Wilhelm Landig

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Wilhelm Landig (born December 20, 1909 in Vienna ; † 1997 ) was a former SS member who later wrote a novel trilogy on the Thule myth as a book author , which was mainly distributed in right-wing extremist circles.

life and work

Wilhelm Landig grew up in Vienna and was a supporter of Adolf Hitler in his youth . In 1920 he received military training in a middle school volunteer corps and later joined the NSDAP . After the failed Lamprechtshausener Nazi putsch in Vienna in 1934, he fled to the German Reich and joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and later the 8th SS Cavalry Division "Florian Geyer" to, in the latter he rose to Sergeant on . He then worked at the Ergonomics Institute of the German Labor Front (DAF) in Berlin and, after the annexation of Austria , was ordered back to Vienna, where he became the SD's clerk for secret Reich matters . He was directly subordinate to Baldur von Schirach , but also had good relations with Heinrich Himmler .

According to his own account, Landig was working on the development of the so-called Reichsflugplatten at that time , which later became a common motif in conspiracy theories . His exact work during the Nazi era is largely unknown. What is certain, however, is that he worked as a war spy in the Balkans for the Waffen SS from 1942 to 1944 and was wounded in Belgrade in 1944 . He then returned to Vienna and worked in Department I of the SD. After the war he was arrested and taken into British captivity . In 1947 he was released and joined various right-wing parties, such as the Association of Independents (a forerunner of the FPÖ ) and the DNAP .

Landig published a number of right-wing extremist publications, such as the monthly commentaries on current affairs and, from 1955, the Europa-Korrespondenz . He also founded his own publishing house in Vienna, Volkstum-Verlag, which also published his books. His main work was the Thule trilogy , with the volumes Götzen gegen Thule (1971), Wolfszeit um Thule (1980) and Rebellen für Thule - Das Erbe von Atlantis (1991). In these volumes, which can be assigned to trivial literature, he uses various common conspiracy theories of the right, such as the Reichsflugplatten, various myths about the organization of former SS members (ODESSA), the spear of fate and the black sun . At the center of each novel is a changing SS team that is always active shortly after the Second World War . " Thule " refers to one of the empire's last retreats in the Antarctic . The SS Landig is the most important point of reference in relation to a corrupt NSDAP, which would have made use of the “Reichsschatz” in the novel. Landig gives the trilogy a serious look by claiming to have packaged his secret knowledge in the form of a novel in order to circumvent the obligation of secrecy.

meaning

According to Anton Maegerle and Paul Friedrich Heller, Wilhelm Landig was one of the "most prominent representatives of National Socialist esotericism in the German-speaking world". He was also known as a link between various representatives of National Socialism and the New Right . He organized meetings and participated in illegal activities. His friends included Miguel Serrano , Hans-Ulrich Rudel and Jürgen Rieger , among others . As has been shown, Landig was also in direct contact with a younger generation of neo-Nazi- esoteric authors, especially those of the Tempelhof Society . This contributed significantly to the further development and dissemination of the ideas of the Landig district.

Works

  • Humor behind barbed wire. Cheerful sides of a serious chapter . Royal Edition, Vienna 1951.
  • Idols against Thule. A novel full of reality . Hans Pfeiffer Verlag, Hanover 1971, ISBN 3-87632-208-1 .
  • Wolf time around Thule . Volkstum-Verlag Landig, Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-85342-033-8 .
  • Rebels for Thule. The legacy of Atlantis . Volkstum-Verlag Landig, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-85342-044-3 .

literature

  • Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle : Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Butterfly Verlag , Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-89657-090-0 .
  • Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: In the Shadow of the Black Sun . Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-86539-185-0 .
  • Julian Strube: The invention of esoteric National Socialism under the sign of the black sun. In: Journal for Religious Studies. Volume 20, Issue 2, 2012, ISSN  0943-8610 , pp. 223-268, doi: 10.1515 / zfr-2012-0009 .
  • Rüdiger Sünner: Black Sun. Unleashing and abuse of the myths in National Socialism and right esotericism . Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1999, ISBN 3-451-05205-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: In the Shadow of the Black Sun. Marix Verlag Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-86539-185-0 , p. 13.
  2. ↑ Stefan Meining : Right esotericism in Germany. Constructs of ideas, interfaces and potential dangers . In: Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (ed.): Right-wing extremism and Islamism in Germany and Thuringia Lectures on the occasion of the symposium of the Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution on September 3, 2002 in Erfurt . S. 49 ( online at: thueringen.de [PDF]).
  3. ^ Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle : Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right . 2nd, updated and revised edition. Butterfly Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-89657-090-0 , p. 96-98 .
  4. ^ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity . NYU Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8147-3155-4 , pp. 129 .
  5. ^ Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right . Butterfly-Verlag, 1998, p. 98 .
  6. ^ Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right . Butterfly-Verlag, 1998, p. 99-102 .
  7. ^ Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right . Butterfly-Verlag, 1998, p. 96 .
  8. ^ Friedrich Paul Heller, Anton Maegerle: Thule. From folk occultism to the New Right . Butterfly-Verlag, 1998, p. 103 .
  9. ↑ Julian Strube: The invention of esoteric National Socialism under the sign of the black sun. In: Journal for Religious Studies. 20, issue 2 (2012), especially pp. 228–260.
personal data
SURNAME Landig, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian writer and former SS member
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 1997