Coordinates | 12°2′36″N77°1′42″N |
---|---|
Name | Otto Wilhelm Rahn |
Birth date | February 18, 1904 |
Death date | March 13, 1939 |
Birth place | Michelstadt, Germany |
Death place | Tyrol, Austria |
Nationality | German }} |
Otto Wilhelm Rahn (February 18, 1904—March 13, 1939) was a German medievalist and a Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant) of the SS, born in Michelstadt, Germany.
Speculation still swirls around Otto Rahn and his research. From an early age, he became interested in the legends of Parsifal, Holy Grail, Lohengrin, and the Nibelungenlied. While attending the University of Giessen he was inspired by his professor, the Baron von Gall, to study the Albigensian (Catharism) movement, and the massacre that occurred at Montségur. Rahn is quoted as saying that "''It was a subject that completely captivated me''''".
Rahn believed it was possible to trace the Cathars, who guarded the Holy Grail in their castle at Montsegur, back to Druids who converted to Gnostic Manichaeism. The Druids in Britain were forerunners of the Celtic Christian Church. He saw that the culture of the medieval Cathar stronghold of Languedoc bore strong a resemblance to the ancient Druids. Their priests were akin to the Cathar Parfaits. The Cathar secret wisdom being preserved by the later Troubadours, the travelling poets and singers of the medieval courts of France-''M. Sabeheddin, [Countermedia]''.
Rahn joined his staff as a junior non-commissioned officer and became a full member of the SS in 1936. Journeys for his second book led Rahn to places in Germany, France, Italy, and Iceland.
Openly homosexual, he was assigned guard duty at the Dachau concentration camp in 1937 as punishment for a drunken homosexual scrape. He resigned from the SS in 1939.
On March 13, 1939 nearly on the anniversary of the fall of Montségur, Rahn was found frozen to death on a mountainside near Söll (Kufstein, Tyrol) in Austria. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
Rahn has been the object of many rumours and strange stories, including that his death had been faked, although all such speculation has failed to be substantiated. He features as a character in the 2008 novel ''The Judas Apocalypse'' by Dan McNeil. In the novel, Rahn helps a fellow German archaeologist search for the lost treasure of the Cathars. He also figures in the "Berlin Noir" novel ''The Pale Criminal'' by Philip Kerr and ''Blood Lance'' by Craig Smith. In the Italian comic book Martin Mystère, Rahn fakes his death and joins the US secret service "Elsewhere".
Richard Stanley, cult director of such films as ''Hardware'' and ''Dust Devil'', also made a documentary about Rahn and his fixation on the Holy Grail called ''The Secret Glory'' in 2001.
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