Otto Sigfrid Reuter

Otto Sigfrid Reuter (2 September 1876 – 5 April 1945) was a German writer and organiser who was central in the neopagan current within the ''völkisch'' movement. He founded some of the earliest organisations for Germanic neopaganism, which were rooted in the racial ideologies of the ''völkisch'' movement. Reuter promoted a decentralised version of pagan practice without priests, in contrast to the hierarchically structured of Ludwig Fahrenkrog.

Early life and career

''Otto'' Theodor Ludwig ''Sigfrid'' Reuter was born on 2 September 1876 in Leer, East Frisia. His father Wilhelm Reuter was a merchant captain and director of the naval school in Leer. His mother Emma was the daughter of the pastor and theologian Friedrich Armknecht. Reuter was a half brother of Ernst Reuter who became the Governing Mayor of Berlin.

After passing his in Leer in 1894, Reuter worked as a telegraphist in Oldenburg, Cologne and Bonn. From 1901 he studied history and law in Bonn. Having passed a in 1905, he worked in Berlin and Elberfeld, and from 1917 in Bremen as a telegraph director and head of the telephone system. His career in telecommunications ended in 1924 due to staff reductions and his activities as a agitator.

''Völkisch''-religious activities

In 1910, Reuter published the pamphlet ''Sigfrid oder Christus?!'' () where he argued that Christianity is alien to the Germans and promoted a renewal of pre-Christian Germanic religiosity. He held Sigfrid from Germanic heroic legend as a role model and contrasted him with Jesus, who "wanted us to win victory through suffering and endurance", writing that "our religion is that of the champion of light, who finds joy in action and fights his way to peace through victory. That is the language of Sigfrid." The pamphlet was well received within the pagan-leaning faction of the emerging ''völkisch''-religious movement. It was initially published anonymously with the subtitle (), a reference to Julius Langbehn's ''Rembrandt als Erzieher'' (1890) which used the same wording. A second edition in 1910 was published under Reuter's name.

Reuter's activities became tied to two organisations he founded in 1911: the () and the Deutschreligiösen Gemeinschaft (). They were among the earliest formally organised groups within Germanic neopaganism and tied to the racial ideologies of the ''völkisch'' movement. Members were required to show an Aryan certificate provided by , editor of the ''Deutsches Geschlechterbuch''. The Deutschreligiösen Gemeinschaf, renamed Deutschgläubige Gemeinschaft () in 1914, functioned as an inner circle and was only open for members who formally had left the Christian church.

Reuter's group was contemporaneous with the of Ludwig Fahrenkrog. They were to some extent competitors but also had mutual members. A major difference was Reuter's promotion of a decentralised pagan practice, without priests and formalised rituals, in contrast to Fahrenkrog's preference for a hierarchical organisational structure. Several short-lived attempts were made to unify the early Germanic neopagans in an umbrella organisation. A notable example was the Nordische Glaubensgemeinschaft (), which was founded by Reuter and Norbert Seibertz in 1927 but was dissolved in 1928 when the co-founders fell out. Reuter's own organisations were dissolved in 1933. He was involved in the establishment of the German Faith Movement of Jakob Wilhelm Hauer.

Within the ''völkisch''-religious movement, Reuter's primary contributions were as a theoretician. Especially after his professional career, he conducted research into Germanic subjects, held contact with the scholars Gustav Neckel and Gustaf Kossinna, and formulated a pseudoscientific foundation for the movement's worldview. His most ambitious work was the book ''Germanische Himmelskunde'' (), published in 1934 with support from the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft. Taking inspiration from Kossinna's work on astronomy and mythology, Reuter argued for the existence of an advanced and specifically Germanic star map.

Reuter was a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Vorgeschichte from 1922 and received its Gustaf-Kossinna-Preis in 1936. In 1938 he was made an honorary member of the . He received an honorary doctorate from the Leipzig University in 1939 through the support of scholars such as Franz Josef Hopmann, Otto Reche, Konstantin Reichardt and . He became a member of the Nazi Party in 1939 and was in contact with the Ahnenerbe. , a historian who specialises in the ''völkisch'' movement, describes Reuter as a major ideologue of the pagan faction within the ''völkisch''-religious current, with continuing impact in contemporary times, and as one of the many who contributed to an ideologisation of science through his ability to create a bridge between a scientific and a ''völkisch'' worldview.

Personal life

Reuter married his wife Gertrud in 1923. They had two sons and one daughter. He died in Bremen's district in a bomb raid on 5 April 1945.

Publications

Bibliography adapted from the ''Neue Deutsche Biographie''
* ''Heilwig Rennenberg, Schauspiel in vier Aufzügen'', 1905.
* ''Hero Onkens Ausfahrt und Heimkehr'', 1909.
* ''Sigfrid oder Christus?! Kampfruf an die germanischen Völker zur Jahrtausendwende. Von einem Deutschen'', 1910. Anonymous.
* ''Das Rätsel der Edda und der arische Urglaube'' (2 volumes), 1921–1923.
* ''Aus arischer Vorzeit'', 1925.
* ''Germanische Himmelskunde. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Geistes'', 1934.
* ''Der Himmel über den Germanen'', 1936; in English 1982 as ''Skylore of the North''.
* ''Gestalten und Gedanken im Nibelungenlied'', 1979.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuter, Otto Sigfrid
1876 births
1945 deaths
German modern pagans
Modern pagan writers
Founders of modern pagan movements
Adherents of Germanic neopaganism
Critics of Christianity
German astrological writers
Nazi Party members
Telegraphists
Deaths by airstrike during World War II
German civilians killed in World War II