Rudolf von Sebottendorf: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:01, 7 June 2006

Latest revision as of 16:00, 18 July 2025

(267 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Short description|German occultist (1875–1945)}}

'''Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorff''' was the alias of '''Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer''' ([[November 9]], [[1875]] – [[May 8]], [[1945]] or 1950s), who also occasionally used another alias, Erwin Torre. He was an important figure in the activities of the [[Thule Society]], a post-[[World War I]] [[Germany|German]] political organization that was a precursor of the [[NSDAP]]. He was a [[Freemason]] and a practitioner of [[sufism|sufi meditation]], [[astrology]], [[numerology]], and [[alchemy]].

'''Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer''' also known as '''Rudolf [[Freiherr]] von Sebottendorff''' (or '''Sebottendorf'''; 9 November 1875 - 8 May 1945) was a [[Germans|German]] [[occultist]], [[writer]], intelligence agent and political activist. He was the founder of the [[Thule Society]], a post-[[World War I]] [[Germany|German]] occultist organization where he played a key role, and that influenced many members of the [[Nazi Party]]. He was a [[Freemason]],<ref name="SebottendorffMason">Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 138 and see Howard 1989: 124 ("In 1901 von Sebottendorf was initiated into a Masonic lodge which, like many in the Middle East, had connections with the [[Grand Orient of France|French Grand Orient]]"). Furthermore: "the masonic lodge, which Glauer had joined at [[Bursa]] in 1901, may have been a local cadre of the pre-revolutionary Secret Society of Union and Progress, founded on the model of Freemasonry by Salonican Turks to generate liberal consciousness during the repressive reign of the Sultan." (Goodrick-Clarke, ''op. cit.'', 139).</ref> a [[Sufi]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sebottendorf |first=Rudolf, Freiherr von |title=Secret practices of the Sufi Freemasons : the Islamic teachings at the heart of alchemy |date=2013 |publisher=Inner Traditions |others=Stephen E. Flowers |isbn=978-1-59477-468-3 |___location=Rochester, Vt. |oclc=777663008}}</ref> of the [[Bektashi]] order - after his [[conversion to Islam]]<ref>[[Mark Sedgwick]], ''Against the Modern World'', [[Oxford University Press]] (2004), p. 66</ref> - and a practitioner of [[meditation]], [[astrology]], [[numerology]], and [[alchemy]].<ref>Ellic Howe, ''Urania's Children''</ref> He also used the alias '''Erwin Torre'''.

==Early life and influences==

{{disputed section|date=June 2021}}

Glauer was born in [[Hoyerswerda]], [[Saxony]], [[Germany]], the son of an engine driver from [[Dresden]]. He later used the alias Sebottendorff because he claimed that he had been adopted by the Sebottendorff family and had a claim to the title of [[Freiherr]]. After a short career as a merchant seaman, Glauer settled in [[Turkey]] in [[1901]] and worked as an engineer on a large estate there. He became an [[Ottoman]] citizen.

His birth name was Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer and he was born in [[Hoyerswerda]] in the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] [[Province of Silesia]] (present-day [[Saxony]]), the son of a locomotive engineer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Glandeck von Sebottendorff |url=https://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/sebottendorff_r.html |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=freemasonry.bcy.ca}}</ref> He appears{{disputed inline|date=June 2021}} to have worked as a [[technician]] in [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]] between 1897 and 1900, although according to his own account he spent less than a month there in 1900 after a short career as a merchant sailor.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}{{dubious|date=June 2021}} In July of that year he travelled to [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]], where he settled in 1901 and worked as an [[engineer]] on a large estate there.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

By 1905 he had returned to Dresden where he married Klara Voss, but the couple divorced in 1907. The ''Münchener Post'' (14 March 1923) reported that he was sentenced as a swindler and forger in 1909,{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} which Goodrick-Clarke (1985: 251) insists is a misprint for 1908.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Glauer was initially interested in [[Freemasonry]] and [[Theosophy]]. In Turkey, he became interested in [[numberology]], [[kabbala]], and [[Sufism]], especially the Sufism of the untypical [[Bektashi]] order. He may well have converted to [[Islam]], although the evidence (from his own semi-autobiographical writings) is unclear on this point. By about 1912, he became convinced that he had discovered what he called "the key to spiritual realization," described by a later historian as "a set of numerological meditation exercises that bear little resemblence to either Sufism or Masonry."<ref>Mark Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World'', p. 66</ref>

He became an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] citizen in 1911 and was apparently adopted (under Turkish law) by the expatriate Baron Heinrich von Sebottendorff shortly thereafter. The adoption was later repeated in Germany and its legal validity has been questioned, but it was endorsed by the Sebottendorff family (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 140–41) and on this basis he asserted his claim to the Sebottendorff name and to the title of [[Freiherr]].<ref>{{German title Freiherr}}</ref>

After fighting on the Ottoman-Turkish side in the [[First Balkan War]], Glauer returned to Germany in 1913. He was exempted from military service during the [[First World War]] because of his Ottoman citizenship and because of a wound received during the First Balkan War.

