NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
substudY "WORLD WAR ii"
Information on Frans (Franz) Eduard Farwerck alias B.J. van der Zuylen (1889-1978)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Some facts about the pre-war life of Frans Eduard Farwerck
Frans (Franz) Eduard Farwerck was born in Amsterdam (NL) on March 4, 1889. His father, Franz Richard Otto Heinrich Farwerck, a merchant, born on February 24, 1856 in Schöppingen (Prussia), was German (on April 28, 1904, he got the Dutch nationality); his mother, Elise Dorothea Struve, born on May 1, 1850, was Dutch. Frans Eduard had one brother, Carl Wilhelm, born in Amsterdam on September 10, 1892. On December 7, 1920, Carl Wilhelm married Johanna Borrius, born in Amsterdam on May 3, 1901. From this marriage, three sons were born. As far as I know, Frans Eduard remained single.
Frans Eduard Farwerck passed through the 3-year "HBS" high school and the public trade school in Amsterdam. Next, he passed through a trade education in France, Germany and Great-Britain. In 1909, he started to work at the branch office of the NV Bruinkolen-briketten-handel in Rotterdam, of which his father was president of the board of directors. After two years, he became director of this branch office. In 1912, in Hilversum (NL), he founded a carpet factory, which in the course of the years was expanded by means of fusions. In 1933, the NV Verenigde Nederlandsche Tapijtindustrie was founded. Farwerck became its director.
Besides being director of the NV Verenigde Nederlandsche Tapijtindustrie, Farwerck had a number of secondary occupations. He was charrman of the board of the Hilversumsch Bankierskantoor and the Glasfabriek Leerdam. He was one of the founders of the "Goois Museum" and one of the founders of treasurer of the Hilversum Rotary Club. Until the thirties, he also did social work.
About the way he spent his free time, it is known that he practiced horse riding and collected antique objects.[1]

Freemasonry
In 1918, Farwerck joined Freemasonry. From 1923 to 1933, he was Grandmaster of the National Council of the Dutch Federation of the International co-mingled Freemasonry Order "Le Droit Humain", seated in Paris, in which, in contrast with other Freemasonry Orders, not only men were active, but also women, on an equal basis.[2]
In the period in which Farwerck joined Freemasonry, he wrote several publications.[3] In 1920, the Maçonnieke Uitgevers Maatschappij, seated in Amsterdam, 133 Keizersgracht, published the brochure Oordeel. That year, this publishing company also published a brochure, entitled De vrouw in de Vrijmetselarij, carrying the author's name J. Farwerck-Borrius, Farwerck's sister-in-law.
In 1927, carrying the author's pseudonym B.J. van der Zuylen, the Maçonnieke Uitgevers Maatschappij published his book Mysteriën en Inwijdingen in de Oudheid. With the use of the pseudonym B.J. van der Zuylen, Farwerck referred to his membership and activities for Freemasonry. The initials B and J referred to Boas and Jachin, the left and right pillar of the gate of King Solomon's Temple. The family name Zuylen was also an allusion to King Solomon's Temple.[4] In 1929, in issue 2 of the quarterly Bouwsteenen - voor een veelzijdige harmonische levens- en wereldbeschouwing: driemaandelijksch tijdschrift gewijd aan wijsheid en schoonheid van alle tijden, an article, entitled Nostrodamus, was published, carrying the name B.J. van der Zuylen. This was a non-political article in which Farwerck tried to demonstrate that it was possible to predict the future and that Nostradamus was a gifted seer, which could be seen in his predictions, in which he described the future in detail. Bouwsteenen was published by the aforementioned Maçonnieke Uitgevers Maatschappij. Later, this company, which was active until 1932, published Nostrodamus as a brochure. 
In 1931, the Maçonnieke Uitgevers Maatschappij published De Hiram mythe en het 3e Rituaal. 
In 1934, Farwerck ended his Freemasonry membership. According to some sources, he was expelled from Freemasonry because of his membership in 1933 of the NSB, the Dutch national-socialist movement.[5].

