NOSTRADAMUS, ASTROLOGY AND THE BIBLE
SUBSTUDY "WORLD WAR II"
Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang nach den Prophezeiungen des großen französischen Sehers Michel Nostradamus aus den Jahren 1555 und 1558 
(dr. jur. B. Winkler, Leipzig, 1940)
- T.W.M. van Berkel -

Index WORLD WAR II

Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...

General information
Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang nach den Prophezeiungen des großen französischen Sehers Michel Nostradamus aus den Jahren 1555 und 1558, written by dr. Bruno Winkler, was published by Richard Hummel publishers in Leipzig, Prendelstraße 16.[1]    
Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... is printed at Hermann Engelhardt K.-G. in Großschönau and consists of 36 broched pages. 
The text in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... is divided in four chapters. The discussed quatrains are listed in an appendix. For each quatrain, the names are given of the Century-scholars whose publications Winkler consulted.[2] 
Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... does not contain illustrations. The last but one page contains an advertisement with the titles of Winkler's two other publications on Nostradamus:  Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! Das Leben des Nostradamus, 1937 (prices: bound: RM 3,60; broched: RM 2,40) and Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert 1939 (prices: bound: RM 2,40; broched: RM 1,50). It was not Richard Hummel publishers who published these two books, but Regulus publishers in Görlitz. In the advertisement, Winkler's novel on Francis of Assisi, published in 1930 by Merlin publishers, Baden-Baden, was also mentioned (prices: bound: RM 2,00; boards: RM 1,20).

Consulted sources
Like in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (Görlitz, 1939 [1938]) the titles in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... of the publications from which Winkler copied material or from which he quoted, were not given in a bibliography, but in footnotes. These footnotes show that Winkler consulted the following publications: 

• Faber, dr. W.: Das Schicksalsbuch der Weltgeschichte. Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus in der deutschen Übersetzung von Edouard Rösch neu herausgegeben von dr. W. Faber. Pfullingen in Württemberg, 1922.

• Jäger, O.: Geschichte der Neueren Zeit. Bielefeld und Leipzig, 1903.

• Loog, C.: Die Weissagungen des Nostradamus: erstmalige Auffindung des Chiffreschlüssels und Enthüllung der Prophezeiungen über Europas Zukunft und Frankreichs Glück und Niedergang, 1555-2200. Pfullingen in Württemberg, 1921 (1920).

• Nicoullaud, C.: Nostradamus - ses Prophéties. Paris, 1914.

• Noah, B.: Nostradamus - prophetische Weltgeschichte von 1547 bis gegen 3000. Berlin, 1928.

• Privat, M.: La fin de notre siècle et la vie du futur Grand Monarque, prophétisée par Nostradamus et exposée d'après les Centuries, précédée d'une étude sur les méthodes et les révélations accomplies du plus immense des prophètes. Paris, 1939.

• Winkler, dr. B.: Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! Das Leben des Michel Nostradamus: die Geschichte eines Mannes zwischen zwei Welten. Görlitz, 1937.

• Winkler, dr. B.: Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert. Görlitz, 1939 (1938).

• Wöllner, dr. Chr: Das Mysterium des Nostradamus. Leipzig, 1926.

The books of Faber, Loog, Nicoullaud, Noah and Wöllner were also consulted by Winkler at the time of writing Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, which book he finished in spring 1938, after the Anschluß of Austria.
In contrast with Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...!, Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... does not contain a note which shows that the contents were verified by a German department which verified astrological publications.
After World War II, Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... was not published again.

The text of the brochure Nostradamus prophezeit den Kriegsverlauf, a brochure, written by Louis de Wohl by order of section 1 of the Special Operations Executive of the British Secret Service and brought into circulation in Germany in 1943, which carries the name of Winkler, does not contain material which originates from Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...

