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TheosophyandtheSecondWorldWarNazism, Fascism and the Theosophical

Movement During the Twentieth Century

Carlos Cardoso Aveline

The aftermath of a Nazi bombing raid on London

To form the nucleus of a Universal

Brotherhood of Humanity, without

distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color

[The first and main object of the theosophical

movement, founded in 1875 in New York City]

In a world still partly dominated by bigotry and by ritualistic religions, it is onlynatural that the theosophical movement - being rather a non-violentextinguisher of

illusions - should be attacked in various ways, from within and from without.

As an instance of such attacks we have a variety of baseless texts which accuse the

theosophical movement of having had simpathies for Nazism or Fascism. There are

various sources of disinformation around the subject of Theosophy and Hitlerism,and it seems proper to bring some evidence about the actual relationship between

the two, including the period during the Second World War.
http://www.filosofiaesoterica.com/

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Nazism misused Hindu sacred symbols with selfish goals. Nazi leaders practiced

some kind of anti-humanistic sorcery, and they had much in common with the

disguised mysticism of hatred and violence which was carefully developed by the

Jesuits and used by the Vatican since the 16th century. Of course, the Vatican has

always been against Theosophy, for Theosophy proposes universal brotherhood

and denounces and fights every form of religious dogmatism.

As facts often speak by themselves, we will start by examining the actual situation,

country by country, during the second world war.

* In May 1940, the Netherlands Section of the Adyar Theosophical Society was

closed right after the German invasion. Theosophical activities went on privately

and clandestinely, although they were forbidden by the Nazi invaders. [1]

* In Belgium, on the 10th of May, 1940, an intense bombardment of Brussels took

place. After that came the Nazi pillage of all Lodge and private libraries. Josephine

Ransom writes that the General Secretary, Miss Serge Brisy, with the concierge,

made a huge fire, while the air raids went on, and burnt all papers that might

compromise the members. Miss Serge Brisy was then a refugee in Bordeaux for

some months. During her absence, the Gestapo searched her house and took away

her books and lectures, as also the books in the Section headquarters and in the

houses of several prominent members in Brussels and of Lodge Presidents in the

Provinces. In December she returned to find the Section closed. The Gestapo in

vain threatened punishment if the list of members was not produced. Names were

not revealed. [2]

* In France, a few days after the German army entered Paris, military officers

closed the headquarters. Later they carried away records, library books, and other

objects belonging to the Adyar Society. A few months after that the Vichy [Nazi-

controlled] government dissolved the Society and twice all Civil Servants had to

declare they were not members of it. The Gestapo took the headquarters building

in Paris and made it their centre for their Secret Service. [3] This is interesting

because the Gestapo used jesuitic and sorcery-oriented procedures, as we will see

later on in the present article. They might be interested in taking advantage of any

subtle magnetism created by theosophical studies.

In spite of the nazi occupation, some meetings of Adyar Society members went on

inFrance, clandestinely. The movement went back to life as soon as the Allies

liberated the country.

* The Greek Section of the Adyar Society made a pronouncement to all

theosophists worldwide denouncing invasion of Greece by Benito Mussolinis,

Fascist Italy. [4] We must remember that the Vatican - located in Rome -

officially supported the Fascism inItaly.

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* The Italian Section of the Theosophical Society had been dissolved in 1939 by

the Fascist Government. Some informal activity was kept and the work came back

to public life in 1946. [5]

* After Pollands invasion, members of the Adyar Society in Hungary helped

masses of Polish refugees arriving in that country, some of whom were

Theosophists. [6]

* In Germany, the theosophical movement was dissolved and forbidden from 1939

through 1945. Only a few private meetings took place clandestinely. [7]

* In Norway, all theosophical activities were forbidden since the invasion of the

country by the Nazis in April 1940, and up to its final Liberation in 1945. [8]

* In England, Josephine Ransom reports that the Adyar Society work was much

hampered, though lectures and classes continued despite heavy air-raids and some

bombs falling so near to headquarters that windows were shattered and ceilings

fell. [9]

* In the New Year of 1942, George Arundale, an English citizen and then the

international president of the Adyar Society, once more urged India to participate

whole-heartedly in the war against the Nazis. [10]

* As to C. Jinarajadasa, who in those days played a leading worldwide role with

regard to the inner or esoteric activities of the Adyar Society, L. H. Leslie-Smith

wrote:

