The founders of the Third Reich were involved in esoteric questions that inevitably along the mysteries associated with the valley of Rennes-le-Château. Their interests were not, however, limited to the ephemeral, there is evidence of the tenacity with which they pursued the physical associations of the valley. Many books bound in Rennes-le-Château mention a battalion of German mining engineers made excavations in the region during the Second World War.

The path of research leads to a certain Otto Rahn, a German, born in 1904 in Michelstadt, Germany. He attended the University of Berlin, where he studied literature and philology (the science of language). During his youth, Otto Rahn had been attracted to the study of the Grail he took the idea from the novel by Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival and the history of the Cathars. He became intrigued by the statement that the Holy Grail is hidden, according Parzifal in the holy mountain of Montsalvat. It was important, especially when Rahn found that the Cathar fortress of Montsegur boasted a huge cave near known Montsalvat. It was at least intrigued enough to spend much time and energy to check the coincidence.

Although that Eschenbach could allegedly could not read or write the story of Parzival had been passed down through the years by « Minnesingers » troubadours and minstrels of the Middle Ages. In any case, records show that the story was first written between 1200 and 1210, at least 33 years before the siege of Montsegur.

After much deliberation about the history, it seems that Otto Rahn had come to the conclusion that the poem Monsalvat the Grail was actually the Montsegur Cathars and decided to visit the region to continue his research.

During his travels in the region, audits led to the Holy Grail, the German folk legends and history of the Cathars, he fell on a elderl, former Austrian army colonel, Karl-Maria Wiligut Weisthor, an expert in German and pre-medieval history, runes, legends, magic and the occult. Weisthor quickly became the most reliable friend Rahn. It was to prove a historic meeting for Wiligut (using the name Weisthor) then joined the SS in 1933 and was promoted to brigadier general in 1936, when he became an adviser to Heinrich Himmler on occult matters, later becoming better known in the inner circles of the German secret societies as the « Rasputin » Himmler.

It is in this weird maelstrom of neo-Nazi ideas walked Otto Rahn, little aware that he was studying the Cathars had been audited by leading National Socialists as well as scientists from the authors of many customs related the Nazis. In fact, Hitler was so interested in the traditions and legends of the Middle Ages he had committed as a composer and researcher, Carl Orff to go medieval monasteries in Europe, to collect old folk songs and tunes. A combination of this material later became known as the famous Carmina Burana and was played at almost every rally.

One can only imagine the response when the connection through his friend Weisthor with Himmler, Otto Rahn announced that it was the location of the Holy Grail, the treasures of the temple of Solomon and the Ark of the Covenant unique sacred relics. Himmler and Co. must have been on the moon Hörbiger!

Records show that Himmler and possibly the Thule Society have agreed to fund the trip Otto Rahn in Languedoc in 1931, where he stayed in the village of Lavelanet. With that, he travels, he obviously convinced himself that Montsegur was indeed the Monsalvat Legend of Parzival. Although he discovered several cave systems, it had not yet found a treasure. Nevertheless, he remains convinced that he was on the right track. He also found the back of the cave drawings on the surface of the rock representing Templars, one of which had a lance – perhaps the spear of Longinus, Spear of Destiny! The result of his early foray into Montsegur was the first Crusade against the Grail book published in 1933.

In this paper, Rahn has traced the history of what he has accomplished so far and suggested that the evidence showed that there were two Grails – a Emerald Cup and a stone tablet. This artifact was inscribed with runes by a race of pre-German supermen who had attained the ultimate knowledge of the « law of life. » They represented the « great tradition » that was only valid for some people, a theory that linked with the German legend and beliefs of the Thule Society that the North was inhabited by the super Hyperborean race. Needless to say, the book has found an audience ready to Hitler, Rosenberg, Hess, Dietrich Ekhart Himmler and others driving!

In a written letter Weisthor in September 1935 Otto Rahn informed his friend that he was at a place where he had reason to believe that the Grail could be found, and that Weisthor must keep secret the material except to mention Himmler. Thus, over the next few years, Otto Rahn, historian and philologist, became inextricably involved in the hierarchy of Nazi party meeting with Himmler, Alfred Rosenberg and Wolfram Sievers. He may not be realized that Adolf Hitler was an avid student of the occult since his youth, and the obsession of the Führer engulf his quest.