Dating of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...
In this paragraph, it is tried to estimate when Winkler wrote and finished the text of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... 
The remark on page 31 in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... that "from the present time until their end, 3797", the Centuries cover 1857 years, indicated that Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... was written in 1940 (3797 - 1857 = 1940). The remark at page 6 that Germany at the time of writing was still in combat with a powerful and tough adversary, England, and his henchman, the unfortunate France, might mean that Winkler started the writing of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... shortly after the capitulation of Belgium on May 28, 1940. The Netherlands capitulated on May 15, 1940; Luxembourg was occupied the very day the Germans marched in. In other words, after May 28, 1940, England and France were the only adversaries left. 
Dr. E. Noelle mentioned Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... in the list of consulted sources in the Prussian State Library in Berlin when she wrote the article Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus, published in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on June 16, 1940. This means that Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... was published before June 16, 1940. In other words: before the French Prime Minister Philippe Pétain requested the Germans an armistice.[3] 
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler wrote nothing about the capitulation of Paris on June 14, 1940. His remark about the unfortunate France, still at war with Germany, might mean that the war between France and Germany not yet went into a final phase. This also seems to be indicated in Winkler's comment on page 23 on quatrain 02-94, in which he wrote not to know when  France, together with England, will be hit by a catastrophe.

The contents of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang, Winkler discussed 41 of the about 50 quatrains which according to him in one way or another deal with England's past, present or future. The quatrains contain direct references such as England, Britain or the archipelago, but also indirect references such as an anagram like Dinebro ( = Edinburgh) or metaphors such as Neptune or Trident. 
The main topic of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... is England. Because of this, Winkler did not discuss links between quatrains and events which took place or will take place outside England. In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., he also did not comment or referred to quatrain 03-58, the quatrain which he linked to Hitler's birth in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert; neither did he comment or refer to the quatrains 04-15 and 05-79, which he linked to Hitler's legislation and economic policy.[4] Moreover: Winkler did not explicitly present Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... as a continuation of Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert.
A summary of the contents of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...:

Wer war Nostradamus? (p.3-4)
In this chapter, the first chapter, Winkler described Nostradamus' qualities as a physician and his fame as a seer and author. In passing, he referred to quatrain 01-35, which he linked to the decease of the French king Henry II.

Der Seher sagt das Werden des englischen Weltreichs und sein Ende voraus (p.5-27)
At the beginning of this chapter, Winkler wrote some lines about Nostradamus' faith and the divine nature of the Centuries, themes he also discussed in Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! and Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen...[5] Next, he discussed the construction of the Centuries, anagrams and metaphors, elements which render the Centuries mysterious.
The main topic in this chapter is the history of England in the period 1558-1940. Winkler described this history by means of 28 quatrains. He started his description with quatrain 10-55, in which according to him the marriage on April 24, 1558, of the British queen Mary Stuart to the French king François II was predicted. He linked six quatrains to the rise of Cromwell and the beheading of the British king Charles I in 1649. Further, he discussed the deposition of James II by William III, the conquest of Gibraltar, a failed attempt in1746 of James III to seize the Crown, the expulsion by Napoleon Bonaparte of the British from Toulon, the mobilization of British forces in 1911 against the Germans, World War I and the outbreak in 1939 of World War II.
Winkler closed this chapter with the discussion of quatrain 03-57, in which the outbreak in September 1939 of World War II would have been predicted, and the quatrains 10-100 and, which he considered to describe the fatal consequences the war would have for England. Basing himself upon these three quatrains, he argued that German strength and German skill would lead the German submarines and the German air force with a master's hand. As a result, the British trade completely would be destroyed and England would suffer a severe defeat. In his comment on quatrain 03-57, he linked the comment of the French Century-scholar Nicoullaud (1914) to the comment of the German Century-scholar Loog (1921 [1920]).

