Zodiac and Swastika is an account of the extraordinary life of an astrologer during the troubled and hysterical period of Nazi domination in Germany. When the Nazis first came to power, Wilhelm Wulff, painter, sculptor and astrologer, found himself under Gestapo scrutiny. n !ay "#$", during the purge that followed %ess&s flight to Scotland, Wulff was placed in a concentration camp, but was released a few months later on condition that he work as an astrologer for SS leaders throughout the rest of the war. %e was then allowed to li'e on the estate of (elix )ersten, %imimler&s physician, and, in the last two years before Germany&s defeat, cast horoscopes for )ersten, Walter Schellenberg, *rthur Nebe and finally %immler himself. *s the German military position worsened, %immler and his staff desperately came to rely more and more on Wulff&s astrological predictions. *ccording to internet sources, Wulff died +une th "#$ aged #".
FOREWORD by Walter Laqueur
-t is the stars abo'e us who go'ern our conditions- from the /haldaeans to the +ungians, and most recently the *merican counterculture of thetra'elers "#01s, astrology has had practitioners, belie'ers and fellow who thought it at its least worthwhile faithful to in'estigate the phenomenon noted by )ing 2ear. 3oliticians and strategists in particular ha'e been among the addicts, e'en though, as a rule, it did not do them much good. *ccording to +osephus (la'ius, the rebellion against 4oman rule in +udaea came at the wrong time, as a result of astrological ad'ice. 3erhaps the most famous horoscope of all was Wallenstein&s5 he insisted on it, despite )epler&s warnings that it was 6uite pointless to look at the stars for causes and explanations of any kind of earthly e'ent. %ow could he possibly know if Wallenstein would die from apoplexy, and whether this would happen abroad7 f someone contracted 'enereal disease 8)epler wrote9, was the planet :enus really responsible7 ;ut Wallenstein wanted his horoscope and )epler needed money and so the transaction took place anyway. ;eyond general statements Wallenstein wanted daytoday guidance from the stars, and he installed ;attista Senno, an talian, as his pri'ate astrologist, who was to be a'ailable at any time of day or night. Senno participated in the conspiracy against Wallenstein which resulted in his murder. Nor ha'e astrologists been of any apparent help to !r. Sukarno or to certain ;urmese rulers in our time.
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Successful or not, astrology was practiced for many centuries5 its heyday was in the !iddle *ges when it was taught in many talian uni'ersities. n the eighteenth century, howe'er, it suffered a total eclipse and did not undergo a re'i'al until around the turn of the century. *s the
9. ?ne of its adepts was Wilhelm Wulff, who, as a young art student before the first world war, had disco'ered astrological literature in taly while doing research on 2eonardo&s drawings. %e worked as a sculptor and astrologist in %amburg, and through some of his clients, he came to know )ersten, who was %immler&s masseur and friend. )ersten, who appears in this book in a somewhat less sa'ory light than in his own memoirs, put him in touch with high SS dignitaries, such as Nebe, Schellenberg and e'entually %immler. =he Nazis took a dim 'iew of astrology, which was suspect both for its ?riental srcins and its uni'ersalist character5 horoscopes that did not differentiate between *ryans and non*ryans, between%itler higher and inferior races could not possibly belief, be accepted. Neither nor Goebbels, contrary to widespread took astrology seriously, and its only official use was in German psychological warfare. * suitably edited 'ersion of Nostradamus& prophecies which had srcinally appeared in "@09 was published, pro'ing that Germany was to win the war. Anknown to the Germans, -/aptain- 2ouis de Wohl was simultaneously preparing material in his 3ark 2ane apartment for an *llied edition of Nostradamus which would pro'e exactly the opposite. Neither publication seems to ha'e had a decisi'e influence on the course of the war. !any German astrologists Boined the Nazi party in "#CC, but this did not help them5 there was no room for ri'al ideologies in the =hird 4eich and %itler had a monopoly, as far as political predictions were concerned. =he astrological associations were dissol'ed, their Bournals gradually disappeared, and most astrologists were not permitted to practice. =rue, Nazi policy was not 6uite as consistent in this as it was in other respects5 in certain regions of Germany the ban on astrologyas on Bazz was not strictly obser'ed. *s far as the Nazis were concerned, it was a marginal issue, and it was only after %ess& selfimposed mission to Scotland that the Gestapo stepped in and arrested all known acti'e astrologists. %ess& circle included certain astrologists, and it was belie'ed that they had somehow influenced the (uehrer&s deputy. *mong those arrested was !r. Wulff, who spent four highly uncomfortable months in a concentration camp. 2ater he was forced to Boin one of the many -research institutes- which were part of the German war effort. ?ne of his first maBor assignments was to locate !ussolini, who had disappeared following his ouster from power in "#$C. !r. Wulff claims to ha'e pro'ided the correct answerabout fifty miles southeast of 4ome at a time when no one else knew. *s the tide of the war turned against Germany, the @ leaders gradually became more interested in horoscopes, and their re6uests more and more embarrassing. %immler wanted to know whether the (uehrer would li'e much longer and how he would die. ;y that time, at the latest, !r. Wulff must ha'e realized that he was skating on 'ery thin ice
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indeed. Det the worse the situation at the front line, the more he was in demand5 during the last months of the war he had to be constantly in attendance. %is account of his meetings with the leader of the SS does not offer any sensational new re'elations, and it may be recommended as altogether reliable. t shows that lunacy in the higher ranks of the SS manifested itself in many ways, some of them 6uite unexpected. !ost of !r. Wulff&s readers will not be impressed by his theories. =hey will show no more sympathy to the -serious- astrologists 8the category to which he belongs9 than to the charlatans who ha'e brought disrepute on the craft and whom he denounces. (or neither the signs of the zodiac, nor the planets, nor the twel'e houses seem to ha'e pro'ided much guidance to him in pri'ate life. Surely he must ha'e looked at one time or another at his own horoscope5 if so, it is difficult to understand how he could ha'e o'erlooked the dangerous configuration and why, after "#CC, he did not mo'e as fast and as far away as possible from his own professionand, abo'e all, away from the SS leadership. t would ha'e sa'ed him a great deal of danger and unpleasantness. nasmuch as the historical 'alue of this account is concerned, such considerations are, of course, 6uite irrele'ant. =his book was not written to make con'erts, and in the last resort it does not matter in the least whether the horoscopes prepared by !r. Wulff and his colleagues were correct, but rather whether the recipients belie'ed in them and acted accordingly.
Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book
?ne of the strangest features of the National Socialist regime was that while it persecuted astrologers and murdered some of them in concentration camps, it saw no harm in employing them for its own purposes at the same time. =he fate of )arl , largely because he felt that his abilities were not appreciated in Switzerland. %e had an uncritical admiration for the Nazis and hoped to make a career of some kind in Germany. When the war began in September, "#C#, he was on the point of returning to Switzerland but then changed his mind and remained in Germany. %e was already ac6uainted with a Bunior member of %immler&s staff who worked in Section :, which kept an eye on groups who were generally suspect as far as the Nazis were concernedE -fringereligious sects, astrologers, occultists, former (reemasons, and so on. Section : recruited him on a freelance basis during the autumn of "#C# and then during the first week of "#$1 brought him to ;erlin, at the re6uest of Fr. Goebbels& 3ropaganda !inistry, to work on the prophecies of !ichael Nostradamus, the famous sixteenthcentury (rench seer. )rafft, howe'er, soon regretted his connection with Section : and the 3ropaganda !inistry and during the spring of "#$1 found himself a Bob as a translator in the Feutsche Nachrichtenbro, the official go'ernment news agency.
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whom %ess had allegedly consulted, but this mysterious person was ne'er identified, probably because he or she ne'er existed. *lmost all the arrested astrologers were released after a few weeks or months, but )rafft was ne'er freed5 he died at ;uchenwald in +anuary, "#$@. knew about )rafft&s imprisonment, but my efforts to help him were in 'ain. Not e'en %immler dared order his release without the (hrer&s appro'al. 2ike nearly all my professional colleagues, too was se'erely persecuted from "#CC to "#$@. <'en before the outbreak of war had disco'ered what it meant to be interrogated and imprisoned by the Gestapo, and after 4udolf %ess& illstarred flight to Scotland in "#$" suffered the same fate as the other German astrologers5 was arrested and taken to the infamous police prison in %amburg(uhlsbttel. t was thanks only to the machinations of an ambitious manufacturer and an old party member who worked for the SS and wanted to ingratiate himself with %immler that , Bust another concentration camp detainee, was employed by %immler and his accomplices during the final phase of the war, and although this meant that was released from prison, was anything but a free man. ?n the contrary, continued to li'e as a prisoner on an estate belonging to %immler&s masseur, )ersten, an estate which ser'ed as a secret work camp for specialists and, as such, was affiliated with the 4a'ensbrck concentration camp. was no longer physically maltreated, but worked under the constant threat of se'ere punishment should my calculations pro'e inaccurate. *ll this happened at a time when the Nazi regime was facing certain defeat. =oday it may well appear incongruous that the leaders of the -master race-, who claimed to belie'e only in the race and its historical mission, should ha'e suddenly placed their hopes in astrology, as if astrology were some secret weapon that could sa'e them from their fate, and yet these e'ents form part of this darkest chapter in German history. =he fact that ha'e now decided to set down my experiences in writing is not due to the promptings of friends or to the wishes of the publishers who ha'e been urging me to do so for years. n fact, for any insight my readers may now gain into my life as an astrologer and into some of the e'ents of recent German history, they will be indebted primarily to %ugh =re'or4oper. =re'or4oper published his book The Last Days of Hitler in 2ondon in "#$>. t was soon translated into many languages and sold around the world. n this book both my name and the work that did for %einrich %immler during the final phase of the war were mentioned on se'eral occasions. =he claims =re'or4oper made about my acti'ities included so much fantasy that finally decided to speak. 2et me gi'e Bust one example. ?n page #C of his book =re'or4oper writesE n %amburg he HWalter SchellenbergI had disco'ered a promising astrologer called Wulf, a student of poisons, Sanskrit, and other interesting subBects. Wulf&s prophecies, as seen by Schellenberg in retrospect, seemed remarkably accurate. %e had prophesied that %itler would sur'i'e a great danger on J1th +uly "#$$5 that he would be ill in No'ember "#$$5 and that he would die a mysterious death before >th !ay "#$@. %is prophecies concerning %immler were e6ually remarkable, though discreetly en'eloped in diplomatic silence. Schellenberg found that in politics Wulf was sound5 he introduced him to %immler as a counterweight to the unsound )altenbrunner5 and this introduction was so successful that before the end of the =hird 4eich, according to Schellenberg, -%immler seldom took any steps without first consulting his horoscope.
*nyone reading this passage is forced to conclude not only that was a sound Nazi but that also fulfilled a function in the top circles surrounding %immler which enabled me to oppose a man like )altenbrunner. t is time to set the record straight.
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Chapter One I Beco!e "n "strolo#er
n the spring of "#"J was a young art student in %amburg, uncertain of my future and perplexed by disagreements with my teachers. greeted with delight my uncle&s in'itation to accompany him on his annual trip southern
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a comparison with the historical e'ents of Wallenstein&s life showed )epler&s horoscope to be essentially correct. =his disco'ery led me to begin calculating horoscopes for myself, and soon afterward became a member of the )epler /lub in %amburg, where met a number of important people. became friendly with one of the pioneers of the modern German astrological mo'ement, *lbert )niepf. %e shed greater light on the Wallenstein horoscope, for he had recalculated and corrected )epler&s work. )niepf also drew my attention to a study by Fr.
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=he first natal chart that )epler calculated for Wallenstein cannot really be regarded as correct if we insist on a precise knowledge of the -directions- 8especially the primary directions9. Wallenstein had gi'en )epler a wrong latitude reading for his place of birth, namely @"LN. =his would ha'e been approximately right for Fresden, whereas Wallenstein was born on the estate of %ermanitz near *rnau in ;ohemia, which has a latitude of $#L@0& N. Fespite the inaccuracy of his initial 'alues in "01, )epler nonetheless arri'ed at a generally correct interpretation, which is a pretty rare feat and says much for his ability in this sphere. n "0J$ Wallenstein had the first nati'ity corrected. %e wrote to /ount =axisE -... because some things were set down too early, others too late . . . and because 'arious mathematicians ha'e agreed M that am to li'e outside the fatherland and also die there, and most of them say that am to die of apoplexy, was curious to hear what he H)eplerI had to say about it.- n "0J@ )epler cast a new horoscope for Wallenstein based on the corrected birth position. n it he listed the constellations which were ominous for Wallenstein and predicted that -the cruel and terrible disorders in the state- would be at their height in !arch, "0C$. Wallenstein was murdered on (ebruary J@, "0C$. )epler was of course too tactful to mention the general&s death in his forecast for "0C$. nstead, he spoke of terrible disorders. ;ut it is significant that the series of annual prognoses breaks off with this obser'ation Wallenstein paid the penalty for dismissing )epler, the best astrologer of his day, and replacing him with mediocrities. n his Astrologie 8""09, 3rofessor +. W. 3faff, of the Ani'ersity of
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director of the %amburg School of *rt, he suggested that Boin one of the special classes at the school. *nd so found myself studying under +ohannes ;ossard, from whom learned some really useful sculpture techni6ues. ;ut soon began to feel that was learning nothing at these classes and ga'e them up, immersing myself instead in my own work. =he outbreak of the (irst World War took me completely unawares. 2uckily my callup was deferred on medical grounds, and so for a time was able to continue my studies. !ost of my fellow students 'olunteered in that mood of national enthusiasm, were 6uickly trained, went to the front, and fell at 2angemarck or Dpres or in 4ussia. Gradually the studios were emptied. (inally, too was conscripted. Neither the petitions of influential friends nor the inter'ention of my professor, +ohannes ;ossard, could sa'e me from the drill of barracks life. ;ut early in "#"> was wounded and subse6uently contracted typhus. was discharged from the army and directed to work in an optics factory. n my leisure hours was able to take up my studies again. =his was made 'ery much easier for me when found a studio near the *lster, which pro'ided me with the working atmosphere and the peace that so desperately needed. Ne'er had life seemed so cheerful, simple, and agreeable as in that sparsely furnished studio. Nonetheless longed for solitude, for seclusion far from modern ci'ilization. Sometimes e'en toyed with the idea of entering an order, hoping to find a monastic retreat for artists and scholars. Det continually asked myself whether a simple change of scene could cure my spiritual condition. !y past seemed worthless, the future dreadful and terrifying in its uncertainty. n these, as in later crises, was both strengthened and di'erted by astrology. (rom the dominant constellations in my nati'ity was able to understand why such crises were necessary and when they would pass. n fact, astrology taught me to understand life and to shape it to my ends. ;ut it was not until met %einrich (ranck, a restaurant proprietor and former artist, that became really deeply in'ol'ed in astrology. %is lean figure, his long, snowwhite beard, and his shoulderlength, sil'ergray hair struck me immediately when saw him at an astrological gathering. *t that time he was calculating ephemerides, or tables of planetary mo'ements, and kindly offered to teach me this complex subBect. %e also owned an extensi'e library of old astrological and mystical books. With his help learned to make 'aluable astronomical and astrological calculations and to cast horoscopes without reference to the
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?tto 'on ;ismarck, the
!eanwhile, the months passed 6uickly. Furing the spring and summer of "#"# re'olutionary disturbances continued to flare up from time to time. Sometimes battles between workers and riot police took place right outside my studio. paid little attention to such matters and saw no one. ;ut my attempt to withdraw from the world failed. was soon to come into contact with the political forces of the day. *nd was destined to ha'e further dealings with those 'ery clair'oyants whose modish acti'ities had seemed to me so repugnant. ?ne e'ening recei'ed a totally unexpected 'isit from my father. =his was the first time he had e'er come to my studio5 since had decided to try my luck as a freelance artist,
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he had not bothered about me 'ery much. %e was accompanied by two young men, former playmates of mine whom had not seen for many years. =hey seemed 'ery distressed and beha'ed as if under great pressure. =hey wanted to consult me on an astrological matter. t was ironical that they had been brought to me by my father, who had always maintained that there was nothing in my practice. =hey then told me their story. =heir sister had been missing for eight days. * few articles of clothing belonging to her had been found on a popular bathing beach on the upper 3.!. %er natal chart showed the moon in a highly disad'antageous position and in conBunction with the malefic planet Saturn. ;oth were in the eighth house, the house of death, indicating both the manner and the place of death. (urther, they were near !ercury, which in this horoscope was ruler of the fifth house, the house of emotion and lo'e. Neptune, another malefic planet, was 'ery badly placed in the fifth house. =he coincidental deaths of the girl and her fiancP could be seen from the presence of !ercury, the moon, and Saturn in the eighth house. Saturn rules the ascendant in this horoscope. When Saturn is in the eighth house, it indicates that a person will be the cause of his or her own death. f, in this horoscope, we look at the subdi'ision of the zodiac as postulated in ndian astrology, we find the moon, Saturn, and !ars in watery Na'amsas 8i.e., a oneninth or fortydegree sector of the zodiac9 and F'adasQmsas 8one twelfth or thirtydegree sector9. *nd that means a watery gra'e in this case suicide by drowning. found no configuration which would ha'e indicated the 'iolent death suggested by the medium.
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!y interpretation pro'ed to be essentially correct, e'en though it did not completely clear up the case. =hree weeks later a fisherman found the corpses of the two missing persons a considerable distance downstream. =he bodies re'ealed no inBuries apart from a small scratch on the man&s head which had been caused when the fisherman had pulled him ashore with a boathook. * farewell letter disco'ered shortly afterward furnished conclusi'e proof of a suicide pact. =he engaged couple had been in great financial difficulties5 the man had forged bills of exchange and embezzled considerable sums of money. *fter ha'ing exhausted their sa'ings, they had decided to take their li'es. *s a result of this and similar incidents, reports of my astrological prowess spread5 people learned that had begun to study Sanskrit so as to be able to use works of ndian astrology for my in'estigations. myself ha'e ne'er tried to publicize my work either in ad'ertisements or by gi'ing lectures. Nonetheless, the number of people who 'isited me not on account of my sculptures, but on account of my astrological interpretations constantly grew, until a 'irtual professional practice de'eloped in my studio. n one of my early cases the central figure was a woman who appeared to ha'e been mysteriously murdered. =he cheaper newspapers had seized on the affair and blown it up into a sensational sex murder5 this was, of course, particularly disagreeable to the dead woman&s family. !y astrological analysis indicated that it was not a case of murder, but of accidental death, although the detecti'e inspector reBected my interpretation out of hand. n his 'iew the murderer was a wellknown doctor, who had tried to dispose of his 'ictim&s body in the most atrocious way. =he only e'idence for this assumption was the fact that
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the doctor had fled as soon as suspicion had fallen on him. rechecked my calculations but was unable to draw any conclusion which would ha'e enabled me to support the police theory. =his case remained unsol'ed. =wentythree years later it was shown that the death really had been accidental. (or reasons which ne'er disco'ered, 4einhard %eydrich, the Gestapo chief, suddenly took up this old case, and by using methods of crime detection such as only the Gestapo possessed, he succeeded in sol'ing it. =he lawyer defending the alleged murderer let me ha'e a look at the case files, although he had no authority to do so. %e was deeply impressed that an astrological interpretation made more than twenty years before had gi'en the right lead for the explanation of this unusual incident. did not take a fee for any of my in'estigations. Since looked upon myself as a professional sculptor, would ha'e found it embarrassing and highly disagreeable to ha'e accepted payment for my special astrological skills. *nd yet, because of those skills, my artistic work was constantly interrupted, as was my dream of remaining a recluse from the political forces of the age and the fashionable whims of society. Chapter T$o %erbert &olck: The E!bittered &eteran
* former officer, whom had known at the front but had not seen for se'eral years, appeared in my studio not long after the war was o'er. %e had been an airman and later had Boined the paramilitary (ree /orps. %e was complete mercenary, a notorious troublemaker, and a nationalist who laid claim to the title of a -rebel for honor-. %is name was %erbert :olck. f recount the circumstances of his life in some detail, it is not Bust because he sought my friendship for years on end or because constantly found myself in'ol'ed in some way in his acti'ities. do so because :olck is a good example of the generation of German soldiers who had been unable accept the capitulation and regarded the Weimar 4epublic as a national disgrace. =hrough him gained an intimate knowledge of the rightwing radicals who opposed not only the /ommunists but all forms of political sanity. (ollowing the politically inept =reaty of :ersailles, which had such unfortunate repercussions both for Germany and for the rest of the world, these people continued the war inside the republic, employing terrorist measures which pa'ed the way for the National Socialists. do not remember exactly when first met %erbert :olck. t must ha'e been about "#"@, either in the 4okitno marshes in the Akraine, where :olck was later shot down, or else in Fanzig on a horse con'oy. :olck was always cheerful, healthy and athletic, a practical Boker who paid little attention to army regulations. %e wanted no more than to be a soldier and could not be bothered with -intellectual nonsense.*bout four years later he suddenly appeared in my studio. Somewhere in 4ussia had once told him a little about his future and about the dangerous years which lay ahead of him. *lthough he had then scoffed at my pessimism, he was now intrigued by my forecasts. *bo'e all, of course, he wanted to know about his future. %e asked me whether he should discard his uniform, turn ci'ilian, and push a pen in an office. (or %erbert :olck the war had not come to an end on No'ember "", "#". %e had been in ;erlin when the armistice was declared but shortly afterward went to 2uneburg %eath at his father&s re6uest to muster a unit to fight against the ;olshe'iks in the ;altic pro'inces. =his (ree /orps unit, which called itself the -ron ;rigade,- went with :olck to fight in his ;altic homeland. ha'e no wish to condemn the (ree /orps as such, but :olck&s brigade was utterly useless as a military force, and this whole undertaking was Bust one of the many senseless 'entures which he perpetrated in the course of his life. Shortly before his troop was due to be disbanded, he returned to Germany wounded in the arm. 2ater it was rumoured that he had taken the regimental funds with him for safekeeping. :olck had ne'er had any money, and yet, as he stood before me with his arm in a sling, he seemed to ha'e access to enormous sums and could afford to con'alesce in an expensi'e sanatorium on the ;altic coast. Standing before me in a spotless new ron ;rigade uniform, his chest co'ered with medals, he asked me to tell him his future. had already sketched out the salient points for him, suggesting that he take up a ci'ilian
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occupation or become a writer. %e would certainly ha'e been able to write an interesting book on his wartime and postwar experiences. ;ut :olck wanted to remain an officer and e'en hinted at offering his ser'ices to a foreign army. %e suddenly concei'ed two startling ideasE one was to gi'e lectures on the /aucasus, in *merica5 the other was to open a detecti'e agency in Germany. thought these proBects were mere fantasies, but, surprisingly, he went ahead with both. heard him declaiming the sort of phrases that were to infect our whole nation within a few years. %e liked to talk about his wartime experiences and did so at great length, but he said 'ery little about his ;altic 'olunteer corps, -which fate snatched from my hands,- presumably because he had stolen the regimental funds. ;efore setting out for the Anited States, :olck did publish a book. ;ut he spurned my ad'ice to gi'e up his military and political acti'ities and work off his fantasies by writing detecti'e no'els. *nd he continued to li'e dangerously. ?ne day he brought me the birth data of a man who, he said, had one foot in 2ondon and the other in the So'iet embassy in ;erlin. =his man pretended that his name was 3inkelPe, but it emerged that this was a co'er name for Sir ;asil Zaharoff, the 2e'antine arms king and probably the greatest arms dealer of all time. Zaharoff was buying up former German war materiel with inflation currency. %is re6uirements were insatiable, because he supplied the stuff for e'ery ci'il war, re'olution, and partisan struggle that flared up in the world after "#". :olck knew about the secret weapon dumps set up by the paramilitary and (ree /orps groups and was trying to get in on these arms deals, which were worth millions. ;ut his intrigues had always been regarded as suspect by the republican go'ernment in ;erlin, and 'arious go'ernment departments made life as difficult as possible for him and his detecti'e agency. 3erhaps this was one reason why he hated democracy and despised the -Weimar system.:olck decided, in the early summer of "#JJ, to set out on his longplanned Bourney to *merica. Strangely enough, although my astrological forecasts for this 'enture were decidedly gloomy, found myself wishing %erbert :olck good luck on his Bourney. nitially he had good luck, for his ship was Bust se'en days out to sea when Walther 4athenau was murdered in ;erlin, fi'e months after he had become German (oreign !inister. :olck had been in contact with the assassins, but his financial difficulties had pre'ented him from becoming in'ol'ed in this affair. * fortuneteller had predicted great success for :olck in *merica, but it was my own negati'e astrological forecast that pro'ed correct. %is Bourney to the Anited States ended in fiasco. %e was officially tra'eling on detecti'e agency business, trying to track down a stolen 4embrandt. %e was, in fact, supporting himself by lecturing to the many German clubs in *merica on his wartime experiences. ;ut he did not stop there. %e told fantastic, inflammatory stories about the intrigues of the -cosmopolitan powers,- a supposed conspiracy of +ewish financiers. %e e'en claimed to ha'e disco'ered a -hotline- telephone connection between the White %ouse and the banker +. 3. !organ. =his almost caused a scandal, and both the German and *merican go'ernments decided to put a stop to his demagoguery. :olck was forced to return to Germany. ;ut his Bourney had not been a complete waste of time, for he had used a tip from the %amburg underworld to identify the 4embrandt thief. =his was 6uite a success for a dilettante pri'ate detecti'e and brought him some fame which would ha'e been useful for his future practice. ;ut he s6uandered his good fortune by continuing to make political speeches and getting himself and his partner hea'ily in debt. *bout a year after his return from *merica, in the summer of "#JC, met :olck and his wife on the 2eipzig%amburg express. was returning from a second postwar astrologers& conference, and was preoccupied with excitement at the thought of potential de'elopments in German astrology. ;ut was sharply struck by :olck when realized he had become almost a megalomaniac. n a 'isit shortly after that meeting he began to enthuse o'er a new political mo'ement the National Socialists.
