NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 (Genoa, 1940)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Index WORLD WAR II

Cover page of the brochure Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558

In a report on the activities of the Foreign department of Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda in the period January 1 - August 31, 1940, dr. Ernst Brauweiler, the head of this department, wrote that 10.000 copies were printed of the Italian version of a Nostradamus brochure which was published in eight languages with a total of 83.000 printed copies.[1] On this website, it assumed that Brauweiler referred to the brochure Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558. This brochure is the Italian version of a national-socialist text on 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] 
Neither the Goebbels diaries nor the minutes of the secret daily propaganda meetings in Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda contain notes regarding the Italian Nostradamus brochure.
Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 is printed and published by Goffi, seated in Genoa, Via Gradisca 6. On the cover page, not only Goffi's address was given, but also his telephone number: 56.631.
In contrast with the Dutch, English, French and Serbian version of the text, written by Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s. in November - December 1939, there is no reference in the title of Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 to Les vrayes Centuries et Prophéties, the photocopy of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition, made by the Frenchman P.V. Piobb in 1927, from which Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s. copied French quatrain texts in order to raise the impression that they translated these texts and studied them. The year 1558, mentioned in the title, might refer to the Epistle to Henry II, which is dated on June 27, 1558.

Design and contents
Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 consists of 24 pages. There are two illustrations. Page 3 contains a picture of the engraving of the cover of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition. This picture can also be found in Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?, the Dutch version. In Nostradamus spådomar om kriget, the Swedish version, the lower half of this engraving is depicted. Page 4 in Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 contains a picture of the first page of Century 01. The Swedish version and What will happen in the near future?, the English version, contain a cut-out of this page. Both the engraving of the cover of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition and the first page of Century 01 are copied from the 1927-Piobb-copy.
The text of Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 is divided in eleven chapters. The titles of the first ten chapters and the text division are corresponding with the titles of the corresponding chapters and the text division 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 text division of the first six chapters in Sma nai gonosu 1940?, the Serbian version of this brochure. This indicates that Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s. divided their text in chapters, a division which was not maintained in all versions.
The survey underneath contains short summaries of the contents of the chapters in Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558. Further, the corresponding texts are given of Sma nai gonosu 1940? ("Belgrade"), Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen? ("Pasteur"), Nostradamus spådomar om kriget ("Norab"-1940a), What will happen in the near future? ("Norab"-1940b) and Que se passera-t-il entre le printemps 1940 et le printemps 1941? ("Rossier").

Kwatrijnteksten
Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 contains 19 French quatrain texts: the texts of the quatrains 01-01, 01-02, 01-35, 01-36, 01-47, 01-60, 02-64, 02-68, 02-78, 02-100, 03-32, 03-57, 03-58, 03-71, 05-58 (erroneously numbered as V, 56), 07-13,  09-18, 09-34 and 10-100. In the German source text, the French texts of the quatrains 02-78, 03-32, 03-71 and 10-100 were copied from De Fontbrunes Les propheties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus. Expliquees et commentees (Sarlat, 1939 [1938], fifth edition; the title of this book is mentioned in a footnote on page 17 in Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558). The French texts of the other quatrains were copied from the 1927-Piobb-copy.

The propaganda message 
Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 had to tell the readers that England's fall was at hand and that her leading role in the world would be taken over by Germany, something which centuries ago was predicted by Nostradamus. The credibility of this message had to be clear by the description of predictions of Nostradamus which already became fulfilled. 
The chapter Dalla guerra mondiale alla S.d.N. all'impresa etiopica did not cover World War I, the failure of the League of Nations and the rise of Mussolini, as did the corresponding texts in the other versions, but closed with quatrain 02-64, which was linked to the problems of Abyssinia, when Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935 and in 1936 conquered the capital Addis Abbeba; the annexation in 1936 of Abyssinia was de jure approved by 28 members of the League of Nations. In no other version, quatrain 02-64 was discussed. In the comment on page 15 on quatrain 06-20, the rise of Mussolini was not presented as a given fact, but by means of a rhetorical question.
In Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558, the quatrains 08-37 (in the other versions, except for the English version, linked to the coming capitulation of London and a new government in France), 08-97 (in the other versions linked to a coming navy battle in the Genovese Gulf), 02-85 (France threatening England) and 10-31 (de coming of the Holy Empire to Germany) are not included. The reason these quatrains were not included, is not clear. Perhaps, they were left out because of tactical reasons, perhaps, they were left out because the number of pages was limited.
In contrast to the English version, there is no allusion in Le profezie del Maestro Michele Nostradamus anno 1558 to the participation of Italy in the war. In the other versions, such an allusion is also not present. It looks as if Staël von Holstein, who translated the text, written by Herwarth von Bittenfeld c.s., in English, inserted the chapter Italy's Participation in the War, pointing towards Italy's declaration of war to England and France on June 10, 1940.[3]
The question raises why the Italians had to read this propaganda, which was spread because of the Westfeldzug, since this military march was not directed against Italy, but against Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Perhaps, the spread of the Nostradamus brochure in Italy was related to the problems of the Germans who lived in Italy or in regions as Tirol which after World War I were assigned to Italy: these Germans had a hard time.

Notes to the quatrains

1. Quatrain 05-57 is erroneously numbered as V,56. [text]

De Meern, the Netherlands, March 5, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel

Notes

© Politischen Archiv Auswärtigen Amt, Berlijn
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 (Sma nai gonosu 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.