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The Haushofer Connection

Notwithstanding Adolf Hitler’s claims on the contrary, some authors believe that it was Karl Haushofer, whom they see as Hitler’s guiding brain, the one who suggested the Führer the adoption of the swastika as the Nazi symbol. This is, i. e., the opinion of Pauwels and Bergier. [1]

Karl Haushofer was born in Bavaria in 1869. He chose a career as a professional soldier, and his intellectual gifts and meticulous attention to detail quickly allowed him to get an appointment to the Staff Corps.

Haushofer is known to have had a reputation for precognition, manifested when he was a young field artillery officer in the Bavarian army. In 1908 the army sent him to Tokyo to study the Japanese army and to advise it as an artillery instructor. The assignment changed the course of his life and marked the beginning of his love affair with the Orient. During the next four years he traveled extensively in the Far East, adding Korean, Japanese, and Chinese to his repertoire of Russian, French, and English languages.

During his multiple visits to Japan, Haushofer made the acquaintance of many influential Japanese politicians and developed a strong rapport for the Japanese culture which helped in some way to create the German-Japanese alliance during the war.

Karl Haushofer had been a devout student of Schopenhauer, and during his stay in the Far East he was introduced to Oriental esoteric teachings. He became proficient enough to translate several Hindu and Buddhist texts, and became an authority in Oriental mysticism. Some authors even believe that he was the leader of a secret community of Initiates in a current of satanism through which he sought to raise Germany to world power, though these occult connections have been denied.

It is also believed that he belonged to the esoteric circle of George Gurdjieff. [2] Others claim that he was a secret member of the Thule Society. Some authors have linked Haushofer’s name with another esoteric group, the Vril Society, [3] or Luminous Lodge, a secret society of occultists in pre-Nazi Berlin.

It was not until the age of forty-five that he obtained his doctorate with a brilliant thesis on Political Geography. He continued developing the ideas expressed on his dissertation, until developing a whole new doctrine he called geopolitics. [4]

Among Haushofer’s students at Munich university was a young, bright army officer: Rudolf Hess. Soon Hess became Haushofer’s favorite student. Later Hess also became one of the closest associates of Hitler. He was serving time with Hitler at Lansdberg. It is a well known fact that it was Rudolf Hess who introduced Haushofer to Adolf Hitler, and also that the professor frequently visited the Führer while he was writing Mein Kampf in Landsberg Fortress prison after his failed Munich putsch in 1923.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, Professor Haushofer was instrumental in developing Germany’s alliance with Japan. Most of the meetings between high rank Japanese officials and Nazi leaders took place at his home near Munich. He saw Japan as the brother nation to Germany, the Herrenwolk of the Orient.

Before the war Professor Haushofer and his son Albrecht maintained close contacts with British members of the Golden Dawn. [5] When war between Germany and England broke out Haushofer tried to use his influence with Hess in trying to convince Hitler to make peace with the British.

In the Spring of 1941, after having failed to convince Hitler, Haushofer urged Hess to make a direct contact with the Duke of Hamilton, a Scottish member of the Golden Dawn. On may 10, 1941, Hess took off for Scot-land. Whether Hitler knew his plans or not is still subject of debate among historians.

The British government, however, didn’ t even want to hear Hess’ peace propositions and put him in jail incommunicado. After Hess’ failure the Nazis denounced him as mentally disturbed.

Karl and Albrecht Haushofer fell from grace. Albrecht became involved in a failed coup d’etat against Hitler on July 20, 1941. Karl Haushofer was sent to the infamous Dachau concentration camp, and Albrecht to the Moabite prison in Berlin, where was later executed.

Some authors claim that, while in Japan, Haushofer was active in the ultra-secret Green Dragon Society, whose members were under oath to commit ritual suicide if faced with dishonor. After the war Haushofer was among the Nazi members to be put to trial before the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. But Professor Haushofer never went to trial. After killing his wife, Karl Haushofer committed suicide in the traditional Japanese way, cutting his intestines with a sharp samurai short sword, in a personal, formal ceremony called seppuku (commonly known as hara-kiri).