NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Information on dr. h.c. Hans-Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Index WORLD WAR II

A pioneer in the field of propaganda
Dr. h.c. Hans-Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, also known as Hans-Wolfgang von Herwarth, was born in Berlin on May 23, 1871. His parents, the later lieutenant-general Wilhelm Hans Theodor Herwarth von Bittenfeld (Herzberg, January 14, 1835 - Braunschweig, October 12, 1894) and the baroness Anna von Wimpffen, born in Berlin on October 30, 1850, married on October 29, 1868. From this marriage, six children were born; three sons and three daughters. Their oldest child, Theresia Charlotte, born on July 30, 1869, died one month before her first birthday. Hans-Wolfgang was their second child.
Herwarth von Bittenfeld descended from the Bittenfeld line of an old noble family with a long military tradition. He followed his ancestor's tracks. In 1890, after being trained in Bensberg and Groß-Lichterfelde, he joined the Second Infantry Regiment as a reserve officer cadet. In the same year, he became an officer. In 1902, after finishing the Military Academy, he became detached at the General Staff. In 1903, he became quartermaster-general; in 1904 captain. In 1905, he was detached at the General Staff of the Eighth Army Corps. In autumn 1905, he returned to the Grand General Staff for one year. From autumn 1906 until summer 1909, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was commander at the Hamburg Infantry Regiment. Later, once again he returned to the Grand General Staff.
From August 1, 1910, to 1914, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was a military attaché in the rank of major, at the German embassy in Washington and the German legation in Mexico-city. In the course of his work, he became convinced of the necessity to oppose the anti-German propaganda with an efficacious German press politic. His interest in the press and the tendentious way in which the foreign press wrote about Germany, dated from his youth, i.e. the years in which he stayed in Switzerland, Tirol, England, France and Italy. Basing himself upon his studies of the press in fourteen countries, he wrote the eight-volume compendium Charakteristik der Auslandspresse. After his return from the United States, he wrote a memorandum which contained detailed proposals to organize and to intensify the German propaganda. As a result of his ideas, the German Ministry of War opened in 1913 a Press department. 
In 1914, after his return from Mexico, Herwarth von Bittenfeld again became detached at the Grand General Staff. Later that year, at the outbreak of the Great War, he was charged to analyze the foreign press, a task he performed until spring 1916, interrupted by a detachment at the General Staff in Brussels in August/September 1914, where he was charged with all kind of matters related to passports, transit visa etc. and by being appointed to battalion commander in the 136 Infantry Corps. There are clues that in the period in which he was battalion commander, he became invalidated. On April 25, 1915, The New York Times reported that the day before he was decorated in Berlin with the Eisernen Kreuz and that some time before he was invalidated at the front.
In spring 1915, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was promoted to first lieutenant. In summer 1915, he was appointed as head of the Foreign Department of the Press agency of the Ministry of War.
In spring 1916, Herwarth von Bittenfeld joined the battle. Because he fell ill, he was discharged with honour in August 1916.
From October 1916 until shortly before the end of World War I, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was in charge of the Army affairs department of the Foreign Office, a press department, created by the Supreme Army Command. In this period, he became lieutenant-colonel. In 1918, he edited the Handbuch der Auslandspresse.
After World War I, Herwarth von Bittenfeld had a managing function in Eisenschmidt publishers, Berlin, a publisher of military literature, and Räder publishers, the publisher of the Technische Nothilfe, an organization of volunteers (originally, a military organization), founded in 1919, that in the first years of the Weimar Republic had to protect the railway and public utilities against lightning-strikes and sabotage by left-wing groups. Later, the Technische Nothilfe had to protect the civil population against air raids and calamities. In 1937, the Technische Nothilfe became part of the Ordnungspolizei and had to meet all public dangers and emergencies. She concentrated herself on the protection of the civil population against gas attacks and air raids. 
In well-known German newspapers and magazines, Herwarth von Bittenfeld published articles about the function of the press and he propagated the German mentality and the German accomplishments. In foreign newspapers, he also stood up for Germany, as can be read in a letter, published on August 1, 1932 in the American TIME magazine. This letter was a reply to an article about Germany, in which it seemed to be insinuated that Franz von Papen, who in June 1932 was appointed as Chancellor by president Von Hindenburg, was involved in a conspiracy to blew up the Welland Canal in World War I. Herwarth von Bittenfeld argued that Von Papen, who in 1914 succeeded him as military attaché in Washington, was a dashing soldier and a good diplomat, and that Germany was satisfied with this Chancellor. According to him, journalists would do better to emphasize the good qualities of statesmen instead of  parading old skeletons.
High military decorations were granted to Herwarth von Bittenfeld, among which the Eiserne Kreuz Kl. I and II.[1] 

