The Influence of the Occult on the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet

Ernst Schäfer and his expeditionary team in Lhasa in 1938

In the late spring of 1938 a German expedition team arrived in Calcutta with the aim of entering into Tibet. The expedition team consisted of: Zoologist, ornithologist, and expedition leader Ernst Schäfer; Entomologist, photographer, and camera operator, Ernst Krause; Ethnologist, Bruno Beger; Geophysicist, Karl Wienert; and technical caravan manager Edmund Greer. As well as being scientists, all of the five members were also officers in the SS. Weeks before the German invasion of Poland on September 1^st, 1939, the team had returned from their expedition and had successfully entered Tibet and had collected a large amount of scientific material.¹ Occultism, the belief in the existence of secret, mysterious, or supernatural agencies, has been claimed to have links to Nazism and its beliefs on the roots of the Aryan Race. For many, the 1939 German expedition to Tibet was proof of this link. Some theories claim that Hitler held occultist beliefs of a hidden population of Aryan supermen in the Himalayas and that the expedition was thus driven by Hitler’s desire to find these people. Other’s point to Himmler and claim that it was his occult beliefs in Tibet that led him to sponsor the expedition and then use it to serve his occultic interests. However, contrary to the claims of many sensational genres of literature, the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet was not driven by occult beliefs on the roots of the Aryan race, but rather by the scientific interests of Ernst Schäfer.

Schafer Meets With Himmler

Ernst Schäfer

By the time Schäfer had met Himmler in their meeting in 1936, Himmler had become one of the Third Reich’s strongest figures. Himmler possessed substantial power with his new position as Chief of German Police which gave him control over every police department in the Reich. In the previous summer of 1935, Himmler and his associates had founded the “Ahnenerbe” (transliterated as “something inherited from the forefathers” but also translated sometimes as the ‘Ancestral Heritage Society’). Its official purpose was: “The investigation of space, spirit, accomplishments, and the heritage of the Indo-Germanic peoples of the Nordic Race, the verification of the results of their research, and their transmission to the people.”³ The Nazis had used the term ‘Aryan’ to denote a racial group, as opposed to its proper use as a group of Proto-Indo-European speakers. The use of this term as such preceded the Nazis, in 1819 a classical scholar Freidrich Von Schlegal (1722-1829) first coined the use of the term. The Ahnenerbe was geared towards distorting the truth in order to provide evidence to support these racial ideas, particularly proof of the superiority of the “Aryan race.” The “Ahnenerbe” was an integrated part of the SS, it was an office within Himmler’s personal staff and its members wore SS uniforms and had SS ranks.

Himmler’s Occult Beliefs on Tibet

Himmler was fascinated by the orient and occultism, it was rumored that he had even carried a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, a revered and sacred scripture of Hinduism. He had a strong interest in the mysteries and legends surrounding Tibet, and to Himmler, Schäfer was an emissary of this mysterious world. Thus, Himmler took great interest in Schäfer’s studies.⁴

Hans Hörbiger

During their meeting Himmler explained to Schäfer his strong belief in the cosmological theory of Hans Horbiger’s Welteislehre (‘World Ice Theory’). The World Ice Theory was created by Austrian Hans Horbiger (1860-1931), and was described in detail, in over eight hundred pages, in The Glacial Cosmogeny of Horbiger by Philip Fauth. The theory claimed that the planets and moons of our solar system were created thousands of millions of years ago from an accumulation of cosmic ice somewhere in space that was hit by a super-star, which caused the ice to disperse and thus forming the milky way. Over time, each planet and moon was said to eventually crash into its nearest neighbor and once again form an accumulated mass of cosmic ice which would then explode once more and spark a new cycle all over again. According to the theory, the Earth had already attracted and collided with three moons, and that its current moon, made of ice, would eventually repeat this cycle. The World Ice Theory was very popular in many occultic circles. Many of its believers claimed that the cosmology behind the theory originated 9,000 years ago in ancient Tibet, and that before the collision of the third moon into Earth, some 150,000 years ago, the Earth had been in a ‘mythical Golden Age’ and was inhabited by the civilizations of Lemuria, Atlantis, and Thule, which were all destroyed during the third moon’s falling on the Earth.⁵ According to Horbiger, the collision of the ice moon into earth explained the extinction of the dinosaurs, the biblical flood, and the destruction of Atlantis.⁶ Himmler had also believed these claims and also believed that the inhabitants of Atlantis were Aryans who had descended from the heavens and settled on the continent. It has been speculated that Himmler believed in the myth of exiled Aryan ancestors of Atlantis who had established a mythical city in a subterranean world below Tibet somewhere in the Himalayas. The theory was described by Trevor Ravenscroft in The Spear of Destiny. According to Ravenscroft the Aryans of Atlantis were led out of Atlantis, before it’s destruction, by “the great Manu, the last of the sons of the gods or supermen,” and were taken straight from Europe into Asia, the Gobi Desert, and then finally into Tibet where they formed the underground realm of Agarthi.⁷ Karl Maria Wiligut (1866-1946), a man know as ‘Himmler’s Rasputin, was someone who was said to have provoked Himmler’s deep interest in Tibet. Wiligut claimed to have journeyed to India and visited a Lamaist monastery there where his friends claimed he had transcendent experience into another astral plane. Wiligut was convinced that Lhasa, Urga (Ulan Bator), the Egyptian Pyramids and Vienna formed a kind of geomantic quadrilateral, from which powerful energy beams ran from Ulan Bator to Vienna and another from the Pyramids to Lhasa. Himmler was said to have believed in this theory, as well as the aforementioned theories. Thus, Himmler’s decision, during his meeting with Schäfer in the summer of 1936, to offer to help with Schäfer’s future plans of exploration and to provide Schäfer with the funds needed for his next expedition to Tibet are are argued by many to have been driven by his desires to explore in his occult beliefs of Tibet; consequently allowing Himmler to use the expedition led by Schäfer for his occultic interests. ⁸

