NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?
(K.E. Krafft, Brussels, 1941 [1940])
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Nederlandse versie

Index WORLD WAR II

• Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas (K.E. Krafft, Berlin, 1940)
• Nostradamus forudser Europas Fremtid (K.E. Krafft, Copenhagen, 1941 [1940])
• Nostradamus predice el porvenir de Europa (K.E. Krafft, Madrid, 1941 [1940])

Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? 
In April 1941, Snellew publishers in Brussels published Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, the French translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, a national-socialist propagandistic comment upon the Centuries by which the French-speaking people in Belgium and Switzerland had to be influenced as well as the people in France. 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. At most lately August 19, 1940, the final German source text was completed. Next, translations were made.[1]
Most likely, the French translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas was made by Krafft himself. In his letter of August 20, 1940, which accompanied the sending of copies of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, meant for abroad, the author, Simon, for quality reasons recommended to have Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas translated abroad. He also wrote that Krafft, who had sufficient knowledge of the French language, would made the French translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas.
In 1941, Krafft announced the publication of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? in a circular letter. He wrote that he finished this study on Nostradamus in the autumn of the preceding year and that publication had been delayed. Simon's letter, however, implicates that at most lately August 19, 1940, the final version of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas was completed, which would serve as a source text for the translations. Krafft's French translation of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas can be dated by means of the mentioning in the Principales publications de même auteur and the Notes bibliographiques of a photocopy of a 1568-Lyon-edition of the Centuries, to which an alphabetical index of quatrains was added and which edition was not for sale. This photocopy, which in this article is named: the 1940-Krafft-copy, was published in Frankfurt an Main in October - November 1940, in a limited edition of 299 copies, not for sale. This means that Krafft, when he wrote that he finished his study on Nostradamus by autumn 1940, actually referred to the finishing of his translation. Next to his list in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?
Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? is printed by Ferd. Wellens-Pay, seated in Brussels in 35 Rue de Ruysbroeck, a company which until at least 1948 printed books. The printing of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? was completed on April 18, 1941. Counting from May 1940, when the German Foreign Office, represented by Wilmanns, approached Krafft to write Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, almost a year went by before Comment Nostradamsu a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? was brought into circulation. 

The contents of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?
Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? is a bound edition of 206 pages, with b/w illustrations.  
The contents of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? are not identical with the contents of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and its Danish and Spanish translations.

1. Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe does not begin with a table of contents, but with a list of Krafft's principal publications in the period 1923-1940. This list includes titles of a number of articles and the books Typokosmie (Leipzig, 1934) and Traité d'Astrobiologie (Paris, Brussels and Lausanne, 1939). The table of contents of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? is located at the end of the book, like in the Spanish translation. In the list of Krafft's principal publications, the preparation of a new book, to be published in Erfurt in 1941 is announced, entitled Das Siebenjahr. Due to the Aktion-Heß, Krafft was arrested on June 12, 1941 and remained imprisoned until his death in 1945. As far as known, Das Siebenjahr has not been published.[2]

2. The division of the text of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? into chapters does not correspond with the one in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and the Danish and Spanish translations. Krafft divided the original chapter III in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, entitled Was kündet Nostradamus für heute und morgen? into two chapters, one in connection with the actual situation (Chapitre III. Les Prophéties et l'actualité politique) and one in connection with the near future (Chapitre IV. Que nous annonce Nostradamus pour demain?). Due to this revision, Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? consists of five chapters; the fifth and last chapter (Coup d'oeil dans les pénombres d'ou sortent les "Prophéties") is in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and the Danish and Spanish translation the fourth and last chapter.

3. The text of a number of paragraphs in chapter III in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and the Danish and Spanish translation is included in a different paragraph in chapter IV in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?: 

   1. The text of the paragraph Hungersnot in England is included in the untitled first paragraph in chapter IV. 

   2. The text of the paragraph Lösung der irischen Frage is included in the paragraph Le général Chaos - L'Angleterre seule contre l'Europe in chapter IV. 

   3. The text of the paragraph Adolf Hitler als Erneuerer Deutschlands is included in the paragraph Prédictions sur le Troisième Reich in chapter IV.

4. Next to the paragraph Le général Chaos - L'Angleterre seule contre l'Europe in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? comes the paragraph Aspects douloureux de la guerre totalitaire. The text of this paragraph, in which Krafft, basing himself upon quatrain 05-43, announces the destruction of Londen, is not part of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and the Danish and Spanish translation.

5. In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft discussed 36 quatrains; in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, 35 quatrains were discussed. Compared with Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and the Danish and Spanish translation, not only quatrain 05-43 has been added to Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, but also quatrain 05-51, which he linked to the "little Entente" and the participation of Italy in the war in June 1940. In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, quatrain 08-37, which in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas in the paragraph General Wirrwarr - England allein gegen Europa and in the Danish and Spanish translation was discussed because of its emphasis of the troubles, faced by the British king George VI,  has not been discussed. 

