NAZIS OF TIBET: A TWENTIETH CENTURY MYTH by Isrun Engelhardt http://info-buddhism.com/Nazis-of-Tibet-A-Twentieth-Century- Myth_Engelhardt.html#SchaeferExpedition --()-- Abstract In this paper I have two aims: first, to describe the long, multilayered and complex process that finally generated an alleged Nazi-Tibetan connection; second, to lay to rest the oft-repeated claim that the Ernst Schäfer Tibet expedition of 1938–39 had some occult purpose. To accomplish this, I outline the development of the occult perception of Tibet and the occult myth of Nazism, and then describe the history of the expedition. Since this expedition forms the core of any discussion involving the links between National Socialism and Tibet, I next describe how the myth of occult elements in the Schäfer expedition was subsequently created from a variety of often unrelated elements to eventually become an object exploited by the authors of speculative historiography. After seeking to separate the fact and fiction as they appear in the most influential works of this genre, I propose an explanation for this kind of occult historiography based on the concept of conspiracy myths. The essay concludes by demonstrating how the prevailing and persistent occult perception of this mission has retained far-reaching consequences to the present day, with the result that the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama are either subsumed by the right wing and neo-Nazis, or demonized by the Left as agents of a Tibeto-Buddhist global conspiracy. Our brains grew accustomed to connecting, connecting everything with everything else. “The refuge: It’s Tibet.” “Why Tibet?” “The refuge is Agartha. You gentlemen must have heard talk of Agartha, seat of the King of the World, the underground city from which the masters of the World control and direct the developments of human history. You must be aware of the connection between the realm of Agartha and the Synarchy.” “… but anti-German documents circulated that prove synarchy [rule by secret societies] was a Nazi plot: H – Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum Table of Contents Introduction The Invention of “Unknown Superiors” and “Hidden Masters” in Tibet Creation of Western Myths of Shambhala and Agarthi as Subterranean Theocracies Construction of the Mythology of the Nazis and the Occult The Legends of “Vril” and the Thule Society linking Nazism with Tibet Facts about the Schäfer Expedition Myths and Fictions about the Schäfer Expedition An Attempt at Explanation, based on Considerations of Conspiracy Theories Ironic Paradox: Nazi Construction of Tibetan World Conspiracy Neo-Nazi Constructions of a Nazi-Tibet Connection Recent Constructions of a Tibetan World Conspiracy Myth Notes 1 Introduction In July 2000, a large poster in shades of red and brown caught my eye, announcing a nationwide conference entitled “Irrationalism—Esotericism—Anti-Semitism” to be held at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. At the upper right corner of the poster was a picture of the Dalai Lama, surrounded by pictures of authors with right-wing and esoteric tendencies, and at the lower left— opposite the Dalai Lama—was a picture of Hitler.² Since that time, I have endeavored to trace how a connection could be construed between the Dalai Lama and Hitler.³ Searching the Internet for explanations of this confusing, and indeed shocking, association by entering the words “Tibet” and “Nazi” in the Google search engine, one is rapidly confronted with both the immediacy and the frisson associated with this topic in the electronic age; a search for these terms returns around a hundred thousand entries, with a further twenty thousand for “Nazi-Tibet connection,” most of them involving a “creative” reshaping of history. Occult- or crypto-historians, those who are writing such speculative history, skillfully blur the borders between fiction and fact, illusion and reality. They document a speculative and crypto-history of occult forces and powers that invisibly govern or control history—facts that have hitherto remained hidden to serious historians, including the fact that the homeland of these powers, including the masters who direct the pattern of world affairs, is often identified as Tibet. But what is the point of occupying oneself with this spurious historiography? Up to now, the genre has been largely ignored by serious historians. However, the danger of such lack of concern has been pointed out by John Roberts, who has argued that the power of this literature should not be underestimated: “Because the historian passed by, the charlatan, the axe-grinder and the paranoiac long had the field to themselves. In due course, the assertions of terrifying conspiracy and demoniacal subversions which they produced made historians even less inclined to take the subject seriously.” But historians must respond to simplified interpretations of history and attempt to uncover and correct popular myths, since simplifications and dramatizations of history continue to be a theme with (cid:896) relevance today and can spread like wildfire, particularly in the medium of the Internet. The theoretical inferiority of these ideas and publications, from an academic point of view, must not be permitted to obscure or belie their attraction, and their potential danger. The growth of the mythology of the occult inspiration of the (cid:897)Nazis and its dependence in part on a distorted view of an “occult” Tibet provides an instructive example of the way such patterns of thought can influence judgments far beyond the absolute scope of the matters at hand, and occult Tibet provided an ideal