Hello! Neo-Nazi and Alt-Right engagement with Nordic paganism like Asutru and witchcraft is not at all a neutral subject among modern witches and pagans, especially currently with one of the men who stormed the US Capitol building claiming to be a shaman. Many modern witchcraft and pagan communities are vocal about denouncing Nazi beliefs and racism, and they have to be or they will likely end up with people in their group talking about defending "white culture" and other Nazi dog whistles at the least, and often straight-up Nazism. My question is if there were any people still practicing or studying forms of the pagan beliefs that some Nazis pulled from, present to their time, who objected to their appropriation?
For example, I know that J.R.R. Tolkien was questioned via letter, from a publisher? I believe, by Germany about his ethnic background to confirm that he wasn't Jewish, Romani, ect. His response was pretty snarky:
Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.
Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.
I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and remain yours faithfully,
J. R. R. Tolkien
He also later wrote to his son: “I have in this war a burning private grudge against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler,” Tolkien wrote to his son Michael three years later, by which time the war had reached a new height. “Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.”
Was this a view held broadly among scholars and/or ordinary folks during the Third Reich? Thank you for reading!
While he was not of pagan faith, Swedish author Frans G Bengtsson was very well-known for his book Röde Orm (The Longships in the English translation) about the red-haired viking Orm and his adventures all over Europe. The book was published in Sweden in 1941 and translated to English in 1943.
Frans G Bengtsson was known as a very thorough author that did extensive research on the subjects he wrote about - while he was not part of any pagan community as such, he was recognised as a somewhat of an expert on the Eddas and the sagas, especially the Heimskringla as written by Snorri Sturlasson.
Bengtsson was generally not very interested in contemporary politics and kept a very low profile on the big issues of his time. We do know from his private correspondence that he did not hold democracy in especially high regard, rather being an old-style conservative monarchist, preferring the rule of an enlightened noble elite to contemporary democracy during the late 20s and early 30s. On the other hand, Bengtsson seem to have held a surprisingly non-antisemitic opinion on Jews - in Röde Orm, the main characters encounter the Jew Salaman in Muslim held Iberia. Salaman is desribed as an honourable man and a faithful ally that repays is debts. Salaman learns that the vikings that aided him have been captured and have been made galley slaves and uses his influence in the court of Cordova to ensure they are transferred to become slave bodyguards of the ruler instead.
A nazi-controlled publisher in Norway expressed interest in publishing Röde Orm in Norway and wrote to Bengtssons publisher Ragnar Svantröm, who forwarded the missive, which included a request to make "some removals and edits". Bengtsson understood and replied in a letter to Svanström:
Varken ett komma eller en jude skall med mitt medgivande borttagas ur boken, och min uppfattning är exakt densamma som din egen: jag vägrar överhuvud att bli översatt till norska förrän herrar kretiner och kriminaldårar upphört att syssla med förlagsverksamhet därstädes, och helst upphört med allt annat också.
My translation:
Neither a comma, nor a Jew shall be removed from the book with my consent, and my opinion is the exact same as yours: I refuse to be translated to Norwegian at all before misters cretins and criminally insane have ceased doing publishing business there, and preferably ceased everything else too.
A nazi-controlled publisher in Bohemia-Moravia (Czechia) also expressed interest in translating and publishing Röde Orm, and contacted Ragnar Svantröm on the issue, who forwarded their letter to Bengtsson. It included a form to fill in to determine your aryan descent, as the law in the protectorate at the time demanded it to ensure only "proper" aryan literature was published.
Bengtsson replied to Svanström:
Tack för aktstycket från Prag. Jag fyller under inga omständigheter i den sortens smörja, utan vill då hellre slippa utkomma i det stackars landet tills vidare. Bortsett från den ariska paragrafen i formuläret, förefalla mig även ett par av de andra ungefär lika meningslösa som om vederbörande begärt upplysningar om hur ofta jag brukar raka mig, eller om jag är skelögd och i så fall varför. Måtte Sodoms och Gomorras eld tvätta den värld ren, där den sortens ting framfödas ur skurkars incest med idioter.
My translation:
Thankyou for the form from Prague. I will under no circumstances fill that sort of rubbish in, and would prefer to not be published in that poor country at this time. Apart from the aryan paragraph in the form, it seems to me that a couple of the others are about as useless as if they had asked for information on how often I shave, if I have a lazy eye and in such a case why. May Sodom and Gomorrah's fire cleanse the world clean where that sort of thing is born out of crook's incest with idiots.
However, like many other things Bengtsson thought or wrote on politics, this remained private, and not a public backlash.