Jakob Wilhelm Hauer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Jakob Wilhelm Hauer (1881-04-04)4 April 1881 |
| Died | 18 February 1962(1962-02-18) (aged 80) |
| Part ofthe Religion series on the |
| German Faith Movement |
|---|
 |
| Religion portal |
Jakob Wilhelm Hauer (4 April 1881 inDitzingen,Württemberg – 18 February 1962 inTübingen) was a GermanIndologist andreligious studies writer. He was the founder of theGerman Faith Movement.
Initially trained in the family trade as aplasterer, he entered themissionary school atBasel in 1900 and served as a missionary inBritish India from 1907 to 1911.[1] His time in India and his study of indigenous religions saw him lose faith inChristianity and instead he returned to his studies, reading religious studies andSanskrit at a doctorate level at theUniversity of Oxford and theUniversity of Tübingen, before going on to teach at theUniversity of Marburg (1925) and Tübingen itself (1927).[1] Under his tutelage religious studies at Tübingen became increasingly close toNazism and by 1940 he was heading up an 'Aryan Seminar'.[2]
In 1920 he formed theBund der Köngener, a youth movement that grew out of groups ofProtestantBible circles who had come into contact with theWandervogel tendency. Initially little more than a more organized version of the Wandervogel, the Bund, which was for a time led byRudolf Otto, became attracted to the ideals of theVölkisch movement, especially as Hauer began to move more towards developing his own religion.[3]
Hauer began to look into his own forms of religion in 1927 when he set up theReligiöser Menschheitsbund, which aimed for a greater unity amongst Germany's faiths towards common goals.[1] He joined withErnst Graf zu Reventlow in this endeavour and in 1934 founded the German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung), which combined a number of existing communities in a Völkisch faith influenced byHinduism.[1] Hauer's admiration for Hinduism centred on theBhagavad Gita, to which he had been particularly drawn. He described it as "a work of imperishable significance", arguing that it called on people to "master the riddle of life". By July 1934 the religion had been ratified as Hauer celebrated his first wedding without other clergy.[4]
It had initially been hoped that it might be adopted as the state religion of theThird Reich but this did not happen and as it began to decline Hauer left in 1936. Hauer remained close to the Nazis however. He became a member of theNSDAP in 1937 and liked to portray theGerman Faith Movement as the true religious expression of Nazism. He expected members of the movement to work together with Catholics and Protestants.[5] He wrote toHeinrich Himmler immediately afterRudolf Hess' flight to Scotland, denouncing Hess for his supposed adherence toanthroposophy, an esoteric philosophy which Hauer felt was at odds with his own occult vision.[6]
In later years Hauer would seek not only to distance himself from the Nazis but also to portray himself as an anthroposophist. In 1935, however, he wrote that:
every undertaking and activity of anthroposophy necessarily arises out of the Anthroposophical world view. The anthroposophical world view is in the most important points directly opposed to National Socialism. Therefore, schools which are built out of the anthroposophical world view and led by anthroposophists mean danger to true German education.[7]
Hauer was removed from his university position after World War II and wasinterned from 1945 to 1949.[5] He continued to agitate for his own religion, forming theArbeitsgemeinschaft für freie Religionsforschung und Philosophie in 1947 and theFreie Akademie in 1955.[1]