setting for the emergence of European conspiracy myths. The Invention of “Unknown Superiors” and “Hidden Masters” in Tibet Views of Tibet as the occult land par excellence were not derived from any actual experience of the land and its people. Remarkably, the “occultization” of Tibet was not set in motion by those who had actually been there; instead, it was attributed to sources who never set foot in that country and who may not even have existed. One group seen as possible world-controlling hidden masters was the mysterious secret society of the Rosicrucians. As early as 1618, Heinrich Neuhaus, in his critique of the Rosicrucians, allegedly commented that one would seek them in vain in Germany since they had emigrated to India shortly after the society’s foundation and were living in the high plains of Tibet. This statement has been repeated by a number of scholars, but without a scrap of evidence. I have been unable to find any mention of Tibet by Neuhaus, even after repeated readings of his book. He merely writes that the Rosicrucians could not be seen because their whereabouts were un(cid:898)known. However, the mere inference of a retreat to Tibet by the Rosicrucians is interesting in itself. In 1710 Samuel Richter, writing under the pseudonym of Renatus Sincerus, did write that the Rosicru(cid:899)cians were no longer in Europe since they had retreated to India to live in peace more easily. (From 1782 an offshoot of the Rosicrucians was formed that even took the name “Asiatic Brethren.”) Their destination was probably later shifted to Tibet since India was apparently not mysterious enoug(cid:900)h. When Gottlieb Baron von Hund founded the Masonry of the Strict Obser(cid:901)vance in the middle of the eighteenth century, he doubtless had in mind the Rosicrucians of the early seventeenth century.¹ Its (cid:892) 2 founder claimed to derive his knowledge and authority from “Unknown Superiors,” who at the proper time and in the proper place would make themselves known and to whom implicit obedience was due.¹¹ The myth of the imaginary retreat of the Rosicrucians and the “Unknown Superiors” certainly influenced the conception of the “Hidden Masters”¹² propounded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), the Russian founder of modern Theosophy. Her chief source of inspiration was her great-grandfather, Prince Pavel Dolgurukii, a member of the Strict Observance lodge.¹³ Thus eventually “the Russian Rosicrucianism’s legend of a worldwide network of Masters and a secret link with Tibet was a profound influence on HPB’s development.”¹ Late in the summer of 1875, shortly before founding the Theosophical Society, she noted in her first notebook that she had received the order “to form a society—a secret society like the Rosicrucian(cid:896) Lodge.”¹ She made the preposterous claim that she had spent seven years in Tibet, working with her mysterious hidden masters, who lived there but were not Tibetans. Tibet was their refuge from civilization. (cid:897) In 1906 an anonymous article even appeared in the Theosophical Review by “A Russian,” which referred to an anonymous manuscript supposedly from 1784, where a Rosicrucian from Berlin, Simson, “said he had heard that the true Masonry will arise once more from the kingdom of Tibet.”¹ The myth of the retreat of the Rosicrucians to Tibet was also taken up at the end of the 1920s by (cid:898) representatives of the Polaires, a group of French intellectuals, who were interested in occultism and orientated themselves on the Polestar.¹ Jean Marques-Rivière, a student of Jacques Bacot, in his popular fictional autobiography À l’ombre des monastères thibétains,¹ contributed to the further “occultization” of Tibet by positing once (cid:899)again the existence there of mysterious power figures. (It was not until 1982, in an epilogue to a new edition, that Marques-Rivière a(cid:900)dmitted that the texts he presented were accounts of his nightly dreams as a young student, intellectually stretched to the limits of his capacity during his waking hours.)¹ In his “autobiography” he describes a sup(cid:901)reme, mighty King of the World, superior in status even to the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, and a “Council of the Twelve Nom’-Kan,” an organization that extends throughout the Orient and unites it in both a spiritual and political sense.² Alexandra David- Néel also reinforced the myth of Tibet as a country full of occult sciences and magicians, principally in Mystiques et magiciens du Tibet.²¹ (cid:892) By the time of the rise to power of the founders of the Nazi movement, the supposed existence of hidden world masters in Tibet was thus widely known, and often believed in, throughout Western Europe. Creation of Western Myths of Shambhala and Agarthi as Subterranean Theocracies The Western myths of the lands of Shambhala and Agarthi were created in parallel to the “Hidden Masters” myth, and also had wide popularity. Shambhala was indeed part of the belief system in Asia, a land from which a great king would emerge to bring peace to the world, but Agarthi was created from whole cloth to fill a need for a further mysterious realm beyond ordinary human knowledge. In addition to popularizing the idea of Hidden Masters, Madame Blavatsky was the first to gain a large audience in the West for ideas of a hidden abode of spirituality in the East, and Tibet as a secret site of ancient spiritual knowledge. In The Secret Doctrine of 1888, based on a mysterious ancient text called the Book of Dzyan (probably created by Blavatsky herself), she popularized the first Western version of the Shambhala myth, linking the original Indian myth of Shambhala to other myths of legendary sunken islands (Lemuria, Atlantis) to produce a creation myth marked by esoteric and racist elements in which chosen survivors “had taken shelter on the sacred Island (now the ‘fabled’ Shamballah, in the Gobi Desert).”