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Otto Rahn

Born

in Michelstadt, Germany

February 18, 1904

Died

March 13, 1939

Genre

Religion & Spirituality, History

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Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant) of the SS.
From an early age, he became interested in the legends of Parsifal, Holy Grail, Lohengrin, and the Nibelungenlied. While attending the University of Giessen he was inspired by his professor, the Baron von Gall, to study the Albigensian (Catharism) movement, and the massacre that occurred at Montségur.
In 1931 he traveled to the Pyrenees region of southern France where he conducted most of his research. Aided by the French mystic and historian Antonin Gadal, Rahn argued that there was a direct link between Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Cathar Grail mystery. He believed that the Cathars held the answer to this sacred mystery and that the k Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant) of the SS.
From an early age, he became interested in the legends of Parsifal, Holy Grail, Lohengrin, and the Nibelungenlied. While attending the University of Giessen he was inspired by his professor, the Baron von Gall, to study the Albigensian (Catharism) movement, and the massacre that occurred at Montségur.
In 1931 he traveled to the Pyrenees region of southern France where he conducted most of his research. Aided by the French mystic and historian Antonin Gadal, Rahn argued that there was a direct link between Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Cathar Grail mystery. He believed that the Cathars held the answer to this sacred mystery and that the keys to their secrets lay somewhere beneath the mountain pog where the fortress of Montségur remains, the last Cathar fortress to fall during the Albigensian Crusade.
Rahn believed it was possible to trace the Cathars, who guarded the Holy Grail in their castle at Montsegur, back to Druids who converted to Gnostic Manichaeism. The Druids in Britain were forerunners of the Celtic Christian Church. He saw that the culture of the medieval Cathar stronghold of Languedoc bore a strong resemblance to the ancient Druids. Their priests were akin to the Cathar Parfaits. The Cathar secret wisdom being preserved by the later Troubadours, the travelling poets and singers of the medieval courts of France-M. Sabeheddin.
Rahn wrote two books linking Montségur and Cathars with the Holy Grail: Kreuzzug gegen den Gral (Crusade Against the Grail) in 1933 and Luzifers Hofgesind (Lucifer's Court) in 1937. After the publication of his first book, Rahn's work came to the attention of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, who was fascinated by the occult and had already initiated research in the south of France.
Rahn joined his staff as a junior non-commissioned officer and became a full member of the SS in 1936. Journeys for his second book led Rahn to places in Germany, France, Italy, and Iceland.
Openly homosexual, he was assigned guard duty at the Dachau concentration camp in 1937 as punishment for a drunken homosexual scrape. He resigned from the SS in 1939.
On March 13, 1939 nearly on the anniversary of the fall of Montségur, Rahn was found frozen to death on a mountainside near Söll (Kufstein, Tyrol) in Austria. His death was officially ruled a suicide. ...more

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Average rating: 3.81 · 434 ratings · 52 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in Search of the Light Bringers 3.93 avg rating — 227 ratings — published 1937 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crusade Against the Grail: The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome by Otto Rahn, Christopher Jones (Translator) 3.68 avg rating — 214 ratings — published 1933 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Otto Rahn: Leben & Werk: Kreuzzug gegen den Gral & Luzifers Hofgesind by Otto Rahn, Hans-Jürgen Lange (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1995 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Invisible Radiations of Organisms. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La corte de Lucifer: un viaje a los buenos espíritus de Europa 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	CRUZADA CONTRA EL GRIAL 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Invisible Radiations Of Organisms 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ristiretki Graalia vastaan by Otto Rahn, Kane Kanerva (Goodreads Author) (Translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ristiretki Graalia vastaan by Otto Rahn, Kane Kanerva (Goodreads Author) (Translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Cour de Lucifer: Voyage au cœur de la plus haute spiritualité européenne by Otto Rahn, Arnaud d’Apremont (Preface) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Otto Rahn (?)

“Do you know why I have so patiently translated Poe? Because he resembled me. The first time I opened one of his books, I saw with terror and rapture subjects dreamed by me and described by him, twenty years earlier. CHARLES BAUDELAIRE”
― Otto Rahn, Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in Search of the Light Bringers

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“Es Dios quien primero ilumina, obra y habla al interior del hombre visionario abierto, antes que éste logre expresarse a sí mismo, pensarse a sí mismo y hacerse a sí mismo en el yo soy.”
― Otto Rahn, Lucifer's Court: A Heretic's Journey in Search of the Light Bringers

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The History Book ...: THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADES	38	284	Sep 23, 2016 05:57PM

Otto Rahn’s Followers (36)

Otto Rahn

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