Himmler’s Failure to Influence Schäfer’s Expedition

The claims of these many conspiracy theorists that Himmler had used Schäfer in order to pursue his occult interests are false. It is true that Himmler did have the intention to use Schäfer’s expedition in this manner, which is something Schäfer attests to after the war, but these theories leave out very important facts that fabricate or contradict the truth. Firstly, Himmler did have occult interest in exploring Tibet but he also had non-occult political and military interests in Tibet. For example, Himmler had a bitter rivalry with Alfred Rosenberg, Reichsleiter and head of the Ahnenerbe’s rival organization, the Amt Rosenberg. “Like Himmler, [Rosenberg] was obsessed with Aryan origins, the fate of Atlantis as well as a of pseudoscientific meta-theories about history.”⁹ Thus, with the successful undertaking of a celebrated expedition Himmler believed he could gain a political advantage over his rival Rosenberg, as well as demonstrate the value of the Ahnenerbe’s work. Secondly, the extent of Himmler’s occult beliefs are largely speculation. The claims that Himmler believed in very specific theories like that of Agarthi, Aryan supermen, and geomantic quadrilateral energies have no base in any real evidence. Thirdly, and most importantly, contrary to the claims of these mentioned authours and occult groups, Himmler did not use the expedition for his occult interests because, although it is true that he had interests in doing so, his attempts were unsuccessful. As an applied scientist, Schäfer felt conflicted by Himmler’s constant attempts to influence the work of the expedition’s scientists in order to to pursue his occult interests.¹⁰ Schäfer’s plans for the expedition were for more legitimate scientific purposes, thus, Himmler’s occult plans for the expedition caused Schäfer to distance himself from the Ahnenerbe’s sponsorship. Schäfer requests for permission to independently conduct negotiations concerning the expeditions financing and organization was finally granted in January 1938 when Wolfram Sievers, general secretary of the “Ahnenerbe,” and a man who was later to be executed at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity, declared that “…the tasks of the expedition has diverged too far from the goals of the Reichsführer-SS and does not serve his ideas of cultural studies.”¹¹ A letter from Schäfer to his team member Bruno Beger sent a month before the statement, in December 1937, shows Schäfer’s reaction to finally being gaining scientific freedom from Himmler’s influence. Schäfer wrote, “…I set the yardstick for our coming expedition quite independently of other people or explorations…This independence awarded to me by the Reichsführer – and without which I would have never have taken on the charge…”¹² (The anachronism in dates suggests that Schäfer had received the news before the official statement). Therefore, sponsorship of the expedition by the Ahnenerbe was withdrawn and Schäfer was to look elsewhere for the funds needed for his expedition. This meant that besides the political help given, the German Expedition to Tibet when launched in 1939 was not sponsored or financed by Himmler or the “Ahnenerbe”. Schäfer was able to successfully raise the funds for the expedition from independent German companies such as, its biggest sponsors, Werberat der Deutschen Wirtschaft (‘Public Relations and Advertising Council of the German Economy’) and Illustrierter and Voelkischer Beobachter (a publishing house) each sponsoring 40,000 Reichsmarks. The expedition also received individual help from Germans like Hermann Goering, a hunting enthusiast like Schäfer who took great interest in the accounts of Schäfer’s hunting experiences in Tibet from Schäfer’s book Mountains, Buddhas and Bears; Goring helped by procuring foreign currency for the expedition.¹³

Multiple SS Expeditions to Tibet?

