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Rahn - Seeker of the Grail
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Otto Wilhelm Rahn (February 18, 1904-March 13, 1939) was
a German medievalist and a Obersturmf�hrer of the SS, born
in Michelstadt, Germany.
Speculation still swirls around Otto Rahn and his research.
From an early age, he became interested in the legends of
Parsifal, Holy Grail, Lohengrin, and the Nibelungenlied.
While attending the University of Giessen he was inspired by
his professor Baron Von Gall to study the Albigensian (Catharism)
movement, and the massacre that occurred at Monts�gur. Rahn
is quoted as saying that 'It was a subject that completely
captivated me'''.
Work
In 1931 he traveled to the Pyrenees region of southern
France where he conducted most of his research. Aided by
Antonin Gadal, Rahn claimed that there was a direct link
between Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Cathar
Grail mystery. He believed, that the Cathars held the answer
to this sacred mystery and that the keys to unlock their
secrets lay somewhere beneath the mountain pog where the
fortress of Monts�gur still stands, the last Cathar fortress
to fall during the Albigensian Crusade.
Rahn believed it was possible to trace the Cathars, who
guarded the Holy Grail in their castle at Montsegur, back to
Druids who converted to Gnostic Manichaeism. The Druids in
Britain were forerunners of the Celtic Christian Church. He
saw that the culture of the medieval Cathar stronghold of
Languedoc bore strong a resemblance to the ancient Druids.
Their priests were akin to the Cathar Parfaits. The Cathar
secret wisdom being preserved by the later Troubadours, the
travelling poets and singers of the medieval courts of
France-M. Sabeheddin, [Countermedia][1].
The SS and death
Rahn wrote two books linking Monts�gur and Cathars with the
Holy Grail: Kreuzzug gegen den Gral ('Crusade Against the
Grail') in 1933 and Luzifers Hofgesind ('Lucifer's Court')
in 1937. After the publication of his first book, Kreuzzug
gegen den Gral, Rahn's work came to the attention of
Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS who was fascinated by
the occult.
Rahn joined his staff as a junior NCO and became a full
member of the SS in 1936. Openly homosexual, he was assigned
guard duty at the Dachau concentration camp in 1937 as
punishment for a drunken homosexual scrape[1]. He resigned
from the SS the following year. He wrote 'There is much
sorrow in my country. Impossible for a tolerant, liberal man
like me to live in the nation that my native country has
become.' On March 13, 1939 nearly on the anniversary of the
fall of Monts�gur, he was found frozen to death on a
mountainside near S�ll (Kufstein, Tyrol) in Austria. His
death was officially ruled suicide.
Legacy
Otto Rahn is considered by some to be the inspiration behind
the Indiana Jones movie[2] Raiders of the Lost Ark, although
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have never mentioned
anything about him being an inspiration to their character.
Nazi interest in the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail
coincided with the life of this German archaeologist and
researcher. Otto Rahn has been the object of many rumors and
strange stories including that his death had been faked
although all such rumors and stories have been proven
false.[2]
Works
- Kreuzzug gegen den Gral. Die Geschichte der Albigenser (Broschiert)
(In German), 1934, ISBN 3934291279; ISBN 978-3934291270.
- Croisade contre le Graal: Grandeur et Chute des Albigeois
(Broch�) (French Translation), 1934, ISBN 2867141842; ISBN
978-2867141843.
- Crusade Against the Grail: The Struggle between the
Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome (First English
Translation by Christopher Jones), 1934/2006, ISBN
1594771359; ISBN 978-1594771354.
- Luzifers Hofgesind, eine Reise zu den guten Geistern
Europas (Rahn's book on Luciferism), 1937, ISBN 3934291198;
ISBN 978-3934291195.
Notes
1. ^ Preston, John. 'The original Indiana Jones: Otto Rahn
and the temple of doom', telegraph.co.uk, Telegraph Media
Group Limited, 2008-05-22. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 'What
would have been far more of a problem to Himmler was that
Rahn was openly homosexual. In 1937, Rahn was punished for a
drunken homosexual scrape by being assigned to a three-month
tour of duty as a guard at Dachau concentration camp'
2. ^ Preston, John. 'The original Indiana Jones: Otto Rahn
and the temple of doom', telegraph.co.uk, Telegraph Media
Group Limited, 2008-05-22. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 'As
Indiana Jones returns to our screens, John Preston looks at
the Nazi archaeologist who inspired Spielberg's hero'References
* Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 1985. The Occult Roots of
Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi
Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany,
1890-1935; p.188-189
* Otto Rahn and the Quest for the Holy Grail
* Sabeheddin, M. 'Otto Rahn & the Quest for the Holy Grail
(New Dawn No. 43)', New Dawn Magazine, New Dawn
International News Service, July-August 1997.
* Biography at Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia
From
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