The NSB
At the time of the activities in the Hilversum Rotary Club, Farwerck met reverend Gerrit van Duyl, who later became speaker for the NSB. If this meeting finally resulted in Farwerck's joining of the NSB, is not clear for me. On November 28, 1931, in the period in which he was Grandmaster of the Dutch branch of the Freemasonry Order "Le Droit Humain", the Nederlandsch Ario-Germaansch Genootschap, a pendant of the German Edda-society, was planned to be founded in Utrecht (NL). By means of Arian literature and archeology, this society wanted to put an end to ignorance about ancestry and history. The members of this society postulated that primal-Arian culture was the source of all later cultures. Farwerck was one of those who signed the brochure in which the foundation of the Nederlands Ario-Germaans Genootschap was announced, but one day before the actual foundation, he withdrew himself.[6] 
In 1933, the year in which Hitler came to power in Germany, Farwerck joined the NSB. It is possible, due to his involvement in the Nederlandsch Ario-Germaansch Genootschap, that he meanwhile became convinced that not Freemasonry, but Arian culture was the foundation upon which the world was based and which he could develop further. His membership of the NSB resulted in being expelled from the Dutch branch of the Freemasonry Order "Le Droit Humain". 
In the beginning years of his membership of the NSB, he became one of the most influential advisors of ir. Anton Adriaan Mussert, the General Leader of the NSB. The most important function of Farwerck in these years was propaganda leader. He aimed the propaganda first at labourers and farmers, next at the middle classes. As far as I know, he did not write propaganda, based upon the Centuries.
In July 1937, Farwerck founded Der Vaderen Erfdeel, a foundation, identical with the German SS-organization Ahnenerbe. Its aim was to chart the archeologic, German past of "Dietsland" (Great-Netherlands). The field of activity of this foundation corresponds with the field of activities of the Nederlandsch Ario-Germaansch Genootschap, from which Farwerck, shortly before its foundation, end 1931, withdrew himself. The monthly De wolfsangel - Strijdblad voor Nederlandsch volksbewustzijn, founded in 1936, which contained articles about rune signs, archeology and old customs, became the official monthly of Der Vaderen Erfdeel. Due to a proposal of Farwerck, who advocated battle and warfare, the wolf trap (wolfsangel) became the emblem of the WA, the "army" of the NSB. In the NSB, Farwerck also introduced the use of old German names for the Dutch names of the months. 
In 1937, reprinted in 1943, Nenasu published a brochure written by Farwerck, entitled Het volksche element in het nationaal-socialisme. This brochure carried the name F. van Schoping, another of Farwerck's author's pseudonyms. In 1928, under the banner of Der Vaderen Erfdeel, two publications of Farwerck were published under his own name: Het is anders dan men ons leerde and Levend verleden, for which he travelled a lot and investigated local folklore, myths and legends and made a lot of pictures of objects which were important for his study.[7] In 1940, the brochure Onze voorvaderen lieten hun stempel om den goudsberg was published.
Dr. L. de Jong, who extensively invesetigated the circumstances of the Netherlands in World War II, characterized Farwerck in his quality of member of the NSB as an ascetic, uncommonly zealous bachelor, one of the most educated in NSB-circles, who was not in the front, clearly dominated Mussert, was admired by many and envied by many. Against the fact that Farwerck was one of the most influential advisors of Mussert, was the fact that he had a sharp conflict with mr. Meinoud Marinus Rost van Tonningen, who in 1936 had joined the NSB. Rost van Tonningen was an adversary of Mussert and his confidants, among them Farwerck, about whom he knew that he had been a member of Freemasonry.[8]
The German national-socialists considered Freemasonry as a hostile organization which, together with the Jews, wanted to make a bid for world power. Whoever had been a freemason, no matter how short, was marked for the rest of his life. Despite these ideas, former freemasons could join the NSB. Within the NSB, however, this was not always supported. Shortly after joining the NSB, his past as a freemason became a source of troubles for Farwerck and finally resulted in his fall. On November 14, 1935, the Nieuwe Tilburgsche Courant published the article Het Fascisme der N.S.B. - onder leiding der Vrijmetselarij, in which was unveiled that according to La Franc-Maçonnerie feminine... (N. Smitkow, Paris, 1933) F. Farwerck was the representative of the Dutch Federation which, according to the daily, meant that the leadership of the NSB-propaganda was trusted to Freemasonry. The daily therefore asked if Christians still could be a member of a fascist movement, lead by Freemasons, and if fascists still could be a member of the NSB. In 1937, Van Duyl secretly prepared a campaign with the apparant intention to tackle Farwerck. As far as I know, this campaign was not carried out. By the end of 1937, after the failure of a conspiracy to put Mussert offside, Van Duyl had to leave the NSB. In the edition of January 21, 1939, the Nieuwe Tilburgsche Courant, basing itself upon Rondschrijven IV, an intern manifesto of harliners within the NSB, wrote about agitation in the NSB against the leaders of the movement (Mussert, Van Geelkerken and Van Bilderbeek) who instead of comeradship and decency put treachery and slander at the service of the people's principles. According to Rondschrijven IV, the spirit of secrecy, introduced by Farwerck, the former Grandmaster of Freemasonry, was undesired to the people. 
In the summer of 1940, plans were made for the foundation of the Nederlandsche Kultuurraad, an institute which had to bring Dutch culture and science into line with Germany. Farwerck was one of the candidates for this institute. However, when rumours were spread about his being a Freemason in the past, probably due to the intervention of Rost van Tonningen (which would mean that the hostility between Farwerck and Rost van Tonningen, dating from 1936, would come to an escalation in 1940), the Sicherheitsdienst searched Farwerck's villa and found a letter, addressed to Farwerck, from the National Council of Freemasonry. Mussert had no other possibility than to let Farwerck fall, but he did not think it was easy, due to the merits of Farwerck. Der Vaderen Erfdeel was transferred to the Volksche Werkgemeenschap, an institute, related to the Dutch SS. Despite this, Farwerck, although embittered, remained a member of the NSB. From time to time, he agitated against Rost van Tonningen.[9] In 1941, Volk en Bodem publishers published Farwerck's brochure Wien Neêrlandsch bloed... het rassenvraagstuk en zijn beteekenis voor Nederland, which carried the pseudonym F. van Schoping.