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=oday ha'e to ask myself why did not simply throw this tedious braggart and agitator out on his ear. =he reason is really 6uite simple. (or me :olck was an interesting astrological case, and the more saw of him and his world, the more fascinated became. :olck e'en appealed to me as a sculptor. %e was a good head and sometimes sat for me as a model. ?n one such occasion, while worked silently at his bust, he spent hours explaining the aims and ideals of the National Socialist mo'ement to me and the young woman who later became his second wife. %e had also brought the birth data of %itler, Goring, and 4Rhm with him from !unich and asked me whether the putsch they will planning was likely to succeed. *t :olck&s re6uest first cast %itler&s horoscope in *ugust, "#JC. n it found particularly unfa'orable planetary combinations, and for the autumn of "#JC %itler&s s ascendant re'ealed a malefic conBunction of Saturn and !ars. (or about twentyfour hours on or about No'ember #, !ars and Saturn were particularly threatening. =here were indications of 'iolence with a disastrous outcome. =he horoscopes of %itler and %erbert :olck were catastrophically opposed to each other. /onse6uently ad'ised :olck to ha'e no further dealings with these new political friends. ;ut, as usual, he spurned my ad'ice.
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pointed this out to :olckE -f Saturn occupies the worst position 82eo9 in the tenth house without being in aspect with bene'olent planets, the person concerned will become a leader of &coolies.& %e will issue senseless and cruel orders and will be feared.- handed this text to :olck together with other obser'ations on %itler&s horoscope and asked him if he really wanted to become one of %itler&s coolies. reminded him that the coolie, in ancient Sanskrit texts a Sudra, is a member of the lowest ndian caste. :olck said nothing, but seemed impressed. We ne'er mentioned the subBect again, and thought that had con'inced him. was mistaken. *lthough :olck did not spend the next few years in the ranks of the Nazi 3arty, he wrote loyal addresses and begging letters to 4Rhm, Goring, and *dolf %itler as soon as the Nazis came to power in "#CC. !y interpretation of %itler&s horoscope was later disco'ered and seized by the Gestapo when they were searching my house, and was arrested. =hese lowranking Gestapo officials were particularly incensed by this find. Dears later, about "#$", %eydrich asked me whether would be prepared to supply a more detailed interpretation of this horoscope. %immler, who was present at the time, said nothing but ga'e a broad grin. %e had already read my interpretation with great enBoyment. n ?ctober, "#JC, :olck 'isited central Germany and Stuttgart and returned with ominous news of a re'olutionary conspiracy, and in this particular instance :olck&s statements, although they sounded fantastic, were not without foundation. ;etween the middle of ?ctober and No'ember #, "#JC, re'olts flared up all o'er Germany first in Saxony and =huringia, where troops were used against the socialist go'ernments, and finally in !unich, where %itler&s and 2udendorff&s march on the (eldherrnhalle was designed to topple the ;a'arian, if not indeed the German, go'ernment. %amburg was not spared either. * /ommunist uprising raged in the city from ?ctober JJJ$, "#JC, before the police brutally suppressed it. :olck&s mind was uneasy. Furing the %amburg re'olt he slipped into my flat to ask me if the Weimar go'ernment would be able to hold out Bust a little longer. Suddenly he found the hated republican go'ernment more agreeable than a 'ictory for the people who he had learned had him on their extermination list. =he astrological consultation was brief. told him he would get nothing out of a republican go'ernment. %e then left me and disappeared into the tumult of the street battles. 2ater that same e'ening he reappeared, accompanied by a plump, s6uat man in country clothes, with sharp, obser'ant eyes. =his man said scarcely a word. %e stood inspecting my room while :olck explained the situation to me. =he fighting had reached a climax in the city, and he had been unable to reach his flat in the Sierichstrasse. %e would be grateful, therefore, if would gi'e shelter to him and his companion for the night. *fter had agreed, :olck introduced the man. t was !artin ;ormann, whom :olck had met on an estate in !ecklenburg. =hat night :olck was 'ery ner'ous5 he telephoned the police command posts se'eral times, but all he could disco'er was that the battle was still undecided. made an astrological calculation and was able to put his mind at rest. *ccording to my forecast, the police would ha'e e'erything under control by the next day, without ha'ing to call in the %amburg citizens& militia. *nd so it was. *t noon, when %erbert :olck and !artin ;ormann left my flat, the street battles were 'irtually o'er. !artin ;ormann had scarcely spoken three words to me. %e had sat shyly at the end of the sofa with a forbidding expression on his face, a man who put up an impenetrable front and played his cards 'ery close to his chest. ne'er saw !artin ;ormann again. *fter this turbulent summer and autumn things 6uieted down fairly 6uickly, primarily because the currency was stabilized at the end of "#JC. mmediately afterward, hea'y foreign in'estment led to an economic reco'ery which, although it pro'ed unreal in the end, nonetheless afforded a good breathing space. :olck now turned his attention to building up his detecti'e agency. t would take too long to enumerate all the cases, both big and small, for which :olck enlisted my astrological ser'ices in those days and for which, incidentally, he ne'er once offered me a fee. still ha'e the astrological calculations which made for :olck at that time. =hey run to se'eral 'olumes. ;ut should like to recount Bust one case in which used a particular astrological techni6ue that pro'ed successful on a subse6uent and much more important occasion and may e'en ha'e sa'ed my life. =he case in'ol'ed a large haul of Bewels which had been stolen from the %amburg 'illa of a worldfamous dealer in precious stones. consulted my stellar chronometer, and
15
from the constellation which it re'ealed, could tell that the whole of the haul was still in the Beweller&s house and that neither the members of his family nor outside agents had been in'ol'ed in the affair. =he constellation indicated that the maid had carried out the robbery and hidden or perhaps buried the Bewels near a water tank in the cellar of the house. :olck took this information to the police, the maid was interrogated, and the stolen Bewels were disco'ered in the cellar. =he maid was the mistress of a local gang leader whom the police had been trying to catch for some time. *s a result of this case, the police were able to clear up a second robbery in'ol'ing a sum of C11,111 marks which had been stolen from the strong room of the racetrack in %amburg(armsen. =he fact that my forecast had not only pro'ed correct but was the sole e'idence a'ailable to the police in the solution of this particular crime may seem incredible to the reader. *t best he is likely to regard the whole affair as a lucky coincidence which happened to corroborate my prediction. ;ut my knowledge was not based on chance or on any mysterious circumstances. 4eaders who know any astrology will realize that it is possible to make specific statements of this kind from the interpretation of astrological data. =he method in'ol'ed can be learned by anyone prepared to make the necessary effort. ha'e often carried out experiments of this kind, and they ha'e nearly always been successful. =he most spectacular case was that concerning !ussolini&s capture in the summer of "#$C and the subse6uent search for his place of imprisonment. will deal with the search for !ussolini in a later chapter. n No'ember, "#J, a man called at my home. %e was a giant, with enormous hands e'idently accustomed to hard work. Without introducing himself, he began immediately to ask me a number of 6uestions about my -trade.- %e 'isited me again shortly, accompanied by :olck, whom he described as his wartime comrade and adButant. =his time found out that his name was /laus %eim. %eim told me that he was a member of the extreme right wing Schleswig%olstein farmers& mo'ement, which had been formed to combat the 'ery hea'y taxes and mortgages imposed on the almost bankrupt farmers in that region. :olck had been hired as a soapbox orator to drum up support for the resistance among these farmers, and he and %eim were planning their attack on the local bailiffs and rural administration centers. :olck and %eim were probably thinking of using explosi'es, although they said nothing about it to me. ;ut a horary horoscope showed me what they intended, and warned them against the use of 'iolence, telling them hat their constellations were particularly unfa'orable for any such undertakings. said that they could both expect to be tried as criminals and that %eim might well recei'e a long prison sentence. ;ut both /laus %eim and %erbert :olck belie'ed non'iolent action to be useless. *t that point asked them to lea'e my house since wanted nothing to do with 'iolent protest. * little later cast a 'ery detailed general horoscope for :olck in which told him that his luck would ha'e run out by +uly, "#J#, and that he would probably find himself behind bars. told him that in +uly, "#J#, the constellation which had been present at the time when he was taken prisoner in 4ussia would reemerge and would remain operati'e until ?ctober. !eanwhile, during the winter of "#JJ# and the following spring and summer, a large number of protest demonstrations and bomb attacks on the tax and rural administration offices took place in 6uick succession. ;y the autumn of "#J# the police had launched a 'igorous dri'e to catch the terrorists, and a tipoff about a car used in the attacks led them to %eim and :olck. :olck managed to get out of the country on the pretext of a honeymoon with his second wife, but he was enticed back to Germany by a business offer, and soon both men were behind bars. *s a result of :olck&s arrest and the proceedings taken against him and the other terrorists, the press began to show an interest in me, which found extremely disagreeable. 3rior to :olck&s arrest had actually been taken into custody for a short while because the police had found in his mother&s house letters of mine addressed to :olck, together with a number of horoscope interpretations. Since they had also found my %amburg address, was arrested immediately 8on September J#, "#J#9. =he police confiscated my diary for the year "#J# because it contained horoscope calculations for :olck5 they also disco'ered the addresses and telephone numbers of 'arious members of
16
the farmers& mo'ement. !y protest, in which claimed the same right to secrecy in respect of confidential information accorded to e'ery doctor, minister of religion, and lawyer, was completely ignored, and was not e'en allowed to telephone my lawyer. Soon the tabloid press of ;erlin went to work. Vossischen Zeitung statedE -=here can be no doubt that :olck acted under Wulff&s influence.- 2ater, when :olck and %eim were standing trial, the press launched further attacks. (or example, the Echo wroteE -t was established that in the bomb outrage of No'ember J>, "#J in the Winsen tax office the idea for the plot stemmed from %erbert :olck, who had been led to perpetrate such acts of 'iolence as a result of his preoccupation with astrology and other mystical matters.%eadlines such as =%< =<44?4S=S /?NSA2= =%< *S=4?2?G<4, =%< %?4?S/?3< ?( ;?!; ?A=4*G
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!eanwhile, the worsening economic situation had created further problems for me. !y family&s importexport business had been hard hit by the foreign currency regulations, and besides, was officially forbidden to work as an astrologer. *t first this 'eto applied only to Greater ;erlin, but since many of my friends and clients thought was no longer casting horoscopes, was 'irtually unemployed. (or a while astrologers who could produce the diploma of the *strological /enter at Fusseldorf were able to continue their work without hindrance in the administrati'e districts of /ologne, Fusseldorf, and %amburg. ;ut the insidious propaganda campaign launched by the Nazis persuaded people that it was better to gi'e up consulting astrologers than run the risk of interrogation by the Gestapo. /onse6uently was forced to dispose of my 'aluables, including a number of paintings and pieces of anti6ue furniture which had inherited. %erbert :olck was too preoccupied with himself and his own career to spare a thought for my material difficulties, let alone stand by me, although, according to wellinformed sources, he was now recei'ing a princely income. :olck&s greatest ambition was to make personal contact with %itler, whom he had been unable to reach so far because his path had been blocked by -party member who always feared that others, whose achie'ements were greater than their own, would make an impression on %itler.- had told him time and again that any connection with %itler would be an unmitigated disaster for him since, in %itler&s horoscope, the malefic planet Saturn was in 2eo, while in :olck&s chart 2eo was on the ascendant. =here were also se'eral other constellations their respecti'e horoscopes whose interactions would pro'e harmful. /onse6uently personal contact between :olck and %itler was to be discouraged at all costs. %itler had in any case declared that he could not abide the -;altic seigneur- 8:olck9. ;ut despite this assessment :olck insisted on running after him. Needless to say, his attempts to reach %itler ended in failure, Bust as had his earlier attempts to curry fa'our with 4Rhm. *lthough :olck knew as early as "#JC that had no sympathy for %itler and his followers, he asked me time and again whether, in astrological terms, there was not, after all, some hope that he might establish contact with his idols. =he dreadful predictions which had made in respect to the %itler regime became reality only too soon. %itler&s Saturn spanned my own horoscope too, and at that time my own constellations were extremely disad'antageous. Saturn was transiting my tenth house 8profession, occupation, etc.9 and in the worst possible aspect to my radical !ars and other planets in my natal horoscope. Aranus, the planet associated with re'olutions, was transiting my +upiter. +upiter symbolizes the happiness and wellbeing of humanity. Neptune was in bad aspect to my ascendant. !y calculations showed that the summer of "#C$ would be a bad period. was not mistaken. =here was the terrible series of murders perpetrated on +une C1th, "#C$, in connection with the socalled 4Rhm 3utsch. =he authorities insisted that murder was necessary for the defence of the realm, but what they achie'ed was the destruction of the whole basis of constitutional order and personal liberty. +ustice became a synonym for naked force. was deeply shaken, e'en though had predicted from my astrological calculations that something of the sort was bound to happen, and had also learned, from :olck, about the tensions between %itler and 4Rhm. %eydrich&s great moment had now come5 he was appointed head of the Secret 3olice. Since :olck was working in close collaboration with %eydrich in "#C$, he hoped that he would at least obtain the post of head of the ;erlin 3olice he would ha'e liked best of all to ha'e been in %eydrich&s place himself, but he hoped in 'ain. n :olck&s horoscope Saturn, the planet of misfortune, was transiting the se'enth house. =his meant that :olck was likely to form dangerous connections with depra'ed and unreliable people. reminded :olck of this and warned him to a'oid all indiscreet contacts. ;y this time, of course, :olck knew enough about astrology to ha'e realized for himself the implications of this Saturn transit for the years "#CCC$. We were ha'ing coffee on the terrace one afternoon, when :olck began to lecture me again on the political situation. %e spoke of the dangers which had arisen following +une C1, "#C$, and in'eighed against %indenburg, who was already a sick man. %e had retired to his estate, which had been cordoned off by SS detachments for his -protection.- :olck
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thought %indenburg was too senile to start a political fight5 'ery soon the Nazis would take the initiati'e, and e'erything that was impure and racially worthless would disappear. :olck then expounded the new philosophy which he had apparently absorbed in a training course. %e used phrases likeE -We are in'estigating the soul of the nation- and -With us there is no 'iolation of the law for the sake of political expediency- %is affected Nazi manner re'olted me. was about to interrupt his emotional and undigested twaddle, of which had had more than my share in the past, when he suddenly said to me, -Dou must now work for us was startled and asked, -What do you mean &for us&7 (or %itler and his murderers7- reminded him of my astrological forecasts for %itler and his followers. =o this he retorted angrily, -We ha'e our own methods of making people work for us. f you should refuse, can force you to do so. =he only thing that can sa'e you is total submission to the National Socialist doctrine. Fo you understand7- said nothing and remained calm. %e continued, -=hose who refuse to accept National Socialism and its ideology will die %itler demands that we should submit to his law- ga'e :olck a long hard look. ;ut he went on to threaten me his friend in unmistakable termsE -f you don&t Boin us, the curse of the National Socialist community will strike you down.- ;y now :olck&s face had contorted into a grimace. -We can soon ha'e your head lopped off,- he said. Secret executions were of course Bust a -military exercise- for :olck and his ilk. *t that moment my only thought was that :olck&s obsession would dri'e him mad. =here had been many occasions ins in my life when my hot temper had got the better of me. ;ut at that moment, when :olck was prepared to deal a despicable blow to an old friend, retained complete control of myself e'en though was consumed with rage. =hat e'ening, when :olck had started off again about his mysterious acti'ities, had a talk with his wife, a hysterical woman who told me that she was a medium and a clair'oyant. %er background was middle class, and because of her own pathological ambition, she encouraged :olck in his grandiose plans instead of trying to dissuade him.
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the 4ussians. :olck had been arrested on the same charge. +ust how deeply he was in'ol'ed ne'er disco'ered. do not know whether he was a 'ictim of his own stupidity or of one of %eydrich&s de'ilish tricks. t was well known that %eydrich was collecting incriminating e'idence against many people in the =hird 4eich. :olck had been sufficiently indiscreet to talk about his hopes of becoming head of the ;erlin 3olice (orce and perhaps e'en head of the Secret 3olice. Since, at that time, %eydrich had the same idea, :olck was in his way. ?nce :olck had been eliminated as a possible ri'al, he made an ideal puppet for %eydrich. %eydrich had collected enough e'idence against this -rebel- to make him compliant. :olck was a -Nordic- type and %eydrich had a -Nordic- complex. %e wanted only pure -Germanic- types in his entourage, from whom he demanded unswer'ing loyalty and absolute obedience. %is men had to function without hesitation and without scruple. ;ut, of course, :olck&s hopes of establishing personal contact with %itler had now been completely frustrated. =his 'ain, ambitious, reckless, and unintelligent man was no match for the sober, coldblooded, and calculating %eydrich. =he only 6ualities which these two had in common were their boundless ambition and their lust for power. Fr. Go'erts, who was also interrogated by %eydrich, naturally knew e'en less than , and so %eydrich soon arranged for us to be dri'en home in a pri'ate car. *s we walked down the long corridor of the Gestapo head6uarters toward the exit, we caught sight of :olck in the distance being conducted in chains to the basement, where the cells were situated. =hat was the last we e'er saw of him. n fact, :olck was released shortly afterward and went on a holiday to Switzerland. n "#C@ and "#C0 he worked -for Germany- in the
* man like :olck was a lone wolf5 he acted on his own and planned his reckless escapades for personal or financial ad'antage, hoping to ensure their success with the help of astrology. ;ut another man who consulted me was Bust as deeply in'ol'ed in the approaching disaster, though in a way that appeared more legitimate and certainly more intelligent. Walter 2ohmann, a former na'al captain, worked for the ntelligence Ser'ice in the Weimar 4epublic. %e was chiefly concerned with
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(or this reason he wanted to make newstyle propaganda films. %e had first concei'ed the idea under the impact of the great So'iet films of the "#J1s.
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massi'e inBection of capital the company asked for more money to finance its big new production program. 2ohmann not only belie'ed in his idea, but he also belie'ed that the films produced by 3hoebus would enBoy a mounting success. %e succeeded in arranging two further loans of C,@11,111 and #J1,111 marks respecti'ely, for which the state was again re6uired to stand surety. =hat was in "#J>. t was in connection with these new loans that had my first actual meeting with /aptain 2ohmann. ;y then the treasury had guaranteed more than 0,111,111 marks for 3hoebus. ;ut before the year was out, it was apparent that 2ohmann had miscalculated. 3hoebus (ilms was a sick company teetering on the brink of ruin. ;y nature 2ohmann was a cautious man. Why then had he not become suspicious of 3hoebus& chief executi'e, /orell, at an earlier stage7 2ohmann, in fact, was fascinated and e'en blinded by /orell&s initial offer and his grandiose promise to produce films superior to $attleship Potem!in. *s the proBect grew more and more fantastic, /orell grew more elo6uent. %e assured 2ohmann that, once the films were distributed, the loans would 6uickly be repaid. Not only were the loans not repaid, but they e'en failed to co'er the production costs. n the end, mismanagement caused a halt in work on a feature film proBect, with many of the most important scenes still to be shot. *t the end of "#J> /orell was obliged to ad'ise 2ohmann that unless still more money was forthcoming, the whole proBect would collapse. 2ohmann had been tricked by the 3hoebus management into belie'ing he would ha'e real control of the proBect. n fact, the actual contract ga'e him no power at all. 2ohmann turned to me, but it was too late. (urther in'estment would only delay the ine'itable. 2ohmann had to face the conse6uences. n the summer of "#J> he was relie'ed of his post and sent on lea'e pending an official in6uiry, and on Fecember > of the same year he was informed that his appointment in the ntelligence Ser'ice would be terminated as of !arch C", "#J. =he official explanation said 2ohmann had exceeded his powers. *t this, 3arliament and the parliamentary parties pricked up their ears, and the press began to report the great financial scandal. General Groener, the new !inister of Fefense, did his best to explain that 2ohmann had not acted dishonorably. n his speech to the 4eichstag he said that /aptain 2ohmann had erred primarily because he had considered the 3hoebus director, /orell, to be trustworthy and a competent filmmaker. *ccording to the report in the Vossische Zeitung Groener said, -<'en though the econom ic de'elopment of the 3hoebus company failed to li'e up to the expectations placed in it, it should be borne in mind that /orell has now been made a member of the A(* management, which means that persons of authority in that great firm also had confidence in /orell&s technical competence. n other words, /orell had made a happy landing while 2ohmann had been exposed and forced out of public life. %is dismissal was nonetheless honorable, for it was stated une6ui'ocally that he had at no time sought personal ad'antage from the 3hoebus enterprise. *nd yet this affair was anything but harmless. n actual fact the 3hoebus /ompany was Bust one tiny component in the 'ast German intelligence system. !oreo'er, this in'estment, which had appeared so misguided at the time, actually paid off in the long run5 the idea of shooting fulllength feature films illustrating 3russian history was put into effect in the early "#C1s, when the famous actor ?tto Gebhr appeared in the %ridericus &e series. =hese films used thousands of extras for battle scenes. n some cases the extras were regular soldiers from the 4eichswehr, who were thus gi'en the opportunity to take part in military exercises, albeit in historical uniforms. =his idea had stemmed from 2ohmann. When film extras recei'ed military training and soldiers were disguised as film extras, it would seem that the film proBect launched by the Na'al Fepartment under /aptain 2ohmann had touched on matters which the 4eichstag delegates, let alone the ordinary taxpayers, had not en'isioned.
