In the 20s of the last century, the first book of the theosophist Helena Blavatsky fell into the hands of Hitler, a novice politician. In the "Secret Doctrine", in particular, it spoke of seven races, the highest of which was considered the Aryans. At one time, Hitler read Blavatsky's books avidly. As a result, some historians are even inclined to attribute to her the creation of the basic principles of the ideology of the Third Reich. However, in 1937 Hitler signed a decree to persecute all theosophical societies, and the "Secret Doctrine" flew into the fire.
Inferior races
It must be said that the philosophical teaching of Helena Blavatsky captured many minds, both her contemporaries and ours. Her books were Einstein's desk books, her Theosophical Society included famous writers, politicians, and also scientists, many of whom claimed that they made their discoveries precisely thanks to the works of Blavatsky. But the most interesting thing in Blavatsky's theosophy is, of course, the doctrine of superpowers, which everyone can develop in himself, subject to a number of conditions and striving for a clear goal.
Having studied the "Doctrine", Hitler paid attention only to the teaching about the Aryans - the oldest race of masters on earth, which should rule the world. According to Blavatsky, "humanity is divided into God-inspired people and lower races," the latter, "fortunately," die out themselves. Hitler was attracted to theosophical theory by the idea of Shambhala, where the universal knowledge is supposedly stored. Once you master them, you are already a powerful superman.
In addition, in Guido von List, who calls himself a follower of Blavatsky, Hitler read that the Aryans are the ancestors of the Germans and no one else. And if we add to this Ariosophy an occult interpretation of the historical past of the German nation, which is based not on historical facts, but on Liszt's “prophetic revelations”, then you get a ready-made platform for the future Fuhrer.
Crisis in Germany
Promotional video:
Defeated in World War I, Germany was in a deep crisis. For 66 years, she had to pay huge reparations to France and Belgium. The Germans became beggars, the Fraulein from good families were forced to sell themselves on the street.
All this plunged people into despair. Hitler was also very sensitive to the surrender of Germany. In the spiritual revelations of Blavatsky, Nietzsche and other philosophers, he looked for an answer to the question of how his country could get out of its humiliating position and achieve dominance over the world. But even ardent patriotism did not help the founder of the Third Reich to understand the national and historical situation of that time.
Anti-Semitism, a view of history through the prism of some secret forces, a utopian racial theory - none of this was even close to either Nietzsche or Blavatsky. If the first spoke about the superman, then only in the sense that one must start with oneself. If Blavatsky talked about races, then not in the framework of anthropological science, but in the sense of spiritual stages.
In principle, the Russian emigrant, who was fond of Eastern philosophy, did not discover anything new. Her calculations about the "lower races" resemble the teachings of the wheel of Samsara in Buddhism, which also speaks of the lower worlds. There, for example, there is a world of hungry spirits that cannot swallow anything because of too narrow a throat and constantly experience painful hunger due to behind a huge belly. To avoid falling into such a race is possible only by renouncing the material and observing the main rules: tolerance of other beliefs, the provision of freedom of religious beliefs and the pursuit of truth - knowledge of the laws of nature and human capabilities.
In theosophical societies that were created all over the world and enjoyed immense popularity, people learned tolerance, mercy, justice and generosity - without which, Blavatsky wrote, the caves of Shambhala invisible to the human eye with the priceless knowledge of the Universe stored in them will never open.
And no matter how Hitler manipulated the knowledge gleaned from Blavatsky, the intelligentsia could not help but notice that the ideology of the Third Reich does not correspond to her theosophy.
Books on fire
Hitler quickly dealt with the alien ideology: he ordered the books to be burned. In 70 German cities from March to October 1933, the German Students' Union, under the guise of "action against the non-German spirit", collected and burned "harmful" books. The volumes of Mann, Freud, Remarque, Hemingway, Zoshchenko - 94 German and 37 foreign authors in total - were devoted to the fire. Contemporaneous writers were revered for a special honor when their works flew into the fire of retrogrades.
Among the followers of Blavatsky, Hitler seemed to be looking for supporters. He directed a lot of efforts to find Shambhala and the mysterious city of Agadi on the site of ancient Babylonia, about which the founder of Theosophy wrote.
To Tibet and to the East every now and then expeditions were outfitted with eminent scientists. True, no one has ever found a single report on the results of the expeditions. In the SS, a secret unit "Property of the Ancestors" appeared, where the best minds pored over runes, translations, and the history of the Aryans. Berlin and Munich filled the colonies of Tibetans and Hindus.
Distorted interpretation
However, even this did not find support among the members of theosophical societies, who openly started talking about a perverse interpretation, which led to persecution. Blavatsky's followers were sent to concentration camps, executed, imprisoned. The books of the founder of Theosophy were banned as "particularly harmful."
In the doctrine, which promoted absolute equality, respectful attitude to the beliefs of another and the choice of an occupation according to one's inclinations, a priori taboo was laid on murder, humiliation, and exaltation of some people over others.
Any mention of Blavatsky would infuriate Hitler. His arias had nothing to do with the "genuine humanity" of the race that Blavatsky wrote about.
Angela Bugrova