²² The other popular hidden center of spirituality in the East had no source in history or Asian mythology. Louis Jacolliot created the myth of Agartha and mentioned it for the first time in the 1873 work Le fils de dieu.²³ This spurious legend of Agarthi or Agartha, was taken up and developed by French occultists from the end of the nineteenth century. In 1886 the holy city of Agartha was described in detail by Joseph-Alexandre Saint-Yves d’Alveydre in Mission de l’Inde en Europe.² This subterranean theocracy was apparently located under the Himalayas, from where its rulers directed (cid:896) 3 global events. Its ruler, the Supreme Pontiff, presided over a spiritually and technologically advanced population many millions strong. The Polish explorer Ferdinand Ossendowski presented a further version of the Agarthi myth in his 1922 best seller Beasts, Men and Gods.² In his account, he claims that Agarthi is an actual kingdom lying under Central Asia. Its ruler, the King of the World, knows all powers of the world and can read the souls of men and the Book of Destiny(cid:897). Although claiming that the history of Agarthi could be traced to an ancient Mongolian legend, he actually adapted the key elements of his account from Saint-Yves d’Alveydre.² While the Agartha or Agarthi myth has no Indian or Tibetan roots whatsoever, it still influenced the French traditionalist René Guénon in his widely read work Le Roi du Monde, published in 1927(cid:898) and translated into many languages, in which he supported Ossendowski’s claims. The topos of both a subterranean kingdom and an occult brotherhood in Tibet was also addressed by Theodore Illion in his popular Darkness over Tibet, although the work has no factual connection with Tibet.² He tells of an alleged visit to the “Secret City in the Valley of Mystery,” to a powerful “Occult Fraternity,” in “the Underground City of the Initiates.” Although their ruler pretended to be a “Prince of Light,” (cid:899)he “was really the Prince of Darkness in disguise.” The “City of Great Light Power” turned out to be the “City of the Evil One.” This “Occult Hierarchy” planned to control the world through telepathy and astral projection.² It may be worth noting that the Gestapo ordered Illion to furnish documentary evidence of his alleged visits to Tibet when he returned to Germany in 1941,² “since he was under suspicion of being a lia(cid:900)r, who claimed he had visited Tibet although he had never been there.”³ (cid:901) Thus two crucial concepts—that of a set of hidden masters and the existence of two possible re(cid:892)alms where they dwelt, both of them in Tibet—were in place to influence interpretations of the purpose of the 1939 Schäfer expedition to Tibet. Construction of the Mythology of the Nazis and the Occult Careful study of the evidence does not support, however, the idea that National Socialism was inspired by and permeated with occult ideas and purposes, especially to the extent of seeking an alliance with secret powers in Tibet. This lack of evidence has not, however, prevented the growth of a large literature—both contemporary and later—on the subject. Speculative historiography by French authors³¹ in the genre “Nazis and the Occult”³² and the influence of occult forces on Hitler paved the way for an assumed connection between occultism and National Socialism. “The lightning successes of the Nazis, both electorally and later militarily, together with their manifest evil, stimulated notions of their demonic inspirations” and “represented the Nazi phenomenon as the product of arcane and demonic influences.”³³ As early as 1933, a text of primary importance in this regard was published by Teddy Legrand,³ who propounded an initial indirect connection between National Socialism and Tibet. However, it was not until more than a quarter of a century later that a part of this work received widespread attention(cid:896) and further elaboration by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, who included a passage from it, without attribution, in their “key work” The Morning of the Magicians, a best seller translated into many languages that opened the floodgates for similar publications. However, the authors, who were addicted to a fantastic realism, had themselves downplayed the importance of their work and warned that many of their claims were as fantastic and exaggerated as Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels.³ A direct comparison between the texts of Legrand and Pauwels and Bergier is included below in the section titled The Legends of “Vril”. (cid:897) Hitler himself has been represented as an occult figure, despite his own stated scorn for interest in the occult. The most influential publication for the “occultization” of Hitler was Hermann Rauschning’s 1939 publication of a forged collection of talks with Hitler, Hitler Speaks,³ intended to present Hitler as an infernally-inspired foe. In the spring of 1939, Edouard Saby published Hitler et les forces occultes, in which he depicts Hitler “as the sorcerer’s apprentice” and ma(cid:898)nufactures occult connections between Hitler and Tibet: “Wasn’t it Trebitsch-Lincoln, the friend of the Tibetan Badmaiev, who initiated Hitler, by revealing to him the doctrine of Ostara, a secret school of India, where the lamas teach the supremacy of the Aryan?”