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men and were denied the use of battleships, submarines, hea'y guns, tanks, and bombers. *llied commissions carried out inspections to ensure that the pro'isions were obser'ed. ;ut the heads of the 4eichswehr were extremely adept at e'ading such restrictions. =he regular army was highly trained, and work was carried out secretlylong before %itler came to power on the de'elopment of new weapons systems, some of which were probably e'en manufactured and tested. Germany also had an agreement with 4ussia, which remained in force for se'eral years, whereby German officers were sent to work as inspectors for the 4ed *rmy and in the course of their duties, in which they instructed 4ussian soldiers, ac6uainted themsel'es with postwar de'elopments in weapon techni6ues. *lthough nobody knew when German rearmament would come, its theoretical basis was being worked out in complete detail. ;attleships, seaplanes, mines, and torpedoes were designed, and special na'al units tested their efficiency. Secret information on the military strength of foreign powers, on new in'entions, and on technical impro'ements were collected and e'aluated with great urgency. (urther, the na'y was creating fictitious firms, sham organizations which were used as co'ers for na'al proBects. (or example, at Neustadt, on the ;altic, a sailing school had been set up, ostensibly to teach young people sailing and na'igation. n fact, the -school- was training na'al crews for a speedboat flotilla. Ander the =reaty of :ersailles, Germany was not allowed to own speedboats. /onse6uently, these speedboats were built by the talians and -tested- on the ;altic. *nd, of course, the Na'al Fepartment was also running shipping concerns5 it had a fleet of tankers on the *tlantic routes. *lthough these ships sailed under a pri'ate flag, they were a'ailable to the German Na'y at a moment&s notice. =his was another enterprise in which 2ohmann was intimately in'ol'ed and when the 3hoebus films affair came to a head, the !inistry of Fefense, fearing further exposures, disposed of its fleet of tankers. Since the ministry had to act as 6uickly and 6uietly as possible, the ships were simply thrown onto the market, fetching far less than they were really worth. 2ohmann&s hurried departure caused great confusion in the internal affairs of the Na'al Fepartment, as in the case of the sale of the oil tankers. * neutral %amburg shipowner who was chosen to in'estigate the transactions and clarify the situation soon ga'e up. So too did 4ear *dmiral ?ldekopp, when he was asked to prepare a full report on the case. =oo many aspects of this complex affair were secret. Nameless subordinates had skilfully exploited the brief 'acuum 2ohmann&s downfall had created. =he Na'al Fepartment ran other firms as well. =he ;acon /ompany, for example, was a disguised na'al supply depot which catered for the soldiers of the -Schwarzen 4eichswehr.- (inally there was the F<:<2<: or Feutsche :elas6uez <'aporato Studiengesellschaft Gmb%, an international concern which was ac actually founded after the 3hoebus scandal. =his company which was named after the Spaniard :elas6uez who in'ented the e'aporator used in the distillation of gasoline from crude petroleumcarried out technical experiments for military research. nfluential ci'ilianse.g., bank directors, senators, Budges, and industrialistswere of course also in'ol'ed in these secret operations. When 2ohmann first found that he was getting into difficulties, he sent me the birth data of 'irtually all the important people working for him at that time, and cast brief horoscopes of them for him. =he copies are still in my files. =o the contemporary reader these firms, which 2ohmann ran in the late "#J1s, may well seem fantastic. ;ut they were anything but fantasies. * few years ago the %amburg daily Die (elt published an article on the whole 2ohmann affair. /ommenting on the firms which 2ohmann had founded, the correspondent wrote, -%e was ne'er able to gi'e a credible explanation for them.- 2ohmann could ha'e gi'en that explanation, but he would ha'e had to expose the whole network of German and foreign firms in'ol'ed in these acti'ities. !y connection with 2ohmann brought me many astrological commissions, most of which had to be executed in a great hurry5 always recei'ed an appropriate fee for my ser'ices,
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and for the first time in my life was able to maintain myself from my earnings as an astrologer. Still, 2ohmann took up so much of my time that for weeks on end was obliged to gi'e up any other work. !y astrological documents for the few years 2ohmann was my client fill a row of boxfiles. Walter 2ohmann was a zealous supporter of the ancien r)gime in Germany, a man who had absolutely nothing in common with the fascist hooligans of the time. %e was the exact opposite of %erbert :olck. ;ut he was con'inced that his manifold plans and acti'ities would help restore the old social and political order. =his may well ha'e been his crucial weakness. %e was a patriot who belie'ed that Germany was destined to reenter the field of international politics and, once there, to play its part as a great military power. /onse6uently, it was not at all difficult for him to do what was re6uired of him in his capacity as a staff officer and head of intelligenceE to promote the illegal rearmament of his country while camouflaging it from the in6uisiti'e eyes of foreign agents. *lthough the foreign press scarcely mentioned the 3hoebus scandal or 2ohmann&s dismissal, it was certainly noted in other 6uarters abroad that 2ohmann, a man with such extensi'e connections, had become -a'ailable.- 2ohmann did ha'e many friends in foreign countries. 2ord ;ea'erbrook, for example, often in'ited him for talks. *t the end of ?ctober, "#J, an
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remarked, -!y horoscope is not exactly rosy =he stomach trouble arri'ed on time to the day but has now cleared up.... am li'ing in 4ome, %otel !aBestic.- =he airship company was floated shortly afterward. 2ohmann became the talian representati'e of the Schtte 2anz works in !annheim, a post which enabled him to continue his political workfrom behind the scenes, of coursefor the German Na'al Fepartment. O * socalled electional horoscope is used to choose a propitious time for an undertaking.
;ut then heard that 2ohmann&s chief talian associate, Signor /i'elli, had died following a se'ere haemorrhage. 2ohmann was deeply shocked. %e wrote to me from the =yrolE - am 6uite dispirited by the loss of this man who was in charge of the airship proBect. <'erything seems to be going wrongM find no peace here and am dri'en on by a feeling of restlessness.- *nd so 2ohmann rushed from proBect to proBect. (inally he tried to set up the %olland;ata'ia *irline, a tripartite 'enture among the talians, the Germans, and the Spanish, with the obBect of testing the large aircraft then in course of de'elopment. t was a magnificent idea, and it seemed now as if 2ohmann, who had always had any number of different plans going at the same time, had at last succeeded in e'ol'ing a single, allembracing proBect. =he 3hoebus scandal had e'idently done him little harm5 he was still regarded as a man of intelligence and imagination. !ussolini wanted to use the first of the new large aircraft for the nonstop transatlantic formation flight. =he technical arrangements for this proBect were left to the Germans and since taly&s financial resources were limited%olland was asked to pro'ide the backing. %ence the inoffensi'e and highly misleading name of the %olland;ata'ia *irline. ;ut after /i'elli&s death, it soon became apparent that the talian *'iation !inister, ;albo, was 'irtually sabotaging the proBect. =he reasons for this were no doubt largely personal. 2ohmann had been asked by !ussolini to take charge of the production program for the new large aircraft and to organize the *tlantic crossing. =he ambitious ;albo could not bear to see a former German officer preferred in this way. 4elations between ;albo and 2ohmann also appear to ha'e been clouded by a beautiful woman who figured in our correspondence as /lara !aria =hirty=hree. She knew both !ussolini and ;albo 'ery well and was also a friend of 2ohmann&s, who thought her reliable and trustworthy. n fact, she was neither. When she appeared on the scene, 2ohmann entered on the last tragic phase of his turbulent and unhappy life. was first told about /lara !aria at a time when myself was caught up in an extremely unpleasant situation. :olck&s bomb trial had Bust started, and was being subBected to malicious attacks in the daily press. 2ohmann wrote to me, - am told that my letters are reaching you without mishap M =hat is a great relief. 3lease make sure that the names do not fall into the wrong hands.- ?ur courier, (rau 'on 2erchegelstein, had already taken the necessary precautions. /lara !aria =hirty=hree had a magnificently appointed salon in 4ome and mo'ed behind the scenes of talian politics with the skill of a true 'amp. 2ohmann had asked me to compare both /lara !aria&s and ;albo&s horoscopes with his own. %e told me /lara !aria&s birthdateshe had been born prematurely in "#11, on a train tra'eling from taly to Strasbourg. !y analysis re'ealed catastrophic influences. *t the end of *pril, "#C1, 2ohmann came to %amburg for a personal consultation and was due to return to 4ome the following day. When he left me, he said, -=he way you ha'e been warning me on this occasion, anyone would think this were my last Bourney- begged him to postpone his departure but to no a'ail. (rau 'on 2erchegelstein and another friend accompanied 2ohmann to the station. ?n their way there he told them about his consultationE -=his time Wulff spoke 'ery strangely, &Dou will ne'er see ;erlin again if you go to 4ome now.& suppose he is trying to pre'ent me from 'isiting these &dangerous& people.2ohmann went to 4ome. *s arranged, he met /lara !aria =hirty=hree in her splendid apartment and spent the night of *pril J#C1 with her. %e did not li'e to see the morning he had fallen into a trap set for him by ;albo. /lara !aria and her chauffeur are supposed to ha'e brought him back to his hotel, where a doctor was called to where 2ohmann lay in
25
agony. *ll the doctor could do for him was establish the cause of deathE heart failure. ;ut the circumstances surrounding 2ohmann&s death were ne'er cleared up. =he plans and instructions for the transatlantic flight which he had brought with him had disappeared from his luggage. ?ne thousand reichsmarks were found in his briefcase, but it was a known fact that on that particular day 2ohmann had been carrying C1,111 reichsmarks. =wentynine thousand marks had 'anished without trace, and /lara !aria =hirty=hree was soon being hunted by the talian and German police. 2ohmann&s wife went to 4ome at once. When she asked to see her husband&s body, she was handed a small casket containing his ashes. Somebody had ordered his immediate cremation5 it seems likely that this was in order to wipe out traces of poison. /lara !aria, the probable culprit, had fled abroad. She had been 2ohmann&s agent, ;albo&s accomplice, and !ussolini&s friend. She had probably also been the mistress of all three. *lthough /aptain 2ohmann&s plans had disappeared, ;albo was able to carry out the transatlantic flight shortly afterward and took all the credit for himself. ;ut he was not to enBoy the fruits of his 'ictory. When he heard of 2ohmann&s death, !ussolini launched a 'igorous in'estigation which gradually shed light on the whole affair. t disco'ered that /lara !aria =hirty=hree had extended her -friendship- to 2ohmann and ;albo, as well as to himself. ;albo was then relie'ed of his post as !inister of *'iation and posted to =ripoli as pro'incial go'ernor. /aptain 2ohmann&s fate, which was so clearly outlined in his horoscope, bears out the dictum of an ancient /hinese sageE -=he course of a man&s life, once decreed by destiny, cannot be arrested by human calculations.Chapter Four In the %ands o( the )estapo
*t the time of /aptain 2ohmann&s death the political situation in Germany was catastrophic, and the country was close to ci'il war. Not long afterward the Nazis were to take o'er completely. =hese circumstances had a profound effect on my astrological practice. n the early "#C1s astrology was not so popular in Germany as it is today. ;ut it had achie'ed a particularly high standard. *n unbiased ;ritish expert who worked for the Secret Ser'ice after "#$@, and so gained access to a large number of astrological studies disco'ered in the Gestapo files, has said that German astrology was supreme in the "#C1s and that he could not understand why the Nazis had turned their backs on the 6ualified astrologers in their own country. =he fact that prominent National Socialists like 4udolf %ess, %einrich %immler, and Walter Schellenbergto name but a fewmade use of astrology did not alter the official attitude. Soon after "#CC the astrologers in many German pro'inces were forbidden to practice. n other areasfor example, in my own hometown of %amburgthe antiastrology propaganda was enough to frighten the clients away. ha'e already mentioned that this new de'elopment created considerable financial difficulties for me. :irtually e'ery one of my few -big- clients either went o'er to the other camp or kept away for fear of the political conse6uences, while my smaller clients were simply terrified. =his left me with a number of +ewish clients, who were being subBected to e'en worse persecution than we astrologers. *nd so astrology ac6uired the aura of an esoteric doctrine. t was reduced to a trade which flourished in the underworld but which nobody dared mention in public. was fortunate in that 3rince Georg zu Sachsen !einingen, the fatherinlaw of ?tto 'on %absburg, still consulted me. %e had 6uickly come to terms with the new go'ernment and, because of his social status, could afford to maintain his connection with me. ;ut these re'ersals were simply a foretaste of the great difficulties was to face a few years later. =he dark clouds then gathering on the German horizon were portents. (aced with the constant expansion of my astrological practice, had 'irtually gi'en up my artistic career, and now my new li'elihood was also threatened. *n astrologer is no medicine man. %is knowledge and experience do not free him from the force of his own destiny. =he fact that was able to sur'i'e was due perhaps to my greater awareness of the problems and dangers which awaited meE arrest, the (uhlsbttel concentration camp, the %artzwalde -branch- of 4a'ensbrck concentration camp, and, finally, %einrich %immler and his senior functionaries, for whom was obliged to work under pain of death. n +une, "#$", one month after %ess& flight to Scotland, , too, was caught in the Gestapo&s net. %immler&s myrmidons liked to perform their duties at first light. was lying awake when the Gestapo rang my bell between C and $ *.!. When opened the door, four Gestapo men rushed into my apartment, ransacked se'eral rooms, tore books at random
26
from their shel'es, thumbed through my files and card indexes, and threw e'erything into disorder. was ordered to dress and was taken at once to (uhlsbttel. *t that time (uhlsbttel was a remand center, a penitentiary, and a concentration camp all in one. *s the war de'eloped, so Gestapo methods became less discriminating. was subBected to the customary ner'eracking interrogations. was asked whether knew certain people, whether had e'er cast mundane horoscopes 8horoscopes of nations, groups, or mo'ements rather than of indi'iduals9, and to what extent was 'ersed in the occult sciences. =he treatment meted out to me was anything but humane. =here was no 6uestion of my being accorded the legal rights of a prisoner on remand. was gi'en no opportunity of consulting my lawyer and, like all the other prisoners, was put on a daily regimen of hard labor. ;ut things soon changed when the guards disco'ered that was an astrologer. While the other prisoners were clearing up bomb damage, was taken aside and 6uestioned about astrology. sat among the bushes surrounded by SS men, many of whom made me look into their future. *s ha'e already pointed out, others persecuted under the Nazi regime suffered far more than did. (or this reason do not propose to gi'e a detailed account of my own experiences. ;ut my spell in (uhlsbttel was pretty unpleasant. was worn out by the interrogations and physically broken. was also uncertain about the fate of my family. had had to lea'e my wife, my daughter, and the younger of my two Sons without any means of support5 my elder son was ser'ing in the army, and had no news of him either. With things as they then were, it seemed improbable that the few clients still had would keep faith with me, let alone do anything to help my wife. was all the more surprised, therefore, when subse6uently learned that, immediately after my arrest, my wife had recei'ed assistance from se'eral sources. n one instance an ac6uaintance of mine paid her a fee for a commission which had ne'er recei'ed. *nd so my family was sa'ed from destitution. *t the time, howe'er, did not know this, and the days and weeks passed in dreadful anxiety. *t the end of the four months was released, as suddenly as had been arrested. ;ut first had to swear that would no longer work as an astrologer. was also watched from that moment on. When the gates of (uhlsbttel were opened for me in the late summer of "#$", emerged into a strictly limited form of freedom. *t the time had no idea that the Gestapo, which had destroyed my li'elihood and maltreated me, would soon be forcing me to work for them on orders from abo'e. ;ut, in fact, those 'ery people who had forbidden me to follow my calling were to o'erwhelm me with commissions from the top SS leaders Bust a few months later. !eanwhile, howe'er, had other worries. was not allowed to work as an astrologer, and as an opponent of the regime, could hardly expect to recei'e commissions as a painter or sculptor. %ow was to pay my way7 waited daily for a letter informing me that was to report to some ammunition or armaments factory as an unskilled worker. Shortly after my release from (uhlsbttel recei'ed a 'isit from a former client of mine, the chemist and manufacturer Zimmermann. %e offered me a refuge in his works at a modest wage. t was only later that disco'ered that Zimmermann himself had engineered my re lease. %e maintained close contact with the SS and so had considerable influence. Zimmermann&s research department had been in'estigating the possibilities of milk irradiation and had de'eloped a process that produced new substances in milk calculated to pre'ent the de'elopment of rickets. Zimmermann regarded this proBect as a real moneymaker. ;ut his endea'ors to market irradiated milk for children had been constantly frustrated by his business ri'alsoften members of the pharmaceutical industry, who regarded this new method of his as a threat to their own products. Now in a dictatorship, where the whole economy is subBect to central control, the important thing is to obtain go'ernment appro'al and backing for any new proBects, especially in wartime, when e'erything is rationed. t is distinctly possible that Zimmermann was hoping to promote his milk proBect by pro'iding the SS leaders with some special treat. f so, appear to ha'e been the treat. What looked like the friendly act of a former client was probably part of a welllaid plan. =he Gestapo knew that, as long
27
was in Zimmermann&s charge, was under constant sur'eillance. /on'ersely, Zimmermann could safely assume that by offering me employment he was doing the Gestapo a fa'or. *nd so, although had no means of knowing it at the time, the position offered to me in the institute for milk irradiation was almost certainly a pretext. *n entirely new and 6uite extraordinary phase of my life was about to begin. n !arch, "#$J, six months after my release from (uhlsbttel, was instructed to lea'e Zimmermann&s employ and proceed to an institute which had ne'er heard of in ;erlin, to take up new duties as a scientific research assistant. was recommended for this post by my friend, the Nuremberg astronomer and astrologer Fr. Wilhelm %artmann. tra'elled to ;erlin and reported to this institute, which was attached to na'al head6uarters. *fter the ?utbreak of war in "#C# research institutes had been set up for the army, the na'y, and the 2uftwaffe to test any suggestions or new in'entions sent in by members of the public which might concei'ably contribute to the war effort. n ;erlin learned, to my utter amazement, that the National Socialist leaders proposed to use these -research centers- to harness, not only natural, but also supernatural, forces. *ll intellectual, natural, and supernatural sources of powerfrom modern technology to medie'al black magic, and from the teachings of 3ythagoras to the (austian pentagram incantationwere to be exploited in the interests of final 'ictory. =he na'y&s research institute, whose acti'ities were top secret, was run by a na'al captain. =his officer commanded a 'ery strange company which included spiritualist mediums and sensiti'es, pendulum practitioners 8dowsers who used a pendulum instead of a dowsing rod9, students of =attwa 8an ndian pendulum theory9, astrologers and astronomers, ballistics experts, and mathematicians. =he institute had been instructed by the head6uarters& staff of Na'al /ommand to pinpoint the position of enemy con'oys at sea by means of pendulums and other supernatural de'ices, so that the German submarine flotillas could be certain of sinking them. Fay in, day out, the pendulum practitioners s6uatted with their arms stretched out o'er nautical charts. =he results were, of course, pitiful. Whate'er one may think about occult phenomena, it was simply ridiculous to expect that an unknown world could be forcibly opened up in this dilettante fashion and exploited for military purposes. <'en in those cases where there was some initial success, no attempt was made to e'aluate the findings by systematic scientific procedures. ?ne of the employees of the institute was a retired architect from Salzburg by the name of Straniak, a refined old gentleman in his sixties who re'ealed a certain facility as a pendulum practitioner. %e was con'inced that his talent was genuine, and although he had the misfortune to be the author of a short book entitled The Eighth %orce of *ature, he did not gi'e the impression of being a charlatan. Straniak had claimed that if he were shown a photograph of a ship, he could pinpoint its position on a map. ?fficials from the *dmiralty had 'isited him at Salzburg and shown him photographs of the $ismarc! and the Prin" Eugen. Straniak had then established the positions of these two ships with the aid of his pendulum. !any years before, Straniak had been persecuted by the Gestapo on account of his gifts. ?n that occasion he was packed off to the na'al research institute in ;erlin together with all his instruments and documents. =he Na'al Fepartment, which lay behind this mo'e, wanted to carry out certain tests. * Fr. %artmann was then ordered to ;erlin to check the mo'ements of Straniak&s pendulum for influences and de'iations at sunrise, noon, and sunset and at the time of the full and the new moon. ?ther sensiti'es were also obser'ed and tested at the same time. ;ecause Straniak was such an unusual case, a special experiment was de'ised for himE * small piece of metal was laid out for Bust a few seconds on a large sheet of paper. Straniak, who had been asked to lea'e the room during these preliminaries, was then brought back. =here was no sign on the paper to indicate where the metal had been placed. ;ut Straniak was able to pinpoint the spot time and time again and e'en did so from an adBoining room, using an identical piece of paper. *t this point the nstitute for 4esearch into 4adiant
28
strictly scientific methods, was asked to check the astonishing results obtained in the na'al research institute. Not surprisingly the members of this scientifically oriented body were opposed to pendulum practitioners and all occult knowledge. =he first in'estigation which they carried out resulted in fiasco for Straniak. (or weeks on end he had produced excellent results5 now he failed completely. !y own contact with the na'al research institute coincided with the +apanese capture of %ong )ong. n this action +apanese soldiers blocked the loopholes of the enemy pillboxes with their bodies. ;ecause of their complete disregard for their own li'es, e'en the best fortified parts of %ong )ong fell 'ery 6uickly. *t this point was once again summoned to the research institute. *s a student of the :edanta and ;uddhist Doga was told to submit proposals for the military training program which would enable the army to instil into German soldiers the Zen;uddhist beliefs which inspired the +apanese. !eanwhile, Straniak had fallen ill and was fast losing his powers. =he other pendulum practitioners were in a similar plight, for their working day was extremely long and tiring. Gradually the members of the institute grew more and more ner'ous and irritable. Fr. %artmann then suggested to the officer in charge of the institute that he should take his workers into a different en'ironment. %artmann belie'ed that the many disturbances and currents which per'aded the atmosphere in ;erlin were frustrating the sensiti'es& endea'ors. -=ake your institute up into the mountains or to the sea,- he said. -=he sea air and the sunshine would do your people good, and they would work better.- =he officer followed his ad'ice and in the early summer set out with his associates for the island of Sylt. n addition, working hours were reduced. ;ut the results were e'en less successful than in ;erlin. =oday it seems almost incredible that an institute of this kind could ha'e been set up under the auspices of the Na'al /ommand. n fact, the idea for this -research center- was not of Nazi srcin. t went back to the plans e'ol'ed by my friend Walter 2ohmann in the "#J1s, when he was working in the Na'y ?ffice. t was learned after the war that other belligerent countries had set up similar institutes. *lthough no details ha'e e'er been published, it seems certain that
Chapter Fi*e Feli+ ,ersten
(elix )ersten
29
!y ac6uaintance with (elix )ersten, one of the background figures in the dark morass of Nazi politics, brought me for the first time close to the Nazi high command. * great giant of a man who posed as a harmless masseur from (inland, )ersten had wormed his way into the highest aristocratic circles abroad and into the top strata of the Nazis. *lthough not an intellectual, he was a realistic and extremely shrewd thinker. %e came from a farming family and in "#"> ser'ed for a short while as an officer in the (innish *rmy, after which he fled to Germany to escape the ;olshe'iks. )ersten then worked as a dishwasher, a film extra, a masseur, andfrom "#C1 on as a -doctor of manipulati'e therapy.- %e was on /hristianname terms with the 3rince /onsort of %olland, %einrich 'on !ecklenburg, and he was %immler&s personal physician. When Zimmermann took me to see him one winter&s e'ening in "#$J, )ersten was li'ing in a new and extremely elegant flat on the corner of the 4desheimer 3latz in ;erlin Wilmersdorf. %e owed these pompous surroundings to the -*ryanization- program, the former occupant, a +ew, ha'ing been e'icted. =he apartment was full of ostentatious elegance. =he decor had been copied from the castles, palaces, and country houses of )ersten&s wealthy patients. ?ur host greeted us sullenly. We had miscalculated our Bourney and arri'ed half an hour late. )ersten gra'ely told us that he was not accustomed to waiting for people re6uesting fa'ors. %e was entitled to regard our 'isit in this lightE Zimmermann had told him of my fate, and from Zimmermann&s sister, Gerda, he had learned about the irradiated milk proBect and the difficulties we encountered in getting it launched. Soon the somber atmosphere which had made the first 6uarter of an hour of our 'isit so unpleasant was dispelled. )ersten&s sullen mood lifted, and the con'ersation took a more li'ely turn. Zimmermann spoke of his concern for his milk proBect, and at first, )ersten feigned ignorance of the affair. 2ater on, howe'er, he promised to help Zimmermann and to introduce him to the right people, who would use their influence on his behalf. Not long afterward this was duly done. Furing the con'ersation watched )ersten carefully. Was he to be taken seriously7 *t that moment he wore the look of an affable man, which is what Zimmermann had led me to expect. Greedy little eyes, which were reminiscent of a child&s, peeped from )ersten&s bloated face. %e was a thyroid case and suffered from fatty degeneration of the heart. ;ut despite his enormous girth, he was 6uick on his feet. %is fat grasping hands, co'ered with small whitish scars, played continuously with a pencil or a little picture. n the terminology of medie'al character assessment, he was a phlegmatic with a sanguine touch. %e was extremely passionate and sensuous, extremely lazy, extremely 'ain and ambitious. Zimmermann knew all this and had correctly assumed that )ersten would be flattered to be introduced to an astrologer who might concei'ably be of interest to %immler. Suddenly )ersten said to meE -Dou can talk 6uite openly to me about political de'elopments5 am 6uite well informed anyway, and ha'e my own ideas and worries about the war and the internal de'elopment of Germany. Now tell me what you think about %itler&s horoscope. 'ery cautiously outlined the different constellations and drew his attention to some which were particularly bad. then suggested that a man like %itler could not be a successful national leader for long and said that felt sorry for the German people5 foresaw bitter e'ents which were bound to occur unless there was a radical change of policy. *t that time the !oscow and 2eningrad offensi'e had been broken off and our troops were engaged in -strategic- withdrawals which were actually to last three long years. told )ersten that %itler had the same Saturn position in his natal chart as Napoleon and that, although their destinies were not identical, there were certain parallels, applying primarily to Germany&s 4ussian campaign and the battles still to come. then suggested that if Germany were to be sa'ed from complete disaster, something would ha'e to be done soon. did not say what had to be done, but )ersten knew what meant. )ersten then said, -/an you let me ha'e %itler&s horoscope7 would like to show it to %immler.- was terrified by this remark. )ersten saw my reaction and went on in patronizing tonesE -!y dear fellow, there&s no need to be afraid. %immler will not hurt you. can arrange e'erything. ;ut what you ha'e been telling me about %itler&s future is important and interesting, and %immler must be told about it.-
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-No,- replied. - don&t want that. 3lease don&t say a word to %immler. don&t want to be taken into &protecti'e custody& again by the Gestapo. %immler must know nothing about it. %e would not understand and would find my statements seditious. 3lease treat my obser'ations about %itler&s horoscope as confidential, and don&t make any trouble for me.*t this point )ersten asked me if had suffered a great deal in protecti'e custody5 replied that had seen and suffered the same terrible things as other prisoners in the same situation. then went on to say that my negati'e forecast for %itler&s personal future was borne out by mundane horoscopes, especially the horoscope for Germany and the chart for +anuary C1, "#CCi.e., for the founding of the =hird 4eich, which was supposed to last for a thousand years but which would soon be in its death agony. -Dou must tell me more about this, %err Wulff,- )ersten said. -t is extraordinarily interesting and important for me and for the proBects which am pursuing. Now that you ha'e started, you must go on.Zimmermann also urged me to continue. %e knew )ersten better than did, for the (inn was an admirer of his sister, Fr. Gerda Zimmermann. ;ut once again declined. told )ersten that was unable to consult my documents because they had been confiscated, adding that the Gestapo had already disco'ered many of the predictions which had made about Germany&s future. *ll could ha'e told him then, explained, were the few things happened to ha'e remembered. =his would ha'e gi'en an incomplete picture, for some of my calculations and interpretations went back twenty years, and had forgotten much that was rele'ant. -Dou must meet %immler,- )ersten told me. -Dou&ll like him. %e is a nice man and can do a great deal for you if you want him to. refused this offer. had no desire to meet %immler in person. What had heard about him was 6uite enough for me. 2ater Zimmermann told me that was wrong about him, but Zimmermann did not know what had seen in the natal chart. )ersten then asked me to cast a detailed horoscope for himself and also for %immler. %immler&s constellations interested me as an astrologer, and wanted to include his chart in the new collection intended to make. *nd so began to work for )ersten, but only after obtaining his assurance that would not be subBected to further persecution at the hands of %immler&s Gestapo. * few weeks later handed )ersten his detailed horoscope. *t that time did not possess all of %immler&s birth data and so could not calculate a chart for him.