Otto Rahn returned to the region of Montsegur for a short period in 1937, but at that time the ominous rumblings of an impending war could be felt throughout Europe. Himmler, meanwhile, met with Dr. Hermann Wirth, who gave him the idea of ​​creating a research unit of German history.

This was the Deutsches Ahnenerbe, a company that has become totally dependent on the support of the SS. Rahn Weisthor and continued to work on various projects, but have not received new assignments Himmler for the previous four years, it was obvious that Rahn was considered untrustworthy because he was not a member of the SS. Rahn has remedied the oversight by joining the SS Black Order privately March 12, 1936. Magically, once he joined the club SS, doors began to open up to private Rahn. April 20, 1936, he was promoted to sergeant, without ever having been a corporal. Almost immediately, he received an assignment to carry out a survey of Iceland to investigate the field, on the possible site of Hyperborea.

The rise in the ranks Rahn was nothing less than spectacular. He is the technical officer course 30 January 1937 and 2nd Lieutenant of the Black Order of April 20, 1937. His rise continued until September 1, 1938 when he was promoted to 1st lieutenant. his second book, « The Courtiers of Lucifer » was published in 1936 and quickly became the bible of the National Socialist Party.

Meanwhile Himmler chose Wewelsburg Castle in Bavaria to be the future home of the Spear of Longinus, the Holy Grail and other treasures of Solomon’s Temple, which Otto Rahn had spoken. However, it was too dangerous to travel in peace. Better to wait for the next war with France. In 1937, an expedition of the Languedoc Rahn is thought to have been just to make sure that the cache remained undiscovered by someone else.

On June 9, 1938, Rahn sought and obtained leave to write the following courtiers Lucifer. From that moment, his life took an unexpected turn for the worse. He had his private and public point of view – that he was opposed to war and instead, he thought Germany and Europe should convert to Catharism! Opposition to the coming war was treason.

On February 28, 1939, Otto Rahn wrote a letter of resignation to Gruppenführer Karl Wolff, chief of staff personnel Himmler, speaking of « serious reasons » for his resignation that seems to Reichsführer in person at the next visit Berlin.

The circumstances of the « extremely serious nature » which refers Rahn, and may not be forwarded by letter, like having a ring ominous. Nobody really knows the scope of the dilemma faced Rahn, but it seems reasonable to conclude that he was in a life close to death … kind of a situation, or worse, in a position of « death against death » (Free translation of a German phrase) that left the time the method is determined.

The famous « Desert Fox », Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was about to suffer the same fate at a somewhat later date. His choice fell on suicide in honor or disgrace execution.

The reason for embarrassment Rahn leaves much room for speculation. Its easy to change his political views and his vision of a new world order, with Germany as its leader, were certainly in unison with the ambition to Himmler as expressed in these words:

« After the war, we’re really going to build our order, the order in which we gave his most important principles ten years before the war. We will continue our veterans, for twenty years after the war, while the tradition can be established, a tradition that will last thirty, thirty-five or forty years, an entire generation. Then, the Order will be young and strong, revolutionary and active in his march to the future. He will be able to fulfill his duty and provide the Germanic peoples with an elite. This elite will unite the people and the whole of Europe.  »

Even the charge to oppose the war effort could easily be canceled by Himmler if Rahn had agreed to cease and desist. Thus, we are left with the uncomfortable and difficult to shake that something else was involved feeling. The last question seems to revolve around the discoveries Rahn made during his travels in the Languedoc. Was he a man who knew too much, or was he a man who had revealed too little about the results of his research – for the treasures of Solomon and the Emerald Cup. Nobody will ever know the answer to this question. What we do know is that Rahn quickly received favorable to his request for discharge of the SS response.

There are fragmentary Rahn tried to save his life one day during this period by proposing that he be allowed to return to Languedoc and live his life in the solitude of the mountains of the Pyrenees evidence. His request was denied and he was left with two remaining options, death by suicide or death by execution

On March 13, 1939 Otto Rahn disappeared.

May 18, 1939, the following notice of death appeared in the Berlin edition of « Völkischer Beobachter »

« Otto Rahn died! « 

Picture: SS – Obersturmführer OTTO RAHN died tragically in a snowstorm in March 1939. We mourn for the dead comrade, an SS officer and decent creator of remarkable historical and scientific works.
WOLFF SS – Gruppenführer

But the Grail story does not end with the death of Otto Rahn. Although France was occupied by the Germans in June 1940 Himmler made no attempt to retrieve the Grail of Montsegur Otto Rahn. Instead, the excavation expeditions were sent by the Ahnenerbe in other jurisdictions where the Nazi forces invaded, and the other to Tibet in search of the origins of the Aryan race.