After fighting on the Ottoman-Turkish side in the [[First Balkan War]], Glauer returned to Germany with a [[Ottoman Empire|Turkish]] passport in 1913. He was exempted from military service during the [[First World War]] because of his Ottoman citizenship and because of a wound received during the First Balkan War.

==Occult and mystical influences==

Glauer was introduced to [[occultism]] and [[esoteric]] concerns when he was living in [[Bursa]], Turkey. His wealthy host, Hussein Pasha, was a Sufi and interested in such matters; it was around this time that Glauer saw the [[Mevlevi Order]] and visited the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]] in July 1900.<ref name="gc">{{harvnb|Goodrick-Clarke|1985|p=138}}.</ref> At Bursa, Glauer became acquainted with the Termudi family, who were [[History of the Jews in Thessaloniki|Jews from Thessaloniki]].<ref name="gc" /> The Termudi family were involved in banking and the silk trade.<ref name="gc" /> They were also [[Freemasons]], belonging to a lodge affiliated to the [[Rite of Memphis-Misraim]].<ref name="gc" /> This network of lodges was closely connected to the [[Committee of Union and Progress]] (which later joined the [[Young Turks]]).<ref name="SebottendorffMason" /> The patriarch of the Termudi family initiated Glauer into the lodge and when Termudi died, he bequeathed his library of occult, [[Kabbalistic]], [[Rosicrucian]] and Sufi texts to Glauer.<ref name="gc" /><ref name="l">{{harvnb|Luhrssen|2012|p=21}}.</ref>

One of the books that Glauer inherited from Termudi featured a note from Hussein Pasha, which piqued his interest in the Sufi [[Bektashi Order]], in regards to their [[alchemical]] and [[numerological]] practices.<ref name="l" /><ref>Sebottendorff, ''Der Talisman des Rosenkreuzers'', 1925: 65-68, cit. in Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 138, 251.</ref> Speculations say he might have converted to [[Islam]] with [[Sufi]]-orientation, although the evidence (from his own semi-autobiographical writings) is rather tenuous on this point. In his autobiographical novel, ''The [[Rosicrucian]] Talisman'' ({{Langx|de|Der Talisman des Rosenkreuzers}}), Sebottendorff distinguishes between Sufi-influenced Turkish [[Masonry]] and conventional Masonry.

By about 1912 he became convinced that he had discovered what he called "the key to spiritual realization", described by a later historian as "a set of numerological meditation exercises that bear little resemblance to either Sufism or Masonry" (Sedgwick 2004: 66).{{full citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Involvement with the Thule Society==

By 1916, Glauer had attracted only one follower. In that year, however, he came into contact with the [[Germanenorden]], and was subsequently appointed theirthe ''Ordensmeister'' (local group leader) for the [[Bavaria]] division of the schismatic Germanenorden Walvater of the Holy Grail. Settling in [[Munich]], he established the [[Thule Society]], which became increasingly political. On 5 January 1919 [[Anton Drexler]], who had developed links between the Thule Society and invarious 1918extreme establishedright aworkers' politicalorganizations partyin Munich, together with the Thule Society's [[Karl Harrer]], established the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP), or German Workers' Party]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=82, 83}} This party was joined in September 1919 by [[Adolf Hitler]], who transformed it into the [[NSDAP|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] or Nazi Party.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=75, 76, 82, 83, 87}} With help of his spouse [[Käthe Bierbaumer]] Glauer acquired the newspaper "''Münchner Beobachter''" which was shortly after renamed to the [[Völkischer Beobachter]]. The newspaper was purchased by the Nazi Party in December 1920 on the initiative of Chase Bauduin and Dietrich Eckart, who became the first editors. In 1921, Hitler acquired all shares in the company, making him the sole owner of the publication.{{sfn|Schwarzwaller|1988|p=80}} The paper was to become Hitler’s most important propaganda tool.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

By then, however, Glauer had left the Thule Society and Bavaria, having been accused of negligence in allegedly allowing the names of several key Thule Society members to fall into the hands of the government of the short-lived [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]], resulting in the execution of seven members after the attack on the Munich government in April 1919, an accusation that he never denied.{{citation Glauerneeded|date=July 2021}} Sebottendorf fled [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] for [[Switzerland]] and then [[Turkey]].{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

