NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Information on dr. phil. Alexander Max Centgraf alias dr. N. Alexander Centurio (1893-1970)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

The course of life of dr. phil. Alexander Max Centgraf
Dr. phil. Alexander Max Centgraf, an evangelic Christian, was born on March 8, 1893, in Thale (Harz). His father, Alexander Centgraf, deceased in 1934, was headmaster.
In 1911, Centgraf began to study evangelic theology and national economy. At the time of the outbreak in 1914 of World War I, he announced himself as a volunteer. During the battle of Langemark, he got wounded. He was promoted to the rank of NCO and was decorated with the Ehrenkreuz Klasse I. By the end of 1916, he was honourably discharged because of being disabled.
In 1918, Centgraf became pastor in Goldbeck (Pommern); in April 1929, he became pastor in Schlieben, the city in which his mother was born. In Schlieben, at the time of the renovation of the Martinskirche, he had a stained window placed in order to remember Hitler's failed attempt on November 9, 1923, to seize power, and the victory of the NSDAP in the elections of November 12, 1933. In the biography he wrote in 1939 for the NSDAP, he boasted of the fact that the Martinskirche was the first German church building which had a national-socialist mark.
In July 1935, as my colleague Ulrich Maichle found out in February 2010, Centgraf was relieved of his profession as pastor, being accused of an immoral attitude to life. From that time, Centgraf, who from 1918 also wrote publications on the rebuilding of Germany, devoted himself completely to writing. He became a member of the Reichsschrifttumskammer. The SA, which he joined in 1933, recommended him for the membership of the NSDAP. In May 1937, Centgraf became a member of the NSDAP. Centgraf's passport photo, depicted upper left, was attached to the NSDAP filing card, at present preserved by the Bundesarchiv in Berlin.
From 1937-38 to 1941, Centgraf studied journalism, history and folklore at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin, nowadays known as the Humboldt University. In Geschichte der Kirche und Propstei Schlieben he obtained his doctor's degree on July 13, 1939. On this date, he defended his dissertation. His dissertation, published in 1940 in Frankfurt am Main and Limburg an der Lahn, was entitled Martin Luther als Publizist -  Geist und Form seiner Volksführung. The charter was handed on January 16, 1940.
From April 1941, Centgraf lived in the Hohenstauferstraße 35 in Berlin. On May 17, 1941, he married Frieda Recknagel who, like his mother, was born in Schlieben. In 1941, Hijman, Stenfert Kroese & Van der Zande publishers in Arnhem, NL, a publishing company which in May 1941 was confiscated by the Nazis, published Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn - Michael Nostradamus spreekt in 1558 over het verloop en den uitslag van dezen oorlog. This booklet of about 100 pages, which carries the author's name A. de Tombre, is a Dutch translation of a national-socialist propaganda text on the Centuries, written by Centgraf. In 1941, Centgraf gave a copy of this brochure to the Preussische Staatsbibliothek in Berlin.
In August 1943, Centgraf stayed for a short time in Kiev, as can be concluded from his preface to Ein Jude treibt Philosophie, an anti-Semitic brochure of 31 pages, published in 1943 by Hochmuth publishers in Berlin. After his stay in Kiev, Centgraf settled in Schlieben. 
In Nostradamus und das jüngste Weltgeschehen (Zürich, 1959), Centgraf wrote that when the Allies in July 1944 conquered the north of France, he was summoned to Berlin by Eugen Hadamovsky, head of the German broadcasting. Goebbels, who wanted to make a deal with the Allies - notably England - wanted to know if Nostradamus could help. Centgraf linked such a deal with quatrain 09-51, which according to him implicated that the fighting parties, i.e. Germany and the western Allies, would unite in a fight against Russia. According to Howe (p.321-322), Centgraf had written in the 1960-edition of Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte that in connection with this, ordered by "his boss", he wrote, in English, using the pseudonym Nestor, the brochure Nostradamus and England , which was printed in South-Germany. However, Goebbels' plan was not executed. Hadamovsky left to join the front, where he, as Centgraf reported, died in February 1945. Centgraf's story can be contested. Goebbels considered Hadamovsky as incapable, which resulted in a conflict between them. In June 1942, Hadamovsky was kicked upstairs as head of the NSDAP-Propagandastaff, but again he became in conflict with Goebbels. In November 1943, he joined the Wehrmacht; on March 1, 1945, he died near Rummelsburg, the present Miastko (Poland). It therefore can be contested that Hadamovsky in his capacity of head of the German broadcasting summoned Centgraf to Berlin or was informed about Goebbels' "utmost secret plans". During his research, Howe never saw a copy of Nostradamus and England. In connection with Centgraf's story, it must be noted that Goebbels wrote in his diary in July 1944 that a new Nostradamus-brochure was prepared for England. According to Goebbels, the Centuries could be used for all purposes and certainly would contain something that would impose the superstitious British, something which he wanted to exploit. This note, in which is not referred to Centgraf, does not exclude Centgraf's participation in writing such a brochure, but it clearly does not show that Goebbels wanted to develop a war strategy by means of the Centuries.
In January 1945, due to his activities as a volunteer for the Antikomintern, a section in the Ministry of Propaganda which was occupied with anti-Russian propaganda, Centgraf was decorated with the Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter.
From 1953, Centgraf published on Nostradamus, using the pseudonym Centurio, a latinization of the word Centuries, a name for the Prophecies of Nostradamus. 
After living in Schlieben for about at least 13 years - from time to time, according to a letter, dated on May 22, 1950, to the German author Hermann Hesse, who at that time resided in Switzerland, he stayed in Berlin with a relative - Centgraf went to South-Germany. His wife died in July 1970. Centgraf himself died on December 18, 1970 in a hospital in Kraiburg. As far as known, he had no children.[1]