Himmler may have thought that with the location of the treasure described reasonably, there was no reason to hurry. Why not wait until all of France was occupied – things would be even easier then. However, the end of 1942, the Nazi forces had received several setbacks, including y EI Alamein, and Czechoslovakia, the assassination of Heydrich. Allied forces invaded Europe and suddenly time was running out to get the treasure. So, in June 1943 an expert meeting was Montsegur and various other possible hiding places in the region of Languedoc, which Rennes-Ie-Chateau.

These experts consisted of historians, archaeologists and geologists. In this case, all the teams came up empty handed. Himmler was left with few options to consider. The treasure existed or not? If it existed, and was hidden in the region of Montsegur and if that were the case, if it had been located by Otto Rahn? The only thing that Himmler thought rang true is that Otto Rahn had determined the approximate location of the treasure and on the basis of this conviction, he concluded that the treasure should be in a place that Otto Rahn or teams of experts had found. Otto Rahn, of course, could not be found because he had already had his « accident » and Himmler realized that he needed a different approach to the problem and someone to attack laterally instead of front. A man came to mind – SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny.

Skorzeny had the reputation of being a real soldier, who, if he accepts a mission, usually never failed. Skorzeny had a unique approach to problem solving. He was an engineer by profession and was also a gifted linguist. He leapt to fame in achieving success, daring mountain top rescue of Mussolini at the end of the war – a feat that was considered impossible. Indeed, such was his audacity that on several occasions he met David Stirling, founder of the British Special Air Service for coffee in different European cities, while the war was in full swing.

Skorzeny also had an intelligence background, having worked for Admiral Canaris, head of German intelligence and sometimes had received his orders directly from Himmler. April 20, 1942, he was promoted as « head of the special forces of Germany », operating from a hunting lodge Friendenthal in Bavaria. Thus in February 1944, after several other missions, Skorzeny received a call from Himmler to recover the treasure of Montsegur.

After the plans and instructions to his men, Otto Skorzeny needed with a small commando arrived in the Languedoc and installed a base camp at Montsegur. They spent the next day reconnaissance of the area, making several interesting discoveries, but none has found the treasure. Skorzeny then decided to ignore where Otto Rahn had reported, and focus on the logic and unlikely hiding places that would not easily arise.

As Montsegur Castle sits atop a mountain peak available only on three sides, with a peak of several thousand feet of each other, Skorzeny not concentrated at the edge of the precipice of rock. After rappelling down the vertical rock face, he sought and found evidence of old tracks leading away from the foot of the mountain. Following these, he finally discovered a walled cave, which, when broken open, would have revealed the treasure. According to The Emerald Cup – Ark of Gold, by Colonel Howard Buechner, Skorzeny then sent a message (probably radio) at the headquarters of Himmler in Berlin:

Ureka
[Signed] Scar

The answer quickly followed:

Well done. Congratulations. Look at the sky at noon tomorrow. Wait for our arrival.
[Signed Reichsführer – SS]

According to Buechner, Skorzeny had unwittingly discovered the treasure on the eve of the 700th anniversary of the fall of Montsegur (16 March 1944), and was surprised to see a large gathering of descendants Cathars, en route to the castle to pay tribute to their ancestors. The number 700 is doubly important these Cathars recent days to an ancient prophecy foretold: – « At the end of 700 years the laurel will be green again.  »

Whatever this strange sentence actually meant, an unusual group was found for the anniversary. Although they asked for permission to go to the castle of the German military governor of the region, and had been refused, they still gathered at the foot of the mountain, ready for the long walk to the ruins of the fortress. At this moment, as luck would have it, Skorzeny and his small group of commandos dropped on them. For a moment, everything must have seemed lost, but Skorzeny, when approached by pilgrims for permission, saw no reason to refuse. Thus, the group arrived at the fortress in mid-day, just as Skorzeny told them to « look at the sky. »

Probably hidden by the crowd, a German plane flying high, using equipment « skywriting », « painted » a huge Celtic cross in the sky. For Skorzeny, he reported that his mission was almost over, but for pilgrims to Montsegur, a miracle happened. The next day, an official delegation comprising Reichsminister Alfred Rosenberg and Colonel Wolfram Sievers of the Ahnenerbe came to congratulate Skorzeny.

