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 The
predictional value of the Centuries
According to the Preface to Cesar and the Epistle to Henry II, which are
part of the Centuries, also known as the Prophecies of
Nostradamus, as we know them today, the Centuries have a time
span from 1555 to 3797 and deal with West- and Central Europe and the
countries which surround the Mediterranean Sea, in other words: the
"old" world.
The research upon which Nostradamus, astrology and the Bible is
founded, lead among other things to an evaluation of the predictional
value of the Centuries. The conclusion is that these predictions
will not be fulfilled, because they can not be fulfilled. The existence
of the world c.q. humanity can not be placed in a time structure of
8.000 years as is done in the Centuries; the world exists since
millions of years and humanity for more than 40.000 years. The view on
the world on which the Centuries are founded, has become
obsolete, since the African, the American, the Asian and the Australian
continent are not discussed. Astrological structures which can be found
in the Centuries also became obsolete, not in the least since it
turned out that they had no predictional value. Bible texts, quoted in
order to legitimate the Centuries, were taken out of their
context, by which they lose their value as a good argument.[1]
World
War II
The question
about the impact of the Centuries in the years of their existence
is as interesting as the question whether or not the Centuries
can be fulfilled. They did not lose their reputation and today they
still draw attention. This could be observed in for example the increase
of the number of visitors of Nostradamus-websites when on April 19,
2005, cardinal Joseph Aloïs Ratzinger was elected as pope. On that day,
www.nostradamusresearch.org was
visited 521 times, whereas in the days before the average number of
visitors was about 275. Also at the time of the attack on the Twin
Towers in New York on September 11, 2001, and at the time of the tsunami
in South-East Asia on December 26, 2004, the number of visitors of
Nostradamus-websites increased. In connection with the attack on the
Twin Towers, hoax quatrains were brought into circulation, attributed to
Nostradamus, in which this attack was supposed to be predicted.
In some ways, the Centuries are connected to World War II. The fighting parties used the Centuries, Century-comments
or the reputation of Nostradamus as an astrologer/prophet/seer who
predicted important political events until the end of times for
propaganda purposes. Some people based their opinion about the war upon
an analysis of the actual situation by means of the Centuries or
on a future perspective, derived from the Centuries (whether or
not propaganda). After World War II, it was attributed to
Nostradamus that in the Centuries, he predicted important events
which took place in World War II and that he mentioned the names
of persons who played an important part in this war. The first Dutch
translation of the Centuries was meant as a counter-react against
the national-socialist Nostradamusbrochure Hoe zal deze oorlog
eindigen?, published in the Netherlands in April 1940.
The substudy "World
War II" contains articles which are a.o. the result of the study of books
and newspaper articles from the period 1939-1945 (comments,
national-socialist propaganda, Allied contra-propaganda and post-war
publications which are connected with the fortune of the Centuries
in World War II, Century-comments or the reputation of
Nostradamus). In
the literature study upon which this substudy is based,
Ellic Howe's Uranias
Kinder: Die seltsame Welt der Astrologen und das Dritte Reich (Weinheim,
1995, a translation of Astrology and the Third Reich [London,
1984]) plays an important part. In the '60's, Howe did extensive
research on astrology in Nazi-Germany and the life and work of the Swiss
astrologer Karl Ernst Krafft, whose name inextricably is bound up with
national-socialist propaganda, as far as based upon the Centuries.
Further, the scientific edition of the Goebbels diaries, published by
the Munich Institüt für Zeitgeschichte and Willi A.
Boelcke's publications on the secret daily propaganda meetings in the
German Ministry of Propaganda are a very important source of information.
For the study of publications on Nostradamus and the Centuries in
the period 1939-1945, authentic material has been used (articles, books,
brochures, interviews and pamphlets).
Contents
of the substudy "World War
II"
The substudy "World War II" consists of five parts. The titles of these
parts are listed below and are given by means of hyperlinks, which are
linked to the sub-indexes of articles in this substudy.
General
This part contains articles on the origins of national-socialist
propaganda, as far as based upon the Centuries and/or Century-comments.
