A Crisis of Consciousness Volkisch Occultism in Austria and Germany, 1890-1933

Shanna Turner

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harvey, David

Keywords

Occult, Ariosophy, Germany, Austria, Nineteenth Century

Area of Concentration

History

Abstract

The nineteenth century saw an occult revival throughout the Western world, but this occult revival impacted Germany uniquely. In the rest of Europe interest in the occult was a fad that died out within a few short years. This was not the case in the German-speaking world, where the social, political and economic atmosphere created conditions particularly well suited to fostering the occult. This thesis analyzes the unique conditions in nineteenth century Austria and Germany that resulted in the v�lkisch occult movement and the writers and thinkers who created the ideologies of the movement. One cannot address German occultism without, to some extent, addressing the relationship between the occult and the Third Reich. To those ends, this thesis discusses the tenuous relationship between the v�lkisch occultists, Guido von List, Lanz von Liebenfels and Rudolf von Sebottendorff, and National Socialism, concluding that National Socialism was not a product of the occult, but rather both were products of the nineteenth century culture of despair and irrationality prevalent in Germany.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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