NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Sta nam donosi 1940? Odgovara nam cuveni fransuski astrolog Nostradamus u svome depu "Les vrayes Centuries et Propheties" (Belgrade, 1940)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

In a note, probably written around the end of June, 1940, dr. Werner Wilmanns, head of the IV Inf section of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and involved in the production of national-socialist propaganda, based upon the Centuries and/or Century-comments, referred to a Nostradamus-brochure which had been brought into circulation shortly before he wrote this note. One of the enclosures of this note was a copy of this brochure. On this website, it is assumed that this was a copy of the brochure Sta nam donosi 1940? Odgovara nam cuveni fransuski astrolog Nostradamus u svome delu "Les vrayes Centuries et Propheties".[1] This brochure was the Serbian version of Was bringt das Jahr 1940? Die Antwort geben uns  Les vrayes Centuries et Propheties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus", a national-socialist text about Nostradamus, written in November - December 1939 by Hans-Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, prof. dr. Karl Bömer and Leopold Gutterer, managers, working at the Ministry of Propaganda.[2] 
According to a report by dr. Ernst Brauweiler, head of the Ausland section of the Ministry of Propaganda, on the activities of his section in the period January 1 - August 31, 1940, the number of copies of a Serbian version of a Nostradamus-writing which was published in eight languages, was 10.000; the total circulation number of all of the eight versions was 83.0000. On this website, it is assumed that with the Serbian version the brochure Sta nam donosi 1940? is meant. In Brauweiler's report, one can also read that the number of printed Croatian copies was 25.000 and the number of printed Rumanian copies was 5.000. In other words: for the Slavonic part of Europe, the total number of copies in the period January 1 - August 31, 1940, was 40.000, almost half of the circulation.[3] 

Design and composition
Sta nam donosi 1940? (tr.: What will 1940 bring?) is designed as a brochure in octo-format, with its pages stitched. Sta nam donosi 1940? consists of 16 pages. There are no illustrations. 
On the cover page of Sta nam donosi 1940?, the publisher's name Mecunarodna knjizarnica is printed. This company was seated in Belgrade. On the back of the cover page, the printer's company name Napredak was mentioned. This printer was seated in Panchevo, a city, north-east of Belgrade. Nobody is mentioned as being the author.[4] 
The full title of Sta nam donosi 1940? contains the title Les vrayes centuries et propheties. This is, as is written in Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?, the Dutch version of this brochure, a reference to the photocopy of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition, made by the Frenchman P.V. Piobb in 1927. From this photocopy, Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s. copied French quatrain texts in order to raise the impression that they had translated and studied these quatrain texts.[5]
In Was bringt das Jahr 1940?, the text is divided in two parts: an untitled part about the life and work of Nostradamus and predictions in the Centuries which are fulfilled, and a part, entitled Gegenwart und Zukunft, in which predictions in the Centuries are discussed which deal with the actual situation and the future. In Sta nam donosi 1940?, the text is divided in seven chapters and an untitled epilogue.

The titles of the first six chapters and the distribution of the text corresponds with the titles of the corresponding chapters and the distribution of the text in these chapters in Que se passera-t-il entre le printemps 1940 et le printemps 1941?, the French version of this brochure. There are also correspondences with the chapter titles and the distribution of the text in these chapters in Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558, the Italian version of this brochure.
The next table contains a short description of the contents of the chapters in Sta nam donosi 1940?, and the corresponding texts in Was bringt das Jahr 1940? ("Berlin", the German source text) Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen? ("Pasteur"), Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 ("Genoa"), Nostradamus spådomar om kriget ("Norab"-1940a), What will happen in the near future? ("Norab"-1940b), Što se dogadjalo i što će se dogoditi ("Zagreb") and Que se passera-t-il entre le printemps 1940 et le printemps 1941? ("Rossier"). The Serbian chapter titles are translated into English.