Brother Raja spent the greater part of the period of the second war in London,

which had become the headquarters for many European governments whose lands

had been overrun and also for the Theosophical Society in Europe. He lived at 33

Ovington Square to make it a spiritual centre and focus of theosophical inspiration

during the dark years. From there, by means of a vast correspondence, he gave

comfort and a encouragement to members in all countries where there was still a

postal service. He often worked through the night till four oclock, and a pile of

letters would be left on the floor for his secretary later to stamp and dispatch to

various parts of the world. And L. H. Leslie-Smith adds: He played acourageous citizens part as a volunteer in the Air-Raid Precautions service

[Special Fire Guard]. His attitude to danger was exemplified one afternoon when

the present writer was sitting with him in his first-floor room at 33 [Ovington

Square]. The sirens sounded to give warning of enemy bombers approaching. He

registered the warning, and we went on talking. A few minutes later there was the

crescendo whine of a bomb coming down - still no reaction; then the crash of the

explosion not far distant. The conversation continued without the flicker of an

eyelid to its natural conclusion. [11]

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The United Lodge of Theosophists

* The Pasadena Theosophical Society and the United Lodge of Theosophists

(U.L.T.) were both founded in the United States - as the theosophical movement

itself - and are, even now, most active in this country. During World War II,

Theosophy magazine, published in Los Angeles by U.L.T. associates, criticizeda few times, mostly in small notes, aspects and events of the war. It showed how

unfortunate wars in general are. This was made from the philosophical perspective

of the sacred wisdom and ancient tradition, and on the basis of the principles of

non-violence (ahimsa) and universal brotherhood. [12]

* Every year, around June 25, the central office of the United Lodge of

Theosophists in Los Angeles sends a letter to its Associates and friends all over the

world. The yearly U.L.T. Letter dated June 25, 1941, opened with these words:

This year, as our annual greeting goes to members of the United Lodge ofTheosophists everywhere, it is with no certainty that the message will reach its

destination by other than astral` mail. Last year, London Associates read the

U.L.T. Letter in a cellar while bombs burst overhead; this year, their building is

gone, save for two rooms and the books, while meetings still continue, the

London Bulletin has been published regularly, and lecture work has been extented

to Bath and Salisbury. [13]

* In the following year, 1942, the U.L.T. Letter expressed a feeling of admiration

for its London Associates:

Theosophists there set courageous example in the moral striving that the world at

large needs so much to learn. Without hate, without despair, without condemnation

of any human soul, the London work goes under terrific stress and growing

privation. This is an immortal spirit worthy of a brave people.....

The text goes on then to comment on the Nazi occupied Norway:

Elsewhere, in lands suffering the heavy hand of occupation, the moral life of the

people grows strong. From Norway, where regular meetings are no longer possible,

came this stirring word last summer; .... it seems that present trials make peoplemore open-minded and eager to listen and to realize; so the possibility of more and

more people turning to the study of philosophy is greater and the prospect

brighter. [14]

* In 1943 and 1944, the U.L.T. Letters accompanied the sustained effort to keep the

theosophical movement active in spite of war. In 1945, it greeted the end of war

and the progress of the U.L.T. in London. In 1946, it announced that, after the Nazi

defeat, regular meeting of the U.L.T. were once more in session in the Paris Lodge

as in other parts of Europe.

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A Letter From Jean Overton Fuller

British theosophist Ms. Jean Overton Fuller lived and wrote near London. She was

one of the main biographers of H.P.B. Author of Blavatsky and Her

Teachers [15] , among her various books there are other interesting biographies,

including works on the Comte of St. Germain and on Francis Bacon. She lived along life of service and died in 2009, at 94. Jean not only studied History. She

lived it, too. In 2006, I had already started to investigate the true relationship

between Nazism and Theosophy, and asked her to write down a few commentaries

on the Second World War. Jean wrote, in a letter dated 27 May 2006:

Dear Carlos,

I was pleased to hear from you again but shocked to learn from you that there has

appeared a book, UNHOLY ALLIANCE [16], which accuses the Theosophical

Society of having inspired Hitler. This is of course nonsense.

I lived in London throughout the war, through the Blitz and through the V

missiles. I worked from 9-5 daily for a Government Department, the Postal

Censorship Department of the Ministry of Information, and at night, three nights a

week, I worked, first in caring for people whose houses had been destroyed by

bombing, then as a trained fire-fighter belonging to a group that liaised with the

regular Fire Brigade. If the alarm went and it was my night on duty I had to get

out of my bed and go and stand on a cold doorstep, with others, with pick-axe,

bucket and a hose ... I was also a member of the Theosophical Society. My

membership dates from 1942, and never did I hear within it any expression ofliking for the Nazis!