The Centuries
When in September 1939 World War II began, Herwarth von Bittenfeld started to work at the Ministry of Propaganda. He became Sonderreferent in the Auslandspresse department, lead by prof. dr. Karl Bömer, and was charged with special tasks.
On November 23, 1939, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was ordered by dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, the minister of Propaganda, to occupy himself with Nostradamus. By using the Centuries for psychological warfare, Goebbels wanted to trip the adversaries by taking advantage of the omnipresent superstition. On December 4, 1939, Herwarth von Bittenfeld handed over a draft for a brochure, which was the result of a linking of quotes from Century-comments. In this draft, Herwarth von Bittenfeld described the imminent future as a period in which Germany and England would have a gigantic struggle, which in the end would be won by Germany. England would disappear from the world theatre and would drag France with her in her fall. Goebbels, who was very enthusiastic about what Herwarth von Bittenfeld had written, presented his draft the next day in the secret daily propaganda meeting in his Propaganda Ministry. In that meeting, it was decided that Herwarth von Bittenfeld, together Bömer and Leopold Gutterer, head in the Propaganda Ministry of the Propaganda department, would write the final draft. On December 13, 1939,  this final draft was approved and from March 27, 1940, spread in eight languages: Croatian, Dutch, English, Italian, Portuguese, Rumanian, Serb and Swedish. The English version was spread in the USA. Its title: What will happen in the near future? For an answer we must turn to "Les vrayes Centuries et Prophéties de Maistre Michel Nostradamus" -  The prophecies of the ancient French astrologer Michel Nostradamus and the present war.[2]

Honorary doctorate in philosophy
On May 23, 1941, on his 70th birthday, an honorary doctorate in philosophy was granted to Herwarth von Bittenfeld by the faculty of philosophy and nature sciences of the Westphalia Wilhelm-University in Münster. On June 14, 1941, prof. dr. Adolf Kratzer, the Dean of the faculty of philosophy and nature sciences, handed the charter. Among those who attended this ceremony were delegations of the Reich, the Wehrmacht, the NSDAP and the press.
Herwarth von Bittenfeld's promotion was the first honorary doctorate in the field of journalistic science. Herwarth von Bittenfeld got this degree because of his pioneering activities in the press field during World War I. His Charakteristik der Auslandspresse was not only praised because of its meaning and usefulness in World War I, but also because of its fundamental importance for the journalistic science, as was his Handbuch der Auslandspresse. In his lecture Die deutsche Kriegspropaganda 1914-18 und heute im Spiegel eigenen Erlebens, which Herwarth von Bittenfeld gave on the occasion of his honorary doctorate, he described his pioneer work in the propaganda field in World War I, larded with examples of trial and error. Back in those days, he had an institute in mind as the Propaganda Ministry which was founded in 1933. He considered it a great honour to work for this ministry and had much pleasure in his work.

Genealogic and literary publications
Herwarth von Bittenfeld had a great interest in genealogy, like his father. From 1899 dates Herwarthisches, Für die Familienmitglieder zusammengestellt von Hans-Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, Schriftführer des Herwarthischen Familienvereins. This book contains a collection of stories about the family, preceded by a family tree. In Herwarthisches, the family arms of the Herwarth von Bittenfeld family is depicted: a red owl on silver, armed with gold; an owl also stands upon the helmet with red-silver deck on a square silver pillow with red tassels.
In 1904, the Zentralstelle für deutsche Personen- und Familiengeschichte was founded in Berlin. Herwarth von Bittenfeld was one of the founders. In 1944, posthumous, as volume 6 in the series Ahnentafeln berühmter Deutscher, the book Ahnentafel des Generalfeldmarschalls Eberhart Herwarth von Bittenfeld und seiner Brüder der Generale Hans und Fritz Herwarth von Bittenfeld was published, written by Herwarth von Bittenfeld and dr. Herbert Helbig.
Herwarth von Bittenfeld also wrote a literary book. From 1920 dates Sonette aus dem Portugiesischen. Nachdichtung von Hans Wolfgang von Herwarth, published in Munich, a complete, poetical translation of Sonnets from the Portuguese, the famous collection of love sonnets, dating from 1845/46, by the British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1805-1861).[3] The guest book of Neubeuern Castle in Bavaria contains two poems by Herwarth von Bittenfeld, dating from September and October 1916, shortly before his marriage with Julie von Wendelstadt, the proprietress of this castle.[4]

