Theos-Talk Archives (July 2006 Message tt00052)

The notion of the Theosophical Society being one of the inspirations for  the 
Nazis has a long history and unfortunately, to someone not truly aware of  
the nature of the Theosophical Society, a notion that can be made  believable.
 
It is an embarrassing truth that Mrs. Besant was an admirer of fascism,  
particularly of the Italian variety and praise of Mussolini's Italy drips from  
the pages of the Adyar Theosophist during the 1920.  In addition to that,  
Mussolini himself wrote an article for The Herald of the Star, the organ of the  
Order of the Star in the East,  which was published in 1922.
 
During the 1930's, George Arundale made a number of public utterances  
praising Hitler, including one rather embarrassing comment in a 1936 issue of  the 
Adyar Theosophist when he spoke of Hitler, Mussolini and Roosevelt as the  
three greatest leaders of the time.  What Mrs. Roosevelt thought of this is  not 
known.
 
Now, if you add to that the gobbledygook about root races that was floating  
around at the time (Jinarajadasa-First Principles of Theosophy, 1934 I 
believe)  you have one hell of a public relations problem.
 
The people who really don't like Theosophy have been using that stuff to  
beat the drum about Theosophy and the Nazis for decades.  The latest book,  while 
annoying, is nothing new.
 
Chuck the Heretic


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