The years after 1945
After World War II, Farwerck wrote a number of publications about North-European (German) mysticism. Using his pseudonym B.J. van der Zuylen, he wrote Noord-Europese Mysteriën en Inwijdingen in de Oudheid and Noord-Europa, een der bronnen van de Maçonnieke Symboliek, both published in 1953 by Thule publishers in Hilversum, a company which in 1953 also published Het teken van dood en herleving en het raadsel van het Angelsaksische runenkistje, carrying Farwerck's own name, who in the preface wrote that this book was an elaboration of Van der Zuylen's Noord-Europese Mysteriën en Inwijdingen in de Oudheid, as if he had elaborated a book, written by someone else. Once again using his own name, he wrote the book De Mysteriën der Oudheid en hun inwijdingsriten, published in 1960 by Thule publishers.
In the period 1955-1960, Farwerck frequently wrote articles for the quarterly Nehalennia about topics like werewolves and the "wild heir".
In 1970, reprinted in 1978, Ankh-Hermes publishers in Deventer (NL) published Farwerck's book Noordeuropese mysteriën en hun sporen tot heden, which can be considered to be his completion of the material which he published in the years after the war. In Noordeuropese mysteriën en hun sporen tot heden, he reconstructed, basing himself upon literature, archeology and ethynology, German secret teachings and rituals such as initiation rites and funeral rites.
In 1976, Schors publishers in Amsterdam (NL) published a reprint of Mysteriën en inwijdingen in de oudheid, which in 1927 he wrote, using his pseudonym B.J. van der Zuylen.
After the war, Farwerck wrote nothing about Nostradamus and the Centuries, as far as I can see.

In 1978, Farwerck died.

Publications by Farwerck on Nostradamus, discussed on this website

Nostrodamus (brochure version of an article, originalle published in issue 2 of volume 1929 of Bouwsteenen - voor een veelzijdige harmonische levens- en wereldbeschouwing: driemaandelijksch tijdschrift gewijd aan wijsheid en schoonheid van alle tijden (Amsterdam).

De Meern, the Netherlands, July 3, 2011
T.W.M. van Berkel

Notes

1. Sources: Frans Eduard Farwerck (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_Eduard_Farwerck) and a short biographic article about Farwerck in his quality of director of the NV Verenigde Nederlandsche Tapijtindustrie (http://www.iisg.nl/ondernemers/pdf/pers-0466-01.pdf). Biographical facts about Farwerck's family were taken from http://www.humanitarisme.nl/personen/index.php?m=family&id=I16790. [text]

2. Today, this Freemasonry's Lodge still exists (http://www.droit-humain.org/paysbas). [text]

3. Sources for Farwerck's publications: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frans_Eduard_Farwerck en www.kb.nl. [text]

4. See: http://euro-synergies.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/01/20/frans-eduard-farwerck.html. [text]

5. See: http://euro-synergies.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/01/20/frans-eduard-farwerck.html. [text]

6. Daily Het Vaderland, November 18 and 27, 1931. Online available on http://kranten.kb.nl, like the Nieuwe Tilburgsche Courant. [text]

7. See: http://euro-synergies.hautetfort.com/archive/2011/01/20/frans-eduard-farwerck.html. [text]

8. De Jong-1972, 4-II, pp.582. [text]

9. De Jong-1972, 4-II, pp.581-582. [text]