NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid
(K.E. Krafft, Copenhagen, 1941 [1940])
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Nederlandse versie

Index WORLD WAR II

• Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas (K.E. Krafft, Berlin, 1940)
• Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? (K.E. Krafft, Brussels, 1941 [1940])
• Nostradamus predice el porvenir de Europa (K.E. Krafft, Madrid, 1941 [1940])

Denmark in World War II
In World War I, Denmark was neutral. The Versailles Treaty included the arrangement that the people of the former Danish duchy Schleswig, since 1864 part of Germany, could vote by referendum to which country they wanted to belong. In South-Schleswig, a majority chose for Germany; in North-Schleswig, a majority chose for Denmark. As a result, the boundary between Germany and Denmark was changed. When Hitler came into power, he did not raise this matter, although Germany never had accepted this alteration.
When on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, Denmark, together with the other Scandinavian countries, proclaimed neutrality. In contrast with the other Scandinavian countries, Denmark and Germany had closed a non-aggression treaty. Its date: May 31, 1939.
On April 9, 1940, the Germans invaded Denmark as well as Norway. In Denmark, they met no resistance. In the beginning of the occupation, the Germans had an attitude towards Denmark which politically seen was quite mild. In contrast with other occupied countries, Denmark remained a sovereign state, ruled by king Christian X. The German ambassador in Denmark, Von Renthe Fink, influenced the Danish coalition government which was formed in 1940. By means of compromises, this government tried to keep the Danish people free from being dominated by the national-socialists.
After the replacement in 1942 of Von Renthe Fink by Reichsbevollmächtigter Werner Beck, the Germans intensified the role they played in Denmark. As a result, the Danish started to unleash resistance activities. Displeased by inflation and a shortage in goods, this resulted in a series of strikes, which in the summer of 1943 culminated in actions, directed against the Germans. The government, which did not allow the persecution of the Jews, refused to break the strikes and to sentence those who committed sabotage, to death. Because of this attitude, the Germans proclaimed the state of emergency. Beck became in charge of Denmark; the Danish government resigned, the Danish army and the Danish navy were disbanded. In September 1943, the Danish Freedom Council was founded, which began to organize the resistance against the Germans. In the last year of the war, this Council closely cooperated with leading politicians. After Germany's capitulation on May 5, 1945, an interim-government was formed, consisting of representatives of the Freedom Council and representatives of the old political parties. In autumn 1945, the elections resulted in the formation of a left-wing government.

Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid 
In 1941, Trinitatistrykkeriet publishers, seated in 52 Købmagergade in Copenhagen, published Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid, the Danish translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, a natioaal-socialist propagandistic comment upon the Centuries which had to influence the Danish people. Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas was written between May 28 and June 30 1940 by the Swiss astrologer/statistician Karl Ernst Krafft (Basel, 1900 - Buchenwald, 1945), by order of the German Foreign Office, represented by dr. Werner Wilmanns, in charge of the department Inf IV. On most lately August 19, 1940, the final German source text was finished.
Most likely, the Danish translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas was made in Denmark. In his letter of August 20, 1940, which accompanied the sending of copies, meant for abroad, of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, the author, Simon, recommended to have Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas translated abroad, for quality reasons. He also wrote that Krafft, who had sufficient knowledge of the French language, would translate Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas into French.[1]

Contents of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid
Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid is a bound edition, consisting of 97 pages and containing b/w illustrations. The division of the text of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid in chapters and paragraphs corresponds with Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, except for the paragraphs Aufstieg und Fall von Napoleon Bonaparte and Verbannung Napoleons nach St. Helena, which in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid are put together into one paragraph: Napoleon Bonapartes Opgang og Fald. 
Like in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, the text of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid is preceded by a table of contents. The list on the pages 96-97 in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid of discussed quatrains and their meaning is not part of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas.

Illustration material
To Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, enclosures were added with twelve pictures with corresponding letter presses, and with photocopies, taken from the "1940-Krafft-copy" (a photocopy, made by Krafft, of a 1568-B.Rigaud-edition of the Centuries) of four paragraphs of the Epistle to Henry II and the French quatrain text of the 35 quatrains, discussed in Nostradus sieht die Zukunft Europas. This material had to be included in the translated editions of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. It looks as if the foreign publishers to some extent could arrange this material the way in which they thought it was the best.