Chapter 'i+ Find -ussolini.
!y 'isit to (elix )ersten ushered in the most dramatic period of my life. t was not a drama of my own seeking. was wilfully in'ol'ed in it by Zimmermann, who took me to )ersten because he wanted a fa'or from him and thought he could use me as a pawn. )ersten then exploited my astrological knowledge to make himself more interesting in the eyes of %immler, Walter Schellenberg, and *rthur Nebe. %is ploy was successful. Soon he was forwarding commissions to me straight from the head of the SS. *s a result, ac6uired a strange status. 2egally should ha'e been in a concentration camp like other astrologers5 officially was an employee in Zimmermann&s milk irradiation institute5 in actual fact was turning out astrological reports for the high command of the SS. !y situation was undoubtedly better than life in a concentration camp, although the constant pressure of working at top speed on the most ridiculous commissions and ha'ing to produce infallible results was both trying and dangerous. had no means of telling how long the SS would continue to patronize me as an astrologer or whether the slightest failure on my part would lead to further imprisonmentor something worse. ;y the 'ery nature of my duties it was ine'itable that should know a great deal, perhaps too much. *nd in dictatorships those who know too much are usually unobtrusi'ely remo'ed.
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now entered a period during which was fre6uently collected from my %amburg home by Gestapo men and sent 'ia either the ?ranienburg or 4a'ensbrck concentration camps to )ersten&s secluded estate at %artzwalde. * number of +eho'ah&s Witnessesinmates of 4a'ensbriickwere working on this estate, which lay fifty miles north of ?ranienburgi.e., about one and a half hours& dri'e from ;erlinand it was a fa'orite meeting place for the SS top brass. ?n +uly J, "#$Cshortly after the terrible air raid on %amburg was standing on the road outside my house loading some of my personal effects and documents onto a truck for dispatch to Wohldorf, where they were to be stored, when saw two Gestapo officials, Walter Wohlers and !eggi !echlenberg, pull up on the other side of the road. ?ne of them called out to me, -=hank God &'e found you. &'e been looking for you for days. ha'e to take you along to the Gestapo post. * telegram has arri'ed from the 4eichsfhrer H%immlerI.*s the two Gestapo officials took me to ;erlin under escort, my first thought was that had been rearrested. !y wife and my younger sonmy elder son was a soldier in 4ussia were again left in uncertainty. n fact, howe'er, was simply being seconded for special duties. =wo days earlier, on +uly J0, ;enito !ussolini had been abducted. *t the ;erlin head6uarters of the )riminalpolizei was brought before SS?bergruppenfuhrer *rthur Nebe, who had been head of the )riminalpolizei for many years and now held the rank of general. %e was one of the best criminologists of all time, a master of detection techni6ues who was passionately interested in his work and would probably ha'e held the same Bob under any regime. ;ut when it came to disco'ering !ussolini&s present whereabouts, con'entional methods of detection pro'ed futile. Nebe&s office was fitted out in the illconcei'ed 4enaissance style belo'ed of so many of the Nazi leaders because it satisfied their need for ostentation and display. Nebe recei'ed me in the gracious manner commonly used by detecti'es to soften up recalcitrant clients. %e offered me %ennessy brandy and *merican cigarettes as if were paying a friendly 'isit. Nebe then handed me the birth data of an alleged criminal and an alleged spy and asked me to work out a brief horoscope for each of them on the spot. discussed the criminal firstE -Dou don&t need to bother too much about this man. %e&ll soon fall into the hands of the )riminalpolizei and will come to a 'iolent end.- *fter looking at the information about the spy, said, -=his man has moderate gifts as a detecti'e.Nebe was noticeably shaken by these character assessments. 2ater learned that the -criminal- was actually Nebe himself, and the -spy- was his assistant, 2obbe. Shortly afterward calculated Nebe&s horoscope in detail and ga'e a full report on it. =he gloomy predictions which made concerning the time and manner of his death were to be borne out by e'ents. Nebe had been playing a dangerous double game for some time5 he had close contacts with the German resistance. *fter +uly J1, +#$$ Hthe assassination attempt on %itlerI he was obliged to disappear and was hunted for months on end by his own )riminalpolizei. %is amours pro'ed his undoing. ?ne of his girlfriends was forced to re'eal his hiding place, and after being tried by a special court, Nebe was hanged on !arch $, "#$@, in a cruel and terrible way. O O 8n a letter to me dated !ay , "#0C, Fr.
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=o my horror Nebe turned pale and seemed 6uite shattered. %e bellowed at me, &Fammit, man, read the rest of it& was almost struck dumb by the grim prediction which followed and in which a professional and personal debacle, persecution, and a dreadful death were prophesied for &%err (ranz Schwarz& in the near future. Nebe did not take his eyes off me as tried to poohpooh the prophecy and pass it off with a Boke. (rom that day on Nebe was frightened. Subse6uently he became more and more ner'ous and was subBect to se'ere depressions. do not think am mistaken in assuming that this psychological condition prompted his precipitate flight after the assassination attempt of +uly J1, "#$$. Dou were the author of this horoscope-
;ut at our first meeting Nebe was chiefly interested in disco'ering where !ussolini was being kept. ndian astrology offers a method for making calculations of this kind. myself had used it in a pre'ious case in my practice. ?n the afternoon of the same day was able to inform Nebe that !ussolini was somewhere to the southeast of 4ome, not more than se'entyfi'e miles from the capital. t turned out that this calculation was entirely accurate. *lthough he was later transferred to another island and finally hidden away on the Gran Sasso in the *bruzzi mountains, !ussolini had first been taken to the island of 3onza and was still there at the time when made my calculation. =he position of this island tallied exactly with the position which had gi'en. =hat e'ening Nebe in'ited me to dine at the )aiserhof %otel, which had historical significance for the Nazi top brass because %itler had been a fre6uent guest there before "#CC. Furing the meal had to explain /romwell&s, Wallenstein&s, and Napoleon&s horoscopes to Nebe. drew his attention to the partial identity between these horoscopes and %itler&s. *fter this meeting was allowed to return to %amburg for a while. Shortly afterward Nebe sent me the birth data of twentyfi'e highranking Nazi officials whose horoscopes was re6uired to cast within a 'ery short time. *ll these men were suspected of corruption. was not told the names or the status of the persons concerned, although one of them, again, was Nebe himself. When deli'ered these horoscopes to Nebe in ;erlinha'ing been escorted there by Gestapo officials had an encounter with %immler&s adButant Suchanek, who told me had taken too long in completing my calculations. Suchanek said, -=he 4eichsfuhrer has instructed me to inform you that you must work more 6uickly and take more trouble5 otherwise you could end up like the alchemist =ausend, who is now in a concentration camp and will stay there until such time as he is able to make gold.;ut my work for Nebe was fortunate for me. *ll the books and nearly all the documents which had been confiscated from me by the Gestapo in the spring of "#$" were returned to me on Nebe&s instructions. %e succeeded at once where Zimmerman and )erstenfor all their grand promiseshad constantly failed. ?f course, Nebe did not do this out of the kindness of his heart. %e wanted to get as much as he possibly could out of me, and so he returned the things needed for my work. %owe'er, two boxes of 'aluable ndian manuscripts and translations were still missing, and later disco'ered that %immler himself had re6uisitioned these particular treasures, which were to play an important part in my first meeting with him. t was %immler who later arranged for me to meet General Walter Schellenberg, one of his confidants. %e did so partly so as not to lose sight of me but, more especially, to ensure that did not work for Nebe&s opponents in the SS command, which was then split into warring factions.
Chapter 'e*en -y (irst !eetin# $ith Walter 'chellenber#
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Walter Schellenberg
Schellenberg was not ignorant of the crimes and mistakes of his comrades and superiors. %e was responsible for special counterespionage duties within the 4eich /entral Security ?ffice, and he e'entually inherited part of %eydrich&s legacy. %e achie'ed a measure of fame in German intelligence circles in connection with the abduction of two
*t our first meeting such matters were touched upon only lightly. ?n that occasion Schellenberg clearly wanted only to 6uestion me about astrology5 he said astrology was in bad repute, and he had serious doubts about many aspects of the subBect. -2et us take an example,- he said. -Suppose a railway accident is caused by a signalman forgetting to change the points. Now an astrologer will say that the accident was bound to occur at that particular moment because the constellations were suchandsuch. don&t see that. explained that the se6uence of e'ents was actually of 6uite a different order. -n such a case,- said, -what really happens is that a certain constellation, which corresponds to a particular point on the earth&s surface, triggers a whole chain of e'ents within the cosmobiological system. * doctor might be inclined to explain the accident in terms of illness on the part of the signalman, while a psychologist, a chemist, or a meteorologist would explain it in other terms. ;ut explain it in terms of the specific constellation, which constitutes the outer husk of the corporate entity µcosmmacrocosm,& in which we are all en'eloped. (or the astrologer a constellation is simply the celestial counterpart to an e'ent taking place at a specific point on the earth&s surface.Schellenberg then raised a further obBection. -*strologers,- he argued, -commit a fundamental error. When they cast a horoscope, they base it on the moment of birth,
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which they regard as the beginning of life. ;ut life really begins at the moment of conception. %ow do you explain that, %err Wulff7=his was another 6uestion fre6uently posed by intelligent laymen. -;ut a horoscope can be cast for any moment in a person&s life,- replied. -We choose the moment of birth simply because it is the easiest factor to determine. *nd anyone will concede that it constitutes an important point in the biological course of a person s life. * horoscope based on this point embraces all earlier points and phasesthe moment of conception, the growth of the germ cells in the parents, and e'en the line of ancestorsand also anticipates all the important biological processes and e'ents which follow the moment of birth.-;ut the moment of birth can be arbitrarily deferred either by surgical means or by the administration of medicines. t can also be brought on prematurely by an accident,- he argued. =his is also a wellknown obBection. explained that all such circumstances would be indicated in the horoscope by specific constellations and conse6uently would not be incompatible. =he layman finds it all so strange and improbable, said, because he is unable to see the intermediate links in the chain and because he has a false conception of time and space, one that is now being rectified by modern physics and by
skimmed through the bogus Zenit. t contained a good mundane horoscope for "#$C, also the horoscopes of *dmirals Foenitz and 4aeder, plus the horoscopes of a number of
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German battleships. =he latter were erected for the time of launching. told Schellenberg that from an astrological point of 'iew it was a firstclass production and indicated that it was the work of experts. Some 'ery skilful bits of propaganda had been casually inserted in an otherwise apparently innocuous text. We deduced that this fake had been manufactured in
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nations are extremely ad'antageous right up to "#$>. =hey reach a peak in mid!ay, "#$@. *ction must be taken 6uickly if Germany is to be spared e'en greater misfortunes.-/ould you draw up a comprehensi'e report on all these 6uestions for the 4eichsfhrer7Schellenberg asked. - ha'e found our con'ersation extremely illuminating and important both for my own plans and for those of the 4eichsfhrer. am 'ery grateful to you for your candid account. *nd you know,- he added, -what you told me about my own horoscope was absolutely true.-
Chapter Ei#ht Lunch $ith %einrich %i!!ler
%einrich %immler
?ne glorious sunny morning in spring arri'ed in ;erlin by the early train. Walter Schellenberg&s pri'ate secretary was waiting for me at the station and dro'e me out to the Wannsee in a new !ercedes. We pulled up in front of a large 'illa. n the garden surrounding the 'illa beautiful old trees ran right down to the bank of the Wannsee. was introduced to a short, stocky little man, an associate of Schellenberg&s. %e and the secretary were to -look after me- and make the preparations for a Bourney to an unknown destination, which was to undertake. *lthough he was not allowed to know who was, disco'ered that his name was (ranz Goring. %is colleagues in the department called him -little Goring.- %e was the sort of official who is always busy, always finding something to do. %e wore ci'ilian clothes, though he was, of course, a member of the SS. Schellenberg sent (ranz Goring to make the final arrangements for my Bourney. !y first meeting with %einrich %immler was being well camouflaged. =he Bourney by special military train to -;ergwald- the co'er name for %immler&s 6uarterspassed without incident. *t noon the next day, fi'e hours late, reached my destination. had been told where was going during the Bourney by the officer in charge of the SS courier railway coach5 Salzburg was still co'ered by a smoke screen, because there had been an air raid there shortly before. *t *igen, Bust outside Salzburg, there is a late;aro6ue castle which %einrich %immler used as a retreat. %e had it camouflaged and renamed it -;ergwald.- =his castle, with its fabulously beautiful old park, once belonged to 3rince Schwarzenberg. t lies at the foot of the Gaisberg and has magnificent 'iews of the Salzburg *lps and the Antersberg. *ccess is
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difficult, for the road is 'ery narrow and full of sharp corners. We dro'e up hill and down dale along the zigzag route to the castle of *igen, where our o'erelegant SS !ercedes limousine passed through cordons of SS and through the beautiful wrought iron gateway in the high outer wall of the castle fortifications. =he dri'er ga'e a prearranged signal, and the guard allowed us to pass. was admitted without e'en ha'ing to show my papers. ;ut then for the past three days had been cut off from the outside world and had been entirely in the hands of SS officers. was recei'ed by ?bersturmbannfhrer Sanne and 'arious officers on %immler&s personal staff and was taken, by mistake as it turned out, to the ?sterreichischer %of %otel. *fter refreshing myself and resting for a short while in my room, recei'ed a telephone call from one of %immler&s adButants, informing me that a car was waiting to take me to %immler&s head6uarters. ;y the time arri'ed lunch had Bust started. %immler and his staff were already seated. ;ut when entered the dining room, %immler 6uickly rose from the table and came to meet me. =he cordiality of his welcome was so natural that anybody meeting him for the first time might well ha'e been pleasantly surprised. %immler placed me on his right. *nd so there was, sitting side by side with the head of the SS, who spooned his soup and engaged me in interesting con'ersation. Who was %immler7 * ruler7 * man of steel7 ?r a political calculating machine7 * robot with hornrimmed glasses and a metal heart full of magical spells which had been put there by some e'il genius7 n ci'ilian life he had been a poultry dealer and manure salesman. =he world had first taken note of him on +une C1, "#C$, in connection with the 4ohm affair, when he had been obliged to order the execution of a group of -conspirators.- Since then he had been known in antiNazi circles as the -bloodhound.- Goring is said to ha'e addressed him as a (urstcheni. e., an insignificant little man. Foenitz always referred to him as der Himmler 8-that %immler-9, a phrase which ser'ed to conceal his contempt for the head of the SS. ;ut what did anyone really know about %einrich %immler7 =he large windows made the dining room agreeably bright, and after the mist had slowly cleared, the *lpine range offered a magnificent 'iew. =he plain, mountain ash furniture ga'e the room a soothing and pleasant atmosphere in marked contrast to the oppressi'e elegance and rich trappings of the dining room at the %orchner 'illa. =he center of the room was taken up by a large o'al table which seated about twel'e people. ?n %immler&s left sat a young lady with sparkling blue eyes. Next to her was )irrmayer, a former )riminalpolizei official and an SS 'eteran. =his expoliceman was %immler&s -watchdog.%e was completely unpolitical and fanatically loyal. %is highly comic, broad ;a'arian accent was entirely in keeping with his country manner. )irrmayer was an elemental person, a coarse and brutal type whose s6uare head bore witness to his ruthless determination and fanaticism. ;ut also detected latent 6ualities of friendliness and bene'olence and the honesty and de'otion of an old soldier who would ha'e allowed himself to be flayed ali'e for %immler. n choosing )irrmayer as his watchdog %immler seems to ha'e been guided by a sound instinct and an unerring Budgment. ?n my right sat ?bersturmbannfhrer Sanne, an authority on -race- and a student of 3rofessor Wst of !unich, the Sanskritologist and head of the -*tlantis- 4esearch nstitute. *fter Sanne came three goodlooking SS officers, who glanced timidly across the table at their idol, the 4eichsfhrer, but said nothing, e'en when the con'ersation at table had become 6uite li'ely and humorous. =hey listened attenti'ely and from time to time looked at me with shy, wondering eyes, like children looking at Santa /laus. *ll three were immaculately dressed and their beha'ior was reser'ed, well mannered, and polite. ?pposite me sat Fr. 4udolf ;randt, %immler&s adButant and personal secretary 8a head of department in the go'ernment ser'ice and an SS Standartenfhrer with the rank of colonel9. %is shortsighted eyes, magnified by his spectacles, watched me closely as %immler, )irrmayer, and Sanne conducted the con'ersation to which contributed from time to time. %immler&s pallid complexion marked him out from the others at the table as
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a harassed man with onerous duties. *part from him and ;randt the luncheon guests looked fresh, well fed, and healthy. While most of those present con'ersed freely and Boined in the 6uestionandanswer game which de'eloped between %immler and myself, and while the old 'eteran )irrmayer with his large s6uare head and his catlike Baw related current anecdotes and told of a recent -climb in the mountains with the girls,- Fr. ;randt looked across at me. %is sad, serious eyes seemed to ha'e witnessed many terrible things. %e was an idealist and a loyal and de'oted ser'ant of %immler. Furing the whole of the meal and the ensuing afternoon this gra'e man did not say a word. Next to ;randt sat two young ladies. =hey were his secretaries and the last of the luncheon guests. =he food was ser'ed by two ser'ants in snowwhite Backets and glo'es, who watched attenti'ely but did not speak. %immler was ha'ing one of his meatless days. =hat suited me 'ery well, for am a 'egetarian. !y personal philosophy, which inclines toward ;uddhism and its cosmic approach, persuaded me at an early age that it is wrong to eat anything that is connected with a tragedy. Whene'er possible, ha'e tried to put this idea into practice. %immler&s moti'es were 6uite different. %e had gone o'er to a fatless and meatless diet because of a stomach and intestinal complaint. n the plainly furnished, unostentatious dining room, as we spoke of 'egetarianism, %immler told us that he detested hunting because he could not bear to see an animal suffer. %e waxed genuinely sentimental and assured us that he could not stand e'en the sight of blood. 3ro'idence selects strange creatures as its bloodhounds and hangmen. ha'e often thought about this sentimental statement of %immler&s. %e was agreeable and friendly to his close relati'es and is said to ha'e been a solicitous and loyal father. So is e'ery bird of prey. =he fact that %immler&s watchdog had awful table manners and beha'ed at the table like an illbred boor surprised nobody. ;ut such bad manners were incongruous in the head of the German 3olice, the !inister of the nterior in the =hird 4eich, and the 4eichsfhrer of the SS. Det %immler was worse than )irrmayer. %e sat with his elbows on the table and his arms spread out in front of him, sucking his soup like a peasant. =he 4eichsfhrer of the SS, %einrich %immler, made no attempt to conceal his lack of breeding, nor did his friend and faithful guardian )irrmayer. ;y comparison with the other guests, who were all well mannered, they appeared positi'ely grotes6ue. =he young SS officers smiled furti'ely across the table at me when they saw that the peasant manners of their 4eichsheini had attracted my attention too long to pass unnoticed. %immler then engaged me in con'ersationE - am 'ery grateful to you for coming and also for ha'ing told Schellenberg about the *rthasastra H!anual of 3olitics!anual of (alsehoodI. t is an incredibly 'aluable book, 6uite perfect in its way. =he ancient ndians were really thorough5 they considered e'ery important aspect of go'ernment. really am 'ery grateful to you, %err Wulff. t is strange that none of my own people should ha'e drawn my attention to the existence of such literature.- (or a moment was speechless. %immler was talking about the ndian work which the Gestapo had confiscated in my house and which Nebe had not returned to me. When had reco'ered said, -sn&t it a mar'elous work7 t contains all the wisdom that a statesman needs.- went on to explainE -=he ancient ndian world in which )autilya li'ed is completely alien to us. nternal order in ancient ndia was based on a hierarchy headed by the king and his ad'isers. =hen came the castes, which were strictly segregated from one another and whose organization and knowledge of archetypal images were 'ery much in line with the practices and concepts of ancient ndian astrology.