Das Wesen Englands (p.28-30)
In this chapter, Winkler discussed the nature of England and the contrasts between England and Germany. This discussion can be summarized as follows.
In the sixteenth century, Nostradamus described England and Germany as nations, who are each others opposite. As the nineteenth century went by, this became more and more profound, which resulted in World War I. World War II would be decisive for the future of the Occident.
England's history is a series of violence, tricks and deceit, caused by the desire for possession and power. Not only the quatrains which deal with England's history show this, Napoleon Bonaparte had the same opinion when he characterized the British as a people who were selfish and who had no moral.
A people like the British, only acting from a chilly calculation and looking for material profit, is not able to put an end to the decline of the European people or to create a better world. In order to create a better world, a nation should recognize and respect the need for living of every other nation, even when small. England's history shows that this is strange for the British. They lack Truth and Love, two eternal values. Whoever wants to rule someone else, has to love him above all things. For the Germans, Love and Truth are sacred, whereas England not even loves its own people. England's social structure is founded upon plutocracy, its wealth is the result of the exploitation of its labourers. In the socialism in Germany, Love got an expression which is unique in the world. The lack in England of Truth could be noticed in the Versailles Treaty.
It is an old saying that eventually the good will overcome. Truth and Love are the most highest values which exist in the world. A nation, in which these spiritual powers became the leading force, deserves it to be called a Holy Empire. In the Centuries, i.e. in quatrain 10-31, Nostradamus writes about the coming of such an Empire to Germany. This quatrain contains the promise of the overcoming of the world, who is dying because of materialism. 

Die Zukunft (p.31-35)
In this chapter, the last chapter, Winkler discussed ten quatrains which according to hem deal with the near future of England. In the eyes of Winkler, this discussion was more or less superfluous, since England would lose its supremacy, which rendered her future history to be less and less important. Germany, Winkler wrote, recognized the right of existence of every nation, as long as a nation does not injure German rights. 
In his discussion of England's future, Winkler did not mention years. Moreover, he wrote that the order in which he discussed the quatrains, did not imply a chronology of events. In England, there would be riots, the English fleet would sail to France and navy battles would take place in the Mediterranean Sea, one of them decisive for England.
Winkler closed this chapter with a brief discussion of the divine nature of the predictions in the Centuries, in which he quoted his free translation of the last line of quatrain 01-02: Himmlisches Licht. Das Göttliche ist hier!. According to him, Nostradamus' predictions are a warning as well as an encouragement; an intelligent human being simply could not ignore them.

Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... and other publications of Winkler

Political brochures
In the twenties, Winkler worked as an author. In the beginning, he wrote novels. In the thirties, he published two brochures in which he described his ideas about the relation between Germany and Europe: Der Weg in die Freiheit - Die Erfüllung unseres Anspruchs auf Gleichberechtigung und die anderen außenpolitischen Forderungen des Programms der NSDAP (Bühl, 1934) and Groß-Deutschland (Bühl, 1935). Both brochures were published under his own management. At the end of the thirties, he wrote two books about Nostradamus: the novel Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! (Görlitz, 1937) and the comment Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (Görlitz, 1939 [1938]).[6]
Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... raises the impression to be genuine war propaganda. In the closing line of Der Seher sagt das Werden des englischen Weltreichs und sein Ende voraus, Winkler, using words which were quite passionate, promised a defeat of England. This line was printed with a bigger letter space than the rest of the text of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang...:

Winkler's remarks about a coming defeat of England must be seen in the light of the ideas about the history and the future of Germany which he published in his brochures. As a German, Winkler felt himself humiliated by the Versailles Treaty and its endless aftermath. According to him, Hitler managed that Germany would be respected again, he restored its internal economy and put an end to unemployment. In the peace negotiations, Hitler made Germany stronger by leaving the League of Nations and the Geneva disarmament conference and by reintroducing the compulsory military service. Unfortunately, this did not result in the righteous peace, desired by Winkler, based upon mutual respect and replacing the Versailles Treaty. 
Winkler did not advocate a war, made for expansion. In his eyes, it was the army's task to defend the nation and to secure territorial claims. He discerned the totalitarian nature of the politics of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini, about who in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert he wrote that they were influenced by Jupiter (eternal values) and as such opposed Stalin, who was influenced by Saturn (materialism, egoism).
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler did not write about the victory of national-socialism, but about the victory of Germany the way he saw it: a nation, guided by Truth and Love, Love expressing itself in the German socialism. Germany would replace England as the leading power in the world. In the eyes of Winkler, England, because of its mentality, was not able to put a halt to the decline of Europe. Germany was the nation who could do so. The coming of the Holy Empire to Germany would mean that the forces who brought the world into a decline because of materialism, would be conquered. 

