NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Gibt es Propheten? 
(N.N., Der Märkische Adler, January 3, 1941)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Nederlandse versie

Index WORLD WAR II

In the first number of volume 16 of the national-socialist weekly Der Märkische Adler - Gauorgan des Gaues Mark Brandenburg der NSDAP, dated on January 3, 1941, an article, entitled Gibt es Propheten?, is published on page 9. In this article, printed on the full right column of page 9, a number of predictions in the Centuries were discussed which, according to the - anonymous - author were fulfilled long ago and in the year 1940. By means of a number of other predictions in the Centuries, he revealed that, according to Nostradamus the future for Germany under national-socialist leadership would be marvellous, and what would be the fate of England and France.[1]
With the publishing of Gibt es Propheten?, Der Märkische Adler passed over a decree of the NSDAP-ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, issued in March 1940, that the NSDAP no longer would quote the Centuries.[2] In a memorandum which probably dates from the summer of 1941, in which psychological warfare, based upon the Centuries, was contested, Der Märkische Adler was criticized as well as the national-socialist weekly Der Reichswart, which in December 1940 published a page-size article about Nostradamus, written by the Century-scholar Carl Loog.[3] According to this memorandum, those who considered the Centuries as a guide line, handed themselves over to fatalism on which the idea was based in oracle writings, dating from the midst of the sixteenth century, events which would take place in the twentieth century were described as a given fact. It was strongly recommended to suppress war prophecies in general, and especially those of Nostradamus.

The contents of Gibt es Propheten?
The author of Gibt es Propheten? opened his article with the remark that, despite that nobody would admit being superstitious or would pretend to be a prophet, in all times there were good and bad prophets, who claimed that they could look into the future. In 1940, people would be sufficient matter-of fact to evaluate prophecies. Because of this, he presented the well-known prophet Nostradamus, who long ago predicted things which happened in the lifetime of the author. He described Nostradamus as a skilful physician, raised in the village of St. Joan, a courageous fighter of the plague who many years travelled in Europe and finally, tired of the jealousy of his colleagues, started to write and to practice black magic. Kings asked his astrological advice and his book Hundertschaften und Prophetien (the Centuries, TvB), published in 1555 and written in mystic words in order to avoid a conflict with the Inquisition, became a huge success.
According to the author, predictions about the beheading of the British king Charles I and about the French Revolution were already fulfilled. In his opinion, the comments regarding the twentieth century were very interesting. First, he discussed the "attack by the German army on May 10, 1940, predicted by Nostradamus, which resulted in the destruction of France" and wondered if it was sheer coincidence that this was described in the chapter which dealt with France. He also discussed the capitulation of Paris on June 14, 1940, shortly after Italy's participation in the war on June 10, 1940. This also was predicted in the Centuries. Further, he paid attention to the changes which occurred in England in a time span of 290 years, beginning with the beheading of Charles I in 1649. According to the author, this quatrain, which ran until 1939, contained an allusion to Poland (and therefore to the invasion of the German army in Poland in September 1939). In connection with another quatrain, the author wondered if that quatrain contains allusions to the German air raids on England and to air-raid shelters.
The author emphasized that Nostradamus already in 1555 introduced the conception Großdeutschland in connection with the German victory over France. Further, Nostradamus had described "Germany's internal renewal", with which the author referred to the rise of national-socialism, and proclaimed that after the "foundation of Germany", the "Holy Empire" would come.
At the end, it was for the readers to believe the predictions by Nostradamus or not. The author emphasized that they were an exceptional phenomenon, which can be explained as "he who has ears, should listen carefully".
Gibt es Propheten? contains three complete and four incomplete German quatrain texts. Further, there is a reference to a quatrain which is supposed to deal with the beheading of Charles I and a quote of the Epistle to Henry II about the introduction of the Republican Calendar during the French Revolution. The quatrain texts have no quatrain numbers.

The message of Gibt es Propheten?
Gibt es Propheten? was published in number 1 of volume 1941, which carries the date January 3, 1941. This date raises the idea that the article was written by the end of 1940. 
I know nothing about the identity of the author of Gibt es Propheten?, neither do I have background documents at my disposal. Therefore, it is only possible to guess the motive for writing Gibt es Propheten?. It is not clear if the author for example wanted to enforce German morale or by means of comment upon the Centuries wanted to praise Hitler, his regime and his success.
Published in the first number of the 1941 volume of Der Märkische Adler, it looks as if Gibt es Propheten?, because of the thesis that Nostradamus' prediction that Germany would defeat France was fulfilled, the disasters he predicted for England and the coming of the "Holy Empire", is a kind of New Years Epistle in which the readers, by means of fulfilled predictions of Nostradamus, were guaranteed that Germany's marvellous future also would become reality.