Centgraf as a Century-scholar
In the preface to Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte (Bietigheim, 1968), Centgraf wrote about his study of Nostradamus for almost 30 years. In his comment on quatrain 03-58 on page 80 in Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte (Berlin, 1953), Centgraf wrote that in 1939, in the Berlin State Library, he saw the one and only copy of the original edition of the Centuries, published in 1568 by Pierre Rigaud, which actually was an antedated edition from 1649 without any marking of quatrain 03-58, despite Centgraf's communications on this point. On page 70, he described that in the winter of 1939-1940, a gentleman who introduced himself as a scientist, asked him what, according to the Centuries, were the perspectives of a lightning action of Germany against France. Centgraf described that by June 1940, the propagandists of the Nazi regime, without informing him, had taken over his link between quatrain 03-08 and a German invasion in France and ignored his opinion that quatrain 03-09 contained an allusion to a British-French-Flemish alliance which would drive the German troops back. From these facts, it can be derived that Centgraf's interest in Nostradamus and the Centuries dated from 1939. His article Nostradamus und das jüngste Weltgeschehen (in: Schweizer Monatshefte - Zeitschrift für Politik Wirtschaft Kultur, Zürich, August 1959) shows that Loog's Die Weissagungen des Nostradamus and Dessoir's Vom Jenseits der Seele - Die Geheimwissenschaften in kritischer Betrachtung were the reason for Centgraf to study Nostradamus and the Centuries in his capacity as a historian. According to his information, it was in short time that he acquired some reputation as a Century-scholar. I do not know if he gave lectures on Nostradamus and the Centuries at the beginning of his study, or if he wrote books or articles. His national-socialist brochure, aimed against England, the Jews and the communists, its Dutch translation entitled Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn - Michael Nostradamus spreekt in 1558 over het verloop en het einde van dezen oorlog, is, as is assumed on this website, Centgraf's first publication about Nostradamus and the Centuries. The German text of this brochure is written or finished between June 21, 1941, the day on which Germany invaded Russia, and December 7, 1941, the day on which Japan attacked Pearl Harbour.[2] In none of his post-war publications, Centgraf dissociated himself from the contents and the tenor of this brochure, neither did he apologize to those upon who he pointed his arrows.
After the war, according to his letter to Hesse, the largest Berlin evening newspaper published a number of articles which Centgraf had written about Nostradamus and the Centuries. I only know the article, published in the edition of July 10, 1949 of  the Berlin Kurier, in which Centgraf discussed the relation between Nostradamus and Berlin. He argued that Nostradamus predicted the fate of Germany and Berlin in full detail and wrote that "before these days" he had linked the word Hadrie to Hitler and the Axis-powers, a remark which is a reference to the German original of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn... which he wrote in 1941.
By 1950, according to his letter to Hesse, Centgraf had completed a manuscript on Nostradamus and the Centuries which consisted of three parts: a detailed introduction to the oeuvre of Nostradamus, the translation of the Centuries and comments upon them and a prophetic concordance of world history for the years between 1550 and 2200. The publisher, contacted by Centgraf in 1950, had not enough money to finance the publishing of this manuscript. Therefore, Centgraf asked Hesse if he could raise the attention of a Swiss publisher. Enclosed was the comment on the quatrains 09-51, 09-52 and 09-53 and a part of the prophetic concordance. In connection with the war, Centgraf wrote to Hesse that he liberated several friends from concentration camps and prevented the execution of one of them. It is not known if Hesse answered this letter.
On the pages 356-358 of his book Nostradamus - ein Leben in der bedeutendsten Zeitwende des Abendlandes und seine Auferstehung (Munich, 1963), the German Century-scholar Karl Drude wrote that one of his acquaintances attended a lecture on Nostradamus by Centgraf. This person was impressed by the quatrains which according to Centgraf were fulfilled in the past centuries. He found the description of the fall of Berlin startling, like the fact that in Centgraf's lecture the Americans got away pretty good. This lecture was the third lecture of Centgraf that day. The precise date on which this lecture was given, is not mentioned, but the fact that Centgraf gave these lectures in the bookstore of Richard Schikowski in the Prager Straße in Berlin, leads to the possibility that they might have been given in 1953. It was in 1953 that Schikowski published the first edition of Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte. This book carried the author's name dr. N. Centurio, one of Centgraf's pseudonyms. In the introductory part, Centgraf discussed the life and personality of Nostradamus as well as his way of writing, and he looked into the 21st century. In the second part, he presented a translation of the Century-texts (the Preface to Cesar, the Epistle to Henry II and the ten Centuries with 942 quatrains) and texts from the "inheritance", among which the Présages. The third part contained a number of enclosures, among which a bibliographic paragraph, a paragraph about keys which might be hidden in the Centuries and a chronologic list of events which according to Centgraf were predicted in the Centuries. Compared with the enclosure in his letter to Hesse, some phrasings in  Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte were heavily changed (for the word, not for the meaning) and Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte did not contain French quatrain texts. To the second edition, published by Schikowski in 1955, three pages were added with additional notes and rectifications. Page 70 of the first edition of Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte contained the remark that Centgraf had discovered that the word Hadrie actually was a cryptic reference to Hitler.  
In Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte, the decline of England and the future dominance of Germany, important themes of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn..., returned. Compared with Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn..., this would occur one hundred years later, in 2040, under the rulership of Henry the Fortunate, the president of the United States of Europe. Under his leadership, the European continent would flourish, whereas England would become part of the United States of America.
In the Nachtrag to the fourth edition (1960) of Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte, Centgraf wrote that from the appearance in 1953, Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte had a worldwide acclaim. From numerous countries, people sent him reactions and comments. For important and esteemed contemporaries, Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte was reason to devote their life to the study of Nostradamus and the Centuries instead of studying it for pleasure.
In the course of the years, a number of prominent persons wrote contributions to Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte. Among them were prof. dr. Hans-Hermann Kritzinger, qualified by Centgraf as the "Nestor" of Nostradamus research, and count Carl Ludwig Friedrich Otto von Klinckowstroem, the author of Die ältesten Ausgaben der “Propheties” des Nostradamus, ein Beitrag zur Nostradamus Bibliographie (Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde, Leipzig, 1913), one of the first German Nostradamus-bibliographies. Von Klinckowstroem's contribution to Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte was a bibliography of early Century-editions. Another prominent was Willy Bischoff, one of the founders in 1947 of the Deutsche Astrologen-Verband e.V. For the fourth edition of Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte, he wrote an analysis of the birth chart of Nostradamus. 
The issues 41, 45 and 46 of volume 84 (1959) of the weekly Sonntagspost (Winona, Minnesota, USA) contained articles on Nostradamus, written by the German Century-scholar Alexis von Sabler. According to Von Sabler, a Century-scholar had to be a historian as well as a philologist and had to have a thorough knowledge of things. In his eyes, Centgraf had all of these qualities.

