NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
substudy "WORLD WAR II"
Information on H. Bauder alias "Meditator", "professor John Doe" and "Froh"
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

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Index WORLD WAR II

Personal description
The Swiss Century-scholar Hans (Johannes) Bauder was born in Basel on February 27, 1879. He died in Basel on January 28, 1954. His father, born in 1838 and deceased in 1916, was a municipal missionary. 
It is not clear if Bauder has been married. The registry of the city of Basel contains a note, which reads that probably he was married and that his wife lived in the United States. In his letter of October 6, 1953 to dr. René Clavel-Simonius, to whom he sent some of his new manuscripts, he adressed himself to Clavel-Simonius and his wife, but in case of himself he did not mention a partner.[1]

Imprisoned for fraud
According to the text on the front flap of the cover of Patient Fröhlich, a humorous Century-comment which Bauder wrote in 1944, using the pseudonym "Meditator", he was a world-famous Swiss citizen, known in the United States for his solving of political problems, whereas in Switzerland he was considered to be somebody who was fallen a prey to insanity. The study upon which this article is based, showed that Bauder's reputation in the United States and Switzerland was quite different than the one, described in the notes in Patient Fröhlich. 
In 1908, Bauder, a wealthy man, was director of the Bauder und Co AG Bankgeschäft in Basel and Zürich. In the United States, he opened a branch office, named Bauder and Company. In Chicago, he became director of a branch office of the Austin Manhatten Consolidating Mining Company, seated in Austin, Nevada. Later, he also would become director of the International Realty Association. 
In Switzerland, Bauder issued circular letters and prospecti in the period 1908-1911. In the prospectus Wie man sein eigenes Vermögen aufbauen kann (1908) people were offered to buy preference shares with an output of eight percent. He was discredited for this kind of activity. Frequently, he was attacked in the press, also in 1911, when his brochure Der Charakter eines Franken (Internationale Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft für Kapitalanlagen, Hans Bauder, Bankgeschäft, Zürich) came into circulation. In his turn, Bauder replied to his critics, stating that they falsely accused him.
When Bauder in 1911 in his capacity of director of the Austin Manhatten Consolidating Mining Company sold shares of this company in Switzerland and Vorarlberg, things went wrong. An investigation by order of the Swiss government showed that these shares were completely worthless. Bauder was accused of swindling Swiss citizens for a total amount of almost $500.000. In the press it was furnished that many people had believed his prospecti without hesitation because he was the son of a well-known missionary and that across the border he was helped by religious persons, On request of the Swiss government, he was arrested in Chicago on February 21, 1913, and imprisoned on Ellis Island, a frontier office for immigrants in the New York Harbour. According to the New York Times of September 27, 1913, American immigration authorities considered the accusation of swindling to be founded insufficiently. Nevertheless, it was decided on September 26, 1913, that he was not allowed to stay in the United States any longer. This was founded upon the argument that once in 1910, the authorities denied him admittance to the United States since he illegally and with immoral purposes tried to bring a woman, who was not his wife, in the United States.[2] 
In 1913, after his extradition in 1913 to Switzerland, he had to appear before court. On June 12, 1915, he was convicted for swindling a great number of little-wealthy Swiss citizens who he persuaded by means of incorrect information to invest money in shares of American companies which looked to be lucrative. Many of them lost their savings. According to the Basler Chronik of November 2, 1915, Bauder's appeal resulted in a reduction of the imprisonment to six years, including the period of he detention under remand. Further, for a period of ten years, he was not allowed to exercise his active civil rights. 
In 1936, Bauder tried to rehabilitate himself in his brochure Im Kampf um Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit. He addressed himself to his compatriots with the opening words An das Schweizervolk! Eine Aufklärung.

