Philipp Stauff (1876–1923) was a prominent German/Austrian journalist and publisher in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He was an enthusiastic

Armanist Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were developed largely by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryans, was i ...

, a close friend of

Guido von List Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List (5 October 1848 – 17 May 1919), was an Austrians, Austrian occultism, occultist, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He expounded a Modern Paganism, modern Pagan new religious movement kno ...

, and a founding member of the Guido-von-List-Society. He was also the obituarist for List in the ''

Münchener Beobachter The ''Münchener Beobachter'' was a völkisch newspaper edited by Rudolf von Sebottendorf. In the course of 1920 it became the official Nazi organ, becoming the ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (People's Observer), and remained the leading Nazi party new ...

''. Stauff joined the List Society in 1910 and swiftly graduated to the

High Armanen Order Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were developed largely by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryans, was in ...

, the intimate inner circle around List. In 1912 he became a committee member of the List Society and a generous patron. He was the chief German representative of the High Armanen Order at Berlin. His esoteric treatise ''Runenhäuser'' (''Rune Houses''), published in 1912, "extended the Listian thesis of 'armanist' relics with the claim that the ancient runic wisdom had been enshrined in the geometric configuration of beams in half-timbered houses throughout Germany". (See also Runic significance of timber framing.) He was active in both the

Reichshammerbund Reichshammerbund (Reich Hammer League) was a German anti-Semitic movement founded in 1912 by Theodor Fritsch. Based on ''The Hammer'', a journal founded by Fritsch in 1902, the Bund argued that Jewish influences had contaminated Germany and attemp ...

and the

Germanenorden The Germanenorden (Germanic or Teutonic Order) was an occultist and '' völkisch'' secret society in early 20th-century Germany. Its aim was to monitor Jews and spread antisemitic material. History The Germanenorden was founded in Berlin in 1912 ...

(pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

'' völkisch'' leagues). He was one of the principal officers in the loyalist Berlin province of the original Germanenorden after a splinter group led by Hermann Pohl broke away in 1916.Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 131.

Notes and references

1876 births Germanic mysticism German occultists 1923 deaths German journalists Male journalists German male non-fiction writers German modern pagans {{spirituality-stub