Wyatt C. Kaldenberg (born 1957) is an American

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

and a supporter of

Tom Metzger Thomas Linton Metzger (April 9, 1938 – November 4, 2020) was an American White supremacy, white supremacist, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi White power skinhead, skinhead leader and Ku Klux Klan, Klansman. He founded White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a neo-n ...

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

White Aryan Resistance White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a White supremacy, white supremacist and Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It is based in Warsaw, Indiana, ...

(WAR) organization. He is also an Odinist (a type of

Germanic neopaganism Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th centu ...

), and an author of several books.

Early life

Kaldenberg was born in a working-class Mormon family in a small California town in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

. As a teenager he was associated with the

Young Socialist Alliance The Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992. The ...

, a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

organization.Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism, By Mattias Gardell, page 177 Enrolling in a Job Corps training programme in Salt Lake City in the 1970s, Kaldenberg became "aware of racial realities" after having fights with blacks and Muslims.

White Aryan Resistance

In the early 1970s Kaldenberg joined Tom Metzger's White Aryan Resistance. He was the managing editor of their paper ''WAR'' until 1989 and Metzger's bodyguard.

SPLC lawsuit

In October 1990, the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

and the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

won a civil judgement against Metzger and WAR on behalf of the family of

Mulugeta Seraw Mulugeta Seraw ( am, ሙሉጌታ ስራው; October 21, 1960 – November 13, 1988) was an Ethiopian student who traveled to the United States to attend college. He was 28 when he was murdered by three white supremacists in November 1988 in Por ...

, who was murdered by

white power skinheads White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations an ...

associated with the group. Metzger then encouraged his supporters to send donations to Kaldenberg rather than to him or to WAR, in order to avoid paying the judgement. In January 1991, Kaldenberg was the subject of a court order freezing his funds, pending court review. Just hours after the order was issued, he began withdrawing money from the frozen account, and was ordered to return it by a San Diego municipal judge. When Kaldenberg refused to obey the order, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

Odinism

Kaldenberg was briefly involved with

Stephen A. McNallen Stephen Anthony McNallen (born October 15, 1948) is an American proponent of Heathenry (new religious movement), Heathenry, a Modern Paganism, modern Pagan new religious movement, and a white nationalism, white nationalist activist. He founded t ...

's Ásatrú Free Assembly but left when McNallen ejected Nazis from that organization. Kaldenberg and other "Aryanists" who left the AFA at that time went on to found the

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

area chapter of the Odinist Fellowship. After leaving the AFA, Kaldenberg developed a distinct variety of Odinism. He devalues spirituality and ceremony and rejects Judeo-Christianity. According to

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 ...

, Kaldenberg's version of the ideology is "chiefly a cult of aristocracy, power and the propagation of the white race." Kaldenberg began publishing ''Pagan Review'' in the 1990s which was described as "a voice of Eurocentric polytheistic communities."Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity, By Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. pp. 262-4

Written works

* ''Odinism: The Religion of Our Germanic Ancestors in the Modern World'' (2011) * ''Odinism in the Age of Man: The Dark Age Before the Return of Our Gods'' (2011) * ''Perceived Heathenism and Odinic Prayer: A Book of Heathen Prayer and Direct Contact with Our Living Gods'' (2011) * ''Folkish Odinism'' (2013) * ''Why Nazism and White Racism Suck And Do Nothing But Empower Leftists And Hurt The White Race'' (2011) * ''A Heathen Family Devotional: Odinism Begins at Home'' (2011) * ''Heathen Family Prayer for Beginners: A Collection of Odinic Prayers for Families New to Odinism'', Volume 1 (2011) * ''Odinism: Inside the Belly of the Beast: Essays on Heathenism inside The New World Order'' (2011) * ''Skertru Now'': Issue 2, April 2013, Volume 2 (2013), with Skergard, Volundr Lars Agnarsson, and Skuli Magnusson * ''The Oera Linda Book: A Neo-Pagan Fantasy Novel'' (Introduction) * ''Early Writings that Helped Shape American Odinism'', Volume 1 (2012), with other writers * ''9 Worlds of Hex Magic'' paperback by Hunter Yoder (featured interview) * ''The Death of the White Race''

References

External links

Why I am Against National Socialism
by Wyatt Kaldenberg
Reviving Paganism, Intelligence Report, Winter 2003, Issue Number: 112 - SPLC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaldenberg, Wyatt Living people 1957 births Alt-right writers American neo-Nazis convicted of crimes American non-fiction writers American prisoners and detainees Writers from California Adherents of Germanic neopaganism Ásatrú in the United States American modern pagans Modern pagan writers Former Marxists Alt-right modern pagans Prisoners and detainees of California