Private life
Herwarth von Bittenfeld was married several times. On December 15, 1897, he married Modesta Friederike Katharina Wagenführ-Tangerhütte, born in Tangerhütte on August 4, 1879. His wife carried the title of baroness. On November 3, 1898, they got a son: Hans-Eberhard.[5] According to Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (C.A. Starke, 1954), this marriage ended in a divorce on May 13, 1914. 
In 1916, during an admission in Neubeuern Castle in Bavaria to recover from a fall during climbing, Herwarth von Bittenfeld met with the proprietress, baroness Julie von Wendelstadt (March 1, 1871 - November 12, 1942), the widow of baron Jan von Wendelstadt, who had fitted up her castle as a military hospital and nursed wounded soldiers. On December 9, 1916, Herwarth von Bittenfeld married Julie von Wendelstadt. In 1917, during her pregnancy, she got a kidney infection. As her condition became critical, she had to give birth before the baby was full-term. At the time of birth, the baby, a girl named Rosemarie, died.[6] In 1922, the marriage ended in a divorce. Later, until his death, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was married with Frieda Johanna Schneider (physician, born on December 15, 1889 in Kümmersdorf).
On December 25, 1942, Herwarth von Bittenfeld died at home after a long disease. His mortal remains were cremated on December 31, 1942.

Characterizations
From various writings it becomes clear that Herwarth von Bittenfeld was an intelligent, charming personality. In A journal from our Legation in Belgium, his diary, Hugh Simons Gibson (1883-1954), an American diplomat who from 1914 to 1916 was secretary at the American Legation in Brussels, described him as a real white man, pleasant to deal with. He knew Herwarth von Bittenfeld from the period in which he worked in Washington as a military attaché and made some travels with him.
With heart and soul, Herwarth von Bittenfeld dedicated himself to national-socialism and worked as ardent as in the years before. In the diary he kept in the period 1932-1935, the American diplomat James Grover McDonald (1886-1964), who from October 1933 to December 1935 was the League of Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees, described a conversation he had with Herwarth von Bittenfeld on April 1, 1933, at that time working as a press official in the Nazi government. McDonald wrote that he was a remarkable Nazi, who became almost lyrical when he talked about topics like racial purity, the supremacy of the Nordic race, the return to primitive German culture, the idealism of the national-socialist leaders, the omnipotence of the Führer and the unique character of the revolution in Germany. According to Herwarth von Bittenfeld, Germany had managed to free itself of foreign dictation. In his eyes, the Jews were not Germans, but foreigners or worse, who should be expelled from all government positions. The number of jobs the Jews would have as a people, should equal their percentage of the German population as a whole. McDonald could not understand that an educated, courteous man like Herwarth von Bittenfeld, a former military attaché in Washington who knew the world very well, had that kind of ideas and could talk about this for hours and hours.
In his diary, Goebbels wrote in November 1939 that Herwarth von Bittenfeld had much skill and experience in the field of propaganda, was well-informed about the leaders of the adversaries and hated England like no other. 
In the obituary in 1942, Herwarth von Bittenfeld was described as someone who had the utmost confidence in the German victory, worked day and night and was highly intelligent.
In his necrology, dating from 1943, dr. Herbert Helbig, with whom Herwarth von Bittenfeld wrote Ahnentafel des Generalfeldmarschalls Eberhart Herwarth von Bittenfeld, described him as someone who grew up in the military tradition and who was outstanding because of his charm, versatility, his many interests and his fluency.
The remarks about Herwarth von Bittenfeld in the memoirs of Marie-Therese Miller-Degenfeld, the daughter of Ottonie von Degenfeld-Schonburg, Julie's sister in law, are in sharp contrast with these descriptions. Marie-Therese, for who Julie was a second mother, strongly resented Herwarth von Bittenfeld, who according to her coveted Neubeuern Castle. Family and friends of Julie were quite opposed against her marriage with him. His reproach that Julie for reasons of keeping property of the inheritance had not chosen for their baby, was the cause of the dislocation of their marriage. Julie's religious conviction kept her from a divorce, but being depressed since her failed pregnancy, she became distressed. A suicide attempt could barely be prevented. Later, taking with him the money of their joint bank account, Herwarth von Bittenfeld fled in the direction of Switzerland and never returned to Neubeuern Castle.[7]