In the August issue of volume 1959 of the Schweizer Monatshefte - Zeitschrift für Politik Wirtschaft Kultur (Zürich), an article of Centgraf is published, entitled Nostradamus und das jüngste Weltgeschehen. In this article, Centgraf, using his author's pseudonym Centurio, described how he came to study Nostradamus and the Centuries, and his fortunes as a Century-scholar in World War II. He discussed a number of quatrains in relation to World War II and closed his article with some remarks about the rulership of Henry the Fortunate, the last descendant of the House of Bourbon, who would be president of the United States of Europe, and made an allusion to the supposition that around that time, England would be part of the United States of America.
When in 1966 the fourth edition of Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte was completely sold and not reprinted, Centgraf chose for another approach. He no longer would discuss the quatrains according to their order in the Centuries, but according to the chronology of being fulfilled in the past and the future fulfilment data. This resulted in Nostradamus - prophetische Weltgeschichte, published in 1968 by Turm publishers in Bietigheim, with the annotation that this was the fifth, edited and enlarged edition. Nostradamus - prophetische Weltgeschichte contained a selection of quatrains for the years until 2050. This book carried the author's name dr. N. Alexander Centurio and was reprinted from time to time up to today. In 1971, Turm publishers published the sixth edition. The seventh edition was published in 1977. In 1981, the 1977-edition of Nostradamus - prophetische Weltgeschichte was translated into Dutch by E.M.J. (Marieke) Prinsen Geerligs-Bakker, who silently edited parts of the original text.[3]