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&apply himself to pleasure 8kama9 without coming into conflict with the morally good 8dharma9 and the useful 8art ha95 he should not li'e without Boy.& f one of these threethat is, the morally good, the useful, or the pleasurable aspects of lifeis indulged in to excess, then the indi'idual will harm himself and the two neglected aspects. ;ut the useful aspect is of prime importance, for the *rthasastra was written with the king and the ruling caste in mind. =he 6uestion as to whether moral considerations apply in a prince&s decision is answered by the author of the *rthasastra when he says that what is useful 8to the king9 takes precedence 8o'er dharma and kama9.%immler then began a long monologue on this subBect. %e reached a conclusion which was fundamentally different from that ad'anced in the *rthasastra and which surprised the nonmembers of the SS 8in whose ranks included myself9. knew that the *rthasastra imposed no restrictions on the king 'isT'is his own people. ?n the contrary, a whole series of chapters is gi'en o'er to the organization and functioning of an elaborate internal spy network. Now, in his remarks on )autilya, whom he had a'idly studied, %immler described the use of such an internal network as indecent and unworthy of the Germanic people. t sounds incredible coming from the man who had built up a highly sophisticated and 'igilant intelligence machine with such fanatical energy. ;ut they were the 'ery words used by the head of the Secret 3olice, by one of the leading members of the National Socialist 3arty. *lthough the party was a mass mo'ement, that mo'ement was composed of countless indi'idual cells which were constantly being broken down and renewed. <'ery single party member became an -important link in the national community,- which means that e'ery party member spied on e'ery other party member. Spying was omnipresent in the National Socialist mo'ement5 it extended from the meanest citizen to the head of the Gestapo, %einrich %immler. *cting on %itler&s behalf, %immler organized modern methods of terror into a comprehensi'e system in which spying was the most important single factor. n e'erything they did the National Socialists re'ealed a marked preference for decepti'e procedures. 2ies and bluff flourished. mmorality thri'ed because it came naturally to men bent on terror. t often appeared as naked force, although in actual fact this force was simply a co'er for conspiracy. %immler used the typical Nazi trick of ad'ocating high ideals and 6ualities which he and his associates had ne'er possessed. *ll National Socialist actions were undertaken in defense of a sacred, supradi'ine and, conse6uently, moral destiny. ?n that afternoon at the ;ergwald, before an audience of his own followers who belie'ed e'ery word he said, %immler was able to stick out his chest and wax indignant on the artifices and cunning openly ad'ocated by )autilya in the *rthasastra. =his hypocrite, this fanatical belie'er in the National Socialist racial laws and Weltanschauung 8world picture9, epitomized the cruelty and bestiality of the %itler regime. %immler laid claim to honesty because he didn&t know what it was and to decency because he had grown cunning in the ser'ice of National Socialism. %is SS methods were a perfect symbol of this totally immoral go'ernment. =hey appealed to the worst 6ualities in manE brutality, re'enge, en'y, excess, robbery, lies, and deception. =he methods which %immler condemned in the *rthasastra were the methods which he had introduced to Germany, where they triggered a degenerati'e process of such 'irulence within the nation that it was only a matter of time before it infected its instigators. n this talk %immler described the unscrupulous actions of the SS as -sacred deeds- necessary for the preser'ation of the -=housand Dear 4eich.=he maxims in )autilya&s *rthasastra were intended for a small ndian prince, whose territory bordered on the territories of many other princes. n all such states internal order was maintained by powers and forces which, although independent of the prince, supported him and were supported by him. =hat is why -usefulness- 8artha9 was so highly 'alued. =he prince 8or the ruling caste9 had only one obBect in lifenamely, to retain power for its own sake. /onse6uently the political problems of such a principality could be
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reduced to the single 6uestionE %ow do keep my friends happy with sugarbread and how do punish my enemies with the whip7 -(or us politics means the go'ernment of the people in the fullest sense of the word,%immler said. -t means the elimination of all forces except those ser'ing the one constructi'e idea, which also determines our relations with other countries, e'en though this has been skillfully concealed by our foreign policy. /onse6uently we are not concerned with the indi'idual but with the people, not with power as such but with power as the means of realizing a moral idea.*ll this talk of -realizing a moral idea- was Bust so much soft soap for the masses. =he whole fraudulent concept was designed to mislead the populace and gratify its need for -decency- by presenting it with a custommade papiermUchP world. t was all a di'ersion, a philosophical brainwashing program for the credulous, who had failed to see through the swindles and lies of %itler&s elect. =hese poor dupes were to be exalted and conducted to what they fondly imagined was a higher and a -heroic- life in which they would bask in the -Boy of the community.& 2ike all the top Nazi leaders, %immler feared public discussion. *nd so he a'oided my direct 6uestions about the *rthasastra until we were alone together. *s long as he was in the company of his little lieutenants, his secretaries, and his subordinates, he used emoti'e and threatcuing language and demanded enthusiasm for the -most monumental idea the world had e'er seen.- (irst he ranted5 then he promised a better future, although the wartime years had already been extremely good for these Nazis. %e also spoke of their great (hrer&s di'ine mission to his little people. t was clear that the audience at %immler&s table was highly susceptible to his words. %immler used the same old propaganda de'ices which had been in 'ogue in "#CC and e'en earlier, in the "#J1&s, to charm his listeners. *fter lunch an adButant conducted me to %immler&s study. n the antechamber was recei'ed by a markedly -Nordic- blonde, one of %immler&s secretaries, who then announced me. %immler greeted me in the same effusi'e manner as before. We sat down at a small circular table which was ringed by easy chairs and stood in the corner of the room farthest away from the beautiful big bay windows o'erlooking a splendid park. =he skyline was formed by the lilacblue mountain chain of the Salzburg *lps. %immler&s study was large and spacious with little furniture. %ere too the 'isitor was surprised by the simplicity of the decor5 there was scarcely a single rug on the par6uet floor, and Bust a few pieces of modern furniture, made from expensi'e, naturalcolored wood and executed in Speer&s 4enaissance style,O were set out here and there. %immler&s writing desk was simple. * small monochrome carpet Bust co'ered the desk area. =here was no ostentation, no luxury. %immler li'ed 'ery simply. ?n the wall facing the writing desk noticed an oil painting of an old :iking ship fighting against stormy seas on a dangerous stretch of Norwegian cliff coast. =his oil painting with its cheap theatrical coloring shone on the wall with symbolic forceE %immler&s ship of destiny sailing past dangerous reefs in the stormy seas of National Socialist politics. =he remaining walls in %immler&s study were bare. =he room looked terribly sober. O *lbert Speer was %itler&s -master builder.-
*fter we had sat down, %immler rose again and hurriedly locked both of the doors leading to his study. %e then put the key in the side pocket of his uniform Backet. %e had already gi'en orders that he was not to be disturbed. %is watchdog, %err )irrmayer, panted outside the main door of the room. %immler briefly outlined his basic attitude to astrology and similar occult studies. %is discourse was li'ely and by no means uninteresting. %e told me about a few of his own experiences and obser'ations on certain phases of the moon. %is ancestors, he said, had been familiar with peasant lore, calculating the right time to plant crops. ndeed he himself in'ariably began important proBects at certain, but not generally known, phases of the moon. %is speech, now that we were alone, was simple, uninhibited, and free from
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technical Bargon. - am sorry that had to ha'e you imprisoned, but simply had to put a stop to the public practice of astrology. n public it can no longer be tolerated. <'erything connected with astrology had to be forbidden. t was causing a great deal of mischief. (rederick the Great also prohibited astrology during the Se'en Dears& War. %e issued a warning to all fortune tellers, astrologers, palmists, and pastors and threatened them with imprisonment if they said anything against the war and his policies. %e ad'ised the itinerant palmists to predict 'ictories and a long life for his soldiers so that they would fight bra'ely and would not desert. %e impressed on the pastors that they must preach from the pulpit on the holy and Bust war being fought by the 3russians and on their Godgi'en cause. f they did not, they would be dealt with. =he astrologers,- %immler concluded, -were also warned by (rederick the Second and were threatened with imprisonment if their predictions ran counter to his wishes and reasons of state.-;ut (rederick the Great did not really prohibit the practice of astrology and the publication of astrological writings and calendars,- replied. -%e allowed the people many freedoms. %e was led by a sound instinct to employ the fortunetellers in his own interests and in the interests of the state.-n the =hird 4eich we ha'e to forbid astrology,- %limmler continued. -=hose who contra'ene the new regulations must expect to be locked up in a concentration camp until the war is o'er. We cannot permit any astrologers to follow their calling except those who are working for us. n the National Socialist state astrology must remain a pri'ilegium singulorum. t is not for the broad masses.- ha'e felt the effects of your new regulations on my own body,- reBoined, -and do not share your opinion.-Fid you suffer 'ery much in the concentration camp7- %immler asked. -/an you gi'e me the names of .any guards who treated you cruelly7- -&m afraid can&t,- replied. - ne'er knew the names of the maBority of the SS guards with whom came into contact. =hey called one another by their /hristian names, and ha'e forgotten the few surnames heard. *t first was 'ery badly treated by your people, but later, when we had to work outside, clearing bomb debris, things impro'ed. finished up lying on the grass with the guards, interpreting their horoscopes.%immler laughed at this. -Dou&ll get nowhere with your prohibition,- said. -=hose astrologers who ha'e a good head for business are carrying on as before. =hey&re Bust more cautious. ?nce it became generally known that you had banished the leading members of the profession from public life, the stargazers began to make their rounds. =hey asked their prospecti'e clients to gi'e tea parties, which they then attended. 4ecently one of these stargazers appeared at a wedding in (rth, where she told the fortunes of most of he wedding guests, cast horoscopes, and was showered with gifts of money. =he fortunetellers are a little more cautious nowadays. /arried on in secret, without state control, this kind of astrology is 'ery dangerous. =he science of astrology is e6uated in your police regulations with fortunetelling. 3aragraph =wo of the regulations readsE &(or purposes of these police regulations fortunetelling is understood as the prediction of future e'ents, the di'ination of the present or the past, and all other forms of re'elation not based on natural processes of perception. t specifically includes the reading of cards, the casting of horoscopes, the explanation of the stars, and the interpretation of omens and dreams. ;ut astrology is based on natural processes of perception,- said. -We base our attitude,- %immler replied, -on the fact that astrology, as a uni'ersalist doctrine, is diametrically opposed to our own philosophical 'iew of the world. *strologers claim to be able to cast horoscopes for the entire globe, for the whole of humanity. ;ut it is precisely this that we National Socialists and SS members are obliged to reBect out of hand. * doctrine which is meant to apply in e6ual measure to Negroes, ndians, /hinese, and *ryans is in crass opposition to our conception of the racial soul.
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*ryan ndians,- interposed, -constellations ha'e been described which reflect the di'ersity of racial characteristics and which ha'e found practical expression in the caste system of ancient ndian cultural life. =raditional astrologers ha'e dealt with this problem in considerable detail from the days of anti6uity onward.- t was ob'ious that %immler, though informed of the abuses by his police officials, knew nothing of the real achie'ements of genuine scientific astrology. *t this point he cut inE -;ut the abuses among astrologers are 'ery great, %err Wulff. know this from the police records. *strologers ha'e figured in a number of sensational trials. n ;erlin this mischie'ous business of telling people&s fortunes on the basis of socalled horoscopes had assumed such proportions in "#C$ that was already thinking of prohibiting astrology then. %oroscope shops sprang up like mushrooms in e'ery corner of Greater ;erlin and in many other big cities as well. 3ro'ided they paid, the credulous masses could disco'er &all that the future holds in store.& =hat is fortunetelling-=he only pity is,- said, -that the serious astrologers were also affected by your ban when you cleaned up the bogus fortunetellers in ;erlin. =he police ought really to ha'e used this law to protect the public from exploitation and loss. ;ut shortly after your ban was announced, when it was ob'ious that the police might launch a campaign against the occult profession at any moment, certain circles in ;erlin founded a National Socialist /ommunity for !embers of the ?ccult 3rofession with the sole purpose of protecting those working in the occult sphere. *t that time the *ssociation of Scientific *strologers, which was directed by Fr. %ubert )orsch and formed part of the German *strological /enter in Fsseldorf, was the only astrological body in existence. know that the astrological charlatans ha'e created a great deal of mischief. ;ut so far there has been nothing to show that serious, scientific astrologers ha'e had anything to do with such affairs or ha'e been in'ol'ed in sensational trials.%immler then looked through Stalin&s and /hurchill&s horoscopes and went on to refer briefly to %itler&s horoscope. n my obser'ations on %itler&s horoscope had gi'en an un'arnished account of the fatal outcome of his military 'entures and had described his illness, the dangers attendant on his career, and his mysterious death. -%itler will not be assassinated,- told %immler, altering slightly the interpretation had gi'en Schellenberg. -Fon&t count on that =here may well be an assassination attempt, but it will not cost him his life.%immler had already had my report on %itler&s horoscope for a full year. %err )ersten had gi'en it to him. n it had stated that %itler would meet his end in "#$@. had made a special point of stressing this fact in the hope of o'ercoming %immler&s wellknown indecision and persuading him to mo'e against %itler before then, so as not to be caught up in the general debacle. hoped that he would consider it necessary to o'erthrow %itler and enter into peace negotiations or, failing this, that he would at least precipitate an internal re'olt that would put an end to the Nazi regime. -What do you think we should do7- %immler asked. -Surely it&s not too late to sa'e the situation7 We ha'e reser'e di'isions in 4ussia which are still intact. ?f course, they&re not enough in themsel'es. We also ha'e to secure the West.- *nd %immler started to talk about the -secret weapons,- on which he set great store. expressed my doubts whether the new weapons could achie'e a total breakthrough, outlined the general situation once again, and in conclusion, dared suggest that the only way in which %immler could still sa'e himself was by arresting %itler. %immler replied without a moment&s hesitation, -=hat wouldn&t be difficult. could send ;erger with a 3anzer di'ision and my men could take o'er all the other important posts.=his told me a great deal. %immler really had anticipated the possibility of a re'olt against %itler and had e'en thought of leading it himself. -Dou know, %err Wulff,- he added with a hint of menace, -what we two are discussing is
43
high treason and could cost us our li'es if %itler were to find out about our plans.- know that this task is difficult and dangerous,- replied. -;ut then any one of us could be killed in an air raid from one day to the next. am con'inced that foreign attitudes toward you would change, if you could make peace now and put an immediate end to the concentration camps. %itler is so deluded he is past help. f things continue as they are, the war will soon be lost. =hat is why you must act Dour police force is still intact, and you can easily take o'er the go'ernment. (or the immediate future your constellations are fa'orable and %itler&s are bad. Fo not wait until it is too late%immler was pensi'e and downcast. -=he only thing am afraid of is the people,- he said. -Dou know, this sort of action is not so simple. * takeo'er would trigger re'olts in many parts of the 4eich and also in the occupied territories, which would ha'e to put down with great se'erity. *nd there is no means of telling how the rest of the country would react. t is a 'ery dangerous step, one that would cause serious disturbances.- =hat was precisely what was hoping for. 2ike my friend, %enry Go'erts, and many of those in the )reisauer circlethe resistance group that was to attempt to assassinate %itler on +uly J1, " #$$ felt that after %itler&s downfall a -battle of the Fiadochi- was ine'itable and that this would result in the complete destruction of National Socialism. -;ut at the worst the disturbances would be crushed within two to three months,- urged, -pro'ided you secured the support of the leading generals beforehand.-n that case we would ha'e to act 6uickly. &ll think about it. !eanwhile, would you please...Des, %einrich %immler was 6uite capable of saying -please- in a pri'ate con'ersation, when he was not playing the big shot. ;y this time we had been talking for se'eral hours, and had had ample opportunity to obser'e %immler. %e was a man of medium build. %is abrupt mo'ements suggested a ner'ous disposition. %e spoke 6uickly and with li'ely gestures. %e often made slips of the tongue. (or example, on one occasion he spoke of a -nali'ity- instead of a -nati'ity.- =his particular slip made me wonder whether %immler had gone through my briefcase, which had been taken from me in the most courteous manner and placed in the cloakroom by an SS officer, because on one of the copies of my astrological reports the word -nati'ity- had been mistyped as -nali'ity- and had not corrected it. %immler&s complexion was 'ery pallid. %is eyelids were red and appeared to ha'e been inflamed by o'erstrenuous reading. =he pupils of his eyes were mousegray and the whites so small as to be scarcely perceptible. %is hair was dark, while his typically !ongolian eyebrows almost completely co'ered his eyes. %is strongly domed forehead was not 'ery high and did not slope away at the sides. ?n the contrary, his temples were puffed out and looked almost like growths. %is chin receded sharply like the Baw of an amphibian or the mouth of a shark. %e was badly sha'en. =here was a strong growth on his upper lip and his cheeks. %is upper lip was pleasantly shaped, but the corners of his mouth were pinched and ga'e his face a sharp, cynical look, which o'erlaid his basic feebleness and cruelty. made three obser'ations while we continued our discussion of the military and political situation. %immler&s 'iews 8it was the end of !ay, "#$$9 were pretty naV'e, and wondered whether he was being open with me. %e said that Germany would shortly make peace with the Western powers5
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highest political positions in the state, asked me the strangest and most infantile 6uestions in his 6uest for astrological enlightenment about the military and political situation. God knows, %immler was no genius. 4ather, he was a mediocrity, especially when you saw him in pri'ate, unsupported by his splendid retinue. *fter a short pause for refreshments, %immler asked about his own horoscope. had made a rough sketch of his natal chart as early as "#C$. %e did not know his exact moment of birth, and so, initially, all had to go on was the planetary positions at noon. We now eagerly set about the task of establishing his precise moment of birth retroacti'ely by means of -control data.- n this procedure the astrologer casts a horoscope of the past and then checks it against the actual e'ents of the subBect&s past life. When the constellations tally with the course of past e'ents, he is then able to calculate the precise moment of birth and cast a horoscope for the future. While was calculating this horoscope for %immler, noticed from our con'ersation and from his 6uestions that he did know a good deal of astrology. %e used a number of technical expressions which he had not learned from me. %e spoke of trine aspects, of positi'e and negati'e signs, and of the ele'ation of planets. *s we sat together passed him the portfolios containing my obser'ations on mundane astrology. %e became particularly engrossed in the report which had drawn up for him on the 6uestionE -s *nother !ongol n'asion mminent7- complemented my written report by obser'ing that the moment had probably now come for the -;attle by the ;eech =ree,a hypothetical conflict which was prophesied by a centuriesold legend that de'eloped in the 4hineland and Westphalia. suggested that this battle, like the ;attle on the Welser %aide, which also figured in ancient legends, was now imminent. %immler replied, -=he ;attle by the ;eech =ree and the ;attle at Antersberg on the Welser %aide, here in the 'icinity of *igen;erchtesgaden, ha'e nothing to do with the present war. =hey will take place in the distant future.- do not share your opinion,- said. -n 'iew of the total destruction of /olognewhich is expressly mentioned in the prophecyand the hea'ily bombed cities in the 4hineland and Westphalia, is it not reasonable to assume that the great ;attle by the ;eech =ree, which was foreseen in the prophecy and which is to decide the late of Germany, has already begun7 *ren&t these e'ents already upon us7%immler did not take kindly to my suggestions. sensed this and determined to be more cautious in future and to wait until had gained his confidence by a few successful forecasts.
Chapter /ine Counterespiona#e %eadquarters0 Berlin
*fter the +uly J1 plot %immler&s position seemed, if anything, more solid than e'er. ;y li6uidating 4Rhm and his friends in +une, "#C$, ten years before, %einrich %immler had achie'ed a dual purposeE %e had eradicated the S* as a possible ri'al of the SS, and he had pro'ed his loyalty to %itler. *s soon as war was declared, %immler had worked to increase the power of his organization. =he expansion of the SS and especially of the WaffenSS, which began in "#C#, was pursued so methodically that by "#$C they comprised fi'e armored di'isions, four 3anzergrenadier di'isions, a corps of mountain troops, and a large number of formations recruited from the occupied territories. *t the end of the war there were thirtyse'en SS di'isions in existence. %immler&s final obBecti'e was the creation of an SS2uftwaffe. ;ut this he failed to accomplish. Furing the war the di'isions of the WaffenSS fought in genuine comradeship and with unusual heroism and fanaticism side by side with the regular army di'isions. %immler looked after his SS soldiers extremely well and as far as e6uipment and replacements were concerned they had a great ad'antage o'er the Wehrmacht troops, an ad'antage they fully Bustified by their sacrifices and high casualties. *lthough the differences between the WaffenSS and the army became far less marked in the late phases of the war, initially the army di'isions undoubtedly felt offended at being downgraded in this way.