==Later life==

After leaving Germany, Glauer published ''DieThe PraxisPractice derof alterAncient türkischen Freimauerei:Turkish Der Schlüssel zum Verstandnis der AlchimieFreemasonry'' (the{{Langx|de|Die practicePraxis ofder ancientalten Turkishtürkischen Freemasonry:Freimauerei}}),<ref>{{Cite Theweb key|title=Hitler toand the understandingSecret ofSocieties alchemy),|url=http://www.juliusevola.net/excerpts/Hitler_and_the_Secret_Societies.html |access-date=2019-11-30 |website=www.juliusevola.net}}</ref> and then, in 1925, ''The [[Rosicrucian]] Talisman'' ({{Langx|de|Der Talisman des Rosenkreuzers''}}), a semi-autobiographical novel which is the main source for his earlier life (see: "[[Rosicrucians]]").

He returned to Germany in January 1933, and published "Before Hitler Came: Documents from the Early Days of the National Socialist Movement" ({{Langx|de|Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlich aus der Frühzeit der Nationalsozialistischen Bewegung}}),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Phelps |first=Reginald H. |date=1963 |title="Before Hitler Came": Thule Society and Germanen Orden |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1899474 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=245–261 |doi=10.1086/243738 |jstor=1899474 |issn=0022-2801|url-access=subscription }}</ref> dealing with the Thule Society and the DAP. Hitler himself understandably disliked this book, which was banned. Glauer was arrested, but somehow escaped (presumably due to some friendship from his Munich days) and in 1934 returned to Turkey.<ref name="Sedgwick, page 97">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GcUFmQ-NF_0C&q=penniless Sedgwick, page 97]</ref>

His most polemic and obscure work, ''Bevor Hitler kam,'' was translated and published in English. The preface dates to November 1933.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-25 |title=Before Hitler Came |url=https://tradition.st/before-hitler-came/ |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Tradition |language=en-US}}</ref>

Glauer was an agent of the [[Abwehr|German military intelligence]] in neutral [[Istanbul]] during the period [[1942]]&ndash;[[1945]]1942–1945, while apparently also working as a double agent for the [[BritainUnited Kingdom|British]] military.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} His German handler, Herbert Rittlinger, later described him as a "useless" agent (''eine Null''), but kept him on largely, it seems, because of an affection for "this strange, by then penniless man, whose history he did not know, who pretended enthusiasm for the Nazi cause and admiration for the SS but who in reality seemed little interested in either, much preferring to talk about Tibetans"."<ref> name="Sedgwick, ''Againstpage the97" Modern World'', p. 97</ref>

Much remains unknown about his death, some accounts claim it was suicide by jumping into the [[Bosporus]] on 8 May 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |title=THE THULE SOCIETY – NAZISM'S PRECURSORS - The Most Evil Secret Societies in History |url=https://erenow.org/common/the-most-evil-secret-societies-in-history/4.php |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=erenow.org |language=en}}</ref>{{dubious|date=July 2021}}{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

He returned to Germany in January 1933, and published ''Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlichen aus der Frühzeit der Nazionalsozialistischen Bewegung'' (Before Hitler Came: Documents from the Early Days of the National Socialist Movement). Hitler himself understandably disliked this book, which was banned. Glauer was arrested, but somehow escaped (presumably due to some friendship from his Munich days) and in 1934 returned to Turkey.

==Bibliography==

Glauer was an agent of the German military intelligence in [[Istanbul]] during the period [[1942]]&ndash;[[1945]], while apparently also working as a double agent for the [[Britain|British]] military. His German handler, Herbert Rittlinger, later described him as a "useless" agent (''eine Null''), but kept him on largely, it seems, because of an affection for "this strange, by then penniless man, whose history he did not know, who pretended enthusiasm for the Nazi cause and admiration for the SS but who in reality seemed little interested in either, much preferring to talk about Tibetans."<ref>Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World'', p. 97</ref>

* 1924. ''Die Praxis der alteralten türkischen Freimauerei: Der Schlüssel zum VerstandnisVerständnis der Alchimie''. 1924.Reprinted Reprint1954, Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann Bauer,. 1954

* 1924. ''[https://www.everand.com/book/351486485/Secret-Practices-of-the-Sufi-Freemasons-The-Islamic-Teachings-at-the-Heart-of-Alchemy The Practice of Ancient Turkish Freemasonry].'' Stephen E. Flowers, Inner Traditions'','' 2013''.''

* 1925. ''Der Talisman des Rosenkreuzers''. Pfullinger in WürtembergWürttemberg: Johannes Baum Verlag, 1925.

* 1933. ''Bevor Hitler kam: UrkundlichenUrkundlich aus der Frühzeit der NazionalsozialistischenNationalsozialistischen Bewegung''. Munich: Deukula-Grassinger, 1933.

