The Landig Group ( de-AT, Landig Gruppe) was an occultist and neo- ''völkisch'' group formed in 1950, that first gathered for discussions at the studio of the designer Wilhelm Landig in the

Margareten Margareten (; bar, Magredn) is the fifth district of Vienna (german: 5. Bezirk, Margareten). It is near the old town of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later.Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The circle's most prominent and influential members were Wilhelm Landig (1909–1997), Erich Halik (Claude Schweighardt) and Rudolf J. Mund (1920–1985). The circle has also been referred to as the Landig Circle (''Landig Kreis''), Vienna Group (''Wien Konzern'') and Vienna Lodge (''Wien Lodge'').

Background

Landig was the founder of the group, which has since inspired decades of ''völkisch''

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

. He and his group revived the ariosophical, Ario-Germanic

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...

, the supposed

polar Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates * Polar climate, the c ...

homeland of the ancient Aryans. Landig "coined the term Black Sun, a substitute Swastika nd/or_Fylfot.html" ;"title="Fylfot.html" ;"title="nd/or Fylfot">nd/or Fylfot">Fylfot.html" ;"title="nd/or Fylfot">nd/or Fylfotand mystical source of energy capable of regenerating the Aryan race."

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...

. 2002. ''Black Sun (Goodrick-Clarke book), Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity''. New York University Press. . (Paperback, 2003. ) Landig, through his circle, popularized esoteric ideas current among the pre-Nazi ''völkisch'' movement and the SS relating to

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

, the

World Ice Theory Welteislehre (WEL; "World Ice Theory" or "World Ice Doctrine"), also known as Glazial-Kosmogonie (''Glacial Cosmogony''), is a discredited cosmological concept proposed by Hanns Hörbiger, an Austrian engineer and inventor. According to his ideas ...

, pre-historic floods and secret racial doctrines from

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. Landig and other occult-fascist propagandists have circulated wild stories about German Nazi colonies that live and work in secret installations beneath the

polar ice caps A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor a ...

, where they developed

flying saucers A flying saucer (also referred to as "a flying disc") is a descriptive term for a type of flying craft having a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has g ...

and miracle weapons such as '' Die Glocke'' after the demise of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Including the theory that flying saucers were Nazi secret weapons launched from an underground base in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, from which the Nazis hoped to conquer the world. The focus of the group's discussions was a secret center in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

known as the Blue Island, which could serve as a source point for a renaissance of traditional life. This idea was taken from

Julius Evola Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiant ...

, whose ''

Revolt Against the Modern World ''Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics, Religion, and Social Order in the Kali Yuga'' ( it, Rivolta contro il mondo moderno) is a book by Julius Evola, first published in Italy in 1934. Described as Evola's most influential work, it is an ...

'' became the bible of the Landig group. More so, or at least equally as important to the group as Evola's book, the Vienna Group hungrily devoured the ideas and books of

Herman Wirth Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Min ...

Wilhelm Landig

Landig was a former SS member who revived the ariosophical mythology of

. He was born on 20 December 1909. He wrote the Thule trilogy ''Götzen gegen Thule'' (1971), ''Wolfszeit um Thule'' (1980) and ''Rebellen für Thule – Das Erbe von Atlantis'' (1991). He inspired the idea of the Black Sun, a substitute swastika and mythical source of energy, which was launched in the 1991 novel ''Die Schwarze Sonne von Tashi Lhunpo'' by ghostwriter

Russell McCloud Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **R ...

Continuities

It has been shown that a younger generation continued the development of the circle's ideas from the 1980s on. This younger generation consisted of members of the German/Austrian Tempelhofgesellschaft. Their publications demonstrate an exchange of ideas with the older generation, mainly revolving around the Black Sun concept. After the Tempelhofgesellschaft had been dissolved, it was succeeded by the Causa Nostra, a ''Freundeskreis'' (circle of friends) that remains active.Julian Strube. 2012. "Die Erfindung des esoterischen Nationalsozialismus im Zeichen der Schwarzen Sonne". In: ''Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft'', 20(2), 2012: 223-268.

References

{{Authority control Culture in Vienna Germanic mysticism 1950 establishments in Austria

Background

Wilhelm Landig

Continuities

See also

References