Thule Society 82226 move=:edit= 224795568 2008-07-10T13:19:42Z 87.126.142.2 {{weasel|date=April 2008}} [[Image:Thule-gesellschaft emblem.jpg|frame|right|Thule Society emblem]] The '''Thule Society''' ([[German language|German]]: ''Thule-Gesellschaft''), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' 'Study Group for [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] Antiquity', was a German [[occult]]ist and [[völkisch]] group in [[Munich]], named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. The Society is notable chiefly as the organization that sponsored the [[German Workers' Party|Deutsche Arbeiterpartei]], which was later transformed by [[Adolf Hitler]] into the [[Nazi Party]]. Hitler, however, was never a member of the Thule Society,<ref name=GC201/> in spite of allegations about his occult initiation in [[Nazi occultism|Nazi-occult]] literature. ==Origins== The Thule Society was originally a "Germanic study group" headed by Walter Nauhaus,<ref name=Ph>{{harvnb|Phelps|1963}}</ref> a wounded [[World War I]] veteran turned art student from [[Berlin]] who had become a keeper of pedigrees for the [[Germanenorden]] (or "Order of [[Germanic peoples|Teutons]]"), a [[secret society]] founded in 1911 and formally named in the following year.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=127-28, 143}}</ref> In 1917 Nauhaus moved to Munich; his ''Thule-Gesellschaft'' was to be a cover-name for the Munich branch of the Germanenorden,<ref>Phelps 1963, n.31</ref> but events developed differently as a result of a schism in the Order. In 1918, Nauhaus was contacted in Munich by [[Rudolf von Sebottendorff]], an occultist and newly-elected head of the [[Bavaria]]n province of the schismatic offshoot, known as the [[Germanenorden Walvater of the Holy Grail]].<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=131, 142-43}}</ref> The two men became associates in a recruitment campaign, and Sebottendorff adopted Nauhaus's Thule Society as a cover-name for his Munich lodge of the Germanenorden Walvater at its formal dedication on [[18 August]], [[1918]].<ref name=GC144>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=144}}</ref> Sebottendorff later claimed that he originally intended the Thule Society to be a vehicle for promoting his own occultist theories, but that the Germanenorden pressed him to emphasize political, [[nationalist]] and [[anti-Semitic]] themes. The fact that this claim was made while the Nazis were in power and Sebottendorff had little to gain by denying anti-Semitism lends credibility to this claim.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} ==Beliefs== A primary focus of Thule-Gesellschaft was a claim concerning the origins of the [[Aryan]] race. "[[Thule]]" ({{gr icon}}: Θούλη) was a land located by Greco-Roman [[geographers]] in the furthest north.<ref>[http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.12:1:419.geography "Perseus Digital Library", citing "Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography"]</ref> The term "Ultima Thule" ({{la icon}}: ''most distant Thule'') is also mentioned by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic poem ''[[Aeneid]]''. This was supposed to be the far northern segment of Thule and is now generally understood to mean [[Scandinavia]]. Said by [[Nazi mystic]]s to be the capital of ancient [[Hyperborea]], they identified Ultima Thule as a lost ancient landmass in the extreme [[north]]: near [[Greenland]] or [[Iceland]]. These ideas derived from earlier speculation by [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]] that a lost landmass had once existed in the Atlantic, and that it was the home of the [[Aryan race]], a theory he supported by reference to the distribution of [[swastika]] motifs. He identified this with Plato's [[Atlantis]], a theory further developed by [[Helena Blavatsky]], the famous occultist during the second part of the 19th century. The Thule-Gesellschaft maintained close contacts with [[Theosophy|Theosophists]], the followers of Blavatsky.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}<!--there were ideological similarities, but no close contacts--> ==Activities== The Thule Society attracted about 250 followers in Munich and about 1,500 in greater [[Bavaria]].<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=143}}</ref> Its meetings were often held in the luxury ''Hotel Vierjahreszeiten'' ({{de icon}}: Four Seasons Hotel) in Munich.<ref name=GC144/> The followers of the Thule Society were, by Sebottendorff's own admission, little interested in his occultist theories. They were more interested in [[racism]] and combatting [[Jew]]s and [[Communism|Communists]]. Nevertheless, Sebottendorff himself planned and failed to kidnap the Bavarian socialist [[prime minister]], [[Kurt Eisner]], in December 1918.