The literature study upon which the substudy "World War II" is based,
showed that dr. Paul Joseph
Goebbels, the Nazi-minister of Propaganda
from 1933 tot 1945, fulfilled a key role.
This part also contains lists of titles of French and German literature
on Nostradamus and the Centuries.
Publications
1939-1945
This part contains articles on books, brochures and pamphlets about
Nostradamus and the Centuries, published in the period 1939-1945.
Some of these publications were written for psychological warfare; other
ones were the result of research and were not propagandistic.
In a number of articles, the impact of these publications is
demonstrated.
Post-war
publications
This part contains articles on
publications, published after 1945, which are connected in some way to
books, brochures and articles on Nostradamus and the Centuries,
published in the period 1939-1945.
Information
on authors
This part contains articles on a number of
authors who in the period 1939-1945 have written on Nostradamus and the Centuries,
whether or not
for propaganda reasons.
In a number of articles is described to what extent ideas about the
meaning of the Centuries or the attitude towards the use of the Centuries
for psychological warfare changed in the course of the years.
Information
on magazines, newspapers etc.
This part contains articles about
magazines and newspapers in which in the period 1939-1945 articles were
published on Nostradamus and the Centuries, whether or not
written for propaganda reasons.
Expression
of thanks
First of all, I
would like to thank, with all my heart, mr.
W. Zannoth
(Germany), for
all the information he gave about German Nostradamus-literature
and for his never-ending help. Without him, this project would not have
been realized.
I also would like to thank mr.
U. Maichle (Germany), for the information he shares with me
regarding his findings in his research on the fortune of the Centuries
during World War II. In March 2006, he published his
findings on his website Die
Nostradamus-Propaganda der Nazis 1939-1942, which frequently is
actualized. The results of his
archive research provide an objective, clear insight in what, regarding
the Nostradamus-propaganda, happened behind the walls of the German
Ministry of Propaganda and the German Foreign Office, a field which until
our days was quite inaccessible. Besides, Maichle has been the one who discovered
the reason why the German historian/philologist dr. Alexander Centgraf
used the pseudonym "dr. N. Alexander Centurio" in his post-war
comments on Nostradamus and the Centuries.
The information, send by mrs. G. Grossmann (Institut für Zeitgeschichte,
Munich), mrs. A.S. Langner (Bundesarchiv, Berlin) and mrs.
C. von
Schierstedt (Germany), author and webmaster of the website Hermes-Astrologie,
has been invaluable.
I also would like to thank mr. F. Erkelens and mrs. M. Plettenburg (the
Netherlands). For a long time, they worked at Servire publishers, The
Hague, NL, the
company which in 1941 published the Dutch translation of the Centuries, made by Houwens Post.
They gave much information about Servire publishers and about C. Verhulst, at that time the owner of Servire
publishers.
I also would like to thank mr. A.E. Post (the Netherlands), a grand-nephew of
prof. dr. mr. H. Houwens Post, for his sending of a
biography of his great-uncle.
I also would like to thank mr. R. Benazra (France) for his extensive research
on the origins of used French source texts in several publications, for information about French
publications and for sending a copy of a French version of the
national-socialist brochure
Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus, printed by F. Beroud, Paris, and J. Halbronn D.Litt.
(France), for
sending a copy of the French version of the national-socialist brochures Die
Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus and a copy of the German original,
all produced under the auspices of the Deutsche Informationsstelle,
one of the departments of the Auswärtige Amt, the German Foreign
Office.
I also would like to thank dr. E.R. Gruber (Germany) for his
information about C. Loog and the copy of the national-socialist
brochure Der Seher von Salon, and mr. P. Lemesurier (Great
Britain), for his information about several comments on quatrain 03-57.
A special expression of thanks I would like to give to mrs. E.M. Stengel
- Peter (Germany) for the information she gave about the life and work of her
father, dr. B. Winkler, whose novel about Nostradamus was published in
1937 and whose Century-comments were published in 1939 and 1940.
This information enabled me to study his publications in connection with
his political and pacifistic ideas.
De Meern, the
Netherlands, April 6, 2007
T.W.M.
van Berkel
Notes
-
Van
Berkel:
- The value of the predictions
- Countries and cities in the Centuries
[tekst]
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