As communities across the world hold events in remembrance of the liberation of the massive factory and murder complex known as Auschwitz on 27 January 1945 by the army of the Soviet Union, I thought I would speak to you about something not well known: some of the forgotten victims.
During the 1920s many esoteric movements in what was formerly Imperial Russia and neighboring countries (as the Soviet Union expanded) were closed and their members who could do so fled to the West. This period of official hostility to the psychic was a confusing aspect of the Soviet Union as it also conducted its own robust psychic research programs. However, those things we consider esoteric: qabala, alchemy, astrology, magic, and related topics were strictly denounced by the State. Publishers shut down and authors silenced, arrested, or fled for a variety of reasons.
Even in counties such a Spain, Poland and Yugoslavia for example (as it was elsewhere as well), strong anti-Masonic, and with it esoteric bans were officially in place. This did not always mean arrest or closure, but it meant life could be very difficult for organizations, publishers, and authors during this period between the First and Second World Wars.
Then we have the most well know of all: the Nazi Period from 1932 to 1945. Here we saw the destruction of the Anthroposophical headquarters in Dornach, Switzerland on New Year’s Eve 1922/23. The anti-Masonic laws in Germany started in January 1934 and were used as a sweeping tool against many fraternal (i.e., esoteric) movements such as Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and various Rosicrucian, Martinist, and other movements. It is believed that as many as 200,000 Freemasons alone were sent to concentration camps. This of course does not include non-Masonic groups covered by the bans. From early 1941 onward as a result of the flight of the flight of Rudolf Hess to England in an effort to broker a peace deal, Aktion Hess was implemented across the occupied territories – albeit with various degrees of effort – in which occult publishing houses were shut down and in some instance publishers and authors arrested. Among the most well known to many in Wester esotericism is Franz Bardon who spent time in a concentration camp and his experiences recounted later by his students. Some of the luckier ones were forced to participate in Nazi experiments in what we would today call remote viewing, dowsing, and psychic research.
During this period we see the famous “Magical Battle of Britain” wherein Dion Fortune organized a magical effort to keep England from being invaded. In occupied Paris Robert Ambelain and several companions, at great risk to themselves, organized a revival of older French movements to bring some occult power to play in the dark times. In occupied Holland, members of the Liberal Catholic Church were sticking dynamite up the tail pipes of German trucks, and in the South of France, the Grand Master of the Polish section of AMORC hid in the countryside to avoid arrest. The list goes on.
In 1946 several of the survivors of various Martinist, Rosicrucian, Templar, and Hermetic orders met in Brussels in an effort to revive their pre-war activities. As a result a publication entitled “The FUDOSI Journal” was published, a single issue, by the Rosicrucian Order (AMORC) and listed the names of those leaders who died in custody or where simply murdered in the street.
It was research I conducted during the 1980s on this period wherein I corresponded directly with aged survivors, and would receive my first official grant for the publication of an essay on this period – which was not well known at the time. It was also a peculiar experience in that I was employed in a grocery store whose owners were survivors of the camps, one of the customers was a doctor who was younger than them and had served in the Anti-Aircraft Corps (DAK) during the war. He had a spectacular interest in esotericism and I would visit him and we would discuss it in depth. It was during these visits that he recounted to me his brief encounters as a youth with Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Nazi Security Services and the primary organizer of the Final Solution, who visited his father to “negotiate” contracts for supplying the camps.
Of course, the post-war period is significantly different in Western Europe than Central and Eastern Europe. The oppression was also felt to various degrees in Asia under Japanese military expansion during the war and later in the post-war period with the Chinese invasion of Tibet, and massive death and destruction from the Cultural Revolution. Having known many people who went through these periods it must be clearly understood that they were no less destructive to organized esotericism than the National Socialist period, and in many instances worse because they lasted longer, or continue to this day.
As we look to Holocaust Remembrance Day and hear the slogan, “Never again” we must recognize the enemy is not a single political vision but totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and materialism whose seeds and fruit are ignorance, selfishness, and cowardice.
To truly say and mean “never again” we must embody and encourage wisdom, selflessness, and courage. These are the three pillars that we must use to build our inner and outer temples, within ourselves and with our co-workers on the Path.
As we move into 2026 and the years ahead, I ask each of you personally to demonstrate your personal conviction and commitment to these three pillars in your support for what the Institute for Hermetic Studies does. While the heavy handed oppression of organized political violence against esoteric movements is mostly a thing of the past, the seeds of ignorance, selfishness, and cowardice are eternally present. Only through your personal action and example can others be supported and guided towards the virtues of wisdom, selflessness, and courage. Virtues that are eternally required to build a better tomorrow for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren. Use the links below to further your personal illumination, commitment, and support.
Sincerely,
Mark Stavish, M.A.
Director of Studies
IHS Collection
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-mark-stavish-preserve-esoteric-wisdom
The Unknown Magus: An Introduction to the Life and Words of Julius Evola
https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/the-unknown-magus-an-introduction-to-the-life-and-work-of-julius-evola
Pluto in Aquarius: 2025 and Beyond
https://institute-for-hermetic-studies.teachable.com/p/pluto-in-aquarius-2025-and-beyond
Ike Baker – Arcanum Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HJVzTshntM&t=3s