Issue 10 of volume 1969 of the monthly magazine Die andere Welt - Monatsschrift für geistiches Leben und alle Gebiete der Grenzwissenschaften contained the first of two articles by Centgraf about Nostradamus, entitled Eindrucksvolle Beweise für die Richtigkeit der Nostradamus-Prophezeiungen. In this article, he discussed predictions by Nostradamus which meanwhile were fulfilled. The second article, published in #1 of volume 1970 of Die andere Welt, which was re-entitled into Esotera - Die Herrschaft des Geistes über den Materie, was entitled Die siebzieger Jahre in der Sicht des Propheten Nostradamus. In this article, Centgraf linked a number of predictions to the years between World War II and the end of the sixties, and presented a future perspective which reached until the end of the nineties. Both articles carried the author's name dr. Alexander Centgraf (Centurio). In the table of contents, this name was also given, as well as Centgraf's private address: 8264 Waldkraiburg, Marienburgerstr. 7a.  Centgraf ranked Nostradamus, who according to him had written in quatrain 04-05 that the Cross meant peace if people obeyed God's commandments, to the prophets which God had send to the world. He described the origin of the brochure Nostradamus and England in similar words as in Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte and mentioned the names of Goebbels and Hadamovsky. He linked this origin history to the breakthrough of the Allies at Avranches in Normandy. In Die siebziger Jahre in der Sicht des Propheten Nostradamus, this is situated in 1943. A printer's error, one might presume, since the breakthrough at Avranches was at the end of July 1944. In this article, Centgraf also discussed quatrain 05-94 in a similar way as in Nostradamus - der Prophet der Weltgeschichte, with the additional remark that his link in 1949 between this quatrain and the failing attempt of Stalin to conquer Berlin, had proven to be correct and gave much comfort in those days to the citizens of Berlin, whereas the link between this quatrain and Hitler c.q. the beginning of World War II, a link which Krafft made by order of Goebbels, had led to Krafft's tragic death in a concentration camp.
Today, Turm publishers still prints Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte. In 1981, Goldmann publishers in Munich published Die großen Weissagungen des Nostradamus: prophetische Weltgeschichte bis zum Jahr 2050 / übersetzt und gedeutet von N. Alexander Centurio, a license-edition of Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte. At present, Random House Verlag in Munich has the publishing rights of this license-edition.
Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte is not only translated into Dutch, but also in Polish. The Polish translation by Ewa Jurczyk, entitled Przepowiednie Nostradamusa, was  first published in Katowice in 1995. Until 2001, it has been reprinted four times.

