Anastasia Movement

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The Anastasia Movement is a new religious movement in the right esoteric spectrum, based on the Anastasia book series , a series of novels by the Russian author Vladimir Megre (* 1950 as Vladimir Pusakow ) with esoteric - spiritual , conspiracy ideological , racist and anti-Semitic content.

History and structure

The Anastasia Movement originated in central Russia around 1997. The movement can be assigned to the deep ecological branch of the New Age and initially spread in post-Soviet societies . The ideology of the movement is based on the 10-volume novel Anastasia - The Ringing Cedars of Russia by the Russian esoteric Vladimir Megre. It contains ideas and views on all areas of lifestyle. The human being in relation to nature, to God and the universe is thematized, as well as a creation myth and concrete orientations towards gender relations and the upbringing of children.

After their origins in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, communes of the movement also emerged in Germany and Austria. The Anastasia movement is criticized by sect representatives, scientists and church representatives because of the right-wing esoteric , conspiracy-ideological and anti-Semitic content as well as the right-wing , nationalistic - folk blood-and-soil ideology .

In Russia, Ukraine , Belarus and Germany the movement emerged, whose followers try to live according to the ideas of Anastasia, mainly by creating family country houses. The movement is also politically active and has been constituted in a number of local or regional organizations that work loosely together. While some politicians commented positively on individual aspects, such as the then Russian President Medvedev ( the idea of ​​family country seats is absolutely positive ), the movement as a whole is viewed by historians and religious scholars as well as representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church as a totalitarian, destructive sect or neo-pagan Movement that wants to fraudulently enrich itself under the guise of ecological solutions to its supporters criticizes. The author Wladimir Megre responded to the sect allegations with a short story in which individual people and families each refer to themselves as their own "I sect".

InfoSekta, a Swiss office for sect issues, classifies the movement as problematic. It has a strong nationalistic, conspiracy-theoretical and right-wing esoteric orientation. Many of their central protagonists represented conspiracy theories and frequented right-wing nationalist circles. The firm anti-Semitism in Megres' conspiracy theories is also criticized. The Styrian ESO annual report 2015 describes how right-wing extremist and nationalist forces who "spread their views in an esoteric manner" mix with the more left-liberal mainstream of the scene, and criticizes the brisk commercial business that has developed around the cult.

In Megre's work, the Schetinin school is also discussed in detail, a Russian boarding school under the direction of Mikhail Schtschetinin (also simply transcribed as Schetinin ). InfoSekta criticizes their pronounced Wedrussian nationalism and their affinity for militarism (“Wedrussisch” refers to the thesis advocated by Megre, also called “Rusvedism”, that the pre-Christian Slavic civilization had Vedic roots). The similarly oriented LAIS learning groups, inspired by Shchetinin's concept, which are spreading in German-speaking countries, especially in Austria, are often assigned to the Anastasia movement.

Burkhard Körner , President of the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution , stated in a TV report on Bavarian Broadcasting that, because of the ethnic and anti-Semitic elements of its ideology, attempts by the Anastasia movement to found schools "must be countered by all means".

literature

  • Paul Hildebrandt: The dropout . "Believe & Doubt" rubric. In: The time . No. 25 , June 13, 2019, p. 46 ( Zeit Online (exclusive) [accessed November 24, 2019]).

Television reports

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Classification of the Anastasia movement in the right esoteric spectrum , infosekta.ch
  2. ↑ Rasa Pranskevičiūtė: The “Back to Nature” Worldview in Nature-based Spirituality Movements: The Case of the Anastasians. In: James R. Lewis and Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen: Handbook of Nordic New Religions , pp. 441–456, doi https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004292468
  3. ^ Roman Schweidlenka, ESO Annual Report 2015, LOGO ESO.INFO, July 2015
  4. ↑ Online interview with Dmitri Medvedev (Russian, 2008)
  5. ↑ Final document ( memento of September 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) of the conference Totalitarian Sects - Threat of the 21st Century , Nizhny Novgorod 2001 (Russian)
  6. ↑ Alexander Jarkow : Босоногая девица Настя ( Memento of February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) in Nezavisimaya Gazeta , July 2, 2008 (Russian)
  7. ↑ Wladmir Megre: Die ICH-SEKTE , Russian original text from www.anastasia.ru, 2003 (translation by: Heidt), also published in the magazine Taiga 1/2004, Verlag Silberschnur
  8. ↑ a b c Classification of the Anastasia Movement in the right esoteric spectrum , Department for Sect Issues, November 10, 2016
  9. ↑ Werner Reisinger: Green School, brown paint - Wiener Zeitung Online. In: wienerzeitung.at. June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Lais schools "Be all a little more natural!" , Wiener Zeitung Online, June 10, 2017
  11. ↑ Markhof: "We won't take part" , Wiener Zeitung Online, May 23, 2017
  12. ↑ The story: Brown ideology behind a green facade , article by BR magazine Kontrovers from November 21, 2018