But wondering what could have given this writer this strange, erroneous idea, it

came to me that the tracing of the origin of the races particularly as it is set out in

A. E. Powells book THE SOLAR SYSTEM, based on texts here and there by

Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, from their researches, could give to

someones becoming over-interested in race. I am sure neither Mrs. Besant or

Leadbeater ever thought to encourage racial discrimination. Discrimination against

any race or religion would be in direct contradiction to the Societys First Object.

But I imagine to what use a mind like Hitlers could put those texts. I am glad to

have your useful information about what happened to the T.S. in the various

countries occupied by the Germans.

The Arcane School and World Good Will

* Originated in the Theosophical Movement and founded by Alice Bailey,

the ArcaneSchool, the World Good Will and its New Group of World Servers

got totally engaged in actively supporting the Allies during the Second World War.

Bailey even criticized the pacifism of Mahatma Gandhi - who as an activist wasvery much inclined against the British and found it perhaps politically profitable

not to support them against the Germans, but was criticized for it.

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In August 1942, Alice Bailey wrote about ...The pacifist attitudes - idealistic and

impractical and finding their focus today in the attitude of Gandhi. He brings into

clear perspective the uncompromising, fanatical attitude which is non-realistic and

which will willingly sacrifice lives, nations and the future of humanity in order to

attain its object. Throughout her writings in the years of War, Bailey described

the Allied and democratic nations as inspired by the Masters, and Hitlers Axis as

inspired by hatred and evil motives. [17] Ms. Bailey was right in this respect and

in general lines. For theosophy needs liberty of thought and respect for human

rights.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

* Jiddu Krishnamurti, who left the Adyar Theosophical Society in 1929, had a

radical pacifist position. On describing the 1942 events, his personal friend and

biographer Mary Lutyens admits:

For those in England who had been proud to stand alone against Nazi aggression,

who had felt exalted by the Battle of Britain, who had thrilled to Churchills words

and somehow managed to contain their terror during the blitz, believing

passionately that they were fighting the embodiment of evil, Krishnamurtis pacific

outpourings from such paradises as Ojai [in California], Marthas Vineyard and the

Sequoia National Park were hard to take. Lady Emily evidently told him as much

with some asperity and accused him of escaping from horror.... [18]

This was not the only mistake made by Krishnamurti, who - since 1929 - was not amember of the theosophical movement. Yet, whatever ones opinion about Mr.

Krishnamurtis pacifist attitude, he clearly cannot be accused of having sympathies

for Nazism or Fascism.

The Theosophical Ideal in the United Nations Charter

* After Adolf Hitlers defeat, the United Nations Organization emerged in 1945 as

a global network of countries. This occurred exactly 70 years after the

Theosophical Movement was founded, in 7 September 1875. The period of seven

decades is numerologically significant. Probably it is also not a coincidence that the

U.N. is established in New York, the very same city where the theosophical

movement - its own occult archetype - was founded.

* The first and main object of the theosophical movement, which refers to the ideal

of Universal Brotherhood, was clearly adopted by the United Nations. The first

Article of the U.N. Charter, which states the four Purposes and Principles of the

U.N., is profoundly theosophical. The United Nations goals are:

1) To maintain peace and security (...); 2) To develop friendly relations among

nations (...); 3) To achieve international cooperation in solving international

problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in

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promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms

for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and 4) To be a

center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common

ends. [19]

* Since 1945, the victory of the Allies has been officially celebrated every 8th of

May. And it is the very same day when H.P. Blavatsky died in 1891, and when

theosophists have celebrated her life since her departure. Another interesting

numerological co-incidence is that Harry Truman - the President of

the U.S.A. during the last moments of the War - was born precisely in a 8th of

May.

Considering the facts mentioned above, it is not difficult to arrive to, at least, one

conclusion.

Whatever criticisms one may have with regard to this or that theosophicalorganization - and there are many - it is a simple matter of common sense to admit

that all of the movement, including Adyar Society, is naturally and intrinsically in

favour of liberty and democracy, and against any disrespect for human life. The

movement has an inherenttendency towards its main goal, universal brotherhood.

How the Vatican Gave Support to Adolf Hitler

In the paragraphs above, we saw that Nazism and Fascism persecuted the

theosophical movement in every nation they dominated, both before and during the

second world war. The movement only came back to normal life after Hitler andMussolini were defeated by the democratic nations.

Lets now examine another side of the problem. What exactly were the relationhips

among the German Nazism, the Italian Fascism, and the Vatican?