Earlier publications on Nostradamus and the Centuries
In Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! (1937), Winkler explained that the beginning of World War I was predicted in quatrain 06-24. The end of this war was predicted in e.g. quatrain 09-66; in quatrain 01-42, the coming of a peace empire was predicted as well as the banning of the war. In quatrain 10-89, it was indicated that World War I would be followed by a period of peace which would last 57 years. In Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...!, Winkler did not mention a new war in which Germany would be involved.[8]  
In Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, Winkler expected, basing himself upon the quatrains 03-08, 05-94, 06-24 and 10-72, that Great-Germany, which he considered to be a joyful reality since Austria's Anschluß in March 1938, would begin a war around 2000, would have victories in the West and next be threatened from the East. He did not put a war into perspective which would begin in 1939-1940 and in which Germany would be involved. Basing himself upon certain astrological principles, he arranged the totalitarian European regimes in those who were influenced by Jupiter (the regimes of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini; in Winkler's ideas, Jupiter was the symbol of the spiritual and of eternal values) and those who were influenced by Saturn (the regime of Stalin; in Winkler's ideas, Saturn was the symbol of evil, materialism and egoism).[9]  
The nostradamic contents of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... is quite different from the contents of Winkler's earlier publications on Nostradamus and the Centuries. In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., he characterized England as a nation, opposed to Germany; the contrastst grew by the centuries, resulting in the world wars. In Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! en Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, such a characterization is completely absent. In these publications, England's history is not characterized as a series of violence, tricks and deceit, although in his comment in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert on quatrain 01-26, Winkler wrote that many years before the outbreak of World War I, England, France and Italy wanted to destroy Germany.[10]
One should also notice that in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler gave new comments to the quatrains 03-57 and 10-100, which together with quatrain 02-83 are the nucleus of Winkler's arguments, without the explicit withdrawing previous comments..
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler concluded that the beginning in September 1939 of the war was predicted in quatrain 03-57; he referred to the comments of Charles Nicoullaud (1914) and Carl Loog (1921 [1920]).[11] In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., he did not mention that at the time of writing Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! and Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, he had considered nothing of this kind. He also did not mention that in Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...!, quatrain 03-57 was not linked to the period 1649-1939 as Loog and Nicoullaud had done, but to the period 1461-1751. The series of seven changes in ruling dynasties which according to Winkler would occur between 1461 and 1751, was the same series as the one, mentioned in 1926 by Wöllner, Wöllner however counted with a period, running from 1444 to 1738.[12] 
In the list of discussed quatrains in Englands Augstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler listed the initials of Nicoullaud, Loog, Faber, Noah and Wöllner in connection with quatrain 03-57, but not his own initials. In Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, he did not discuss this quatrain at all.
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler more or less linked the end of the period of British supremacy for more than 300 years to the beginning in 1939 of the war. Actually, he withdrew his comment in Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...!, in which he explained that this period began around 1650. In Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, Winkler did not date the period of more than 300 years, but he situated quatrain 10-100 in the era in which England chased away the Dutch and the Portuguese from regions like Malacca and Ceylon, thus situating the beginning of this period in the seventeenth century.[13]