==References==

Glauer is generally thought to have committed suicide by jumping into the [[Bosphorus]] on [[May 8]], [[1945]]. However, as yet unpublished research indicates that this suicide may have been faked by Turkish intelligence, for whom Glauer was ''also'' working, and that he moved to Egypt, and died there in the 1950s.

{{Reflist}}

==Notes= andSources references===

* {{cite book |first=Nicholas |last=Goodrick-Clarke |date=1985 |title=The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890-1935 |___location=Wellingborough, England |publisher=The Aquarian Press |isbn=0-85030-402-4}} Reprinted 1994 as ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology'', New York: New York University Press. {{ISBN|0-8147-3060-4}}

{{German title Freiherr}}

* Michael Howard. 1989. ''The Occult Conspiracy: secret societies, their influence and power in world history''. Destiny Books. {{ISBN|0-89281-251-6}}

<references/>

* {{cite book |last=Kershaw |first=Ian |title=Hitler: A Biography |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |___location=New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-393-06757-6}}

* {{cite book |last=Luhrssen |first=David |title=Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism |publisher=Potomac Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1597978583}}

* {{cite book |last=Schwarzwaller |first=Wulf |title=The Unknown Hitler: His Private Life and Fortune |publisher=National Press Books |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-915765-63-8}}

* Mark Sedgwick, Mark (2004). ''Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 . {{ISBN 0195152972.|0-19-515297-2}}

== Further reading ==

==Works==

* Nathalie Clayer, Eric German (2008). ''Islam in Inter-War Europe''. Columbia University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-231-70100-6}}.

* ''Die Praxis der alter türkischen Freimauerei: Der Schlüssel zum Verstandnis der Alchimie''. 1924. Reprint, Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann Bauer, 1954

* Lucy M.J. Garnett. 1912. ''The Derwishes of Turkey''. Republished 1990, London: The Octagon Press. {{ISBN|0-86304-052-7}}

* ''Der Talisman des Rosenkreuzers''. Pfullinger in Würtemberg: Johannes Baum Verlag, 1925

* Albrecht Götz von Olenhusen,. "Zeittafel zur Biographie Rudolf von Sebottendorffs".

* ''Bevor Hitler kam: Urkundlichen aus der Frühzeit der Nazionalsozialistischen Bewegung''. Munich: Deukula-Grassinger, 1933

* Claus Hant, Young Hitler, Quartet Books, London 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-7043-7182-8}}

==FurtherExternal readinglinks==

* [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/sebottendorff_r.html Sebottendorf's Biography]

* Albrecht Götz von Olenhusen, "Zeittafel zur Biographie Rudolf von Sebottendorffs"

* [https://archive.org/details/BevorHitlerkam1933267S.ScanFraktur ''Bevor Hitler kam'' by Rudolf von Sebottendorf at archive.org. In German.]

* Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, ''The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology,'' New York: New York University Press, 1994 ISBN 0814730604

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160311181830/http://thule-gesellschaft.org/index.php/r-v-s Sebottendorf Pictures]

* Mark Sedgwick, ''Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 ISBN 0195152972.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1875 births|Sebottendorff, Rudolf von]]

[[Category:1945 deaths|Sebottendorff, Rudolf von]]

[[Category:Nazi leaders|Sebottendorff, Rudolf von]]

[[Category:Anti-Semitic people|Sebottndorff, Rudolf von]]

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:1875 births|Sebottendorff, Rudolf von]]}}

[[da:Rudolf von Sebottendorff]]

[[Category:1875 births]]

[[de:Rudolf von Sebottendorf]]

[[Category:1945 suicides]]

[[fr:Rudolf von Sebottendorf]]

[[Category:1945 deaths|Sebottendorff, Rudolf von]]

[[nl:Rudolf von Sebottendorf]]

[[Category:People from Hoyerswerda]]

[[pl:Rudolf von Sebottendorf]]

[[Category:People from the Province of Silesia]]

[[sv:Rudolf von Sebottendorf]]

[[Category:Scholars of Sufism]]

[[Category:Converts to Islam]]

[[Category:Rosicrucians]]

[[Category:German occult writers]]

[[Category:German astrologers]]

[[Category:20th-century astrologers]]

[[Category:German Freemasons]]

[[Category:Thule Society members]]

[[Category:Ottoman military personnel of the Balkan Wars]]

[[Category:Suicides by jumping in Turkey]]

[[Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel]]

[[Category:Freemasonry-related controversies]]

[[Category:Nazi Party members]]

[[Category:Nazis who died by suicide]]

[[Category:Founders of new religious movements]]

[[Category:Occultism in Nazism]]