The different conspiracy’s theories on the German involvement with Tibet claim that the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet was only one of the many German expeditions sent into Tibet. According to Helsing, the Germans had undertaken two SS expeditions to the Himalayas in order to find the entrances to the underground realm of Agarthi. In contrast, Pauwels and Bergier claim that SS had mounted multiple expeditions to Tibet until 1943. However, although there had been a 1939 mountaineering expedition to the Himalayas to climb the Nanga Parbat, the 1939 German expedition led by Ernst Schäfer, was the only German expedition sent to Tibet under the name of the SS. ¹⁴

Interestingly however, there had been plans of another SS expedition to Tibet after the return of the 1939 expedition. Just months after Schäfer had returned from his expedition he devised a plan to to return to Tibet with a select group of men through the Soviet Union, who was an ally of Germany at the time, train and equip Tibetan guerilla army consisting of Tibetan nomads and then unleash them against British-India.¹⁵ But in 1940, the operation was called off by Alfred Rosenberg and never took place. In that same year Schäfer had become leader of the ‘Research Centre for Inner Asia and Expeditions’. As Germany began to advance towards the East and the Japan began to advance towards the West, Tibet increasingly became recognized as an object of ‘purposeful research’ that would be important for the war. It was also contemplated as to whether Tibet could play a significant role as an ‘allied race’ within a “pan-Mongolian federation” under the support of Germany and Japan. Consequently, in the spring of 1942, plans for another Tibet expedition were drawn up but were once again were called off after the German army had reached the Caucasus and investigative work in this area was deemed as more important then the work in Tibet.¹⁶

Hitler and Tibetan Occultism

Adolf Hitler

The speculation of Nazi leaders involved in the occult has not only surrounded Himmler, in the conspiracy theories of German author, Jan van Helsing (aka. Jan Udo Holey), Helsing claims that Hitler had believed in the occult conspiracy theories of Agarthi and that the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet had been the result of a request by Hitler to find the entrances into the underground realm of Agarthi in order to contact the descendents of the “Aryan god-men”. Helsing claims that Hitler was “completely taken” by the search for this realm and countless young men were trained in order to be sent to Tibet for this task.¹⁷ In 1960, Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier published their best-seller, The Morning of the Magicians, which claimed Nazi connections to occult beliefs linked to Tibet. Pauwels and Bergier wrote that the Nazis took “extraordinary interest” in Tibet, and that “Tibetan lamas” had even settled and formed colonies in Munich and Berlin in 1926. One of these “lamas” had lived in Berlin and was nicknamed “the man with the green gloves.”¹⁸ They claim that Hitler had regularly visited and consulted this man, and that the man was rumored to have possessed the keys to “Agarthi,” a legendary subterranean city where a theocracy of rulers directed global events and ruled over a spiritually and technologically advanced people. Pauwels and Bergier argue that Hitler had therefore sent the expedition in 1939 out of his desire to find Agarthi, a city which Hitler was said to have been made aware of from his relationship with “the man with the green gloves.”¹⁹ Historian Lee Feigon, attributes the 1939 expedition to the occult interests of both Hitler and Himmler and explains that it had even been reputed that, by Hitler’s request, the expedition had brought back a group of monks to Germany whom Hitler then instructed to “perform special chants to alter weather patterns in preparation for his ill-fated Russian invasion.”²⁰

However, these claims that Hitler had requested the expedition because of his occultic interests and occultic forces that influenced him has no evidence; In fact, the evidence would strongly suggest otherwise. The stories of Hitler’s beliefs and links to the occultic have been around since the 1920s in the earliest days of the Nazi era. After the war these stories and the literature explaining the supposed link became more numerous and more popular. As Ken Anderson explained in his book Hitler and the Occult, many of these claims are now accepted and considered as important and explanatory parts of Hitler’s story.²¹ Those who argue that Hitler was linked to occultism claim that Hitler had connections to occult figures like Lanz Von Liebenfels and “the man with the green gloves”, or occult groups like the Thule society. However all of this speculation, and no definitive evidence has proven these claimed links. For example, based on the information from the German “aliens branch of the police”, there is no evidence of any Tibetan monk living and working in Germany during Hitler’s time.²² Therefore, the claims of “the man with the green gloves” are absurd and the claims of a Tibetan colony in Germany even more so. The only recorded Tibetan in Germany during this period was a servant of the explorer Albert Tagel, who later married a German woman and published a book in 1947. However, it was later discovered that this supposed Tibetan was really a fraud and was really a non-Tibetan man named T. Illion.²³