The cover
The cover of the Hungarian, the Portuguese and the Spanish translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas contains a portrait of Nostradamus, copied from a book by the French Century-scholar Bareste, published in 1840. In Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid, this portrait is not depicted on the cover but on page 6, preceding chapter I. The cover of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid contains two illustrations. The upper illustration is a cut-out of a part of the cover of the 1940-Krafft-copy. This cut-out is not part of the illustrations, enclosed in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and is probably made by the printer/editor from the illustration of the cover of the 1568-B.Rigaud-edition, i.e. the 1940-Krafft-copy. The lower illustration is a picture of a woodcut, showing the arrest on June 22, 1791, of the French king Louis XVI in Varennes, an event which according to Krafft was predicted in quatrain 09-20. This illustration can also be found on page 31 in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid.
The cover contains the title NOSTRADAMUS and the author's name Karl E. Krafft. The back contains the title NOSTRADAMUS and a symbol which looks like a radiant sun. It is not clear whether or not this symbol is the logo of the publisher. The full title of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid is given on the title page.

Illustrations 
With the exception of the picture of the cover of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition of the Centuries, all illustrations, included in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas are included in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid. The illustrations however, were not accompanied by letter presses.

• p.6: portrait of Nostradamus (Bareste, 1840)

• p.10: title page of the German translation by the physician Jeremias März in Augsburg of two medical publications by Nostradamus (1589)

• p.14: cover of a 1557-DuRosne-edition of the Centuries

• p.15: cover of a 1568-B.Rigaud-edition of the Centuries, used by Krafft as a source text and published in October - November 1940 as a photocopy (the 1940-Krafft-copy)

• p.16: cover of the 1650-Leiden-edition of the Centuries

• p.17: title page of the 1689-Cologne-edition of the Centuries

• p.29: map of the supposed escape-route in 1791 of the French king Louis XVI from Paris to Varennes

• p.31: picture of a woodcut, showing the arrest on June 22, 1791 of Louis XVI in Varennes

• p.46: horoscope figure for May 10, 1940

• p.48: ephemeris page May 1940

• p.82: horoscope figure general Franco

French Century-texts
All quatrains, discussed in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, are also discussed in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid. No quatrains were added to  Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid. To each discussion of a quatrain, the French quatrain text was added, copied from the 1940-Krafft-copy. Like the illustrations, these copies were included in enclosures in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. 
In Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, Krafft wrote the corresponding quatrain numbers in the left margin of the quatrains. Two quatrains were numbered erroneously: quatrain 08-37 had the erroneous number VII-37 and quatrain 10-22 had the erroneous number X-27. These erroneous numbers can also be found in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid.
In Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, Krafft extensively discussed three paragraphs in the Epistle to Henry II in which was written about the rise after 1792 of Italy, the rise of Romania, Germania and Spain and their future power. The enclosures contained photocopies of these paragraphs, taken from the 1940-Krafft-copy. In Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid, these photocopies were also depicted. 

The message of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid
In Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid, the text of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas was translated completely, without additions or omissions. Therefore, the message of Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid is identical with the one of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas: according to Krafft, Nostradamus foresaw in detail all important successful German political manoeuvres and battle (the rise of Hitler, the adding to Germany of the Rhineland, Austria and Bohemia, the invasions in Poland and Scandinavia and the beginning on May 10, 1940, of the Westfeldzug) as well as the fact that Italy would join the war and that France would capitulate. According to Krafft, Nostradamus could predict facts of the far future and the future perspective he derived from the Centuries, inevitably would become true: England would suffer from famine and military defeat, would lose North-Ireland and eventually would disappear from the world theatre. Germany would win the war and would become the leading power in Europe. Hitler would persecute the Jews, the alien race in Europe.
Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid is not focused on the country in which it was going to be spread, in contrast with a number of translations of the German Nostradamusbrochure, written in November - December 1939 by Hans Wolfgang Herwarth von Bittenfeld, prof. dr. Karl Bömer and Leopold Gutterer, managers in Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda.[2] 

An outdated propaganda message
The translations of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, a text, written in May-June 1940 and dealing with the battle between Germany and England, Germany's only remaining adversary, were published in 1941, i.e. with a delay of almost one year, in a period in which there were no German campaigns on the European continent and the battle with England was at a low ebb. According to these translations, the battle on the northern front resulted in a victory for Germany, which meant that only one front was left, the western front, where Germany inevitably would win the war. In 1941, however, Germany did not defeat England and by invading Russia in June 1941 opened a second front, the eastern front. This meant that the description of the war in the translations of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas became outdated, which might have had a negative impact on the propaganda in these brochures. Krafft had written nothing about Russia and had made not one allusion which could be explained as a prediction of Operation Barbarossa, as the German invasion in Russia is called.

Quatrains, discussed in Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid

De Meern, the Netherlands, August 2, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel

Notes

1. Van Berkel: Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas (K.E.Krafft, Berlin, 1940). [text]

2. Van Berkel: The German source text of ao Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen? (H.W. Herwarth von Bittenfeld, prof. dr. K. Bömer and L. Gutterer, Berlin, 1940 [1939]). [text]