an Aryan Jesus
(p. 181). Again, Wiligut believed that Aryan civilization had been
destroyed by a conspiracy of Jews and Catholics. Wiligut made contact
with Lanz's ONT in Austria and later moved to Germany where he became
noted as a lecturer and guru within the Aryan occult network.
In 1933 Wiligut was brought to the attention of Himmler by an SS
officer who had been a member of the ONT. Himmler appointed Wiligut
to the SS Race and Settlement Main Office and eventually gave him the
rank of SS Brigadier. Wiligut's tasks included advising Himmler on
racial policy, developing rituals to be performed at official SS
ceremonies, and designing a special ring marked with runes and the SS
Death's Head insignia to be awarded to important SS officers by
Himmler himself.
According to Goodrick-Clark, Wiligut suggested to Himmler that the SS
expropriate a castle in the German province of Westphalia. Wiligut
prophesied that the castle would become a Nazi stronghold against
invading barbarians from the East. Himmler put the castle to use as
an SS indoctrination center, museum and temple where wedding
ceremonies and solstice festivals devised by Wiligut were held.
Goodrick-Clark describes Himmler's long range plan for Wewelsburg as
"creating an SS Vatican on an enormous scale at the center of a
millenarian Greater Germanic Reich."
In 1939 Wiligut's influence in the SS abruptly declined when it was
discovered that back in Salzburg, Austria he had been declared
legally insane and confined to a mental institution from 1924 to
1927. This action was taken by Wiligut's wife who claimed he had
threatened to kill her after she complained of his squandering the
family savings. Wiligut was forced to resign from the SS and had to
return his prized Death's Head ring to Himmler.
Goodrick-Clarke does not offer any theoretical conclusions about the
nature of occultism; he considers the social disruption of German
society at the turn of the century enough to explain the emergence of
Ariosophy. To this extent he corroborates T. S. Eliot's diagnosis of
the appeal of occultism in The Dry Salvages:
To explore the womb, the tomb, or dreams; all these are usual
Pastimes and drugs, and features of the press: And always will be,
some of them especially When there is distress of nations and
perplexity Whether on the shores of Asia, or in the Edgware Road.
Occultism is a symptom of alienation from society, but it is also a
symptom of alienation from reality itself-an insight anticipated by
another Eliot line: "Human kind cannot bare very much reality." In a
sense, there is a magic to occultism after all-it is possible to
create a fantasy world in one's mind that blots out reality.
-William Main
Taken from the December 1994 issue of "Fidelity" Magazine, 206
Marquette Avenue, South Bend, IN 46617.
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