³ C. Kerneiz’s work La Chute d’Hitler, published in 1940, attempts to analyze Hitler “cosmo-biologically” and claims that the group around General Ludendorff of all people, with whom Hitler was in fact al(cid:899)most unconnected, had subjected Hitler to a course of training of a type practiced in India and Tibet since time immemorial.³ (cid:900) 4 Some Nazi party leaders, principally Himmler and Rosenberg did have strong mystical leanings, but these were falsely extrapolated to apply to the entire Nazi ruling elite, including Hitler. According to today’s standards of historical research,³ however, Hitler himself dismissed occultism and was skeptical of others’ occult ambitions, mocking the mystical interests of Himmler and Rosenberg in a speech at a Kulturtagung on September (cid:901)6, 1938: (cid:896)(cid:892) National Socialism is a cool and highly reasoned approach to reality based upon the greatest scientific knowledge and its spiritual expression … Above all, National Socialism is a Volk Movement in essence and under no circumstances a cult movement! […] For this reason, the infiltration of the movement by mystically inclined researchers into the otherworldly cannot be tolerated. They are not National Socialists, but something else—certainly something with which we have nothing to do. […] Cult-like acts are not our responsibility, but that of the churches. ¹ Hitler also scoffe(cid:896)d at astrology and horoscopes. ² All of this is supported by the fascinating new bo(cid:896)ok by Corinna Treitel, A Science for the Soul, ³ whose “approach to the history of German occult contrasts strongly with the prevalent view among historians,” and challenges the view of the early and highly influential book by Hugh Trevor-Ro(cid:896)per, The Last Days of Hitler, about the connection between Nazism and the occult. She writes that “as a careful examination of printed and archival sources shows, the larger story of the Nazi regime and the occult movement is one(cid:896) o(cid:896)f escalating hostility,” and state officials “did not hesitate to oppress the occult movement brutally.” And “an official decree in July 1937 dissolved Freemasonic lodges, Theosophical circles and related groups throughout Germany. Occult action now became illegal. Then in 1941, in the wake of Hes(cid:896)s(cid:897)’s flight to Britain, police action against occultists rose to fever pitch.” Furthermore, the subject of Tibet and its religion appeared alien and irrelevant to Hitler. He did sa(cid:896)y(cid:898) that in his youth the figure of Sven Hedin had been of great interest to him, so he must have had at least some vague knowledge of Tibet. But the following remark made about Hitler in his Wolfsschanze headquarters on May 14, 1942, demonstrates his later lack of concern for T(cid:896)i(cid:899)bet: “At lunch, the boss [Hitler] was told about the film about Tibet made by the SS Schäfer expedition. The boss said that if anyone tried to criticize a Tibetan priest, the whole of the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church too would scream blue murder.” This statement also clearly shows that the content of the film Geheimnis Tibet was not presented to Hitler as a Nazi propaganda film. It is noteworthy that Hitler made this comment in connectio(cid:896)n(cid:900) with Schäfer’s visit to the Führer’s headquarters. However, Schäfer neither met Hitler personally, nor was the disappointed Hitler able to grasp the significance of the gifts from the Tibetan regent which Schäfer was finally able to present to him, via Hitler’s adjutants, three years after his return from Tibet. The Legends of “Vril” and the (cid:896)T(cid:901)hule Society linking Nazism with Tibet But how did Nazi occultism become linked, however falsely, to secret centers of knowledge in Central Asia? This connection is attributed to the Vril Society and the Thule Society. As early as 1871, in his novel The Coming Race, which also inspired Blavatsky, ¹ Edward Bulwer-Lytton described a subterranean race of Übermenschen, the Vril-ya. These “superbeings” were far in advance of humanity in every respec(cid:897)t,(cid:892) due to their ability to tap a mys(cid:897)terious force or energy to which Bulwer- Lytton gave the name “Vril.” From these roots, the Vril Society emerged in Germany. The association’s existence is corroborated by nothing more than a single reference in a brief essay written in 1947 by rocket engineer Willy Ley, who emigrated to the USA in 1935: “The next group was literally founded upon a novel.” This Berlin group called itself Society for Truth and “devoted its spare time to looking for Vril … The secret of Vril could be found by contemplating the structure of an apple, sliced in halves.” ² This brief report w(cid:897)as taken up by Pauwels and Bergier in The Morning of the Magicians to inflate the significance of this unknown group and to insinuate the determination of the Nazi ruling elite to make contact with an omnipotent subterranean theocracy, thus enabling Germany, armed with the knowledge of this power, to conquer the world. The group was known as the Vril Society or the Luminous Lodge, and the geo-politician Karl Haushofer was said to have been a member. ³ (cid:897) 5 An influential role as an occult center of the National Socialist elite was also attributed to the Thule Society, founded in Munich in 1918. According to Pauwels and Bergier it was said to be part of a network of occult groups and associations, some with origins dating back to far-distant times and places. The society not only functioned as an organization of occult adepts, but primarily served as a direct point of contact to supernatural powers or as a link to the “Hidden Masters,” chiefly