An abridged version of Brochure-18-DE
The literature study upon which the articles, published on this website in the substudy "World War II", are based, showed that the author of Gibt es Propheten? copied his text from the brochure Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus. This brochure, in this article entitled Brochure-18-DE, is volume 18 in the series Informations-Schriften, a series of anonymous propaganda brochures, made by order of the German Foreign Office and published in ten languages, among which English. The brochures of the series Informations-Schriften were mostly spread abroad, i.e. among prisoners of war in German camps.[4] 
Gibt es Propheten? contains that many paragraphs which originate from Brochure-18-DE, that it can be considered as an abridged version of Brochure-18-DE. Not one comment in Gibt es Propheten? originates from it author, all comments originate from Brochure-18-DE. 
The author of Gibt es Propheten? maintained the order of the text in Brochure-18-DE to such an extent, that it looks as if he ran through the text of Brochure-18-DE, took out the paragraphs which he considered to be useful and turned these paragraphs into one piece of text. He copied the comment upon eight of the twenty quatrains which were discussed in Brochure-18-DE and maintained the order of discussion. His article contains seven German quatrain texts, copied from Brochure-18-DE. Some of them are incomplete. This is the result of the fact that in Brochure-18-DE, these texts are also incomplete. 
The author of Gibt es Propheten? did not give the quatrain numbers, something which can also be traced back to Brochure-18-DE, since that brochure also did not contain quatrain numbers. 
Gibt es Propheten? does not contain French Century-texts, something which is caused by the fact that there are no French quatrain texts in Brochure-18-DE. From Brochure-18-DE, the author copied the title Hundertschaften und Prophetien and the year 1555, in which this book of Nostradamus was supposed to have been published. In Brochure-18-DE, this title was a corruption of the title Les vrayes Centuries et Propheties. 
Considering all this, it can be assumed that the author of Gibt es Propheten? had no knowledge about the Centuries, but back in 1941, the average reader would have no reason to question his knowledge.

Style differences and emphasis
Regarding style, the text of Gibt es Propheten? is quite different from the text of Brochure-18-DE. The text of Brochure-18-DE is mostly communicative and confronts its readers with facts. The text of Gibt es Propheten? is tantalizing and rhetoric. Its readers are asked if it is sheer coincidence that the destruction of France was predicted in the chapter which actually dealt with France and if a quatrain, which dealt with the actual situation, contained allusions to the Luftwaffe and air-raid shelters.
While discussing the air raids upon England and the famine which soon would come, the author of Gibt es Propheten? deliberately changed the German quatrain text which he copied from Brochure-18-DE: in the third line, he inserted the name of the city of London. By doing so, he wanted to emphasize that this quatrain dealt with England. Neither the original quatrain text (the table underneath contains the version, printed in the 2000-Chomarat-facsimile), nor the German quatrain text in Brochure-18-DE, contains the name of the city of London.
The second line in the version in Gibt es Propheten? contains the word Atmungsstockwerk, a translation of the words respiral estage. The comment contains the rhetoric question if this is an allusion to air-raid shelters. In Brochure-18-DE , the second line contains the word Luftschutzkellers; the compilers of this brochure wrote in their comment that the word Atmungsstockwerk, which had puzzled so many Century-scholars, actually referred to air-raid shelters. In other words: they adjusted their translation to the propaganda they had in mind. The author of Gibt es Propheten? seems to have reconstructed the original German translation, but actually, he did nothing but rearrange words in connection with the propaganda he had in mind.

Closing this article, a look at the explanation by the author of Gibt es Propheten? of the line Nach Deutschland wird kommen das Heilige Reich; the translation of Le sainct empire viendra en Germanie, the first line of quatrain 10-31. In German, the word nach has a variety of meanings. In the Dutch and French version of Brochure-18-DE, this word was not translated into towards, but into next to.[5] The author of Gibt es Propheten? also explained the line Nach Deutschland wird kommen das Heilige Reich in the meaning of next to:

Und nach der "Gründung Deutschlands" wird kommen "das Heilige Reich"!

Expression of thanks
The author wishes to thank the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin for sending a copy of the article Gibt es Propheten? and a copy of the first page of number 1, 1941 of Der Märkische Adler (signature 2“ Fc 509/65 / Haus Unter den Linden). 

De Meern, the Netherlands, August 18, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel

Notes

1. Der Märkische Adler was founded by the journalist/politician Richard Paul Wilhelm Kube (1887-1943), who in the twenties was a member of the right-wing Deutschvölkischer Freiheitspartei and from December 1, 1927, a member of the NSDAP. Om January 2, 1928, he became in charge of the Ostmark, a junction of the department Grenzmark - Posen - Westpreußen and the district Frankfurt/Oder. From November 1926 to May 1945, Der Märkische Adler was published every Friday and was the official NSDAP-weekly for the Ostmark (source: Biographisch - bibliographisch Kirchenlexicon). [text]
2. Maichle: Die Nostradamus-Propaganda der Nazis 1939-1942. [text]
3. Van Berkel: Prophete rechts - Prophete links - War Nostradamus wirklich Scharlatan und Betrüger? (C. Loog, Der Reichswart #50, December 12, 1940, een repliek op Prophete rechts - Prophete links... (K. Fervers, Der Reichswart #45, November 7, 1940). [text]
4. Van Berkel:
   - Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus (Informations-Schriften #18, Berlin, 1940);
   - Informatie over de Informations-Schriften (a series of national-socialist propaganda-brochures, Berlin, 1940-1941). [text]
5. Van Berkel:
   - De voorspellingen van Nostradamus (Brochures ter Informatie #18, Berlin, 1941)
   - Les prophéties de Nostradamus (Information Universelle #18, Paris, 1940). [text]