Arrangements were made so that engineers can be brought to the hidden treasure and to be returned to the small town of Merkers, 40 km from Berlin. And here, after it was cataloged by members handpicked the Ahnenerbe, most disappeared in various parts of the Reich in ruins. According to Colonel Howard Buechner, the catalog of treasures included:
:
1. Thousands of gold coins …

2. Items that were believed to come from the temple of Solomon, which included the gold plates and fragments of wood that had once made up the ark of Moses … a gold plated table, a seven-branched candelabrum, an urn of gold, personal, harp, sword, gold plates and countless vases, many small gold and a number of gems bells and onyx stones, some of which bore inscriptions …

3. Twelve stone tablets bearing pre-runic inscriptions which none of the experts were able to read. These elements include the Grail Stone German and Otto Rahn.

4. A beautiful silver with an emerald as what appeared to be Jasper basis Cup. Three gold cup plates were inscribed with cuneiform script in an ancient language.

5. A large number of religious objects of various types from different eras … crosses that were of gold or silver and adorned with pearls and precious stones.

6. Precious stones in abundance in all shapes and sizes

Once cataloged, many gold coins were melted and turned into bullion and the Nazis began to disperse around the treasure … and to Germany.

the world in the last days of the war

City Merkers fell to the 3rd U.S. Army General George Patton. His men soon discovered the salt mines near where the treasure was hidden, and the amounts recovered which they can give an idea of ​​the size of the original distance. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and Patton personally inspected the mine: Here are the official account paid later to records:

Gold bullion … 600, 750 bags of gold coins … many other valuables mainly in the form of paper money. The estimated value of the treasure was $ 250 million (according to the standards of 1945, when gold was selling at $ 35 per ounce).

This of course, represented only a small part of the treasure that was not dispersed by the time before the Americans arrived. Indeed, Buechner estimates the present value of a day could be close to $ 60 billion!

So what happened to the treasure of millennia? According to Buechner, records show that some were shipped to Antarctica (New Reich Agharta) and other parts of South America, while some were buried deep beneath the fortress of Wewelsburg in Bavaria and a box bronze, containing important documents were buried in a secret cave under the glacier Schleigleiss near Mountain Pass Zillertal in Bavaria. A final deposit is thought to have been hidden in the secret complex in the mountain hut on Berchtesgarden, Hitler’s home.

The latest records show that the treasure of the Temple of Solomon was sent from the castle Wewelsburg to Berchtesgarden in March 1945. He was transported by truck to the Obersalzberg and stored in one or more of the many underground that riddle the mountain. There he was sealed in bunkers and under the watchful eye of a continuous contingent of soldiers SS. When the bunkers have been explored by the troops of 101st., U.S. Airborne Division in the first days of May 1945, they found provisions and treasures in abundance, but the treasure of Solomon had disappeared.

~ Emerald Cup – Ark of Gold by Col.H.Buechner)

Is this the last story that will be given to glimpse the light that will lead us to the Holy Grail and the treasure? Probably not, the experts agreed (in the 70s) that Schleigleiss glacier is due to deliver his secret … in 1995, after which we expect that hunting could resume.

A word of caution. We are indebted to Co! Onel H.Buechner for its history of Otto Rahn and the treasures of Montsegur. We are particularly impressed by the patience he showed in waiting until 1991 to release what should in theory be the biggest story of treasure hunt of all time. History has apparently begun to us again, in no Time Magazine. 43 dated 25th October 1993, an article by Michael Walsh has been written about the spoils of World War II and did not even mention the treasure of the Temple of Solomon. So who do we believe, Buechner or Walsh?

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Postscript

There is a second story about the death and disappearance of Otto Rahn … and here it is:

Otto Rahn was homosexuel.Il have had a relationship … or his conditon would embarrass a senior leader SS … plus, there was a treasure to get.

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Other notes on Otto Rahn

Since his childhood, he is passionate about the myths and Germanic epics.

 
He did not recognize that Christianity, in which he grew up … But then it was a little closer every day pagan traditions, believing that his ancestors were pagans and heretics own gods!

He eventually inspired the movie « Raiders of the Lost Ark » starring Harrison Ford.