There was an uneasy but intimate cooperation among the three. It started in the

early 1920s, as author John Cornwell demonstrates in his well-documented book

Hitlers Pope - The Secret History of Pius XII [20]. The Vatican also gave its

decided support to the violent pro-Nazi dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain.

Eugenio Pacelli was the Popes representative in Germany during the 1920s. He

would later become Pope Pius XII. Pacelli played a key and central role in

preventing German catholics, traditionally democrats, from resisting Hitlers

political march to absolute power. Thanks to Pacelli, as soon as Hitler took the

power in 1933 German Catholicism gave Nazism an active support.

(Lutheran Church was already supporting the Nazis for some time.)

As to Italy, in 1929 pope Pius XI signed a comprehensive Agreement with the

Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. All of this confirmed the existence of strong

mutual help mechanisms between the Roman Church and Nazi-Fascism.

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It was no coincidence, then, that in 1930 Eugenio Pascelli left Nazi Germany to

go to Rome and to work there as Secretary of State. In 1939, Pacelli was formally

made Pope and adopted the name of Pius XII. John Cornwell reports that almost

immediately after that Pacelli wrote a kind and friendly letter to Adolf Hitler,

renewing his personal commitment to the alliance between Church and State

in Germany, and saying he would remain devoted to the welfare of the Germanpeople, which is under your guidance. [21]

Another Historian, Paul Johnson (who, by the way, is not the author of similar

name who wrote books about the theosophical movement), writes about this:

Pius XII, elected pope in March 1939, could hardly wait to send Hitler a friendly

letter. He refused to condemn the absorption of Czechoslovakia a few days later,

although he knew this meant the Czech Catholics (...) would immediately lose

their schools. (...) In April 1939, Protestants and Catholics rang their bells [

in Germany ] for Hitlers birthday, and Cardinal Bertram, the Catholic primate,sent him a greetings-telegram. [22]

Adolf Hitler now had the blessings of the Vatican, and they opened room for him to

deepen his policy of mass-murder, and to spread it around the world.

There was one group of Christians which resisted Hitler, though. It was the the

Jehovas Witnesses. Paul Johnson writes:

They refused any cooperation with the Nazi state, which they denounced as

totally evil. (...) Many were sentenced to death for refusing military service andinciting others to do likewise; or they ended in Dachau and lunatic asylums. One

third were actually killed; ninety-seven per cent suffered persecution in one way or

another. [23]

These, of course, are but a few data about the cooperation between the Vatican and

Hitler. There are plenty of them available.

From a theosophical perspective, we should remember how radically H. P.

Blavatsky and her Masters opposed and denounced the Vatican policies, and

especially the Jesuits. It is enough to read about that in The Mahatma Letters toA.P. Sinnett, especially Letter XXX in the Theosophical University Press

edition [24]. In this letter, a comparison is made between the antagonically

different methods used by the Jesuits and by the Himalayan Masters of the

Wisdom. A Master writes in the Letter:

As I once said before, they [ id est, the Jesuits ] know that what they teach is a lie;

and we know that what we impart is truth, the only truth and nothing but the

truth. They work for the greater power and glory (!) of their order; we - for the

power and final glory of individuals, of isolated units, of humanity in general (....).

They work, and toil, and deceive, for the sake of the worldly power in this life; wework and toil, and allow our chelas to be temporarily deceived, to afford them

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means never to be deceived hereafter; and to see the whole evil of falsity and

untruth, not alone in this but in many future lives. They - the Jesuits - sacrifice the

inner principle, the spiritual brain of the Ego, to feed and develop the better the

physical brain of the personal and evanescent man, sacrificing the whole humanity

to offer it as a holocaust to their Society - the insatiable monster feeding on the

brain and marrow of humanity, and developing an incurable cancer on every spotof healthy flesh it touches. We - the criticized and misunderstood Brothers - we

seek to bring men to sacrifice their personality - a passing flash - for the welfare of

the whole humanity, hence for their own immortal Egos, a part of the latter, as

humanity is a fraction of the integral whole, that it will one day become. They are

trained to deceive; we - to undeceive (...). [25]

This is how true Theosophy sees the Vatican and Jesuitism.

On the other hand, one cannot but perceive that there is an interesting inner,

essential connection between Hitlers Nazism and the Jesuits. This has beenfrankly described by the Jesuit historian Vincent A. Lapomarda in his book The

Jesuits and the Third Reich.

Quoting from various Nazi documents, Lapomarda seems to be almost proud to

bring varied evidence on this point. He wrote, repeating the words of another

author:

Himmler modelled his SS so closely on the Jesuits that even Hitler called him

my Ignatius Loyola.