in Tibet, to whom secret knowledge, superhuman abilities and occult powers were attributed. With Karl Haushofer having been identified already by Pauwels and Bergier as Hitler’s occult mentor, the Thule Society was said to have played a key role in the development of National Socialism. Pauwels, himself a disciple of the holistic master Géorge Ivanovich Gurdjieff, claimed that Hausho(cid:897)fe(cid:896)r, who traveled through India, Burma, Korea and China from 1908-1910, was Military Attaché at the German Embassy in Tokyo, and had a lifelong interest in the Far East and Japan in particular, met Gurdjieff several times in Tibet between 1903 and 1908: In 1923 Haushofer founded an esoter(cid:897)ic(cid:897) group modeled on similar groups in Tibet … The group was called the “Thule Group” and its philosophy was founded on the famous book of magic of the Dzyan, which belonged to certain Tibetan sages; according to this book there were two sources of power in the world: the right-hand source, which comes from a subterranean monastery, a fortress of meditation, situated in a town called, symbolically, Agarthi. This is the source of the contemplative power. The left-hand source is the source of physical power, and comes from a town on the surface called Shampullah. This is the city of violence and is ruled by the “King of Fear.” Those who succeed in making an alliance with him can dominate the world. Through a large Tibetan colony in Berlin which kept constantly in touch with Haushofer, the “Thule Group” formed this “alliance” in 1928 … The following men were members of the group at this time: Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Rosemberg [sic] under Haushofer’s direction. The members communicated in two ways with Shampullah and the “King of Fear”: firstly, by electronic transmitters and receivers which put them in contact with a so called “Tibetan” information centre through which they obtained valuable comments on India and Japan … The treacherous insinuations were further magnified: “They [my informants] affirm, too, that one of the conditions of the pact made between the ‘Thule group’ and the Tibetan ‘authorities’ was the extermination of Gypsies.” However, this sensationaliz(cid:897)(cid:898)ed picture of the Thule Society and its members is a complete fabrication. As in later works, Pauwels inverted the Theosophists’ positive concept of Shambhala into its opposite. Hitler never took part in a single meeting of the Thule Society, nor was Göring a member. Among those Nazi leaders known to hold esoteric beliefs, Himmler was never associated with the Thule Society. While Alfred Rosenberg had contact with the society, the esoterically influenced Rudolf Hess was the sole leading Nazi who was a member. But what was the Thule Society actually? It was certainly not an occult group. During the rise of Nazism the Thule Society took on certain significance as a racist, anti-Semitic and völkisch, albeit not an occult group, particularly in the crushing of the Munich Räterepublik (Republic of Councils). After 1919 the group’s political influence dwindled. The claims concerning Haushofer’s contacts (cid:897)w(cid:899)ith and membership in the Thule Society and Vril Society have no foundation whatsoever, and Pauwels’s allegations of meetings between Haushofer and Gurdjieff in Tibet do not withstand critical examination. Haushofer did not travel outside Europe prior to 1908, and his precisely documented schedule through Asia allowed no time for a visit to Tibet or for a meeting with Gurdjieff. Thus(cid:897) i(cid:900)t can be seen that Nazi concern(cid:897) w(cid:901)ith occult beliefs and mysterious powers available to them in the East have been greatly exaggerated, to say the least. Facts about the Schäfer Expedition Let us now turn to the project in which the myths and legends described above appear to culminate: “No expedition to Tibet so captured public attention with its plans than a group of five German researchers shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.” This expedition constitutes the (cid:898)(cid:892) 6 main piece of “evidence” used by crypto-historians in their construction of a Nazi-Tibet connection. Here only the main points of the expedition, those bearing on later insinuations, since a more detailed account is available elsewhere. ¹ This 1938/39 Tibet expedition, a(cid:898)lthough planned by its members as a purely scientific venture, actually fell between the two stools of politics and science from the very outset of its planning stage. Heinrich Himmler and the “Ahnenerbe” (the SS Ancestral Heritage Society) wanted to influence and determine the venture from a political, esoteric, and pseudo-scientific viewpoint. The expedition then fell into the area of foreign affairs conflicts when official permits were required from the English. National Socialist foreign policy, political affiliations, and propaganda ultimately damaged the completion of the expedition’s goals and created enormous obstacles for it. Ernst Schäfer, born in 1910 in Cologne, had just started to study zoology and geology in Göttingen when Brooke Dolan, a wealthy young American, came to Germany in 1930 to recruit scientists for a zoological expedition. Schäfer, a mere twenty years old at the time, participated in the first Brooke- Dolan expedition to Western China and Tibet. ² In 1932 he returned to Germany to resume his studies and joined the SS in 1934. From 1934 to 1936 Schäfer took part in a further scientific expedition with Brooke Dolan, this time as scie(cid:898)ntific leader, to Eastern Tibet and China. ³ After his return to Germany, Schäfer continued his studies in