Discussion
In 1940, probably after the capitulation of Belgium on May 28, Winkler wrote the booklet Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., in which he explained, basing himself upon the quatrains 02-83, 03-57 and 10-100, that the war which had begun in 1939 and which was predicted in the Centuries, would result in a defeat for England (and France), while Germany would play a leading part in Europe. He finished Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... at a time in which the battles in France were not yet in their end phase, i.e. before the capitulation of Paris on June 14, 1940. 
Winkler argued that Truth and Love, spiritual values which in Germany were highly esteemed, would enable Germany to put an end to the decline in Europe, which decline was a result of materialism. Winkler also wrote that in the Centuries, England and Germany were described as nations which opposed each other, something which became worse as time went by and which resulted in the wars of 1914-1918 and 1939.
From a political point of view, the ideas Winkler exposed in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., are a continuation of the ideas about the relationship between Germany and Europe which he exposed in the mid-thirties. It was his deep with that Germany and Europe could reach a righteous peace, which would replace the humiliating Versailles Treaty. Winkler deplored the fact that such a peace never became real. Apparently, the beginning in September 1939 of the war gave a different outlook to the situation in Europe, an outlook which became more and more clear after the capitulation of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands: Germany finally would settle with those adversaries who had blocked a righteous peace and next would play a leading part in Europe. This leading part was a spiritual matter: Truth and Love. These powers would be able to put an end to the decline of Europe, resulting from materialism. Winkler did not write about a permanent occupation of the vanquished countries. In fact, from Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... it does not become clear how Europe would look like after the German victory over England and France.
From a nostradamic point of view, Winkler's comments in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... are not a continuation of his earlier publications on Nostradamus and the Centuries. In those publications, nothing was written about a war which would begin in 1939 and in which Germany would be involved. Further, nothing was written about England and Germany opposed to each other since centuries, resulting in the world war. Further, it is only in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... that England is described in a very negative way.
In connection with the nostradamic material in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., several questions rise. First: what was Winkler's reaction when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939? Did he reread the Centuries and Century-comments at that time? Second: what was his reaction when Germany in April 1940 invaded Denmark and Norway (an invasion which in Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... was not mentioned)? Third: what was his reaction when Germany in May 1940 invaded Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands? These questions can be brought together in the question: what was the impact of the beginning of World War II in Winkler's life and mind and which part was played by the Centuries and/or Century-comments? Did the war change his ideas about the future of Europe and which part was played by the Centuries and/or Century-comments? In the case of Winkler, we must count with the fact that the invasion in Poland erased the period of peace for 57 years, mentioned in Und dies geheimnisvolle Buch...! and the war in which Germany would be involved did not begin in 2000, as explained in Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, but in 1939.
In Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang..., Winkler glorified the battles in the sense that he considered them to lead to the possibility that Europe would enter a new phase, from a spiritual point of view, a phase which would not be materialistic. He wrote about "Germany"; he did not analyse national-socialism. For Winkler, the war was a military conflict with spiritual dimensions. From that point of view, Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... is not a propaganda brochure. Nevertheless, the contents of Englands Aufstieg und Niedergang... very well could have been grist to the mills of the national-socialists, who in their propaganda heavily turned themselves against England.

In the course of the war, the real aims of national-socialism became clear to Winkler, which brought him to oppose national-socialism. As a result, he was persecuted by the Gestapo. In the brochure Europa, verzage nicht! (Achern, 1953), he exposed his ideas about Europe, united upon Christian foundations, and the part which could be played by a re-united Germany. Europa, verzage nicht! does not contain references to the Centuries. On the first page, Winkler mentioned the Aquarian Age, without elaborating themes which are related to this astrological era.[14] 

De Meern, the Netherlands, March 3, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel
actualized on September 18, 2007

Notes

1. Winkler's name is not preceded by the title "dr", as in the case of his earlier publications on Nostradamus, but by the title "dr. jur."; in 1912, Winkler promoted at the Legislation Faculty of the Royal Marburg University. In the title on the cover, the word großen is missing. [text]

2. On p.4, Winkler referred to a quatrain, dating from 1555, in which the decease of the French king Henry II was predicted. Actually, he referred to quatrain 01-35. On p.35, he quoted the last line of his free translation of quatrain 01-02, which he linked to the divine nature of the revelations Nostradamus received. The quatrains 01-02 and 01-35 are not included in the appendix. [text]

3. Van Berkel: Die Prophezeiungen des Nostradamus (dr. E. Noelle, DE, 1940 (1998 and 2003). [text]

4. Winkler-1939, p.37-39; quatrain 03-58 is erroneously numbered as II-58. [text]

5. The theme of the influence of faith is also treated in Winkler's novels on Francis of Assisi (1930) and the sculptor Veit Stoß (ca. 1930). [text]

6. Van Berkel: Information on dr. B. Winkler. [text]

7. Winkler-1940, p.27. [text]

8. Winkler-1937, p.78. [text]

9. Van Berkel: Nostradamus und seine Prophezeiungen für das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (dr. B. Winkler, Görlitz, 1939 [1938]). [text]

10. Winkler-1939, p.30-31. [text]

11. Winkler-1940, p.23-25. [text]

12. Winkler-1937, p.65; Wöllner, p.46. [text]

13. Winkler-1937, p.66; Winkler-1939, p.41; Winkler-1940, p.25-26. [text]

14. Van Berkel: Information on dr. B. Winkler. [text]