Aleister Crowley in Nazi Germany - Tobias Churton Interview Audio
Published on 24 Mar 2015
Gnostic poet, painter, writer, and magician Aleister Crowley arrived in Berlin on April 18, 1930. As prophet of his syncretic religion "Thelema," he wanted to be among the leaders of art and thought, and Berlin, the liberated future-gazing metropolis, wanted him. There he would live, until his hurried departure on June 22, 1932, as Hitler was rapidly rising to power and the black curtain of intolerance came down upon the city. Known to his friends affectionately as "The Beast," Crowley saw the closing lights of Berlin's artistic renaissance of the Weimar period when Berlin played host to many of the world's most outstanding artists, writers, filmmakers, performers, composers, architects, philosophers, and scientists, including Albert Einstein, Bertolt Brecht, Ethel Mannin, Otto Dix, Aldous Huxley, Jean Ross, Christopher Isherwood, and many other luminaries of a glittering world soon to be trampled into the mud by the global bloodbath of World War II. Drawing on previously unpublished letters and diary material by Crowley, Tobias Churton examines Crowley's years in Berlin and his intense focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his contacts with German Theosophy, Freemasonry, and magical orders. He recounts the fates of Crowley's colleagues under the Nazis as well as what happened to Crowley's lost art exhibition--six crates of paintings left behind in Germany as the Gestapo was closing in. Revealing the real Crowley long hidden from the historical record, Churton presents "the Beast" anew in all his ambiguous and, for some, terrifying glory, at a blazing, seminal moment in the history of the world.
[flash=600,400:3hsmk8j5] https://www.youtube.com/v/oZj2pzr9DCs [/flash:3hsmk8j5]
I never realised the Weimar Republic was ruled by the National Socialists.
Markus
Markus
hahaha
Markus
Marcus did Mr Churton really say that in the interview :s ?
I liked the Beast in Berlin and he never said anything so stupid in the book.
coincidentally, i was just looking a some of the German intelligence reports on AC…
Der Mann der sich Meister Therion nennt (Deckname) ist ein skrupelloser und sehr gefährlicher internationaler Hochstapler und Schwindler der religöses Suchen jener, die in der keine Befriedigung fanden, und hysterisches Gebaren mannstoller Frauen sehr geschickt im Interesse eigener Kassa auszunützen verstand.
Translation:
The man who is called the Master Therion (alias) is a ruthless and very dangerous international conman and impostor, who exploits religious seekers who have found no satisfaction in the church and hysterical, man-crazy women in the interest of his own funds.
Haha, great stuff!
The man who is called the Master Therion (alias) is a ruthless and very dangerous international conman and impostor, who exploits religious seekers who have found no satisfaction in the church and hysterical, man-crazy women in the interest of his own funds.
But - as the Cowardly Lion put it in The Wizard Of Oz: “Ain’t it the truth? Ain’t it the truth?”!
Norma N Joy Conquest
Those Germans sure have a way of getting right at the heart of a matter.
Obligatory Simpsons quote: "No one who speaks German could be an evil man!"
I liked the Beast in Berlin and he never said anything so stupid in the book.
I was refering to the blurb quoted by Paul. I have not listened to the interview due to the ridiculous advertising it's been given. Of course, if you want to sell something, it makes sense to invoke the evil Nazis (though a nice pair of juggs often does the trick, too). The problem is that you end up falsifying history: the Nazis spent the first couple of years consolidating their power and didn't move against Occultists until 1937. So, to have "the Gestapo closing in" on Crowley's art, is silly, considering that they didn't even exist in 1932!
Markus
indeed, when AC left Berlin in 1932 for London, he intended it to be a temporary visit and planned to return to Berlin to pursue his creative activities. But, as is so often the case for all of us, "life is what happens when we are busy making plans."
I suppose I will have to buckle down - you too Markus - and actually listen to the interview before any further critique.
By the way, I'll be giving a talk on the subject at a bookstore here in Berlin on the 9th of April, if anyone is traveling through the city on the Second Day of the The Writing of the Book of the Law. / but is travel even allowed on those days? 😉 /
I liked the Beast in Berlin and he never said anything so stupid in the book.
I was refering to the blurb quoted by Paul. I have not listened to the interview due to the ridiculous advertising it's been given. Of course, if you want to sell something, it makes sense to invoke the evil Nazis (though a nice pair of juggs often does the trick, too). The problem is that you end up falsifying history: the Nazis spent the first couple of years consolidating their power and didn't move against Occultists until 1937. So, to have "the Gestapo closing in" on Crowley's art, is silly, considering that they didn't even exist in 1932!
Markus
Very true.
I would think a pair of Nazi juggs would do nicely too lol
I would think a pair of Nazi juggs would do nicely too lol
gotcha covered…
lololo