List, Guido von (1848-1919)
List, Guido von (1848-1919)
Austrian occultist, author, journalist, and playwright whose racist theories preceded National Socialism in Germany. He grew up obsessed by pagan folklore of gods and demons, and after publication of his first books, a small group of admirers founded a Guido von List Society, which issued further books of a pseudo-mystical nature.
List developed a theory of a mysterious ancient race called the "Armanen," whose symbol was the swastika, and founded a secret occult lodge of the Armanen. After a press scandal, in which it was revealed that he practiced medieval black magic with blood rituals and sexual perversion, he fled from Vienna. Many of his associates, like Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels, were rabid anti-Semites, part of the occult underground that nourished perverted Nazi beliefs. List died in Berlin in May 1919.
Sources:
Sklar, Dusty. Gods and Beasts: The Nazis and the Occult. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.