Literary career

In his later life, Bauder became an author. There are no indications that he still was involved in some kind of criminal activity. As an author, he managed to have a social position.
The most important subjects about which he wrote were destination and future, witness his numerous Century-comments, his book which dealt with the Apokalyps and his book about the future of the United States according to the vision of general George Washington in the winter of 1777-1778 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Bauder's first book, Weissagungen des Nostradamus - ins Deutsche übersetzt, erläutert und zeitlich geordnet von MEDITATOR, was published by Gaiser & Haldimann publishers in Basel, a publishing company which in World War II published Christian literature, books on music and travelling and who pursued her activities until at least 1960.  
From 1943, Bauder's books were published by Neuzeit publishers, seated in Basel on 45 Sankt Johannsring. This publishing company, founded on February 6, 1943 and existing until at least 1957, was a cooperative, presided by Wilhelm Widmer, with the aim to improve the mental health of her members by publishing good and price worthy books and magazines, written by Swiss authors who were member of the cooperative. Mathilde Maurer, who in the fifties contributed to a number of Bauder's Century-comments, was the secretary of this cooperative. Under the pseudonym "Treu", she is supposed to have contributed to Bauder's three-volume series Schicksal der Fürsten und Völker nach Nostradamus (Basel, 1944-1949). As far as I know, no Century-comments carrying the name of Maurer were published after Bauder's decease in 1954, in any case not in the form of books.
Bauder used several pseudonyms: "Meditator", "Froh" and "professor John Doe".[3] The books fo Bauder, published by Neuzeit publishers, only contain advertisements for books which he had written. It is quite likely that the readers assumed that different authors were at stake, considering Bauder's variety of pseudonyms. In the online-catalogues of libraries, only one title can be found of a book, published by Neuzeit publishers, which Bauder did not write: Maifahrt - Erzählungen. Ein Buch für die reifende Jugend und ihre Freunde. This book was written by Paul Hedinger - Henrici. In 1946, the second, revised edition was published. The question is if after the decease of Bauder, Neuzeit publishers published new books.
Some of Bauder's books and Century-comments were part of the series Bücher für jedermann, a series of books, meant for relaxation.
During his life, Bauder gave copies of his publications to the Basel University Library, as well as a collection of documents, dating from the period in which he was a banker. 

Bauder's attitude towards the Centuries
Bauder's Century-comments are a continuous series in which he constantly elaborated his findings. Some of his comments are founded upon comments of e.g. Loog and Krafft, some other comments were the result of his own findings
Bauder's letter of October 6, 1953 to Clavel-Simonius shows that Bauder was convinced that the Centuries had predictional value and that his research had a serious nature. This letter accompanied manuscripts of Bauder in which, as he wrote, future events were described in connection with England, the British queen Elizabeth, Germany, Russia and the United States. There was no need to worry about what would happen in Switzerland. As long as Clavel-Simonius, his wife and Bauder would live, the Swiss balance would not be disturbed by events which from a political point of view would be unfavourable for Switzerland.

Weissagungen des Nostradamus	Ein Leben voll Liebe	Schicksal der Fürsten und Völker	Das Schicksal Italiens

De Meern, the Netherlands
T.W.M. van Berkel

Expression of thanks
The author expresses his gratitude to Wilhelm Zannoth for sending some of Bauder's Century-comments and the Staatsarchiv des Kantons Basel-Stadt - Wirtschafts- und Sozialdepartement and the Hauptbibliothek Universität Zürich for information on Hans Bauder.

Notes

1. Bauder to Clavel-Simonius, October 6, 1953, Staatsarchiv des Kantons Basel-Stadt, PA 836B. 
   In 1955, René Clavel-Simonius (1886-1969), textile chemist, had a Roman house built by his own financial means. After completion, he gave it th the foundation Pro Augusta Raurica. This Roman house (Römerhaus, Domus Romana), which exists until today, is meant to be a lively museum in which the visitor feels that he is in a different world and constantly is surprised. [text]
2. On the passenger's list of the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, with which he arrived on Ellis Island on July 12, 1910, it was written that Bauder was an American citizen, that his profession was a broker and that he had lived in Chicago in 1211 Manhattan Building (www.ellisisland.org). [text]
3. In England and the United States, the name John Doe indicates an anonymous person. [text]