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When %immler was made commander in chief of the replacement army and of all troops stationed in Germany, he fulfilled a great ambition, although he was anything but a general n his new position he began to expand the WaffenSS as fast as he could and with his :olksgrenadier di'isions created a new kind of fighting force, which e'entually de'eloped into the :olkssturm 8German %ome Guard9. ;ut after %immler&s appointment as commander in chief, ;ormann began to intrigue against him in %itler&s head6uarters, although %immler did not notice this at first. %is units did not achie'e a great deal in the war and soon started to run down. ;y the beginning of "#$@, when %immler had a ner'ous breakdown, they had come to a complete standstill. knew %immler&s history well, but the personality of the man was a mystery to me. +ust before my first meeting with him had spent some time at %artzwalde with )ersten. was full of dark premonitions, for had long suspected that %immler wanted to see me and that Schellenberg was arranging the meeting. While there took a walk with (rau )ersten a highly intelligent and agreeable womanand asked her about %immler. (or a long while she was silent. =hen she said, -t&s difficult to say what he&s like. %e&s an entertaining man, suppose.- *fter this she fell silent again. ;ut in the end the truth burst from her 6uite in'oluntarilyE -%immler&s a swine, a real swine- she said and told me that he had once made the wi'es of the +eho'ah&s Witnesses at 4a'ensbrck concentration camp parade in the nude and then had them whipped. *fterward he had walked away with a spiteful laugh. Now my own first -audience- with %einrich %immler was o'er. had tra'elled to *igen in a mixture of curiosity and dread, and had sur'i'ed the encounter. Schellenberg&s fears that might endanger myself and conse6uently him and the whole of the )ersten circle by speaking too openly had pro'ed groundless. had the impression that had done rather well. had thought for a long time about how to deal with %immler, and in the end managed to approach him frankly and openly. t seemed to me at the time that had achie'ed my purposeE had described the hopeless political situation and %itler&s horoscope in the blackest possible terms, had urged him to stage a putsch, and yet had gained something approaching his confidence. ?nce was back in ;erlin dro'e straight to counterespionage head6uarters in the ;erkrstrasse in Fahlem to report to Schellenberg. =he counterespionage department occupied an enormous multistoried house built in the -utility- style of "#C1&s architecture and surrounded by chunkylooking bunkers, garages, and an enormous courtyard. Schellenberg sat in the midst of the network of endless corridors leading to the 'arious subdepartments, which were split up according to pro'inces and subBects like a spider&s web. *ll 'isitors were closely watched by young SS officers and were accompanied to the 'arious departments by an escort of two men. *nyone who stopped in the corridors was automatically suspected of trying to listen at the office doors and was promptly shouted at. ;ut, although exaggerated, the security measures were really amateur. (or example, noticed a number of sheds on a building site opposite the entrance to the house which were not watched and from which anybody using a camera with a telescopic lens could easily ha'e photographed e'ery person entering or lea'ing the counterespionage building. =o reach Schellenberg&s pri'ate office a 'isitor had to pass through two outer offices, one of which was occupied by his secretaries, the other by his adButant, Fr. Schmitz. Schellenberg sat at a large writing desk with a polished top. ?n it stood a small attracti'e model cannon which he used as a paperweight. ;ut on the left and right, within easy reach under the central drawer, special compartments containing automatic pistols had been fitted. Schellenberg had to reckon at all times with the possibility that )altenbrunner&s or
46
!uller&s men might attempt to shoot him down. Next to his writing desk there was a switchboard that looked like a radio. t was used to control the bugging de'ices which had been mounted in the 'arious reception and conference rooms and 2ord knows where else. =here was also a bugging de'ice in Schellenberg&s office. t was situated between the two windows and was crudely camouflaged to look like a cupboard. With this instrument he was able to record e'ery con'ersation which he conducted with his guests. found this extremely disturbing, and later, when took to 'isiting Schellenberg more fre6uently, always sat in the farthermost corner of the room in a small alco'e, where thought it least likely that microphones would ha'e been planted. /ounterespionage was e6uipped with e'ery technical refinement of crime detection. =he whole setup, which was both elaborate and naV'e, was precisely what the man in the street imagines the intelligence ser'ice to be. When Schellenberg saw me fit and well, he was greatly relie'ed. %e wanted to know all about my con'ersation with %immler and, abo'e all, about what had said. assured him that had not worn my heart on my slee'e. -%ow long did the 4eichsfhrer speak to you7Schellenberg asked. replied that had been with him from about J 3.!. until > 3.!. -=hat&s good, that&s a good sign,- Schellenberg exclaimed. -%e doesn&t often spend such a long time with anyone.Schellenberg was well aware of the way things were going, and since he knew that %immler was interested in astrology, he wanted to use me as a means of influencing him. %e hoped that my mundane horoscopes would persuade the 4eichsfhrer to ha'e %itler murdered and to end the war as soon as possible. Schellenberg had deli'ered my mundane horoscopes to %immler in person and my own Bourney to *igenostensibly to discuss the publication of an astrological magazine in Switzerland for propaganda purposeswas really intended to bring me into personal contact with %immler so that might bring a direct and lasting influence to bear on him. *t that time!ay, " #$$Schellenberg was particularly ner'ous. =he *llied in'asion was expected any day, and Schellenberg also expected an attempt to be made on %itler&s life. (or although was ignorant of it then, it is now common knowledge that Schellenberg had been informed by his intelligence ser'ice and through his contacts with the *mericans in Switzerland about the assassination plot. %e knew %immler was hesitating on the brink of remo'ing %itler, and he also knew that )altenbrunner was Bust waiting for an opportunity of eliminating %immler. =he more difficult Schellenberg&s situation became, the more he came to rely on )ersten, %immler&s masseur and -father confessor,- who did his best to ensure that %immler listened to Schellenberg as often as possible. )ersten&s daily contact with %immler was an important channel of communication through which Schellenberg was able to pass information and slanted reports. Shortly after my return from *igen the situation became e'en more critical. =he longawaited *llied in'asion in Normandy began. )ersten came to me wringing his hands. &&%immler is still hesitating to act,- he said. -%e told me that his senior officers are no longer trustworthy and that conse6uently he cannot stage a putsch.=hings then mo'ed 6uickly. ?n +uly J1, an attempt was made on %itler&s life, and %immler, who had a guilty conscience, made amends by sa'agely and mercilessly pursuing the conspirators and their followers. *t this point Fr. Go'erts returned from Switzerland, where he had been exploring the possibilities of launching the astrological Bournal. We had a talk in which made no attempt to conceal my disappointment at the failure of the assassination attempt and %immler&s 'acillation. t seemed to me that destiny could no longer be a'erted and that all my work had been in 'ain. told Fr. Go'erts that if it was at all possible, wanted to get away from the SS. ;ut he pointed out to me that it was 'ery important to maintain this direct contact with one of the most powerful men in the =hird 4eich and that we must at all costs keep on trying to bring influence to bear or at least obtain 'aluable information
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for resistance groups. *nd so was pre'ailed upon to continue playing the dangerous role of %immler&s astrological ad'iser to the bitter end. Chapter Ten %i!!ler and 1uly 230 4566
Schellenberg&s agents and intelligence officials informed %immler beforehandof that there can be no doubtabout the conspiracy to assassinate %itler on +uly J1. %immler&s own plans for a putsch were then being discussed and checked against astrological calculations at *igen. =he conspirators worked in all the important departments5 intelligence summaries of their acti'ities were in %immler&s possession. *t each new meeting with Schellenberg he recei'ed further information, which was then discussed. %immler was extremely well informed, and in the astrological experiments which conducted for him the 6uestions of greatest concern to him wereE -%ow will the (hrer die7 %ow long will he li'e7When answered these 6uestions and pointed out that %itler would not die at the hands of an assassin, %immler either pulled a wry face and grew serious or else sat with an expressionless, unctuous, bland smile on his face, which was 6uite out of keeping with his personality. ;ut despite my warnings, %immler chose to wait for an assassination attempt. %is idea was that if such an attempt was made and %itler was killed, then he would not ha'e to go through with his own proBected coup d&etat, which had been discussed in *pril and !ay. With the intelligence summaries in his possession %immler was able to play politics. *s far as we were concerned, howe'er, all this meant was that instead of taking action, he 'acillated and continued to play his double game5 he hesitated out of fear and so lost precious time. *fter the unsuccessful attempt on %itler&s life of +uly J1, "#$$, was told by Fr. Go'erts who was in close contact with Gero 'on G'ernitz, an official on the staff of *llen Fulles at the ?ffice for Strategic Ser'ices at ;erne that 3olish ntelligence had known about Stauffenberg&s plot on +uly "1, when it was asked to report on the reaction of the 3olish and Akrainian resistance mo'ement in the e'ent of a coup d&etat in Germany. (rom this it followed that Schellenberg might well ha'e been informed about the plot by other contacts as well. (or the German opposition at that time this was a 'ery important consideration. =he fact was that Schellenberg and his department had had prior information concerning the proBected putsch which they had not acted on. *nd since Schellenberg was an intimate friend of %immler, it is inconcei'able that he should not ha'e discussed this matter with him. Schellenberg had often complained to me about the lack of zeal displayed by his agents and the scantiness of their reports. *bo'e all, he said, he lacked good, direct contacts with
48
his walk through the %artzwalde woods Fr. Go'erts was informed that the SS had known nothing about Stauffenberg&s assassination plot and had been taken completely by surprise. =he contact between Schellenberg and Fr. Go'erts became 'ery close and cordial. ?n +uly JJ, two days after the assassination attempt, (elix )ersten telephoned me and passed on a number of urgent tasks from %immler which had to be executed at once. =hey concerned %itler&s current state of health and the conse6uences of the assassination attempt. )ersten was so excited that his secretary had to finish the con'ersation for him. %e wanted me to come to %artzwalde immediately. )ersten was then li'ing in fear of his life, for he too had been in'ol'ed in the +uly J1 plot5 the resistance leader Fr. 2angbehn had been arrested before +uly J1, and now his friend Wentzel 'on =eutschental had also been imprisoned by the Gestapo. *s soon as he saw me, )ersten asked whether he himself was in danger and whether he ought not to return to Stockholm. reminded him of my astrological forecasthe was in no danger whatsoe'er. =he e'ening before our meeting, on *ugust "J, )ersten had returned from a 'isit to %immler. -=he 4eichsfhrer himself has been placed in a 'ery difficult position as a result of this assassination attempt,- he said, -and wants you to check his horoscope for him. shall be seeing him again in a few days time. %e wants to know how this affair will turn out for him. *nd then you really must deal with my own horoscope in detail. =his crazy business will get us all into trouble*fter +uly J1, %immler had had a temporary change of heart about his idea of a coup d&etat because he was afraid of losing his position. ;ut by the beginning of No'ember, "#$$, he was again pursuing his former plans, as is well illustrated by a commission which Fr. %enry Go'erts recei'ed from Schellenberg. Schellenberg asked to see Go'erts again under the pretext of discussing the defense of %amburg. *fter had chosen a fa'orable day for Go'erts, he tra'eled to ;erlin accompanied by an SS /aptain. =his officer was not present at their talks, which Schellenberg preferred to conduct in pri'ate. Schellenberg had contracted an inflammation of the lung and recei'ed Go'erts from his bed, dressed in a bluetrimmed nightgown. %amburg&s military situation had been a pretext. Schellenberg referred immediately to Go'erts& contacts with GQ'ernitz and *llen Fulles. %e regarded the war as lost and wanted Go'erts to arrange a meeting between Fulles and %immler on a steamer in the middle of 2ake /onstance, in the hope of sal'aging something from the wreck. (rom the end of "#$C on no clearthinking and unpreBudiced obser'er of the military and political situation in the =hird 4eich could fail to obser'e that %itler was going to lose the war. *t that time the German *rmy was desperately defending itself in 4ussia against the massi'e onslaught of the So'iet troops, after the Siberian di'isions had been mo'ed from the border of !anchuria. %itler lost one battle after the other. !ussolini was finished by "#$C, and although the ;adoglio go'ernment was still being propped up by %itler, it had no real authority of its own, and (ascist power in taly was completely broken. ;ut although the talian troops were going o'er to the *llies in hordes, until such time as 4ome passed into *llied hands, <aly was occupied by the Germans,- and %immler was not prepared to admit that his splendid SS troops were being worsted time and again. Furing that period the people in %immler&s entourage were only allowed to speak of 'ictory. <'en the Bunior officers and N/?&s recei'ed a directi'e to this effect. Notwithstanding this ruling, the news which Schellenberg continually brought to %immler was positi'ely shattering. =he in'incible German *rmy was suffering one defeat after the other, and thousands and thousands of troops were falling into the hands of the *llies. (rom "#$$ on German losses were counted in millions. =he intelligence reports became more and more depressing, and after No'ember C, "#$$, the tension was intolerable.
49
Go'erts tra'eled to Switzerland to put out peace feelersO. n the 4om nselhotel at /onstance he conducted preliminary negotiations for the %immlerFulles meeting, which subse6uently failed to materialize because %immler once again backed out through fear for his personal safety. O %e had already shown how good his contacts were on a pre'ious occasion when he had brought back a Gestapo passwhich had been produced in
Schellenberg&s mensecurity officialsinterrupted me in my astrological work with new tasks and insisted that should gi'e them priority. *t that time already had work in hand from %immlerwhich was due on No'ember "@ and which had not e'en started. Furing No'ember Fr. Go'erts needed to talk to me 'ery often. =oward the end of the month it became clear that the military situation had grown incredibly confused. =here were serious shortages of weapons and ammunition at the fronts. Gasoline supplies were cut, and there was, conse6uently, insufficient transport5 railway cars had been destroyed en masse. =he large reser'es of stores which had been laid up in (rancehuge arsenals stretching all the way to the Sommehad fallen into the hands of the *llies, whose air forces had doubled by No'ember, "#$$. *nd all the time Schellenberg&s emissaries and couriers were pressing for completion of the special astrological calculations for this complex political and military situation. When we saw ;erlin, we realized that one of the future proBects planned by the German go'ernmentnamely, the demolition of our big citieswould actually be completed before the war was o'er. =he effects of this action were brought home to us in no uncertain terms. Anfortunately the task was accomplished for the Nazi leaders by the 4oyal and A.S. *ir (orces. )ersten talked about the bombingE -What do you think they told me at head6uarters, %err Wulff, when they recei'ed the reports on the destruction in the residential 6uarters7 =hey said that e'erything possible was being done to minimize the effects of the air raids and to protect the populationE &f at the present moment one or e'en se'eral of our big cities should be destroyed, this would be regrettable but una'oidable and the population would ha'e to bear their burden 6uietly and patiently.& =heir &present moment& has been going on for three years, but %immler considers that the Germans are a strong and hardy race, who Bust don&t care if fifteen or twenty million people lose their li'es in this war.%e was right. =he %itler regime simply turned a blind eye to such considerations. -;ut what about the bombed cities in the West, /ologne, ;ochum, and Stuttgart7- asked. -What do they say about them at head6uarters7 %ow do they propose to make good the damage7-!y dear %err Wulff, you ha'e no idea =he people at head6uarters look upon /ologne as a hideous old city with dreadful old houses and narrow streets and obsolete public amenities. t doesn&t matter at all if old /ologne is destroyed. !ost of the buildings are worthless anyway, and after the war /ologne will be rebuiltfar better and far more beautifulin accordance with the concepts of National Socialist culture and true to the spirit of our great (hrer. =hese dirty, sootladen old cities like /ologne and Fsseldorf can disappear from the face of the earth for all they care, my dear fellow. Dou cannot imagine the sort of things that are being said about the hea'y raids on the big cities. ncidentally, they ha'e exactly the same attitude toward %amburg. then pointed out to him that %amburg was not an ancient city like /ologne, !ainz, or /assel. =he maBor part of old %amburg was burned down in "$J. 2ater, in the "1s, the city was rede'eloped and a number of splendid buildings were put up by wealthy old %anseatic families. -=hese claims are both false and stupid,- said, &and merely demonstrate the ignorance of these men at head6uarters of the city&s history. =he
50
!onckebergstrasse, the Steinstrasse, the districts of ;armbek and Fulsberg, and many other parts of the city were new de'elopments. !ost of them ha'e been destroyed, and since both Germany and %amburg will be impo'erished after the war, it seems unlikely that these districts will be rebuilt in their former splendor, with durable and costly materials. am curious to know how the Nazis en'isage postwar reconstruction.We were dri'ing through the %ohenzollerndamm district which consisted largely of new buildings that had nearly all been destroyed. )ersten said sadly, -No old houses, Bust trash Dou know, according to the people at the (hrer&s head6uarters, all the old buildings on the %ohenzollerndamm were Bust tasteless rubbish.-
Chapter Ele*en Count Bernadotte7s -ission
/ount ;ernadotte
3rior to Fecember, "#$$, Fitleff, the Swedish diplomatic representati'e at ;erlin, had made repeated attempts to obtain the release of the Swedes, Fanes, and Norwegians held prisoner in Germany. %e and /ount ;ernadotte had tried with great pertinacity for months on end to establish contact with %immler. ;ut these attempts had always failed, because %immler had studiously a'oided this meeting, which could ha'e placed him in a dangerous situation with %itler. n +anuary(ebruary, "#$@, a resolute attempt was made through official channels to introduce /ount ;ernadotte into the proposed negotiations. t was difficult for a diplomat to make contact with %einrich %immler or the National Socialist departments in charge of concentration camp prisoners. %e had to apply through the (oreign !inistry. =his was a longdrawnout procedure and was unlikely to succeed. (or a matter in which speed was essential it was, of course, totally unsuitable. was ordered to appear in Schellenberg&s office on +anuary JJ, "#$@. arri'ed at "EC1 3!, and among other things which had to be discussed and clarified, was told of /ount ;ernadotte&s mission. Schellenberg explained the situationE -)ersten is trying to put ;ernadotte in touch with %immler. /ould you in'estigate this affair and let me know what is likely to come of it7 hope ;ernadotte pushes things hard enough so that we can launch our old plan. t is high time. Dou know about the steps &'e taken to date, but can&t bypass %immler without exposing myself, so a meeting between ;ernadotte and %immler is important. We really must get things mo'ing now.- When Schellenberg discussed his plan for the remo'al of %itler, he seldom made a direct reference to him. %is a'ersion to
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%itler was so great that he could hardly bear to say the (uehrer&s name. )ersten had heard about ;ernadotte s mission in the middle of Fecember. Schellenberg now told me that he had decided to establish relations with ;ernadotte on a more or less official basis. While discussing a harmless exchange of prisoners with him, he could broach the allimportant 6uestion of peace negotiations. Schellenberg also mentioned that /ount ;ernadotte had asked for a personal meeting with %immler. f were to gi'e precise astrological information as to the possibility of a peace settlement, this 'ital issue would ha'e to be dealt with first. *t that time the Dalta /onference was in full swing, the people of ;erlin were preparing to defend their city, and in e'ery part of Germany :olkssturm men were being mustered and armed for the defense of %itler&s -=housand Dear 4eich.)ersten had first started to push the ;ernadotte affair with %immler at the end of "#$$, and during )ersten&s absence abroad, Schellenberg had taken o'er, with the result that on (ebruary ">, "#$@, they managed to arrange a meeting between /ount ;ernadotte and )altenbrunner at the %orchner 'illa on the Wannsee. ?n (ebruary "0, ;ernadotte came to Germany, ostensibly to inspect 4ed /ross con'oys, but in fact with the express purpose of establishing contact with %immler. ?n (ebruary "#, two days after his talk with )altenbrunner, he was recei'ed by Schellenberg, with whom he discussed the proBected meeting with %immler. /ount ;ernadotte had tra'eled o'erland through Germany on his way to ;erlin and had been able to see for himself that the =hird 4eich was entering its final phase. *fter my con'ersation with Schellenberg one of his officials accompanied me to the 2ehrter railway station, where met Fr. Go'erts, who had Bust returned from Stockholm. =his was a fortunate meeting, for it meant that we were able to make the Bourney to %amburg together and exchange news on the way. =he station was a scene of indescribable misery, made e'en worse by the bitter +anuary weather. =he entrance hail was completely blocked by refugees. =he sick and wounded lay on the ground among the dying and waited until room could be found for them on the o'ercrowded trains. We managed to reach our places in our own train only by climbing in through the windows like young ca'alry officers. =he Bourney, like all Bourneys in those days, was sheer torture. Go'erts had not called on Schellenberg in ;erlin because he preferred to discuss his news with me. n fact, neither of us was particularly interested in the course of e'ents anymore. ;ecause of %immler&s continual 'acillation, the moment for actionfor deposing %itler and forming a new go'ernmenthad been missed. =he German people would soon be draining the bitter cup to its dregs. n %amburg we heard that %immler was seriously ill. *t first it was said that he had influenza. %is physician, 3rofessor Gebhardt, was also ill. ;ut %immler had, in fact, suffered a ner'ous breakdown and was resting in %ohenlychen. %is breakdown was rooted in his worsening relationship with %itler. Since the end of the year there had been considerable tension between %immler and %itler, which !artin ;ormann had done his best to aggra'ate. %immler was afraid of ;ormann&s intrigues and suspected that he was planning to o'erthrow him. *nd when SS Gruppenfuhrer %ermann (egelein, %immler&s liaison officer at %itler&s head6uarters, married <'a ;raun&s sisterfor purely practical considerations, of course%immler became 'ery suspicious indeed. *t that time hardly a week passed in which was not plied with 6uestions either by Fr. 4udolph ;randt or by Schellenberg about the discord between %immler and ;ormann. t was a full eighteen months since had cast ;ormann&s horoscope, but now %immler found it necessary to obtain detailed interpretations.
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?riginally relations between these two had been entirely cordial. ;ut in "#$C, when %immler was appointed !inister of the nterior, a note of tension was introduced. ;ormann scented a possible ri'al, and it was not long before sharp conflicts arose between these two Nazi satraps. *s %ess& successor and leader of the party, ;ormann had a great deal of influence with %itler, and he soon succeeded in coming between the (hrer and %immler. %immler went in great fear of ;ormann, and before e'ery meeting with him, he asked me if there was any danger of his being arrested by his ad'ersary. ;ormann was the reason why %immler decided not to reduce the strength of his bodyguard, e'en though extra soldiers were needed for military duties. * further stratagem de'ised by ;ormann with the purpose of remo'ing %immler from ;erlin and conse6uently from contact with %itler was %immler&s appointment as general officer commanding the -Weichsel- army group on the
Chapter T$el*e %i!!ler at the end o( his tether
=he past year had been ner'eracking5 many of my friends had died, some of natural causes, others at the hands of the executioner. *nd the hea'iest demands of all had yet to be made on me. =o enable %immler to contact me without delay, was obliged to transfer
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a number of my instruments and books to what the Gestapo called my -temporary 6uarters- at %artzwalde. !y ephemerides, tables, and stellar chronometers, which were indispensable for my work, were housed in a room 'acated by (rau )ersten upon her return to Stockholm. was allocated this room because it contained the telephone switchboard with direct lines to %immler and a number of important departments5 these were pri'ileges which had been granted to )ersten by the 4eichsfhrer. !oreo'er, this room was particularly suitable for meetings and conferences. t also contained a small writing desk for me to work at. ?n !arch J, )ersten arri'ed in ;erlin by air from Stockholm and tra'eled on to %artzwalde. *s soon as he arri'ed, began a series of interpretations for )ersten in connection with his -worldwide political tasks.- *s he walked into the room, he said, -Des, the fate of Germany now rests on my weak shoulders.- smiled at his remark. %immler was still ill, and )ersten tra'eled daily in a car supplied by the motor transport department of %immler&s military command post to massage him at the hospital at %ohenlychen, which was run by 3rofessor Gebhardt. While )ersten was away, had to calculate and interpret his -problems- for him. Since already had a large number of difficult and delicate matters to work out for %immler, found these additional tasks extremely disrupti'e. !oreo'er, when )ersten returned from his 'isits, he almost in'ariably inundated me with a whole host of additional 6uestions. -+ust check up and see how my talk with the 4eichsfhrer is going to turn out tomorrow. /an do that with him7 Bust can&t make him budge on this issue and don&t know what to do or what further arguments can put to him. %e doesn&t want to recei'e ;ernadotte, but want to bring them together. *nd then must make progress with my own affairs, the ones am negotiating for %err %illel Storch. +ust ha'e a look and let me know how they are likely to de'elop. %a'e you sorted out the other problems yet7- =his was the way in which he greeted me 'irtually e'ery day. then showed him my work and pointed out that there were 'arious special astrological reports to be completed for %immler which were due by !arch "1. -Fon&t bother about the reports for the 4eichsfhrer,- )ersten replied. -%e can wait. !y affairs are more important. Dou must tell me exactly how am to proceed. /ome up to my room for a moment and look at my horoscope. %err Storch intends to 'isit Germany to discuss the release of ten thousand +ews with %immler. ha'e already made the arrangements, but on this occasion %immler is being uncooperati'e.)ersten had spoken to me about %err Storch once before, and we had arranged to refer to him as -the bird- should we e'er discuss him on the telephone between Stockholm and %artzwalde. )ersten&s statements and the way in which he described his relationship to Storch indicated that this gentleman was determined to come to Germany to negotiate with %immler in person, rather than work through ;ernadotte. *nd so when )ersten arri'ed for the negotiations on *pril "# and found a small and 'ery unassuming +ewish gentleman, who looked about him with frightened eyes and was introduced to us as %err !asur, who was representing %err Storch, we were more than a little surprised. )ersten always spoke of %err Storch with great respectE -%e is a 'ery big man, the most important man in the Zionist mo'ement and in the World +ewish /ongress. %e will be bigger still when he goes to *merica, which he intends to do in the near future. %err Wulff, you simply must meet this man. %e is going to launch me in *merica5 want to open a practice there after the war. need %illel Storch to get into important circles. !y dear Wulff, why don&t you come with me7 Dou&ll make a lot of money there. We&ll go into partnership. tell you, won&t let you cast a horoscope in *merica for less than fi'e thousand dollars. f the deal with %err Storch works out, &ll be somebody. Dou want to earn money, don&t you7 Dou don&t ha'e to tell the *mericans the truth when you cast their horoscopes. =ell them what they want to hear, that&s the main thing, and make sure you&re well paid.-
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!y relationship with )ersten was by no means as friendly as he was trying to make out. ;ut since was a concentration camp detainee working under orders from %immler, it goes without saying that was unable to gi'e )ersten the kind of answer would ha'e liked. So contented myself with saying, -%err )ersten, let&s wait and see what happens. We can discuss the matter when the war is o'er.(rom my knowledge of )ersten assumed that he was trying to make me more pliant in the hope that would help him with the proBects which he intended to submit to %immler. knew that he had no intention of taking me to *merica. %e nonetheless continued to talk about itE -Dou need only say the word. When return to Stockholm, &ll tell %err Storch what we intend to do. %e&ll get us passports now, for any country in the world. can arrange all this for you.- hope they&re not false passports, %err )ersten,- said. -With all due respect to %err Storch, cannot belie'e that he is so powerful that he can obtain passports for any country in the world.