Berlin and received his doctoral degree in zoology in 1937. (cid:898) Meanwhile, the success of the expeditions Schäfer had participated in had attracted Heinrich Himmler’s attention. Despite his ambivalence towards Asia as a whole, Himmler, who was fascinated by lurid, fantastic ideas of Asian mysticism and believed in karma, had a genuine interest in Tibet. When he heard about Schäfer’s plans to lead an independent expedition to Tibet, he was immediately keen on launching this expedition under the auspices of the SS “Ahnenerbe.” A memorandum from(cid:898)(cid:896) the “Ahnenerbe,” dated August 1937, finally stated that the Reichsführer wished “the ‘Ahnenerbe’ to equip a new expedition to Tibet. The expedition is to be organized officially by the ‘Ahnenerbe’.” The “Ahnenerbe,” founded in 1935 in Berlin by Himmler and others, initially occupied itself with(cid:898) (cid:897) subjects such as early Germanic history, runic research, and fringe subjects like the Atlantis myth. However, it was in(cid:898)c(cid:898)reasingly endeavoring to gain a foothold in the field of serious science, to extend its scope of study to focus on natural sciences, and to attract first-class scientists, so that it was concerned with both areas in parallel. Himmler constantly attempted to influence the work of scientists when he discovered a topic that interested him. Indulging his mystical bent, he wanted Schäfer and his expedition to conduct research based on Hörbiger’s “World Ice Theory,” which claimed that Atlantis was destroyed by a great flood cau(cid:898)s(cid:899)ed by the collision of an ice moon with the Earth. “Himmler believed that ancient emigrants from Atlantis had founded a great civilization in Central Asia, the capital of which was a city called Urbe.” However, as (cid:898)a(cid:900) scientist Schäfer had more legitimate purposes in mind, and several times declined— eventually with success—to include on his team the pseudoscientist Edmund Kiss, whose task would have been to furnish proof of this theory. The primary objective of Schäfer’s research was the creation of a complete scientific record of Tibet, through a synthesis of geology, botany, zoology, and ethnology, referred to in the German science of the day as “holism.” The difficulties of travel to Tibet and the hardships facing the expedit(cid:898)i(cid:901)on were dwarfed by the problems Schäfer faced in organizing and financing the project. Although he had succeeded in asserting his scientific freedom over Himmler’s wild plans, his objectives and those of Himmler and the “Ahnenerbe” apparently diverged more and more widely until Wolfram Sievers, the head of the “Ahnenerbe,” declared in January 1938 that “In the meanti(cid:899)m(cid:892)e the task of the expedition has diverged too far from the goals of the Reichsführer-SS and does not serve his ideas of cultural studies” ¹ “because it would lie outside the scope of his work.” ² “The Reichsführer complied with Dr. Schäfer’s request to be permitted to conduct negotiations himself concerning the expedition’s financing a(cid:899)nd organization. The “Ahnenerbe” subsequently transfe(cid:899)rred the file to Dr. Schäfer.” ³ And later: “At the request of the Reichsführer SS, SS Obersturmführer Schäfer’s expedition was not conducted by the ‘Ahnenerbe’.” Doubtless financial factors also played a key role in this decision(cid:899). (cid:899)(cid:896) 7 Thus, in the end, the expedition was not sponsored or financed by the SS or the “Ahnenerbe.” However, Schäfer continued to receive political help from the “Ahnenerbe” and Himmler. He was well aware of the fact that he was dependent on Himmler’s goodwill, and was forced to compromise on some points in order to retain his support with the English and obtain passports. Himmler gave his consent to the expedition on the condition that all of its members join the SS. Himmler’s meddling was not always helpful in dealings with the English, however. In preparation for the expedition, Schäfer had had “Schäfer Expedition 1938/39” letterheads printed and applied for sponsorship from businessmen. Schäfer was forced to yield on the matter of the expedition’s official title. In February 1938 Himmler decreed that on the orders of the “Ahnenerbe” the expedition’s name would have to be changed and letterheads were ordered with the new text “German Tibet-Expedition Ernst Schäfer [in large print], under the patronage of the Reichsfuehrer-SS Himmler and in connection with the ‘Ahnenerbe’ ” [in small print]. This letterhead, in large Gothic type, caused Schäfer considerable difficulties with the British authorities after his arrival in India. The consequence was that Schäfer ordered new, discreet letterh(cid:899)e(cid:897)ads in Antiqua typeface, apparently while still in Calcutta, which stated simply “Deutsche Tibet Expedition Ernst Schäfer.” During the expedition he used only this and his original “Schäfer Expedition” paper. Schäfer continued his efforts to establish the financing of the expedition and carry through his research objectives. He actually raised the funds of his expedition by his own efforts, albeit with the support of the “Ahnenerbe.” He received the sum of 30,000 Reichsmark (RM) from the DFG. The final statement dated November 15, 1940, shows that the Public Relations and Advertising Council of German Business (Werberat der deutschen Wirtschaft) made the largest contribution, of RM (cid:899)4(cid:898)6,000. In return for supplying reports for the newspapers Völkischer Beobachter and the Illustrierter Beobachter, their publisher Eher Verlag paid the sum of RM 20,000; RM 7,000 came from the Foreign Office, and a further RM 6,500 from private