<ref name=Ph/><ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=147}}</ref> After the establishment of the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]], they were accused of trying to infiltrate its government and of having attempted a coup on [[April 30]], [[1919]]. During this attempt, the Soviet government took several members of the Thule Society into custody, and later executed them. ===''Münchener Beobachter'' newspaper=== In 1918, The Thule Society bought a local weekly newspaper, the ''[[Münchener Beobachter]]'' (Munich Observer), and changed its name to ''Münchener Beobachter und Sportblatt'' (loosely, Munich Observer and Sport Report) in an attempt to improve its circulation. The ''Münchener Beobachter'' later became the ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'' ({{de icon}}: People's Observer), the main Nazi newspaper. It was edited by [[Karl Harrer]]. ===Deutsche Arbeiterpartei=== On [[5 January]] [[1919]] [[Anton Drexler]], who had developed links between the Thule Society and various extreme right workers' organizations in Munich, together with the Thule Society's [[Karl Harrer]], established the [[German Workers' Party|Deutsche Arbeiterpartei]] (DAP), or German Workers' Party. Adolf Hitler joined this party later in the same year. By the end of February 1920, the DAP had been reconstituted as the [[Nazi party|Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei]] (NSDAP), or National Socialist German Workers' Party, generally known as the "Nazi Party"<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=150}}</ref> Sebottendorff had by then left the Thule Society, and never joined the DAP or the Nazi party. It has been alleged that other members of the Thule Society were later prominent in Nazi Germany{{who|date=April 2008}}: the list includes [[Dietrich Eckart]], [[Gottfried Feder]], [[Hans Frank]], [[Rudolf Hess]] and [[Alfred Rosenberg]]. (Eckart, who coached Hitler on his [[public speaking]] skills, had ''[[Mein Kampf]]'' dedicated to him.) Historian [[Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke]] has described such membership rolls as "spurious" and "fanciful", noting that Feder, Eckart and Rosenberg were never more than guests to whom the Thule Society extended hospitality during the [[Bavarian Soviet Republic|Bavarian revolution of 1918]],<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|pp=149, 217-225}}</ref> although he has more recently acknowledged that Hess and Frank were members of the Society before they came to prominence in the Nazi party.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|2003|p=114}}</ref> It has also been claimed that Adolf Hitler himself was a member.<ref name=Ange9>{{harvnb|Angebert|1974|p=9}}</ref> Evidence on the contrary shows that he never attended a meeting, as attested to by Johannes Hering's diary of Society meetings.<ref name=GC201>Johannes Hering, "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Thule-Gesellschaft", typescript dated 21 June 1939, ''Bundesarchiv Koblenz'', NS26/865, cited in Goodrick-Clarke (1985: 201), who concludes: "There is no evidence that Hitler ever attended the Thule Society" (ibid., 201).</ref> It is quite clear that Hitler himself had little interest in, and made little time for, "esoteric" matters.<ref>{{harvnb|Skorzeny|1995}}</ref> (See also Hitler's speech of 6 September 1938<ref>Hitler, Adolf. [http://www.hitler.org/speeches/09-06-38.html Nuremberg speech], [[1938-09-06]].</ref> on his disapproval of occultism.) Other members were [[Karl Fiehler]], [[Wilhelm Frick]], [[Michel Frank]], [[Heinrich Jost]], [[Wolfgang Pongratz]], [[Wilhelm Laforce]], [[Johann Ott]], [[Hans Riemann]], [[Max Seselmann]], and [[Hans-Arnold Stadler]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Two well-known aristocrats in the group were Countess [[Heila von Westarp]], a young woman who functioned as secretary, and Prince [[Gustav von Thurn und Taxis]] (both of these were among those abducted and executed by the Communist government in Munich on [[26 April]] [[1919]]).<ref>[http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1919tbse.htm Timebase 1919]. ''Timebase Multimedia Chronography'' Accessed [[April 18]] [[2008]].</ref> ==Dissolution== Early in 1920 Karl Harrer was forced out of the DAP as Hitler moved to sever the party's link with the Thule Society, which subsequently fell into decline and was dissolved about five years later,<ref>{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=221}}</ref> well before Hitler came to power. Rudolf von Sebottendorff had withdrawn from the Thule Society in 1919, but in 1933 he returned to Germany in the hope of reviving it. In that year he published a book entitled ''Bevor Hitler kam'' ({{de icon}}: ''Before Hitler Came''), in which he claimed that the Thule Society had paved the way for the Führer: "Thulers were the ones to whom Hitler first came, and Thulers were the first to unite themselves with Hitler." This claim was not favourably received by the Nazi authorities: after 1933, esoteric organisations (including ''völkisch'' occultists) were suppressed, many closed down by anti-[[Freemasonry|Masonic]] legislation in 1935. Sebottendorff's book was prohibited and he himself was arrested and imprisoned for a short period in 1934, afterwards departing into a lonely exile in Turkey. Nonetheless, it has been argued that some Thule members and their ideas were incorporated into the [[Third Reich]].<ref name=Ange9/> Some of the Thule Society's teachings were expressed in the books of [[Alfred Rosenberg]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Many occult ideas found favour with [[Heinrich Himmler]] who, unlike Hitler, had a great interest in mysticism, but the [[SS]] under Himmler emulated the ethos and structure of [[Ignatius Loyola]]'s [[Jesuit]] order<ref>{{harvnb|Höhne|1969|pp=138, 143-145}}</ref> rather than the Thule Society. ==Conspiracy Theories== Like the [[Ahnenerbe]] section of the [[SS]], and due to its occult background, the Thule Society has become the center of many [[conspiracy theories]] concerning [[Nazi Germany]]. Such theories include the creation of [[spacecraft]] and secret weapons of mass destruction.