Quatrain texts
Sta nam donosi 1940? contains 12 French quatrain texts, printed in Latin script. These are the texts of the quatrains 01-35, 01-36, 10-100, 03-57, 02-100, 08-37, 02-78, 03-32, 03-71, 08-97, 02-85 and 03-58. In Was bringt das Jahr 1940?, the French texts of the quatrains 01-35, 01-36, 03-57 and 03-58 were copied from the 1938-Piobb-copy; the French texts of the other French quatrains in Sta nam donosi 1940? were copied from De Fontbrunes Les propheties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus. Expliquées et commentées (Sarlat, 1939 [1938], fifth edition; on p.11 of Sta nam donosi 1940?, the title of this book is mentioned). It is quite conceavable that these French quatrain texts were inserted in order to raise the impression that Sta nam donosi 1940? is not just a brochure, but a thorough Century-comment. The text of the quatrains 01-01 and 01-02, legendary quatrains one might say which are linked to Nostradamus' methods, are only printed in Serb, not in French. The Serb translation of these quatrains is the translation of Winkler's free translation in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (Görlitz, 1939 [1938]), which Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s. had copied in their source text.

The propaganda message 
Sta nam donosi 1940? had to show the readers that the fall of England was at hand and that her leading role in the world would be taken over by Germany, something which many centuries ago was predicted by Nostradamus. The description of predictions by Nostradamus which already were fulfilled, had to show the credibility of this message. In contrast with Nostradamus spådomar om kriget, the Swedish version of the text by Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s., no attention is given in Sta nam donosi 1940? to specific matters regarding the area in which this brochure had to be spread. 
The question is why in the Slavonic region propaganda material was spread which was connected in one way or another to the Westfeldzug, which was not directed against the Slavonic region, but against Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Perhaps, the spread of the Nostradamus-brochure among the Serbs have to be related to the problems of the Germans who lived in Serbia and who after World War I had a hard time. 

The discussed quatrains in Sta nam donosi? versus Was bringt das Jahr 1940?
Except for quatrain 02-75, all quatrains which are discussed in Was bringt das Jahr 1940?, are also discussed in Sta nam donosi 1940?. The comments in Sta nam donosi 1940? are identical with the comments in in Was bringt das Jahr 1940?. Compared with Was bringt das Jahr 1940?, no quatrains were added in Sta nam donosi 1940?.

Prorocanstva Nostradamusova
In the chapter Nostradamus, prorok za sva vremena in Nostradamus Prorocanstva - Istinite centurije i Prorocanstva ucitelja Misela Nostradamusa, published in Belgrade in 1999 in the series Biblioteka Vizije, dr. Vesna Cakeljic briefly described the contents of an anonymous publication, entitled Prorocanstva Nostradamusova, published in 1940 in Belgrade. In that publication, Les Vrayes Centuries et Prophéties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus, printed in Amsterdam in 1668, was mentioned as a source text. Prorocanstva Nostradamusova had 160 pages. The text was divided into 29 chapters with comments upon quatrains and letters. According to Cakeljic, it was not by coincidence that Prorocanstva Nostradamusova was brought into circulation in 1940. However, she did not describe its political signature.[6]
In Nostradamus Prorocanstva, the quatrains 01-01 - 04-53 are translated into Serbian and in a number of cases commented by means of footnotes. The footnotes to the quatrains 01-21, 01-50, 01-57 and 02-87 contain references to Prorocanstva Nostradamusova.[7] In Sta nam donosi 1940?, these quatrains are not discussed. As far as can be seen in this phase of the study, there are no correspondences between these two publications, except the fact that both of them contain a reference to the 1668-Amsterdam-edition of the Centuries.

De Meern, the Netherlands, March 3, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel
updated on May 17, 2012

© Politischen Archiv Auswärtigen Amt, Berlin
In connection with this article, photocopies have been studied of the brochures Que se passera-t-il entre le printemps 1940 et le printemps 1941? (Geneva, 1940, on this website indicated with "Rossier"-1940b) and its Serbian pendant (Sta nam donosi 1940?, Belgrade, 1940, on this website indicated with "Belgrade"). 
The original documents are owned by the Politischen Archiv Auswärtigen Amt (ref: PA AA R 66658). 
Every copy, print, multiplification or other use of parts of the contents of these brochures, published on www.nostradamusresearch.org, requires a written permission of the Politischen Archiv Auswärtigen Amt, D-11013 Berlin.