A questionable Century-scholar
On this website, it is assumed that after the German invasion in Poland in September 1939, Centgraf started to study Nostradamus and the Centuries, i.e.Loog's Die Weissagungen des Nostradamus and probably most notably his comment upon quatrain 03-57, which at that time was quite sensational because of being linked to the German invasion in Poland. The critical remarks of the German philosopher dr. Max Dessoir in Vom Jenseits der Seele about Nostradamus, the Centuries and the Century-comments made him, as he wrote, to compare the predictions in the Centuries with the course of history. 
By the end of 1939, according to his information, Centgraf warned compatriots against the risks of a lightning war against France. Perhaps his study was focused upon fathoming the military and political situation in Europe. In the summer of 1940, he was upset when he noticed that national-socialists used his link of a couple of quatrains to such a kind of war for propaganda purposes. In the summer of 1944, he wrote, he tried to achieve peace in Europe by telling Hadamovsky, a prominent national-socialist, that one of the quatrains in the Centuries fitted to such an event. He also would have tried to improve the circumstances of some of his friends who were interned in a concentration camp. Centgraf's information on these points contains incorrect facts and does not show that in World War II, Centgraf, who in 1933 became member of the SA, in 1937 member of the NSDAP, was an esteemed national-socialist activist who wrote anti-Semitic brochures and used the Centuries and Century-comments for propagandistic purposes by writing the German source text of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn... and the brochure Nostradamus and England, with which in the summer of 1944 the British had to become demoralized. 
According to the future scenario in Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn..., England would fall, Germany, lead by Hitler, would become the leading power in Europe (the Holy Empire) and the world would be in peace for 57 years. In Centgraf's post-war publications about Nostradamus and the Centuries, Henry the Fortunate, president of the United States of Europe, would give the world a peace period for 57 years in 2040, Germany will play a leading part (the Holy Empire) and England would become a part of the United States of America, and as such lose her leading position in the world. This raises the question if Centgraf in 1940/'41 wrote a number of texts and a future scenario, which in 1941 he changed for propaganda reasons and after war brought back in its original state, or if the German source text of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn... was his first text about Nostradamus and the Centuries, which he changed after the war. For the moment, I cannot answer this question, which is an important one since it is hard to imagine that someone who wants to hide his propagandistic activities in 1941/'44, dates the beginning of his study in 1939. It is a matter of fact, however, that in his post-war publications about Nostradamus and the Centuries, beginning with the article Nostradamus und Berlin - und andere Weissagungen, Centgraf included texts which can be traced back to the German source text of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn... Neither in his post-war publications, nor in public, he dissociated himself or apologized for what he had written in the German source text of Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn...: comments which had to frighten people and to demoralize them, which were aimed against Jews and communists and which demonstrated that for decades, national-socialism would be the leading power in Europe. On the contrary, he presented himself as a Century-scholar who comforts his readers. In Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte, his second book about Nostradamus and the Centuries, which he finished two years before his death and which until today is reprinted, he added, compared with his first book about Nostradamus and the Centuries (Nostradamus - Der Prophet der Weltgeschichte) new elements which can be traced back to Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn...
For many years, my colleague Ulrich Maichle occupies himself with research on the activities of Centgraf / Centurio. His website Die Nostradamus-Propaganda der Nazis 1939 - 1942 contains numerous transcripts of documents which shows Centgraf's involvement in national-socialism. Maichle had a discussion with Random House publishers in Munich in order to stop further selling of Die grossen Weissagungen des Nostradamus, a license edition of Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte. I invite you to deepen yourself in the oeuvre of Centgraf / Centurio, the articles about his books on www.nostradamusresearch.org and Maichle's findings. If you think that the oeuvre of Centgraf / Centurio is politically contaminated and that his book Die grossen Weissagungen des Nostradamus has to be taken from the market, you can address yourself to Random House or to Turm publishers, the company which up until today publishes Nostradamus - Prophetische Weltgeschichte.

Postwar publications of Centgraf alias Centurio

Berlin, 1953

Bietigheim, 1968

Munich, 1981

Utrecht,1981

Katowice,1995

Publications of Centgraf alias Centurio on Nostradamus, discussed on this website

De Meern, the Netherlands, May 28, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel
updated on July 12, 2010

Expression of thanks
The author wishes to thank Ulrich Maichle for all of his information and for sending a copy of Centgraf's letter to Hesse, Wilhelm Zannoth, for sending copies of texts by Karl Drude, Versandantiquariat Hans-Jürgen Lange in Wietze (D) for sending copies of Eindrucksvolle Beweise für die Richtigkeit der Nostradamus-Prophezeiungen and Die siebzieger Jahre in der Sicht des Propheten Nostradamus and the Institut für Zeitgeschichte for sending a copy of the article Nostradamus und das jüngste Weltgeschehen by dr. phil. A.M. Centgraf.

Notes

1. Most of this information was taken from Ulrich Maichle: Die Nostradamus-Propaganda der Nazis 1939 - 1942, to which the interested reader is referred for further details. [text]

2. Van Berkel: Voorspellingen die uitgekomen zijn - Michael Nostradamus spreekt in 1558 over het verloop en den uitslag van dezen oorlog (A. de Tombre, Arnhem, 1941). [tekst]

3. Van Berkel: Mysterie 14-18 - De eerste wereldoorlog onverklaard (R. Heijster, Tielt, 2000 (1999). [text]