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} ==The Thule Society in popular culture== *[[Umberto Eco]]'s ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'' mentions the society perhaps half a dozen times as the three protagonists discuss ways that mysticism, [[Rosicrucian]]ism, and ideas about the [[Knights Templar]] have interested modern [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theorists]]. *[[Karl Ruprecht Kroenen]], one of the antagonists in the ''[[Hellboy]]'' movie, is described as a member of the Thule Society. *The Thule Society and its leader, Dietlinde Eckart (a fictionalized, female version of Dietrich Eckart), play key roles in the [[anime]] [[motion picture|feature]] ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa]]'' *The Thule Society appears in the video game ''[[Bloodrayne]]''. *Thule is mentioned in the video game ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]''. *It is mentioned in the ''[[Friday the 13th: The Series]]'' episode "The Butcher" when a high ranking Nazi Colonel is brought back from the dead with the help of a mystic swastika amulet. *It is the source of the mystic rites that power many of Germany's super soldiers in [[Green Ronin Publishing|Green Ronin]]'s ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' Golden Age Superhero campaign. *It is mentioned heavily in the 1978 thriller novel ''[[The Spear]]'' by [[James Herbert]] in the context of a contemporary [[Nazi mysticism|Nazi mysticist]] terrorist organisation. *[[Mack Bolan]], The Executioner, goes up against the Thule Society in the 1998 novel, ''Devil's Guard'', by [[Mark Ellis]]. *Russian songwriter, [[Alexander Laertsky]] had published an album called ''Общество Туле'' (Thule Society). *The society was a central topic in the fictional novel by [[James Rollins]] named ''[[The Black Order]]''. *Fictional Villain, Friedrich von Schlitz, is said to be a member of the Thule Society in [[Decoder Ring Theatre]]'s Red Panda Adventures (episode 24) "The World Next Door". *The Thule Society is mentioned in the video game ''[[Clive Barker's Jericho]]''. *The Thule Society is behind an alien invasion in Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey's science fiction story, ''[[The Secret World Chronicle]]''. *The Thule Society is the society Reinhold (a fictional character) belongs to in the book ''Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth.'' ==Notes== <references/> ==References== * Angebert, Jean-Michel. 1974. ''The Occult and the Third Reich: the mystical origins of Nazism and the search for the Holy Grail.''. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 0-0250-2150-8 * Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. 1985. ''[[The Occult Roots of Nazism]]: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890-1935''. Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-402-4. <br /> Republished 1992 as ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935'' (New York University Press, ISBN 0-8147-3060-4) <br /> and in 2003 as ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology'' (Gardners Books, ISBN 1-86064-973-4). * &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;. 2002. ''[[Black Sun (Goodrick-Clarke book)|Black Sun]]: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity''. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3124-4. (Paperback 2003, 384 pages, ISBN 0-8147-3155-4) * Höhne, Heinz. 1969. ''The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS''. Martin Secker & Warburg. ISBN 0-1413-9012-3 * Phelps, Reginald H. 1963. "[http://www.helsinki.fi/~pjojala/Thule.html 'Before Hitler Came': Thule Society and Germanen Orden]". ''Journal of Modern History'' '''35'''(3): 245-261. ISSN 0022-2801/63/3501 * [[Otto Skorzeny|Skorzeny, Otto]], tr. Johnston, David. 1995. ''My Commando Operations''. ISBN 0-8874-0718-8 ==Further reading== * Gilbhard, Hermann. 1994. ''Die Thule-Gesellschaft''. {{de icon}} Kiessling Verlag. ISBN 3-930423-00-6 * Hale, Christopher. 2003. ''Himmler's Crusade: The true story of the 1938 Nazi expedition into Tibet''. London: Transworld Publishers. ISBN 0-593-04952-7 * Kershaw, Ian. 2001. ''Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris''. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-013363-1 * Sklar, Dusty. 1977. ''The Nazis and the Occult''. Dorset Press, New York. 188 pages. ISBN 0-88029-412-4 ==See also== *[[Ahnenerbe]] *[[Guido von List]] *[[Nazi archaeology]] *[[Nazi occultism]] *[[Rudolf von Sebottendorf]] *[[Swastika]] *[[Vril]] == External links == * http://www.relinfo.ch/thule/info.html#sebottendorf * http://www.thule-italia.net/sitoinglese/indexinglese.htm * [http://www.spiritualislibrae.com/the-thule-society/ The Thule Society] [[Category:1918 establishments]] [[Category:Nazism]] [[Category:Nazi mysticism]] [[Category:Germanic mysticism]] [[Category:Secret societies]] [[bg:Тул (общество)]] [[ca:Societat Thule]] [[cs:Společnost Thule]] [[da:Thuleselskabet]] [[de:Thule-Gesellschaft]] [[el:Εταιρεία της Θούλης]] [[es:Sociedad Thule]] [[fr:Société Thulé]] [[it:Società Thule]] [[he:אגודת תולה]] [[hu:Thule Társaság]] [[nl:Thule Gesellschaft]] [[ja:トゥーレ協会]] [[no:Thuleselskapet]] [[pl:Towarzystwo Thule]] [[pt:Sociedade Thule]] [[ru:Общество Туле]] [[fi:Thule-seura]] [[sv:Thulesällskapet]]