Karl Germer

Karl Johannes Germer (born January 22, 1885 in Elberfeld , † October 25, 1962 in West Point ) was a German occultist . He was a leading member of the Ordo Templi Orientis . His religious name was Frater Saturnus .

Germer was a highly decorated officer of the First World War. In the 1920s he first came into contact with the teachings of Crowley. Germer was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to a concentration camp on charges of “soliciting supporters for the high degree Freemason Aleister Crowley living abroad” . At the beginning of the war, the American consul managed to get Germers released, who then moved to America in 1941. There, as Grand Treasurer General and Crowley's right-hand man, he ran the business of the OTO largely alone. On March 14, 1942, Aleister Crowley appointed Karl Germer as his successor as "Outer Head of the Order" (OHO). He wrote to Germer: “I will appoint you as my successor as OHO ... a fundamental change in the structure of the order and its methods is necessary. The secret is the foundation, and you have to find the right people. ”After Crowley's death in 1947, his confidante Germer took over the management of the Ordo together with an advisory board consisting of Frederic Mellinger , Grady McMurtry , Max Schneider and Jane Wolfe Templi Orientis and held this office until his death in 1962. Crowley buried the ashes of Germer in his garden in California. Germer did not name his own successor.

Web links

• History of the OTO (Karl Germer) , website of the OTO