Lapomarda also reports:

Himmler kept a medieval castle, the Wevelsburg, which served, so to say, as the

SS monastery.

Quoting another author in the same page, the Jesuit admits:

...Hitler not only regarded the SS as his Jesuit Order but insisted that these Nazis

became familiar with The Spiritual Exercises written by St. Ignatius Loyola, the

founder of the Society of Jesus. [26]

Two of the main reasons why the theosophical movement was persecuted both by

Nazism and the Vatican were: 1) that it has been envisioned and created as a

nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood; and 2) that the idea of Universal

Brotherhood inspires its main declared object and the substance of its activities.

The Nazi military defeat was, therefore, a grave political defeat for the Vatican.

Since the end of World War II, the Jesuits never regained the influence they had

before, or during, the years when the Nazi-Fascist freely developed their criminal

activities.

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On the other hand, it has been a most fortunate and meaningful coincidence that

the main theosophical goal, universal brotherhood, was clearly adopted in 1945 as

part of the Charter of the United Nations Organization.

Since then it has been one of the main long term objects of the whole U.N. system -

or perhaps the central one.

NOTES:

[1] The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Theosophical Society, A Short History of the

Society (1926-1950), by Josephine Ransom, TPH, Adyar, 1950, 252 pp., see pp. 106-107.

[2] The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Theosophical Society, p. 107.

[3] The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Theosophical Society, pp. 107-108.







[10] The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Book of the Theosophical Society, p. 122-123.

[11] The Theosophist, a monthly magazine, Adyar, India, vol. 97, No. 03, December 1975,

p. 123.

[12] See for instance Theosophy editions for December 1940, p. 96 ; June 1942, pp. 382-

383 ; August 1942, pp. 471-473 ; September 1943, pp. 481-484; January 1946, pp. 111-115

(on atomic bombs) ; February 1946, pp. 150-153 (also on atomic bombs).

[13] United Lodge of Theosophists, Los Angeles, California, U.L.T. Letter dated June 25,

1941, p. 1. Transcribed from the copy present in the Archives of the ULT in Brazil.

[14] United Lodge of Theosophists, Los Angeles, California, U.L.T. Letter dated June 21,

1942, pp. 1-2. Transcribed from the copy present in the Archives of the ULT in Brazil.

[15] Blavatsky and Her Teachers, Jean Overton Fuller, East-West Publications,

London/The Hague, in association with the TPH/London, copyright 1988, 270 pp.

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[16] Unholy Alliance: A History of the Involvement of the Nazi with the Occult, a book by

Peter Levenda, mentioned in the magazine Insight, the journal of the Adyar Theosophical

Society in England, Spring 2006 edition, p. 30.

[17] The Externalization of the Hierarchy, by Alice A. Bailey, Lucis Publishing Co., New

York, Lucis Press Ltd., London, copyright 1957, fourth printing 1972, 744 pp., see p. 368.

The whole book takes an activist viewpoint, strongly supporting the Allied and democraticcountries.

[18] Krishnamurti, The Years of Fulfilment, by Mary Lutyens, New York, Farrar Straus

Giroux, copyright 1983, 248 pp., see p. 56. For more information on Krishnamurti and the

Second War, look at pp. 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 61.

[19] See also Chapter IX, Article 55, clauses (b) and (c). The Charter is published and widely

distributed by the U.N. Its text can also be seen at the Encyclopaedia Britannica, William

Benton, Editor, 1967, volume 22, p. 570.

[20] Penguin Books, London, 1999. In the Portuguese language, see O Papa de Hitler, aHistria Secreta de Pio XII, Ed. Imago, RJ, Brazil, 2000, 472 pp.

[21] Hitlers Pope - The Secret History of Pius XII, Penguin Books, Chapter 12.

[22] A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, Penguin books, England, 1976, 556 pp., see

p. 489.

[23] A History of Christianity, Paul Johnson, Penguin books, see p. 489.

[24] T.U.P., Pasadena, CA, USA, 1992, see pp. 228-240. The same letter is numbered as

Letter 74 in the Chronological Edition of The Mahatma Letters, TPH, Philippines, 1993,

600 pp., see pp. 219-230.

[25] The Mahatma Letters, see p. 231 in the TUP edition; and pp. 222-223, chronological

edition, TPH-Philippines.

[26] The Jesuits and the Third Reich, Vincent Lapomarda, The Ewin Mellen Press,

Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter, Wales, United Kingdom, 2005, 458 pp., see pp. 42-43.

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