Writers like Francis King (Satan and Swastika), Gerald Shuster (Hitler: The Occult Messiah), and Trevor Ravenscroft (The Spear of Destiny), have attempted to tie Hitler to the occult by claiming that he had interests in occult-like subjects like magic, the paranormal, psychokinesis, and water divining. However, from what we know of Hitler’s youth, Hitler was said to have had a wide range of interests and read a diverse range of books which also included subjects like history, religion, technology, art, architecture, and military science. Therefore, it is not fair to say that Hitler held occult beliefs simply based on a possible passing interest of his youth in occult subjects. In fact, the records of Hitler’s actions and words would suggest that, later in his life, he had held contempt for occultism and did not believe in it. Hitler also seemed to have looked down on the Nazis who did believe in these bizarre beliefs and even mocked their interests. Hitler’s contempt for occultism was demonstrated in July 1937 when he banned the occult action of Freemasonic lodges, Theosophical circles, and related groups throughout the Reich by official decree. Hitler also held contempt for astrology and horoscopes, according Martin Brauen, informants who had known Hitler quite closely reported that Hitler had viewed astrology as absurd. Evidence of this was demonstrated when Hitler banned the practice of fortune-telling and star-reading in Germany prior to the outbreak of the war.²⁴ In addition, on September 6^th, 1938, Hitler made a speech at a Kulturtagung stating that:

National Socialism is a cool and highly reasoned approach to reality based on the greatest scientific knowledge and its spiritual expression… . Above all, National Socialism is a Volk Movement in essence and under no circumstances a cult movement! … For this reason, the infiltration of the movement by mystically inclined researchers into the otherworldly cannot be tolerated. They are not National Socialists, but something else – certainly something with which we have nothing to do. … Cult-like activities are no our responsibility, but that of the churches.²⁵

From this speech we see that Hitler perceived National Socialism (Nazism) as a “Volk Movement” driven by reason and based from science rather than occult beliefs in magical or supernatural forces. Of course in reality Nazism was driven by what the Nazis believed or simply passed off as reason and science, but from this speech we see that Nazism’s head figure recognized the nature of occultism as “cult-like” and its researchers of the “otherworldly” as people whom he did not want associated with Nazism. Himmler had recognized these sentiments held by Hitler, especially after his Ahnenerbe’s occultist research and expeditions had received little interest from Hitler. Thus, in the summer of 1936 Himmler had sought out Ernst Schäfer largely because of this. Himmler wanted the “Ahnenerbe” to earn legitimacy in Hitler’s eyes by extending its research into serious sciences like the field of natural sciences. Schäfer was a recognized naturalist and had won fame and respect for his previous two expeditions to Tibet and therefore seemed like the perfect candidate for achieving this goal.²⁶ Unfortunately even after the success of Schäfer’s expedition Hitler’s disinterest in the “Ahnenerbe’s” research remained unchanged. Tibet and its religion seemed “alien and irrelevant” to Hitler. Consequently, according to one of Hitler’s subordinates, on May 14^th, 1942, in his Wolfsschanze headquarters, Hitler, after being told about the film Geheimnis Tibet (‘Mystery Tibet’ – a film about the 1939 German expedition to Tibet), he responded with no concern for the film or Tibet.²⁷ Therefore, contrary to what is claimed in many publicized works and occult theories, the claims that Hitler requested the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet in order to explore his occult interests are complete fiction.

Schafer’s Scientific Interests

The 1939 German expedition to Tibet was not driven by occultist interests like finding a secret subterranean realm or hidden higher beings of Aryan ancestry. The expedition was explicitly scientific, its aims were to create a complete scientific record of Tibet, “through a synthesis of geology, botany, zoology, and ethnology, referred to in the German science of the day as “holism.””²⁸ In the summer of 1945, Schäfer was captured in Munich by the Allies as the advanced into Bavaria. Due to his position as an officer in the the SS, Schäfer was immediately taken as a prisoner of war and interned at Camp Moosburg where he received ‘de-nazification’ treatment until he received a certificate of exoneration after three years .²⁹ During his interrogations by US military intelligence agents, Schäfer stated that he had used the SS only as a means to obtain funding and support for his scientific research. He described Himmler’s occult beliefs as absurd and laughable, he explained that “it would have been impossible,… for a hard-headed scientist such as himself to have admired a man like that.”³⁰ Certainly this may have been a testimony used by many Germans affiliated with the SS or Himmler who wished to cover-up their past criminal activities or their past Nazi connections, especially to Heinrich Himmler himself, but Schäfer’s final interrogation report remarks that his statements were reliable and also confirmed by Schäfer’s former secretaries who were also interrogated. Schäfer’s past actions seem to also suggest that his statements during the interrogation were reliable. During the early stages of planning for the expedition Himmler had repeatedly pressured Schäfer into recruiting his team from the Ahnenerbe staff. Himmler had recommended Edmund Kiss, an occultist and archaeologist whom Himmler had tasked with the objective of finding proof of the ‘World Ice Theory’s’ validity, but Schäfer repeatedly refused Himmler’s attempts. As Isrun Engelhardt explains, “Schäfer from childhood on hated to yield to authority and resisted being used in any way, be it political or ideological.”³¹