still suspected that )ersten was trying to trick me into ser'ing as his personal sla'e o'erseas. !y experiences during the past two years had led to this suspicion, for )ersten had kept me fully occupied with unpaid work. -%err )ersten,- said, -you will realize that must think about this gra'e step.-
55
;efore he left for Stockholm, thanked him for his offerand declined. !eanwhile, )ersten had been in Germany for a week, looking after %immler. =oday of course we know from his own book =he )ersten !emoirs, "#$1$@ that %immler&s welfare was simply a pretext and that he had really returned on his own account, for what he called humanitarian reasons =he precise nature of )ersten&s -humanity- and the personal interests which it was intended to promote soon became apparent. <'er since the beginning of "#$C, Schellenberg, Go'erts, and had been working for %itler&s downfall and had hoped to persuade %immler to enter into peace negotiations with the *llies, release all concentration camp inmates, and repatriate all foreign prisoners. Without this token of goodwill an armistice would, of course, ha'e been impossible. We knew that %itler would not and could not make peace. %is motto, with which the great maBority of the German people disagreed, wasE /on6uer or perish %immler had known about our plans since the beginning of "#$$, and in !ay of that year, when he had consulted me on astrological matters, we had discussed their implementation for hours on end. (or years thousands of Germans had fought or been imprisoned and subBected to fearful torture in Gestapo cellars for this same idea. Generals had sacrificed their li'es in order to o'erthrow %itler. *nd now, at the beginning of !arch, "#$@, %err )ersten had appeared with his ridiculous list of a few thousand names and another -special- list 8which contained Bust a few names9 in the hope of a'erting the -worst conse6uences- in the name of humanity. t was unnecessary for a %err )ersten to undertake such a mission. *ction had already been taken in this sphere and had unfortunately already claimed many 'ictims. ;ut )ersten&s mission was backed in the first instance by the Swedish go'ernment, which wanted to liberate Scandina'ian prisoners. =he interests of the World +ewish /ongress came at a later stage. ;ecause of %immler&s hesitation and his reluctance to stage a coup d&etat, the position of the concentration camp inmates was daily becoming more desperate. %itler&s orderswhich were passed on by !artin ;ormannwere that all the prisoners were to be killed and the camps blown up, orders which fortunately could no longer be executed because of the military situation. =he efforts of the Swiss 4ed /ross to obtain the release of +ews and other prisoners, which had begun earlier in the war, were still being continued in "#$@, although by that time they were of course greatly hampered by the worsening conditions within Germany. *fter submitting his list to %immler, )ersten had tried again and again to obtain his appro'al. ;ut by !arch "1 he had still made no headway at all. %immler was not prepared to release such a large number of prisoners because it was bound to arouse comment and might well come to %itler&s notice. 2ater he authorized the release of indi'idual prisoners and in the end agreed to a figure of ",11. ;ut he refused to sanction the tens of thousands which )ersten had asked for on behalf of %illel Storch. <'en after %immler had gi'en permission for certain prisoners to proceed to Sweden, there were still considerable difficulties. Fisease had again broken out in the concentration camps, and many of those in the
56
someone. n many cases we simply do not know where to locate these prisoners who are due for release. We lost all control months ago.- n 'iew of these difficulties, Sweden had offered, at the end of "#$$, to pro'ide transport for se'eral thousand 3oles, ;elgians, (renchmen, etc. ?n !arch "1, )ersten, who had returned from %ohenlychen, came to my room and said that %immler wished me to report to him the next day for a consultation. Since it was too early to assess the outcome of the last batch of astrological reports, was led to assume that Schellenberg, whom hadn&t seen for a month, had arranged this meeting. n this was wrong, although it was not until the following day that disco'ered my mistake. *t ten o&clock the next morning we left %artzwalde in a :olkswagen which had been sent from %immler&s head6uarters. ?ur route'ia !enz, (urstenberg, and 4a'ensbrcktook us through what was 'irtually a forward area. 2ong columns of refugees passed us mo'ing westward, while the carcasses of dead horses and makeshift crosses with inscriptions recording the li'es of children and old people who had frozen to death signposted the road to the east. When we left %artzwalde, a fine rain started to fall which en'eloped the countryside in a gray mist. ;ut soon the weather cleared and the sun broke through, gilding the 6uiet lakes and fields of ;randenburg. ;y then the thaw was well under way, and our route often appeared impassable. ;eyond !enz the road become worse and worse5 deep gullies, mounds of earth, potholes, and damaged 'ehicles hindered us and made our Bourney extremely difficult. ;ut our old :olkswagen, which had been pretty badly battered in the war, got through. * few miles before %ohenlychen the roads impro'ed. t was only when we were on our way to %ohenlychen that disco'ered that this 'isit had been negotiated not by Schellenberg but by )ersten. was extremely surprised by the instructions which he ga'e me for our discussion with %immler. , for my part, intended to hand %immler 'arious astrological reports re6uested by Schellenberg, including a new mundane horoscope for the year "#$@, and then to discuss once again the desirability of o'erthrowing %itler and arranging an immediate surrender. While he was gi'ing me his instructions, )ersten appeared ner'ous. -;ut, my dear fellow,he said, -you must use the new horoscope to con'ince %immler that my negotiations with %illel Storch are important for him. Dou must support my proBect so that can win %immler around and get a written undertaking from him, which can gi'e to %illel Storch in Stockholm.- 3re'iously )ersten&s deceit and adroitness had usually succeeded in getting his plans through, for %immler, like most frightened people, when they are ill, had to cling to somebody, and he chose his masseur. ;ut although %immler was 'ery distressed at that time, )ersten had been unable to exploit his condition in order to further his plans for the liberation of +ewish prisoners on any really large scale. %immler so far had granted only tri'ial concessions and authorized the release of Bust a few prisoners. !eanwhile, )ersten continued to harangue meE -Dou can easily tell %immler that it is written in his horoscope that he should release the +ews so that %err Storch, a 'ery powerful man, can obtain concessions for him from the Swedes and the *llies. * +ew is prepared to plead for %immler =hat&s how you must put it to him *nd if he gi'es me the necessary authorizations today, we two will share a bottle of champagne this e'ening and work through the other plans tomorrow.- t seemed that )ersten had turned a completely deaf ear to Fr. ;randt&s recent statements to the effect that Germany&s transport situation was far too bad to permit the e'acuation of large numbers of people and that, with the best will in the world, e'en %immler could not pro'ide transport for more than a few small groups. -Why don&t you try to persuade %immler to put an end to the whole rotten business7- asked. -=he air raids, which ha'e claimed countless 'ictims and brought great misery to the German people, would then cease and the concentration camps would be automatically opened up. %immler has been aware of Germany&s plight for the past two years. Why don&t
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you try to con'ince him of the need for a coup d&etat7)ersten then became 'ery agitated, repeatedly urging me to get his own plan accepted before discussing these other proBects with %immler. ;ut was not at all interested in helping )ersten, especially since would ha'e had to falsify %immler&s horoscope. *s saw it, it was not simply a 6uestion of helping the +ews. What was needed was an end to this whole senseless war, in which so many people were still being slaughtered. -!y dear %err )ersten,- said, - shall interpret %immler&s horoscope in accordance with astrological practice.- then asked, -Foes Schellenberg know about this proBect7Schellenberg knew nothing about it. =he 'isit to %immler was )ersten&s idea 2ater, when told Schellenberg about this enterpris, all he said was, -So our fat friend has been up to his tricks again- )ersten&s demands really were outrageous. ;ut although had no intention of binding myself, e'entually agreed to help him with his mission for %illel Storch in some small way. =he 6uestions with which )ersten had constantly plied me during the past few days at %artzwalde and the in'estigations and calculations which these had necessitated were far more than a practicing astrologer expects from a single client5 it had been sheer drudgery. *s a result, had decided that as soon as returned from %ohenlychen, would contri'e to lea'e %artzwalde as soon as possible and would inform Schellenberg of my decision after my arri'al in %amburg. *ll had to do was find some plausible pretext. *t that particular moment, howe'er, there was no suitable argument that could ha'e ad'anced. wondered if should plead illness. =he nearer we came to %ohenlychen, the more the tension grew. <'entually we passed through military checkpoints and an iron gateway into a sort of park containing isolated groups of small buildings. ?ur passes were inspected by the SS guard. )ersten, who was a wellknown figure, greeted the men at the guardpost with a Bo'ial -Good morning to youand not with -%eil %itler- We then dro'e along gra'el paths to an open space, where we parked. <'erything was spick and span. ?n one side of the parking lot stood rows of cars5 on the other a motorcycle detachment had left its machines. When we arri'ed, we found )irrmayer waiting for us at the top of a small flight of steps leading up to the firstfloor le'el of a detached house, which ser'ed as %immler&s temporary residence. =he house was closely guarded on all four sides by )irrmayer&s men. *s usual, )ersten greeted )irrmayer in a friendly and Bo'ial fashion. merely nodded to him. We were shown into a guardroom and asked to wait. *t last the door opened and a short, stocky, and rather corpulent man with deepset eyes entered the room. )ersten greeted him coolly and then introduced me. =his was SS ?bergruppenfuhrer 3rofessor Gebhardt, %immler&s physician, who looked at us in6uisiti'ely before asking us to go into the adBoining room.O We found oursel'es in %immler&s sitting room, a small room, its (rench windows leading to a balcony which had noticed from the outside when we were entering the house. O Gebhardt was executed for war crimes in "#$>.
%einrich %immler was seated in an easy chair and asked me to sit beside him. %e had Bust woken and smelled of soap and cheap cologne5 his complexion was fresher than usual, and he seemed to ha'e made a reasonable reco'ery. )ersten&s treatment had e'idently helped. =he masseur meanwhile had made himself comfortable on an oldfashioned sofa. Simple curtains made of beige and brown muslin with a red and green pattern hung on either side of the (rench windows. *n oldfashioned lamp hung from the ceiling5 it had a shade of clouded glass with a crooked fringe of beads. =he whole decor was 'ulgar and commonplace. %einrich %immler had been li'ing here, in this inelegant room, since the beginning of the year, when %itler had threatened to dismiss him. %e wore his uniform but no decorations.
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%immler greeted us with a wry smile and discussed his state of health5 he spent a long time asking me 6uestions about his personal life and when he would be fully reco'ered. )ersten then began to talk about his proBects, speaking 6uietly and totally without expression. =his discourse of his pro'ided %immler with an opportunity of lecturing us on honor, greatness, and loyalty, 6ualities which he claimed for the Germans but denied to the Sla', !ongol, and 2atin races. When he mentioned the !ongols, had difficulty in suppressing a smile, for as had noted before, his own eyes had a rather !ongol slant. )ersten now reacted with some heat. -;ut in the case of my friends Wentzel and Fr. 2angbehn,- he interposed, -you yourself broke your word of honor by arresting them, %err 4eichsfhrer, so you can hardly talk about the Germans& great sense of honor.- %immler grinned and explained that in this particular instance the special tribunal had been more powerful than he, adding that the police in6uiries had clearly shown that these two gentlemen had been in'ol'ed in a conspiracy.O O =his was not true, for Fr. 2angbehn had been arrested before +uly J1, "#$$, on a tri'ial offence, which had had nothing to do with the assassination plot.
%immler then turned to me again and talked about the predictions which had made in respect of his own horoscope, one of which concerned an accident on Fecember #, "#$$. -t&s a strange thought, isn&t it, %err Wulff,- he said, -that on Fecember ninth actually had an accident which might well ha'e pro'ed fatal. was dri'ing at night, and "C1 feet abo'e the ;lack (orest railway, ran off the road and down the hill onto the tracks Bust as a train was approaching. We only Bust managed to get out of the way in time. =he accuracy of your horoscope is phenomenal.- am greatly reassured, %err 4eichsfhrer,- replied. - did not expect the first rectification of your nati'ity to turn out so well. ;ut it looks as if we ha'e succeeded in establishing your exact moment of birth. =hat is a great relief. 3erhaps this will con'ince you that you should gi'e serious thought to the other predictions made and consider 'ery carefully my ad'ice about our &!ay plan.&- 8=he !ay plan was the co'er name agreed upon between %immler, Schellenberg, and myself for our proBected coup. )ersten, who did not know the name, looked at me in6uiringly with his large childlike eyes.9 -Dou ha'e heard about %err )ersten&s plans,- %immler then said to me. -What do you think of them7- =here was not a great deal that could say. =here were no obBections to these plans on astrological grounds, and ad'ised %immler accordingly. - can&t possibly grant %err )ersten such concessions,- he replied. -%e is asking for the immediate transfer abroad of a large number of +ewish prisoners. ;ut this can&t be done without %itler&s appro'al, because the transportation of such a large group of prisoners would not pass unnoticed and could not be kept secret from the (uehrer. %e was horrified when he heard that my SS men were releasing +ews and ga'e strict orders that anybody doing so in the future was to be shot. /onse6uently can authorize only some of the suggestions submitted to me in this plan.)ersten and Storch had agreed on four maBor pointsE 8"9 that the imprisoned +ews should be allowed to recei'e food and medical supplies from abroad5 8J9 that all +ews should be mo'ed to special camps which would be under the control of the nternational 4ed /ross 8and which the World +ewish /ongress hoped it would gradually be able to maintain from its own resources95 8C9 that the indi'idual persons named on the special list which )ersten had brought with him from Sweden should be released at once5 8$9 that a large number of other +ewish prisoners should be released and sent abroad, initially to Sweden and Switzerland.
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n this agreement a figure of "1,111 +ews was mentioned. =he whole operation was being backed by the Swedish go'ernment, which had set up a head6uarters in 2beck and placed a large number of buses and trucks at the disposal of the organizers. %immler readily agreed to the first three points on )ersten&s agenda. ;ut he refused pointblank to authorize the release and e'acuation of the "1,111 +ews or of the additional Swedish, Fanish, and Norwegian prisoners re6uested by the Swedish go'ernment. Furing the course of this 'isit disco'ered that )ersten had made no headway at all during the past few days 8from about !arch J on95 e'ery one of his ploys had pro'ed ineffecti'e. %e was now afraid of falling out with %immler altogether, for this would ha'e Beopardized his whole proBect and with it his hopes of ac6uiring Swedish nationality. When asked %immler why he was not prepared to release the +ews mentioned on the Swedish lists, he replied, - cannot do that, %err Wulff. =he (hrer already knows about the Swiss transactions in'ol'ing the release of +ewish prisoners. )altenbrunner submitted a report about it, and his 'iews were endorsed by ;ormann. n this case my hands are completely tied.- %e then dropped this disagreeable topic and mo'ed on to a new theme. -%err Schellenberg tells me that you wish to re'iew the political situation in the light of your mundane horoscope for "#$@,- he said. =his horoscope was not 'ery encouraging for %immler. =he charts for the first two 6uarters of the year, which proceeded to explain to him, re'ealed catastrophic constellations for the %itler regime. !eanwhile, )ersten leaned back in the corner of the sofa, taking no interest whatsoe'er in my interpretations. %e was aware that his personal re6uests had not been granted and that had not made %immler compliant, as he had hoped would. %is expression was neither bitter nor gentle but rather showed a studied coolness. =he con'ersation then turned to the Dalta /onference, which %immler had told me to e'aluate in astrological terms. had drawn up a mundane horoscope for the Dalta /onference a month in ad'ance. =he constellations presented a positi'ely shattering picture, which did not attempt to soften in the telling. ;ut, despite these hopeless prospects, Schellenberg had refused to despair and with typical /apricorn stubbornness had continued to press %immler about his coup d&etat. %owe'er, %immler did not gi'e in to Schellenberg either. %e could not afford to, because his differences with %itler had now become critical. -Fear %err 4eichsfhrer,- said, -why don&t you carry out our !ay plan7 =he worst conse6uences might still be a'oided, and you yourself could impro'e your position despite the (hrer.-What you and %err Schellenberg are asking of me, %err Wulff, is a breach of loyalty,%immler replied. - ha'e sworn on oath to the (hrer, and although you may think it sentimental, simply cannot break it. *nd ha'e you considered the possibility of a popular re'olt7 %ow will the masses react if arrest their (hrer7 =rue, if there should be riots in the streets, could ha'e them crushed by my SSthat would not be too difficult. ;ut ha'e sworn a soldier&s oath to %itler, and cannot break my oath. owe him e'erything. No, gentlemen, that is impossible, cannot do it.- %immler spoke these words in a 6uiet and steady 'oice. *s he did so, he ga'e me a long, serious look and then continuedE -Dou say that the constellations are extremely negati'e at present. /an you tell me which parts of Germany will remain unoccupied7 What does your dial say about that7- %immler pointed to my pocket chronometer, which used for a special kind of calculation to sa'e time. %immler had 'ery little time left. =he situation was deadly serious. f he did not abandon his ridiculous attitude, he would be dragged down into the abyss. -f remember correctly,- said, -we ha'e already pointed out that you should ha'e got one of your trustworthy men to carry out our plan long ago.-Des, yes,- %immler interposed. -;ut who can be trusted nowadays7 t would be terribly
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difficult to stage a coup now. 4ight now &m not well5 feel 6uite weak. (rom a military point of 'iew it would be feasible, but cannot undertake the task. f this operation is to succeed, would ha'e to replace the heads of e'ery department5 men like )altenbrunner and !uller would ha'e to go, and they would ha'e to be replaced by people can trust. )altenbrunner is the least reliable of them all. ;ut if were to remo'e him and !uller, ;ormann would notice it at once and take countermeasures at %itler&s head6uarters. *nd, anyway, )altenbrunner would not hesitate to send a report to ;ormann behind my back. No, it would be far too dangerous to replace him now.-;ut, %err 4eichsfhrer,- replied, -you could replace these men at the last moment and ha'e )altenbrunner and the others arrested. am no military expert, but imagine that it would not be difficult for you to carry out this operation successfully.-So now am supposed to o'erthrow my (hrer,- %immler exclaimed. -%err Schellenberg e'en wants me to ha'e him murdered.n reply referred %immler to %itler&s horoscopeE -%itler will not die at the hands of an assassin,- said. -%is constellations indicate a mysterious death. Dou could succeed if you arrested him.-;ut how can arrest the (uehrer now that he is ill7- %immler reBoined. *nd then he repeated his famous dictum, which we had heard so oftenE - ha'e built up my SS on the basis of loyalty. cannot gi'e up this fundamental principle.- *nd then %einrich %immler a man feared by millionssaid softly and almost plainti'ely, - will make this confession to you, gentlemen simply cannot do it%immler ne'er seriously contemplated this immense undertaking, which would ha'e ended the dreadful and totally destructi'e scourge of war and brought peace and security to the world. %e was too weak to make the kind of sacrifice for the country of his birth that was demanded from millions of German soldiers. %e was no 'eteran soldier, tested in battle, who would rise up to put an end to this bloodbath. =he mask he presented to the world to hide his insecurity was unctuous and mocking. %e demanded sacrifices from his SS men, but where was his own sense of sacrifice, where was his willpower7 <'en a person with no great acumen or skill in interpreting facial expressions must surely ha'e realized that this %einrich %irmmler preferred to allow his compatriots to suffer rather than take decisi'e action to relie'e them. Not e'en his own impending doom could make him change his mind. ?n that morning in %ohenlychen, %immler barricaded himself behind the inflated, fairground balloons of his own mad fantasies. tried in 'ain to disco'er some sign of cruel grandeur in him. %is face re'ealed no trace of the grim se'erity of a Spanish in6uisitor or of the ferocity of the butchers of the (rench 4e'olution. %einrich %immler was begging me in almost pitiful tones not to press him with this frightful proBect, not to ask him to break with a man who had brought misery to millions of his countrymen. (atal constellations, which were recorded in his natal chart, were now bearing down on him and could not be a'erted. *t that moment felt how intolerable it was to see opportunities and yet be powerless to act. had already o'ercome one inner crisis in *ugust, "#$$, and now a second was building up within me. n the end found comfort in the thought that had done e'erything could and had left nothing untried. %immler led a miserable existence amid the bloodstained files and card indexes at his head6uarters5 his life was a foretaste of hell. Scorned and despised in e'ery corner of the world, branded as the meanest of all creatures, he was now the unhappiest of all creatures as he sat in %ohenlychen and gently begged, -Fon&t ask me to explain anything more, don&t ask me to describe the things ha'e experienced and had to li'e through in the past few months can&t do it*ll this time )ersten did not say a word. expected that he would now press %immler for a
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final decision on the +ewish prisoners. ;ut he remained silentnot for tactical reasons, not in order to present an impenetrable front, but because he was at the end of his tether and simply did not know what to do next. f )ersten had followed our con'ersation closely, he would ha'e realized Bust how bad things were for his pitiful patient. %immler was in need of a doctor and in e'en greater need of a priest. ;ut )ersten did not budge. %e simply sat there thinking about the deals which he could oron this occasioncould not make, and as far as he was concerned, his patient %immler, a man who already knew what it was to li'e in hell and was threatening to suffocate in the blood which he had spilled, was no more than a pawn in his important transactions in Sweden. )ersten was supposed to be an instrument of charity. ;ut where were his healing hands now7 n his desperate condition %immler stood in dire need of them ;ut )ersten remained completely passi'e. %immler&s meaningless platitudes about his loyalty sounded like a record played too often. suddenly found the atmosphere in the room more oppressi'e5 its confines seemed positi'ely frightening. looked out of the window in search of relief and saw the cheering sight of early spring sunshine glinting in the park of %ohenlychen. =his was not the time to surrender myself to barren conBectures about %immler&s fate. %immler asked if had recei'ed any news from %amburg. had already sent him a report on the destruction of the %amburg docks, and he now learned that the reports on the bomb damage in our cities submitted to him by subordinates were far from accurate. Next we turned to the 6uestion of armaments. *ircraft production had 'irtually come to a standstill5 hardly any engines were being built. %ow the heroic German pilots were able to continue their resistance against the superior *llied air forces was a mystery. %immler was aware that no new aircraft were being turned out, but the soldiers and Bunior officers on his staff were told that production was continuing at the same rate as before, although nobody who was at all we"l informed belie'ed this. %immler then told me about the new airtoair rockets and missiles which were supposed to be taking such a hea'y toll of the enemy air forces. %e had already spoken to me about these new weapons in the spring of "#$$, when the prototypes had been built. Since then, howe'er, it had not been possible to produce them in sufficient 6uantities, certainly not on the scale that would ha'e ensured final 'ictory. pointed this out and asked whether it wasn&t too late to cling to such hopes. reminded %immler of :on 4undstedt&s offensi'e of Fecember >, "#$$, when the (irst *merican *rmy had been dri'en back into ;elgium and 2uxembourg and the German air offensi'e had thrown the *llied troops into disarray. *lthough :on 4undstedt&s success had been shortli'ed, %immler&s optimism had been understandable at that time. ;ut today optimism was out of place. ?nce again urged him to mo'e against %itler. ?nce more %immler excused himself on the grounds of loyalty to the (uehrer and went on to talk about the : weapons, which were said to be uni6uely de'astating. =his was no mere fairy tale5 the effect of the :"&s and :J&s was already well knownespecially in ;ritain. ;ut when asked whether there were sufficient stocks of these weapons, %immler ga'e an e'asi'e reply. So it was by no means certain that they could turn the tide for Germany. =here were also reports of other secret weapons that were ready for mass production, all of which tended to contribute to %immler&s 'acillation. %e went on to talk about a 6uite different missile, one of incredible power. /ities like New Dork and 2ondon, he said, could be wiped off the face of the earth with the help of this new weapon. =his particular report was not entirely unfounded but meant little now that the *llies had already crossed the 4hine and the 4ussians had reached )strin, Stettin, and the ?der 4i'er and were threatening to occupy the whole of the ;randenburg region. had already heard about these new missiles and their enormous destructi'e power from (ranz Goring in (ebruary, "#$$. What he had told me was basically true, for work was already being done on the German atom bomb at the time.
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(ranz Goring also told me that the new missiles had been tested. *ccording to him, a large town was especially built near *uschwitz concentration camp and some J1,111 +ews, mostly women and children, were sent to li'e in it. * single missile was then fired into the settlement. n the ensuing explosion, which de'eloped a heat output of 0,1111 / at its center, the whole town and the entire population were burned to cinders in a flash. Stories such as this also reached %immler&s ears. Was it surprising, then, that he pinned his hopes on the effect of such weapons7 Was it surprising that he hesitated to depose %itler7 *t the end of our con'ersation %immler again asked me for my opinion of the international situation, which summarized in a few brief words, finishing by reminding him of our agreement and of Schellenberg&s plan. )ersten and then 6uickly took our lea'e. t looked as if %immler were mo'ed by our departure, for tears trickled down his cheeks, but put this down to his shattered ner'es. =he mist which had co'ered this beautiful ;randenburg lakeland district on our Bourney to %ohenlychen, transforming the landscape into 'ague, almost in'isible forms, had completely disappeared. =he warm rays of the !arch sun had cleared the air. We were heading for (rstenberg. When we reached the main road, we saw an enormous mass of refugees mo'ing westward in small groups. =hey were not the first groups we had encountered, and they were soon to be followed by an endless procession of human misery. When we reached %artzwalde that afternoon, more refugees had arri'ed there with stories of German women who had been raped by the 4ussians. )ersten a'oided talking to me on the way to %artzwalde, so was able to work out a plan for returning to %amburg as 6uickly as possible. had thought of a reason which would Bustify my departure. ;ut in the e'ent this pro'ed unnecessary, for upon arri'al we were told that a priority telephone call had been recei'ed from %amburg. then learned that at midday on !arch "" there had been a hea'y air raid on the city, in which my own house had been completely demolished. !y wife wanted me to come home as 6uickly as possible to arrange for the remo'al and storage of some of our damaged possessions. =his news made it possible for me to lea'e %artzwalde early the following day. =hat e'ening )ersten, who was extremely agitated because had not complied with his wishes, tried to pick a 6uarrel with me. When failed to respond, he walked out on me and retired to his own room, presumably to work on his diary. wanted to lea'e %artzwalde at once. ;ut since there was no car a'ailable, had to wait until the following morning. could no longer endure )ersten&s persistent demands.