Herwarth von Bittenfeld and national-socialism
In Herwarth von Bittenfeld's obituary, his membership of the NSDAP was mentioned. For the moment, it is not clear when he became a member of the NSDAP and for what reason. In September 1921, the German Chancellor Joseph Wirth, who based himself upon a confidential report of the German Commissioner for Public Safety, accused the Bavarian authorities in Munich of offering protection to Max Hermann Bauer, Hermann Erhardt and Waldemar Pabst, leaders in 1920 of the failed right-wing Kapp-Putsch, and their followers. According to some Munich newspapers, the headquarters of the revolutionaries was located at Salzburg, Tyrol, with a branch in Rosenheim, Bavaria, to be precisely: at Neubeuern Castle, where Herwarth von Bittenfeld and his wife kept open house for the more extreme monarchists, particularly those who wanted to restore the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach and who wanted to found an independent South-German Catholic monarchy which would include Bavaria, Austria and Hungary. Further, it was written that the Hungarian president Horthy repeatedly stayed at Neubeuern Castle, accompanied by Bauer. Erhardt and Pabst also visited Neubeuern Castle frequently. If these allegations are based on solid grounds, they might contain a clue regarding the question when and why Herwarth von Bittenfeld turned himself to national-socialism and joined the NSDAP.[8]

Publications by Herwarth von Bittenfeld, discussed on this website

De Meern, the Netherlands, June 7, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel
actualized on April 19, 2008

1. The most important biographic sources:
   - dr. Herbert Helbig on Herwarth von Bittenfeld in the section Kurze Nachrichten in Familiengeschichtliche Blätter Jg 41, 1943 (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Leipzig, ZC 249);
   - Zeitungswissenschaft; Monatsschrift für internationale Zeitungsforschung 1941, p.399 - 403;
   - Herwarthisches, Für die Familienmitglieder zusammengestellt von Hans-Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, Schriftführer des Herwarthischen Familienvereins (with thanks to dr. J. Anker, antiquarian bookseller in Kiefersfelden, Germany);
   - Advocate for the Doomed - the Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1932-1935 (Indiana University Press / United States Holocaust Memorial, 2007, p.34);
   - A journal from our Legation in Belgium (Hugh Gibson, New York, 1917; the photo of Herwarth von Bittenfeld in this article is a cut-out of a photo, published in this book);
   - obituary Herwarth von Bittenfeld (http://db.genealogy.net/familienanzeigen).
   The information on the Technische Nothilfe originates from Wikipedia. [text]

2. Van Berkel: The German source text of a.o. Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?. [text] 

3. Herwarth von Bittenfeld completed this translation in 1919. The title Sonnets from the Portuguese suggest a translation by Barrett Browning of Portuguese sonnets into English. This suggestion re-occurs in the title of Herwarth von Bittenfeld's translation. Actually, these were English sonnets, written by Barrett Browning who, following the 16th-century Portuguese poet Luis de Camões, used rhyme schemes, typical for Portuguese sonnets. The suggestion of a translation from the Portuguese had to disguise the fact that Barrett Browning was writing about her own love life. The word Portuguese is also an allusion to the fact that Barrett Browning's husband called her my little Portuguese, because of her long, dark hair (source: Wikipedia).

4. See the guest book of Neubeuern Castle, volume VI. [text]

5. At the outbreak of World War I, Hans-Eberhard, who lived in the United States, returned to Germany. He joined the army as a captain. In September 1918, he was imprisoned by the Americans. During an inspection of the detention camp in which Hans-Eberhard was imprisoned, he was recognized by Baker, the American Secretary of War, who managed to have him released. As a result, Hans-Eberhard decided to make his home in the United States, intending to take up farming in California. He dropped the title of baron (The New York Times, November 11, 1922). [text]

6. Sources: Julie Freifrau von Wendelstadt geb. Gräfin Degenfeld-Schonburg, gen. Sisi and Reinhard Käsinger (Neubeuern Castle) to Van Berkel, April 19, 2008. [text]

7. Source: Julie Freifrau von Wendelstadt geb. Gräfin Degenfeld-Schonburg, gen. Sisi. [text]

8. The New York Times, September 16, 1921. The online-version of the guest book of Neubeuern Castle, volume VI, which covers the period 1916-1927, contains no entries, written by Bauer, Erhardt, Horthy or Pabst. Item 176 however, dating from January 4, 1923, i.e. after the end of the marriage of Herwarth von Bittenfeld and Julie von Wendelstadt, consists of the chorus lines of the battle song of the Brigade Erhardt, composed around 1919: Hakenkreuz am Stahlhelm / Schwarz-weiss-rotes Band / Die Brigade Erhardt / So sind wir genannt! On the left side of these lines, the flag of this volunteer corps was depicted, a black-white-red ribbon and a soldier's helmet with a swastika. In the night of March 13, 1920, the Brigade Erhardt, commanded by Hermann Erhardt, began the Kapp-Putsch by occupying government buildings in Berlin as a protest against the decision that all voluntary corpses had to be disbanded. The swastika which this corps carried, was later adapted by the nazi's. [text]