6. Next to the last chapter in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? come appendices with bibliographic remarks, a list of discussed quatrains with the years in which they, according to Krafft, either were fulfilled or would become fulfilled, and a list of illustrations. Closing, the table of contents is given. 
   The Danish translation - not the Spanish one - also contains a list of discussed quatrains. The descriptions of the quatrain lines and the mentioning of years and persons is that much corresponding with the list in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, that one can suppose that such a list was part of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. In contrast with the list of discussed quatrains in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, the list in the Danish translation does not contain references to the discussed paragraphs of the Epistle to Henry II. In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft updated this list since he removed a quatrain and added two other ones.

  

Titles of chapters and paragraphs of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?

NOSTRADAMUS SIEHT DIE ZUKUNFT EUROPAS	COMMENT NOSTRADAMUS A-T-IL ENTREVU L'AVENIR DE L'EUROPE?
Table of contents	Principales publications du même auteur
I. Wer war Nostradamus? Was sind seine Prophéties?	Chapitre premier. Qui a été Nostradamus? Que sont ses Prophéties?
Untitled paragraph	Untitled paragraph
Wie uns die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus überkommen sind	Untitled paragraph
II. Sagt Nostradamus die Wahrheit?	Chapitre II. Nostradamus a-t-il dit la vérité?
Untitled paragraph	Untitled paragraph
Ankündigung der französischen Revolution und des versuchten Kalenderwechsels	Prédiction de la Révolution française et de la tentative de réforme du calendrier
Italiens Entwicklung und Aufstieg zum Imperium	L'évolution politique de l'Italie et son ascension à l'empire
Nostradamus und die Genfer Völkerbundstragödie	Nostradamus et la tragédie de la S.D.N.
Herkunft und Aufstieg von Cromwell	Origine et ascension de Cromwell
Dramatische Höhepunkte aus der fanzösische Revolutionszeit	Points culminantes et dramatiques de la Révolution Française
Aufstieg und Fall von Napoleon Bonaparte
Verbannung Napoleons nach St. Helena	L'exil de Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène
Die Kapitulation von Sédan	La capitulation de Sedan
Voraussagen in den Prophéties für den Weltkrieg	Les Prophéties et la guerre mondiale
III. Was kündet Nostradamus für heute und morgen?	Chapitre III. Les Prophéties et l'actualité politique
Untitled paragraph	Untitled paragraph
Der Aufstieg der autoritären Staaten	L'Ascension des Etats totalitaires
Der Krieg in Frankreich	La guerre en France
Der 10. Mai 1940	Le dix mai 1940
Blitzkrieg in Frankreich	La guerre éclair en France
Bestimmung und Verantwortung	Destinée et responsabilité
Schatten über England	Une ombre plane sur l'Angleterre
	Chapitre IV. Que nous annonce Nostradamus pour demain?
Hungersnot in England	Untitled paragraph
Bombardierung Englands	Bombardement de l'Angleterre
General Wirrwarr - England allein gegen Europa	Le général Chaos - L'Angleterre seule contre l'Europe
Lösung der irischen Frage	Aspects douloureux de la guerre totalitaire
Voraussagen über Deutschland	Prédictions sur le Troisième Reich
Adolf Hitler als Erneuerer Deutschlands
Großdeutschland	Nostradamus annonciateur de la Grande Allemagne
Noch einmal der Einmarsch in Frankreich und England	Encore une fois l'offensive allemande du printemps 1940
IV. Wie kam Nostradamus zu seinen Prophezeiungen?	Chapitre V. Coup d'oeil dans les pénombres d'ou sortent les "Prophéties"
-	Notes bibliographiques
	Index des quatrains cités
	Index des tableaux réproduits
	Table des matières

Illustration material
To Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, enclosures were added with 12 pictures and corresponding letter presses and with photocopies of four paragraphs and 35 quatrain texts from the 1940-Krafft-copy. This material had to be included in the translations.

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 the book, written in 1840 by the French Century-scholar Bareste. The cover of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? only contains the author's name Karl E. Krafft, the title and the name and seating place of the publisher. The portrait can be found on page 7, following the list of Krafft's principal publications.

Illustrations 
In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe, Krafft included all illustrations which were present in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. To each illustration, he added a letter press, which he translated from the letter presses in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas.

• p.7: portrait of Nostradamus (frpm: Bareste, 1840)

• p.16: title page of the German translation by the physician Jeremias März in Augsburg of two medical publications by Nostradamus (1589)

• p.24: cover of a 1557-DuRosne-edition of the Centuries

• p.26: 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.28: cover of the 1650-Leiden-edition of the Centuries

• p.30: cover of the 1668-Amsterdam-edition of the Centuries

• p.32: title page of the 1689-Cologne-edition of the Centuries

• p.50: map of the supposed escape-route in 1791 of the French king Louis XVI from Paris to Varennes

• p.60: picture of a woodcut, showing the arrest on June 22, 1791 of Louis XVI in Varennes

• p.91: horoscope figure for May 10, 1940

• p.94: ephemeris page May 1940

• p.172: horoscope figure general Franco

French Century-texts
To each discussed quatrain in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft added a copy of the French quatrain text as printed in the 1940-Krafft-copy. Except for the quatrains 05-43 and 05-51, these quatrains were included in the enclosures of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. 
In the enclosure of Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, Krafft gave wrong quatrain numbers to two quatrains: he numbered quatrain 08-37 erroneously as quatrain VII-37 and quatrain 10-22 erroneously as quatrain X-27. Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? contains the appropriate quatrain numbers.
In Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, Krafft extensively discussed three paragraphs in the Epistle to Henry II in which was written about the rise of Italy after 1792, the rise of Romania, Germania and Spain and the power of these nations. The enclosures contained copies of the French text of these paragraphs, taken from the 1940-Krafft-copy. In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, these copies were also depicted.

