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German Esoteric Societies: Difference between revisions
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The Thule Society, originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. The Society is notable chiefly as the organization that sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP; German Workers' Party), which was later reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party). According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, the organization's "membership list... reads like a Who's Who of early Nazi sympathizers and leading figures in Munich", including Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Julius Lehmann, Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart, and Karl Harrer. However, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke contends that Hans Frank and Rudolf Hess had been Thule members, but other leading Nazis had only been invited to speak at Thule meetings or were entirely unconnected with it.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society Thule Society]</ref> | The Thule Society, originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. The Society is notable chiefly as the organization that sponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP; German Workers' Party), which was later reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party). According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, the organization's "membership list... reads like a Who's Who of early Nazi sympathizers and leading figures in Munich", including Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Julius Lehmann, Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart, and Karl Harrer. However, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke contends that Hans Frank and Rudolf Hess had been Thule members, but other leading Nazis had only been invited to speak at Thule meetings or were entirely unconnected with it.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society Thule Society]</ref> | ||
A primary focus of Thule-Gesellschaft was a claim concerning the origins of the Aryan race. Thule was a land located by Greco-Roman geographers in the furthest north. The society was named after "Ultima Thule" — (Latin: most distant North) mentioned by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic poem Aeneid, which was the far northern segment of Thule and is generally understood to mean Scandinavia. Said by Nazi mystics to be the capital of ancient [[Hyperboreans|Hyperborea]], they placed Ultima Thule in the extreme north near Greenland or Iceland. The Thulists believed in the hollow earth theory. The Thule Society counted among its goals the desire to prove that the Aryan race came from a lost continent, perhaps Atlantis. The Thule-Gesellschaft maintained close contacts with followers of Theosophy and the followers of Helena Blavatsky, a famous Occultist during the second part of the 19th century. Anthroposophical themes were common too, as the motto Der Weg ist in Dir - 'The Way is present in You', expresses. Self-realization and the supreme position of the human person were essential to the Thulists. The Thule Society attracted about 250 followers in Munich and about 1,500 in greater Bavaria. Its meetings were often held in the still existent Munich luxury hotel Vier Jahreszeiten ("The Four Seasons"). | A primary focus of Thule-Gesellschaft was a claim concerning the origins of the Aryan race. Thule was a land located by Greco-Roman geographers in the furthest north. The society was named after "Ultima Thule" — (Latin: most distant North) mentioned by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic poem Aeneid, which was the far northern segment of Thule and is generally understood to mean Scandinavia. Said by Nazi mystics to be the capital of ancient [[Hyperboreans|Hyperborea]], they placed Ultima Thule in the extreme north near Greenland or Iceland. The Thulists believed in the hollow earth theory. The Thule Society counted among its goals the desire to prove that the Aryan race came from a lost continent, perhaps Atlantis. The Thule-Gesellschaft maintained close contacts with followers of Theosophy and the followers of Helena Blavatsky, a famous Occultist during the second part of the 19th century. Anthroposophical themes were common too, as the motto Der Weg ist in Dir - 'The Way is present in You', expresses. Self-realization and the supreme position of the human person were essential to the Thulists. The Thule Society attracted about 250 followers in Munich and about 1,500 in greater Bavaria. Its meetings were often held in the still existent Munich luxury hotel Vier Jahreszeiten ("The Four Seasons"). | ||
In 1919, the Thule Society's Anton Drexler, who had developed links between the Society and various extreme right workers' organizations in Munich, together with Karl Harrer established the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP), or German Workers Party. Adolf Hitler joined this party in 1919. By April 1, 1920, the DAP had been reconstituted as the National Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), or National Socialist German Workers Party generally known as the "Nazi Party". | |||
==Black Sun Society== | ==Black Sun Society== | ||