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 1939 German Expedition to Tibet was not driven by occultic beliefs on the roots of the Aryan race but rather the scientific interests of Ernst Schäfer. Firstly, claims that Himmler’s occult beliefs and position as a SS-Reichsführer, allowed him to exert his influence on the expedition’s goals are completely false. Himmler had failed in exerting his influence on the expedition. Ernst Schäfer’s scientific interests as head of the expedition conflicted with Himmler’s interests, and consequently, after failure to dictate his interests, Himmler withdrew financial sponsorship of the expedition, thus leaving all of the expeditions objectives, planning, and funding in Schäfer hands. Secondly, claims that Hitler held occultist beliefs surrounding Tibet that compelled him to request the expedition in order to explore his beliefs are also completely fabricated. Evidence shows that Hitler did not believed in occultism and that he even ridiculed those who held occult beliefs. In practice, Hitler’s actions seemed to also suggest he looked down on occultism after he passed laws banning occultist practice. And lastly, the expedition was not driven by occultic interests because Ernst Schäfer’s had successfully resisted Himmler’s repeated efforts to influence the expedition’s aims. Thus Schäfer, a man who found Himmler occult beliefs laughable, was able to dictate his own scientific interests for the expedition.

1Final Interrogation Report (OI-FIR/32), “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored Institutes,” United States Forces – European Theatre. Military Intelligence Service Center, Feb. 12, 1946.

2Christopher Hale, Himmler’s Crusade: The Nazi Expedition To Find The Origins of the Aryan Race. (New

Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2003) 3-4.

-Final Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored

Institutes.”

3Joseph Tenenbaum, Race and Reich: The Story of an Epoch. (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1956) 30

4Hale, 5.

-Heather Pringle, The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust. (London: Fourth Estate, 2006) 2-3

-Final Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored

Institutes.”

-Martin Brauen, Dreamworld Tibet: Western Illusion (Thailand: Weatherhill, 2004) 64

5Gerald Suster, Hitler: The Occult Messiah, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981) 167-169.

6Hale 118

7Brauen 58-60

8Isrun Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,” in Tibet in 1938-1939:

Photographs from the Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet. Ed. Isrun Engelhardt (Chicago: Serindia, 2007)13-15

-Isrun Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” in Images of Tibet in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries, Vol. 1., Ed. Monica Esposito (Paris: Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient, 2008) 76

-Final Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored

Institutes,”

-Goodrick-Clark 177

-Brauen 65-66

9Hale 117

10Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,”16

-Final Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored

Institutes,”

11Nigel Pennick, Hitler’s Secret Sciences: His Quest for the Hidden Knowledge of the Ancients (Suffolk: Neville Spearman Limited, 1981) 150

-Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76

12Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,”17

-Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76

13Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 77

14Hale 26

-Brauen 68-69

15Hale 15

16Engelhardt “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 69

17Hale 32

Brauen 58-60

18Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 67, 80-81

19Suster, 123

-Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 67, 80-81

-Brauen 52

20Lee Feigon, Demystifying Tibet (Chicago: Elephant, 1996) 15

21Ken Anderson, Hitler and the Occult (New York: Prometheus Books, 1995) 14

22Brauen 62

23Brauen 62

24Ibid 35

25Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 71

26 Pringle, 146-147

-Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 75-76

-Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,” 14-15

27Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 72

28 Claudius Muller, “The Schäfer Collection Through An Ethnographic Lens,” in Tibet in 1938-1939:

Photographs from the Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet. Ed. Isrun Engelhardt (Chicago: Serindia, 2007)

-Engelhardt, “The Nazis of Tibet: A Twentieth Century Myth,” 76

29Hale 6

30Final Interrogation Report, “The Activities of Dr. Ernst Schaefer, Tibet Explorer and Scientist with SS-Sponsored

Institutes.”

31Engelhardt, “Tibet in 1938-39: The Ernst Schäfer Expedition to Tibet,” 16-17



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