The message of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?
In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft tells his readers that Nostradamus foresaw all important German political manoeuvres and battle fbattle (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.
Actually, the message of Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? is identical with the one in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas and its Danish and Spanish translation. In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft seems to have wanted to emphasize parts of his message. He divided the original third chapter in a chapter about the actual situation and a chapter about the near future. Most parts of the chapter in which the actual situation is discussed, deal with France. In fact, in this chapter, Krafft looks back upon the war in France which on June 22, 1940, resulted in an armistice. The chapter in which the near future is discussed, mainly deals with England and Germany, the countries which by the end of June 1940 were still at war with each other. 
In Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?, Krafft used more words in his formulations than in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas. Compared with Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, his comment upon a number of quatrains is revised. For example, in his comment upon quatrain 05-94 on the pages 146 and 147, he linked the geographical name Bolongne to Pologne (Poland) and by doing so quatrain 05-94 to the invasion in Poland, whereas in his comment upon quatrain 05-94 in Nostradamus sieht die Zukunft Europas, he linked this name to the French city of Boulogne and not to the invasion in Poland.
The question is if Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? is focused upon France and the French-speaking people in Belgium and Switzerland. This seems not to be the case; there are no added paragraphs in which Krafft tries to take advantage of sentiments, living among the French and the French-speaking people in Belgium and Switzerland.

Envy
Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe? contains a bibliography. Regarding Century-comments, Krafft consulted publications, written by Bareste (Paris, 1840), De Chavigny (Lyon, 1594), Jaubert (Amsterdam?, 1656), Loog (Pfullingen in Württemberg, 1921 [1920]), Kemmerich (Munich, 1911), Moura / Louvet (Paris, 1930),  Nicoullaud (Paris, 1914), Le Pelletier (Paris, 1867), Torné-Chavigny (Bordeaux, 1860), Ward (London, 1889), Wöllner (Leipzig, 1926) and an anonymous publication about the life of Nostradamus and his last will (Paris, 1789). Krafft esteemed the publications by Bareste, Moura / Louvet, Le Pelletier and Torné-Chavigny. According to Krafft, almost all Century-scholars who published in the years after 1920, founded their findings upon the findings of Le Pelletier and therefore copied all the mistakes Le Pelletier had made.
It is remarkable that Krafft characterized Loog's Die Weissagungen des Nostradamus (which in his list is wrongly entitled Das Schicksalsbuch der Weltgeschichte) as a publication which contains one or two remarkable, "fulfilled" predictions amidst an absurd thesis. Loog was the one who wrote that probably, Nostradamus had predicted in quatrain 03-57 that in 1939, crises in England and Poland would occur around the same time, a comment which in 1939 was explained as a fulfilled prediction by Nostradamus of the German invasion in Poland in September 1939. In his comment, Krafft based his time span of quatrain 03-57 upon the time span, given in 1914 by the Frenchman Nicoullaud; actually, he mentioned Nicoullaud by name. In Krafft's words, it looked as if Loog, who he did not mention by name but to who he referred to as nostradamite allemand, had written about 1939 instead of describing the time span of quatrain 03-57 and the events which took place in England between 1649 and 1714. According to Krafft, the change in England which Nostradamus had foreseen, was the putting aside in spring 1940 of the Constitution and the fact that from thereon, the British government had absolute power. Moreover, Loog's comment upon quatrain 03-57 was at the centre of the brochure Hoe zal deze oorlog eindigen?. It appears to me as if Krafft wanted to present himself as the first Century-scholar who discovered that Nostradamus predicted the most important battle facts which occurred in the war which in 1939 had begun, as well as preceding events, with the most remarkable prediction about May 10, 1940, the day on which the Westfeldzug began.

An outdated propaganda message
TThe 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.

Discussed quatrains in Comment Nostradamus a-t-il entrevu l'avenir de l'Europe?

Notes

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

2. In 1917, the book Das Siebenjahr : Untersuchungen über die zeitliche Gesetzmässigkeit des Menschenlebens was published in Vienna, written by the Austrian psychologist professor Hermann Swoboda (1873-1963), who in the beginning of the 20th century developed the theory of biorhytm. In a censored letter to Virgil V. Tilea, the Rumanian ambassador in London, Krafft wrote that he had discovered that the exact time span of a Siebenjahr was not seven years, but seven years minus seven weeks, and that he considered the natal position of the Sun as the point of departure. If someone was born in spring, his or her life would begin with a different, i.e. expansive phase, than in the case of a birth in autumn. (Howe, p.241). [text]