Chapter Thirteen The End "pproaches
63
Norbert !asur
?n the afternoon of *pril "C, after the last hea'y air raid on %amburg, a telephone call came through from the command post ordering me to return to %artzwalde at once. was told that %immler intended to take action. =he car placed at my disposal broke down, and the repair delayed our departure by a day. ?n the e'ening of *pril "$, we left %amburg, running into a hea'y air raid at ;oizenburg. * great many trucks had been knocked out and were scattered all o'er the road, together with many dead and wounded. We only Bust managed to escape harm by dri'ing our car under some trees. , "#11, at %alberstadt5 8J9 4eichsminister 3rofessor *lbert Speer, born !arch "#, "#1@, at !annheim5 8C9 4eichsminister Fr. *rthur Seyssn6uardt, born +uly JJ, "#J, at Stannern near glau5 8$9 4eichsminister /ount Schwerin 'on )rosigk, born *ugust JJ, ">, at 4athmannsdorf 8*nhalt95 8@9 Generalfeldmarschall (erdinand SchRrner, born +une "J, "#J, at !unich. !y astrological calculations were 'ery difficult and worked constantly, breaking off only to recei'e telephone calls from the command post and from %immler&s head6uarters. =hen, on *pril ", (elix )ersten telephoned from Stockholm to say that he was setting out for %artzwalde at once with Storch. had already heard rumors that he might bring the +ewish leader to Germany for further negotiations. *pril " was a particularly exciting day because also learned from friends of mine in Fepartment : that the SS leaders, including Schellenberg, Fr. ;randt, and of course %immler, intended to flee to southern Germany, fighting their way through if necessary. =his was the -?bersalzburg plan,- the details of which were re'ealed after the war. %immler wanted to be near General SchRrner&s army, which was still intact, and was supposed to accompany him on this trek. f refused to go, was to be put in chains and forcibly remo'ed. was deeply anxious about this proposal because the whole proBect was illconcei'ed and ran counter to
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my astrological forecasts. was now re6uired to in'estigate the problems posed by the ?bersalzburg plan5 this task kept me occupied for some time. !eanwhile, on *pril "#, (elix )ersten arri'ed at %artzwalde accompanied by %err !asur. nstead of coming to negotiate with %immler himself, Storch had sent Norbert !asur to represent the interests of the World +ewish /ongress. !asur came from a %amburg business family who had left Germany in "#C. )ersten and !asur had flown from Stockholm to /openhagen in a Swedish plane and had then transferred to a German plane for the second leg of their flight to ;erlin=empelhof. n his memoirs )ersten stressed the significance of this perilous Bourney and the risks in'ol'ed. Since )ersten was not particularly heroic and was 'ery frightened of the 4ussians, this Bourney of his really was rather remarkable. %e would scarcely ha'e undertaken it if the Swedes had known Bust how far the 4ussians had ad'anced on Germany&s
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showed him his agenda and the re6uests from the Swedish go'ernment for the release of indi'idual prisoners. Schellenberg seemed exhausted and spoke 'ery little. %e had not slept for days. withdrew so as not to disturb him and )ersten. Subse6uently learned from Schellenberg that he had been 'ery angry about )ersten&s demands. )ersten said 'ery little about this con'ersation, but gathered that the 4eichsfhrer was not prepared to grant any largescale concessions to the Swedes until a date was fixed for a meeting between himself and
When we had finished talking, Schellenberg and went down to the study, where we found an extremely agitated )ersten. =he day before, Fr. ;randt had been informed that the negotiations with !asur would be conducted on *pril J1, but since then there had been no further news, and we still did not know for certain whether or when %immler would arri'e. )ersten was furious when Schellenberg mentioned the possibility of a meeting with ;ernadotte. -What a fool am,he said. - arranged the meeting between ;ernadotte and %immler, and now all can do is sit here and wait- !asur remained in the background and kept 'ery 6uiet. found the atmosphere wholly uncongenial and retired to my room to get on with my work. +ust before two o&clock on the morning of *pril J", %immler arri'ed. %e talked first with )ersten in pri'ate. %immler wanted to know whether the Swedes would allow the troops stationed in Norway to pass through their territory. =his proBect had been under discussion for weeks. )ersten was supposed to ha'e taken it up in Stockholm and to ha'e used his connections to influence Gunther, the Swedish (oreign !inister. ;ut the (oreign !inister had reBected his re6uest. =he Swedish go'ernment was prepared only to intern the German troops stationed in Norway, not to grant them transit rights. *nd so %immler had lost out again, for only %itler could order the troops to lay down their arms.
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*t this stage the military consensus was that any troops that could be spared from Norway, Fenmark, and %olland should be withdrawn as 6uickly as possible and sent to the
*t the end of his talk with )ersten %immler said, -3erhaps there will be a change of leadership soon.=hat night there was another hea'y air raid on ;erlin. (rom the balcony of the house in %artzwalde we saw the city burning in the distance. =hick black clouds interlaced with spirals of smoke rising from the exploding bombs could be seen on the horizon. %owe'er, it sounded as if a few of our antiaircraft batteries were still firing. *ll this time !asur had 6uietly waited. =hen %immler, who had butchered more +ews than any man in history, held a secret meeting with a representati'e of the World +ewish /ongress to negotiate the release of +ewish prisoners and discuss the chances of an armistice !asur remained cool and withdrawn. Furing the course of the e'ening %immler had to promise %err !asur that he would not carry out %itler&s orders to ha'e all +ewish prisoners in the concentration camps exterminated. %e kept his word and released the maBority of prisoners on )ersten&s list, insofar as they could be traced. !oreo'er, %immler had no more +ews exterminated. %e is supposed to ha'e said to )ersten at the end of this discussion, -=he best people in the nation will perish with us5 those who are left are of no interest to us =he *llies can do what they like with those who are left*t dawn %immler and !asur walked in the fresh morning air in the %artzwalde grounds before taking lea'e of each other. %immler, the butcher of +ews, walked side by side with Norbert !asur, the representati'e of the World +ewish /ongress. %immler said, -Dou know, if we had met ten years earlier, %err !asur, this war would ne'er ha'e taken place%immler then got into his car and set out with Schellenberg for %ohenlychen. n the course of the next few days Fr. ;randt, who had remained at %artzwalde, made out all the documents and handed )ersten and !asur the necessary permits and papers for the +ews about to be released. Fr. ;randt then retired to his room, where he and discussed the e'ents of that memorable day. Not long afterwardat about "" *.!.)ersten and !asur left %artzwalde to return to Stockholm. )ersten was angry with me because had been unwilling to misuse my astrological knowledge in order to promote his personal proBects. %e did not come to say goodbye. )ersten and !asur flew back to Stockholm 'ia /openhagen with good reason to be satisfied with their success. %einrich %immler had not hurt a hair of their heads. )ersten had been richly rewarded by %immler for all the help and the physiotherapy which he had gi'en him o'er the years. =here were times when Schellenberg found it both embarrassing
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and disagreeable to obtain the large sums of money from his foreign exchange accounts and from the 4eichsbank which %immler then ga'e to )ersten. ;ut )ersten knew nothing of these annoyances and would ha'e thought nothing of them if he had. *s far as he was concerned, the operation to secure the release of the +ews was a straightforward and profitable business deal in the great game of politics.
Chapter Fourteen %einrich %i!!ler7s Final Orders
n the early hours of *pril J$, "#$@, recei'ed a telephone call from 2beck for which was indebtedas learned shortly afterwardto Schellenberg&s intelligent and discreet secretary. %immler himself was at the other end of the line, and he was extremely agitated. %e wanted me to come to 2beck at once and bring the horoscopes which had cast for 'arious members of the go'ernment. was somewhat at a loss to understand this order, since the SS was in full retreat and no 'ehicles were a'ailable. %immler then told me that he had Bust recei'ed a message from %artzwalde telling him that the refugees and staff on the estate were in danger from the ad'ancing 4ussian *rmy. %e wanted me to in'estigate this information astrologically and tell him my findings by telephone. %e wanted to know whether it was better to e'acuate %artzwalde or to lea'e )ersten&s staff where they were. 3re'iously )ersten had always led %immler to belie'e that the 4ussians were -harmless,- maintaining that if he instructed his estate employees to fly the Swedish flag, nobody there would come to any harm. !eanwhile, howe'er, the people in %artzwalde must ha'e had some misgi'ings, for they had been told by refugees from the
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Furing the meeting with ;ernadotte, Schellenberg asked the count to contact the Western powers informed %immler through ;ernadotte that there could be no negotiations. !eanwhile, Schellenberg had at last succeeded in persuading %immler to write a personal note to ;ernadotte, which heSchellenbergwas to hand o'er to the count. 2ater the Swedish go'ernment adroitly leaked the contents of the note to the foreign press, thus ensuring that these peace initiati'es were made public. =his placed Schellenberg in a difficult position. ?nce again %immler had tried to use somebody as a puppet without exposing himself. f the negotiations between ;ernadotte and Schellenberg had had a positi'e outcome, %immler would ha'e been the great man who had brought peace to the world. f, on the other hand, they failed, Schellenberg would ha'e to pay the penalty and might e'en ha'e to reckon with the possibility of being li6uidated by %immler. *lways the same old methods ;ut on this occasion they backfired. ;efore handing the note to the Swedes, Schellenberg asked me if the constellations fa'ored such an undertaking, whether he should now proceed with his negotiations, and whether there was a danger that %immler might ha'e him shot. %is horoscope was a'ailable in exhausti'e detail. Schellenberg was not going to die at this point, and so was able to ad'ise him with a clear conscience to make further contact with the Swedes. 2ater he could expect a fortunate period, which meant that the reports in the foreign press could not harm him, e'en though %immler was likely to accuse him of going too far with his negotiations. was ordered to 2beck on *pril J, "#$@. was fetched by SS soldiers and Schellenberg&s personal chauffeur, ;uchwald, in a crimson !ercedes. =he Bourney to 2beck was Bust like being at the front. ?n the main roads we saw burnedout 'ehicles that had been strafed in lowle'el attacks. Wounded men, who had escaped from these 'ehicles, lay on the side of the road or dragged themsel'es along until passing dri'ers took pity on them and picked them up. +ust outside the *hrensburg railway station on the way to ?ldesloe, the lines had been torn up and trains derailed. ;ombed and shotup cars were lying on all sides5 lumps of iron had been scattered by the blast and lay in the fields beside the track. =he spring sunshine lit up the macabre scene. We reached 2ubeck late in the afternoon. ;uchwald dropped me off at the Fanziger %of %otel, which pro'ided temporary accommodation for the members of Fepartment : and
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Schellenberg&s office staff. =here met Schellenberg&s adButant, (ranz Goring. %e told me in great agitation of the damage caused by the 4oyal *ir (orce in the surrounding district, and also learned that a few of the Swedish truck con'oys had been hit in lowle'el attacks. t was some hours before Schellenberg arri'ed. -!ake sure that %immler sends me to Stockholm. Fo you ha'e all your files with you7- =hese were the words with which Schellenberg greeted me. %e looked 'ery tired and worn5 he was trembling as he took my hand and smiled to hide his fear. We then sat down in old basket chairs with filthy cushions and broken wickerwork which creaked e'ery time we mo'ed. =he room in which we were sitting was musty and untidy and dimly lit. =he dismal atmosphere made us e'en more aware of the misery around us. Schellenberg was deeply despondent, and now disco'ered that it was he and not %immler who had had me brought to 2beck. Nobody in the department knew about his chief&s problems. =his was e'ident from the con'ersation which had had with Schellenberg&s secretary, (ranz Goring, and 'arious other members of his staff. <'erywhere in the hotel men were hurriedly packing, stores of food were being carried about, and adButants, SS soldiers, and orderlies were running in e'ery direction as Schellenberg proceeded to tell me his troublesE -=he Western powers are still refusing to negotiate with %immler, and an armistice based on the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht is unacceptable. %ow are we to carry on7 =he public abroad has been told through 4euters about our contacts with the Swedes and about %immler&s note. What am to say to the 4eichsfhrer now7- *s searched through my files for the astrological information which needed in order to answer these 6uestions, Schellenberg continued, -%immler will accuse me of ha'ing placed him in an extremely difficult situation, because %itler will now relie'e him of his official posts. <'erything is breaking downNot a word about his own fate or that of his family, his attracti'e wife and his small children, crossed Schellenberg&s lips. When broached this subBect, he replied briefly and ner'ously, -What happens to me is not so important. still ha'e a chance. f the 4eichsfhrer sends me to Stockholm to negotiate the withdrawal of our troops in Norway, shall try to arrange something with ;ernadotte. )ersten will presumably ha'e no further interest in our affairs, so there&s no point in contacting him.- %e said this with great bitterness. Schellenberg then told me that %immler would be discussing this proBect with me, for he was still looking for a way out. could reply only that there was little hope of changing anything and that all could do was to speak a few words of comfort to the 4eichsfhrer. -;ut will try to discuss the cessation of hostilities in Norway and Fenmark with him,- said, -and then you may be able to conduct the negotiations for the e'acuation of our troops in Norway.Schellenberg regretted that the Swedes had so far refused to grant transit rights across their territory, adding that %immler was hoping that a fa'orable solution might yet be found following %itler&s death. =his was, of course, the one solution which would ha'e cost %immler nothing and which might ha'e enabled him to continue in office for a while as %itler&s successor, thus introducing a -stabilizing factor- into the nation&s affairs, as he himself put it. ncredible as it sounds, it seems that %immler still thought he could persuade the Western powers to Boin forces with him against the 4ussiansE that he was still so enamored of himself as to belie'e that the Western powers would welcome him with open arms. %e was always pointing out that
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following the Dalta /onference. *lthough Schellenberg had managed to arrange a meeting between ;ernadotte and the 4eichsfhrer anddespite the completely negati'e outcome of their talkswas prepared to repeat the experiment, this was really no more than a comforting gesture he was extending to %immler in the same way a doctor extends words of comfort to a dying man. ;ernadotte was only interested in using %immler to enable the 4ed /ross to fulfill its commitments. t had ne'er entered ;ernadotte&s head to try to sa'e him. When Schellenberg had finished speaking, proposed that should retire for an hour to study the 'arious horoscopes and establish the answers to his 6uestions in peace and 6uiet. ;efore meeting %immler, also wanted to memorize the new constellations which would be emerging in the immediate future. *nd after all the excitement and strain of the past few days, in which had been constantly on the mo'e, my mental and physical powers were at such a low ebb that badly needed an hour of solitude. *bout an hour later explained my proposals to Schellenberg. =here were no indications in his horoscope that his life was then in danger, but there were signs of a forthcoming Bourney. =hus was able to ad'ise him to prepare himself for a trip to Sweden and to think about who was to accompany him. *fter we had taken a light meal Schellenberg ordered his chauffeur to dri'e us to %immler&s command post. *s we walked through the hotel foyer, we were met by a warm musty wa'e of perspiration from the unwashed bodies of men who must ha'e been wearing the same clothing for days on end.
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a labyrinth of 'ehicles, road barriers, and huts and e'entually pulled up in front of the entrance to one of these. We entered and walked down a dimly lit, narrow corridor, which ran through the middle of the hut. (rom the rooms on our left we heard 'oices dictating5 from the right came the sound of heated debate intermingled with the clatter of crockery and glasses. =he hut was unbearably hot, since the windows could not be opened on account of the blackout. *n orderly then opened a door for us. Wooden benches ran along all four sides of the room, the wall paneling ser'ing as a backrest5 there were e'en benches underneath the windows. =o the left of the windows stood a few beds. *t the back of the room there was a large oak table, also ringed by benches. We sat down on one of the wall benches. Schellenberg ran through the points which had to be raised with %immler. *t midnight a siren sounded the all clear. Schellenberg seemed to ha'e become more confident and had cast off the despondency that had dogged him earlier that e'ening. Suddenly the door was thrown open, and %immler, with a cigar in his mouth and accompanied by General Grothmann, his military ad'iser, entered the room and greeted us. was introduced to the general. =he general said a few words to %immler and then left the room. %immler asked us to be seated. %e himself sat down at the head of the table. sat on his left and Schellenberg on his right. %immler&s face was swollen and flushed5 his eyelids were chafed. %e had Bust eaten and smelled of li6uor. watched him with great interest. (irst he asked Schellenberg to make his report. We realized that %immler was 6uite distraught about the 4euters article and was con'inced that %itler would relie'e him of his posts and ha'e him arrested. %e asked me what his constellations had to say on this point. !y documents and instruments lay on the table. spread out %immler&s horoscope and the charts needed to answer this 6uestion. *nd then something occurred that found incredible and that can only describe in plain terms, Bust as it happened. %immler addressed me in a 'oice in which agitation was mingled with regretE - now realize, %err Wulff, that in urging me to arrest %itler and enter into peace negotiations through the
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=his was of course a total delusion, for by that time it was far too late e'en to think of negotiating. tried to make %immler realize that after his failure to act on my earlier interpretations and suggestions, e'ents would now ha'e to take their course and the =hird 4eich would mo'e toward its ine'itable doom. ;ut he still clung to the mad idea that ha'ing sworn an oath of loyalty to the (uehrer, he must honor that oath, and he then proceeded to repeat the litany that he had deli'ered at %ohenlychen in !arch. ;eads of cold sweat gleamed on his face, and his body shook with suppressed sobs. n his trembling hand he held a large cigar, which he ner'ously pushed from one side of his mouth to the other, then remo'ed and laid on the ashtray, only to pick it up again and frantically return it to his mouth. (or a moment it looked as if %immler had been pacified by my explanations. ?n my way to this meeting had made up my mind to reproach him and to impress on him that he had only himself to blame for the present situation. -Now you can see, %err 4eichsfhrer, where your procrastination has got you,- began. -%itler will not reward you for your loyalty.- Schellenberg agreed with me and pointed out that %itler might no longer e'en be ali'e. *lthough it had looked for a minute as if %immler had regained his composure, in fact he was still 6uite out of control. %e shouted at me, -What&s going to happen7 t&s all o'er, nothing can be sa'ed now- =hen he whispered 6uietly, - must take my life, must take my life ?r what do you think should do7- *nd when did not answer him he shouted at me in his guttural nati'e !unich dialect, -Why don&t you tell me7 =ell me, tell me what am supposed to do- *nd he went on shouting the same thing o'er and o'er again. answered him 6uietlyE -(lee the country. hope you ha'e all the necessary documents.Schellenberg then inter'ened and explained to me that Fr. ;randt had taken the re6uisite measures for any e'entuality. ;ut he did not say what these measures were. -=ell me what to do, please tell me what to do- %immler repeated, as he stood in front of me like a frightened schoolboy about to be caned, alternately chewing his fingernails and raising his cigar to his lips with trembling hands. -What am to do, what am to do7- he went on. *nd then in answer to his own 6uestionE - must take my life5 there&s nothing else can do%immler had actually made no plans. %e had simply come to grief. *nd in this desperate situation from which there was no way out, an astrologer who had been persecuted by the Nazis and forced to li'e in their prisons and dark cells as a detainee was expected to ad'ise his torturer. *t last %immler&s suppressed sobs died away, but he still chewed ner'ously at his nails. =hen he suddenly looked at me suspiciously and asked, -What do you propose to do if Schellenberg&s mission fails7- shall return to %amburg tomorrow,- replied, -and wait for the
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%immler knew something about astrological techni6ues. %e was ac6uainted with the fundamental principles of a horoscope and knew how to apply them. *fter a further hour&s con'ersation he understood the astrological necessity for Schellenberg&s mission and finally authorized it. %immler then studied my interpretation of the horoscope, and because of the +upiterSaturn aspects which he found there and which he proceeded to explain with li'ely gestures, he gradually calmed down. %e was not the slightest bit angered by the criticisms to which we had subBected him. /onsidering his opportunities for action, %immler had cut a 'ery poor figure in the political de'elopments of recent years. %is whole attitude had been wrong. *nd now, e'en though Schellenberg had placed him in a decidedly dangerous position by his precipitate beha'ior during the discussion with ;ernadotte on the Fanish border, he still 'acillated. realized that night that was a complete enigma to %immler and that he had ne'er really understood my clearcut astrological statements. %e had twisted them to suit his own re6uirements. We ha'e already seen that %immler&s offer to the Western *llies to surrender all troops under his command was published in the foreign press on *pril J@. =he offer was made without %itler&s appro'al, although it would scarcely ha'e been possible to obtain this through the confused German communications system. %immler did not e'en recei'e an acknowledgment from the *llies. =hey preferred to ignore this offer from the 4eichsfhrer and commander in chief of the SS. %is offer had come decidedly late in the day. ;y then the *llied 'ictory was assured. Now, at the last moment, %immler clung to his friends. f %immler&s health had been bad at %ohenlychen, by now it was positi'ely pitiable. Without )ersten, he lacked both physical and spiritual solace. *t that time )ersten was safely at home in Stockholm, probably sitting in front of his writing desk playing with the banknotes that he had so recently ac6uired. wonder if he was thinking of his benefactor %einrich %immler at that moment. *dmiral Foenitz was at (lensburg, discharging his duties as %itler&s deputy. %e would be kept from his bed that night, for he had to sign the papers authorizing Schellenberg&s ambassadorial appointment. ;y then Schwerin 'on )rosigk had been made (oreign !inister. %e had been warmly recommended to %immler by Schellenberg. =he document authorizing Schellenberg&s Bourney to Sweden ga'e him full powers to enter into special negotiations with regard to the capitulation of the German troops stationed in Norway and Fenmark. t was drawn up by ;aron Steengracht 'on !oyland, Secretary of State under the new (oreign !inister, and was extremely important for Schellenberg&s mission and for his negotiations with /ount ;ernadotte. Schellenberg had already introduced /ount ;ernadotte to SS ?fficer
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*t that time two army groups were still intact and capable of resistance. General SchRrner, who commanded the first of these, had recently been to %itler&s bunker at ;erlin to discuss the military situation. %is troops were undefeated and fully e6uipped. n his delusion %immler imagined that after Boining SchRrner, he would be able to link up with the second of these two army groups, which was stationed in the south and led by (ield !arshal )esselring, and continue the war until the autumn of "#$@. =hree6uarters of the fighting forces in the south were still capable of resistance but were badly placed for the defense of either the east or the west. ?n *pril JJ, it still seemed possible to use these army groups to defer the ultimate catastrophe, for that was the only thing that interested the Nazi leaders5 they wanted to prolong their lease on life for as long as possible. !eanwhile, the situation had changed drastically. . *t this point in the con'ersation %immler asked me to tell him about a number of pri'ate matters from his horoscope. (or the most part these concerned his family, his children, and his mistress, 2iesel 3otthas. %e then spoke of our -friendship- and said that Schellenberg, )ersten, and we two must stick together. *fter this %immler rose to his feet and prepared to dismiss us. *s we were lea'ing, he asked me whether there would he another air raid that night. Schellenberg, who knew my yellow list of daily planetary aspects, replied that there would not. =here were no dangerous aspects listed for that time. (or Schellenberg the outcome of this talk was highly satisfactory. %immler was sending him to Sweden. %e had come to %immler with a guilty conscience, because he had already been pushing ahead with the negotiations with the Swedes to put an end to the catastrophe as 6uickly as possible. Now Schellenberg was tra'eling with %immler&s knowledge. %immler now left the room, and Schellenberg was told that he would recei'e his authorization in an hour&s time. We then returned to the Fanziger %of %otel. ?ur proposals for the cessation of hostilities in Norway and Fenmark had been appro'ed. Schellenberg had grown more confident and had gained fresh hope from this con'ersation. *s for %immler, he was waiting for the death of the (uehrer, news of which had not yet arri'ed. then told Schellenberg that wanted to return to %amburg at once. *s waited in one of the temporary office rooms allocated to Fepartment : for the car which was to be placed at my disposal, heard 'arious SS officers talking to one another5 they included adButant (lschlein. *fter Boining up with a group of officers from Fepartment : at Wesselburen, (lschlein had asked if accommodation could be found for him at 2beck. %e and his men were clinging to Schellenberg. =hey all knew that the general had important connections abroad. When (lschlein asked %immler what he should do later on, he was told to go into hiding until such time as it was safe to come out into the open again. (lschlein and )irrimayer were the only people with whom %immler was on &du& terms5 they were -blood
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brothers.- !eanwhile, my SS car had arri'ed and told the dri'er to return to %amburg by the 2ubeck main road and not by the *utobahn. =his was my last Bourney in an SS car, and this time was gi'ing the orders. ?n my way back to %amburg thought about this final con'ersation with %immler. %e really was still deluding himself with the idea that General SchRrner could hold out against the *llies for a considerable period. =his was the 'ery last glimmer of hope in an otherwise completely hopeless situation. %einrich %immler, 4eichsfhrer of the SS, who had held forth about the heroism of the ancient =eutons to his subordinates5 %immler, the terror of the concentration camps, of the +ews, and of all those persecuted for their political opinions, wanted to crawl away like a frightened mole and hide in the mountains of southern Germany with General SchRrner&s army. %e was Bust a pettifogging bureaucrat with scruples, but like his Bunior officers, he was true to his flag and true to his oath. %is only other sa'ing grace was economy. When it came to finances, he balanced his books down to the last pfennig. Now, in the closing days of the %itler 4eich, he was a wanderer in a hostile world, Bust like his (uehrer, who awaited the end in the bunker of the 4eich /hancellery in ;erlin. When all was lost and he was safe from %itler&s 'engeance, he renounced his allegiance. =hen, like %itler, %immler escaped earthly Bustice by committing suicide after he had been arrested by the
=he
Some of the official documents recorded by Schellenberg concerning Wulff&s predictions. 4ecommendedE *a"is+ The ,ccult ConspiracyE 'ideo concerning Wulff&s influence upon %immler, with commentary by Nicholas /ampion. 8=he section concerning Wulff is featured from timestamp $# mins until end9.
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