Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The Thule Society

The Thule Society (/ˈtuːlə/;German: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the Studiengruppe fürgermanisches Altertum ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"),was a German occultist and Völkisch group founded in Munich shortlyafter World War I, named after a mythical northern country in Greeklegend. The society is notable chiefly as the organization thatsponsored the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP; German Workers' Party),which was later reorganized by Adolf Hitler into the NationalSocialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party). According toHitler biographer Ian Kershaw, the organization's "membershiplist ... reads like a Who's Who of early Nazi sympathizers andleading figures in Munich", including Rudolf Hess, AlfredRosenberg, Hans Frank, Julius Lehmann, Gottfried Feder, DietrichEckart, and Karl Harrer.

Author Nicholas Goodrick-Clarkecontends that Hans Frank and Rudolf Hess had been Thule members, butother leading Nazis had only been invited to speak at Thule meetingsor they were entirely unconnected with it. According to JohannesHering, "There is no evidence that Hitler ever attended theThule Society."

Origins

The Thule Society was originally a"German study group" headed by Walter Nauhaus, awounded World War I veteran turned art student from Berlin who hadbecome a keeper of pedigrees for the Germanenorden (or "Orderof Teutons"), a secret society founded in 1911 and formallynamed in the following year. In 1917, Nauhaus moved to Munich; hisThule Society was to be a cover-name for the Munich branch of theGermanenorden, but events developed differently as a result of aschism in the Order. In 1918, Nauhaus was contacted in Munich byRudolf von Sebottendorf (or von Sebottendorff), an occultist andnewly elected head of the Bavarian province of the schismaticoffshoot known as the Germanenorden Walvater of the Holy Grail. Thetwo men became associates in a recruitment campaign, andSebottendorff adopted Nauhaus's Thule Society as a cover-name for hisMunich lodge of the Germanenorden Walvater at its formal dedicationon 18 August 1918.

Beliefs

A primary focus of the Thule Societywas a claim concerning the origins of the Aryan race. In 1917, peoplewho wanted to join the "Germanic Order", out ofwhich the Thule Society developed in 1918, had to sign a special"blood declaration of faith" concerning their lineage:

The signer hereby swears to the bestof his knowledge and belief that no Jewish or colored blood flows ineither his or in his wife's veins, and that among their ancestors areno members of the colored races.

"Thule" (Greek: Θούλη)was a land located by Greco-Roman geographers in the farthest north(often displayed as Iceland). The Latin term "Ultima Thule"is also mentioned by Roman poet Virgil in his pastoral poems calledthe Georgics. Thule originally was probably the name forScandinavia, although Virgil simply uses it as a proverbialexpression for the edge of the known world, and his mention shouldnot be taken as a substantial reference to Scandinavia. The ThuleSociety identified Ultima Thule as a lost ancient landmass in theextreme north, near Greenland or Iceland, said by Nazi mystics to bethe capital of ancient Hyperborea.

Activities

The Thule Society attracted about 250followers in Munich and about 1,500 elsewhere in Bavaria.