donors including Brooke Dolan. The costs totaled RM 112,111, of which the greatest expenditure, RM 12,119, was to be for the ethnographic collection. Only the contribution from Himmler’s “circle of friends” was the financing of part of the hasty return flight from India—the leg from Bagdad to Berlin—as the outbreak of war became imminent. (cid:899)(cid:899) One of the greatest problems in those years was the procuring of foreign currency, which w(cid:899)a(cid:900)s only possible through Hermann Göring. Göring was a great hunting enthusiast, and Schäfer, also a hunter, was introduced to him through the agency of Himmler at the Munich International Hunting Exhibition at the beginning of November 1937. The meeting between the(cid:899) (cid:901)two hunters was successful, and the problem of foreign currency was solved. (cid:900)(cid:892) The expedition was finally ready. It comprised five members: Schäfer as mammologist and ornithologist; Ernst Krause as entomologist, photographer, and camera operator; Bruno Beger as ethnologist; Karl Wienert as geophysicist; and Edmund Geer as technical caravan manager. They set off in the spring of 1938, heading first to Calcutta. However, political reality caught up with them on their arrival. When they left, the National Socialist propaganda newspaper Völkischer Beobachter had printed an article headlined “SS Expedition Leaves for Uncharted Regions of Tibet.” ¹ The Indian Statesman immediately reprinted the article, but under the headline “Nazi invasion— (cid:900) Blackguards in India.” This would cause Schäfer enormous problems during negotiations with the English over entry permits for Sikkim and Tibet. The German Consul-General in Calcutta, Count Podewils, expressed unusually open and direct criticism to the Foreign Office: I attribute the refusal [of the entry permits] primarily to the fact that the expedition was overly presented as an SS enterprise. The known fact that the English consider the SS to be a police and espionage organization could not do otherwise but cause the expedition’s scientific goals to be regarded as a mere pretext and scent political objectives in the background. The detailed article in the Völkischer Beobachter of 20 April, “Expedition into the Uncharted Regions of Tibet, Research Expedition with the Support of the SS Reichsführer and Völkischer Beobachter” was as unhelpful in this context as the letterhead “Deutsche Expedition Ernst Schäfer, Unter der Schirmherrschaft des Reichsführers der SS Himmler und in Verbindung mit dem Ahnenerbe e.V. Berlin,” which was used prior to the expedition’s departure. Naturally, the English learnt of all this immediately and became suspicious, so that 8 not only the London Times, but also the local press published notes pointing out the expedition’s connection to the SS. ² In support of Schäfer and his expedition,(cid:900) Himmler himself wrote a letter to his friend Admiral Sir Barry Domvile, a fact that also came to the attention of the India Office. ³ While Himmler’s intervention helped to get the required permits, the suspicion of the English had now been awakened in earnest. Even though Schäfer appeared to be successful in convincing the(cid:900) British of the exclusively scientific purpose of his mission, British suspicions of espionage clung to the expedition throughout its duration and imputed to it a far greater importance than was warranted. Although the Tibetan government refused entry to the expedition several times, some months later Schäfer and his crew were admitted to Lhasa, where they stayed a full two months. The members of the expedition established official contact with the Kashag ministers and the Reting Regent, and friendly contact with many aristocratic families. Given the myths surrounding the expedition’s alleged secret political aims, let us now focus on the contact with the Reting Regent and perhaps the most famous outcome of the expedition, the letter the Regent wrote to Hitler. Schäfer convinced Reting to write a letter to Hitler, although Reting probably had little idea of who Hitler was. The letter, in the official accompanying English translation, reads: (cid:900)(cid:896) To his Majesty Fuhrer Adolph Hitler, Berlin, Germany. From The Regent of Tibet. On the 18th day of the first month of Sand-Hare Year. Your Majesty, I trust your Highness is in best of health and in every progress with your goodly affairs. Here I am well and doing my best in our religious and Government affairs. I have the pleasure to let Your Majesty know that Dr. Schaefer and his party, who are the first Germans to visit Tibet have been permitted without any objection, and every necessary assist is rendered on their arrival. Further, I am in desirous to do anything that will help to improve the friendly tie of relationship between the two Nations, and I trust your Majesty will also consider it essential as before. Please take care of Your good self, and let me know if Your Majesty desire anything. I am sending under separate parcel a Tibetan silver lid and saucer with a red designed tea cup, and a native dog as a small remembrance. Sincerely Yours, Reting Ho-Thok-Thu. Although this letter is no more than an example of the noncommittal polite correspondence typical of Tibet, it gave rise to much speculation and is nowadays often cited as proof of the Tibetans’ friendly attitude toward Nazi Germany. In 1995 Reinhard Greve published the German translation of the Tibetan original by the Tibetologist Johannes Schubert. Schubert may have thought it advantageous to try to translate this letter in a Nazi style, and may thus have falsified the translation deliberately to flatter Hitler. But his translation is quite simply inaccurate. He even added remarks that are not found in the original document, the most egregious interpolation being the substitution of “At present you [Hitler] are making all efforts in creating a lasting empire in peaceful prosperity based on a racial foundation,” for the correct translation of the common Tibetan phrase: “Here I [Reting] am well and doing my best in our religious and Government affairs.” Schubert’s inaccurate translation has since been used to demonstrate Tibetan sympathy for racist ideas and to ascribe to the Tibetan ruler an uncritical friendship toward the Nazis. (cid:900)(cid:897) The expedition completed its projected(cid:900)(cid:898) work and was from a scholarly point of view highly successful, collecting an amazing amount of scientific material about Tibet that continues to be of great value 9 even today. It ended, however, in a hasty and dispiriting return to Europe: some weeks after the return of its members the Second World War broke out. These, then are the facts—the history—of this expedition, as far they can be reconstructed on the basis of the sources available at present. Myths and Fictions about the Schäfer Expedition The mere fact that a scientific expedition of SS members visited the mysterious land of Tibet at this time, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, has been enough to add weight to the fictitious occult links between Nazism, Hitler, and the “Hidden Masters” in Agarthi und Shambhala. But what of the distortions of fact and stories concocted on the basis of this history? And how was the expedition exploited to support myths of occult connections between Hitler, Nazism and Oriental theocracies? Although Pauwels and Bergier were the most influential creators of the myth of a Nazi-Tibetan connection, they were not the first to do so; they used and expanded a story mentioned earlier in this article, one from a French spy novel of 1933, Les sept têtes du dragon vert, in which connections between the Tibetans and Hitler were fabricated. Its author was allegedly a French secret agent writing under the pseudonym Teddy Legrand who was later said to have died under mysterious circumstances. The novel, which describes a pow(cid:900)(cid:899)erful secret organization responsible for the rise of National Socialism and Communism, adroitly interweaves fact and fiction. In the novel, two British secret agents in 1933 visited an Asian magician in Berlin described by the Berliner Zeitung as “the man with green gloves.” He had three times accurately predicted the num(cid:900)b(cid:900)er of Hitler’s supporters who would be elected to the Reichstag. The Tibetan mala (rosary) with which the two British agents were presented—with 110 beads instead of 108, for occult reasons—implied that he was Tibetan, although this is not specifically mentione(cid:900)(cid:901)d. His fluorescent gloves gleamed like glow-worms. His gaze was cruel, penetrating and sly; he had perfect control over his reflexes. He addressed the British agents in perfect Oxford English: “Gentlemen, although you belong to a race other than mine, the green hand will be extended to you, since you bear the keys that open the 110 locks of the secret kingdom of Aggharti.” Let us examine what P(cid:901)(cid:892)auwels and Bergier made of this in their The Morning of the Magicians: In Berlin there was a Tibetan monk, nicknamed “the man with the green gloves,” who had correctly foretold in the Press, on three occasions, the number of Hitlerian deputies elected to the Reichstag, and who was regularly visited by Hitler. He was said by the Initiates to possess the keys to the kingdom of Agarthi … It was in 1926 that a small Hindu and Tibetan colony settled in Berlin and Munich. When the Russians entered Berlin, they found among the corpses a thousand volunteers for death in German uniform without any papers or badges, of Himalayan origin. As soon as the [Nazi] movement began to acquire extensive funds, it organised a number of expeditions to Tibet, which succeeded one another practically without interruption until 1943. […] ¹ In Tibet, acting on orders(cid:901) from Dr. Sievers, Dr. Scheffer [sic] was in contact with a number of lamas ² in various monasteries and he brought back with him to Munich, for scientific examination, some “Aryan” horses and “Aryan” bees, whose honey had special qualities. ³ (cid:901) Here we find further occult details added to Teddy Legrand’s fictional story, but none of them ha(cid:901)ve any basis in fact. No green-gloved Tibetan monk lived in Berlin to advise Hitler. Furthermore, far from a constant succession of German expeditions to Tibet from 1926-1943, only a single German expedition went to that country, that of 1938-1939. There were also no Tibetan colonies in Munich, Berlin or other cities, no Tibetan monks, and no troop of uniformed Tibetans in Germany. In fact, in the first half of the twentieth century only a single T(cid:901)i(cid:896)betan lived in Germany: he was Albert Tafel’s interpreter, whom Tafel had brought with him after his expedition in 1907. There is also no proof at all for the claim of a thousand uniformed Tibetan corpses. This story may be a legend arising from the fact that in the Second World War Mongolian Kalmyks had fought on the s(cid:901)i(cid:897)de of the Germans, although at the end of the war there were almost no Kalmyks in Berlin. Nonetheless, it was thus that the myth arose. Once “Pauwels and Bergier had provided this basic stock of myths relating to the occult inspiration of Nazism, further authors were tempted into a sensa(cid:901)t(cid:898)ional field.” (cid:901)(cid:899) 10