ONT Was a Nazi Reincarnation of Templars

Now this is a really interesting animal in the zoo of Neo-Templarism. Unlike any other Neo-Templar organization, Order of the New Templars (Ordo Novi Templi – ONT) could claim to be a reincarnation of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.

A national-socialist reincarnation – its founder Lanz von Liebenfels (Adolf Joseph Lanz) even tried to be recognized as one of ideological predecessors of Adolf Hitler. Which might have been partially true, in fact.

Reincarnation because ONT founder could have claimed that his order had the same fundamental objective (adapted to the early XX century, of course) than the order of Knights Templar.

Indeed, the latter was the medieval, strictly Catholic, military-religious order – essentially the elite shock troops of a Christian Army fighting a religious war with Muslims– which had but one objective: be the keepers and protectors of the Ark of the Covenant and (by extension), of Jerusalem and the Crusader States in Palestine.

Lanz von Liebenfels claimed (at least implicitly) that ONT was the order of knights (right-wing radicals) that were to become the elite shock troops of an Aryan (not Arian, but Aryan) Army fighting the existential war with Communists (Bolsheviks, actually) and the “inferior races”. And thus, to protect Vienna (he was born and raised in the city), Greater Germany (which included Austria) and the whole European (Christian) civilization.

But the similarities/connections did not end there. Both orders were founded by Cistercians: like Bernard of Clairvaux, Lanz von Liebenfels was a member of this religious order. The rule of the latter became the foundation of Latin Rule of Templars – and ONT was similar in its structure to the Order of Cistercians.

Furthermore, ONT founder he claimed to have become “enlightened” after finding the tombstone of a Knight Templar. However, in 1899 he decided to go solo, left the Cistercian Order and began developing ideology (almost a religion) that had nothing to do with Templars at all: “blue-blond Aryanism”, “lower races” and especially Theozoology. Which (obviously) made ONT a decidedly neo-pagan reincarnation of Knights Templar.

Ultimately, Lanz von Liebenfels became the founder of Ariosophy (“wisdom of the Aryans”) which ironically sounded (only sounded, of course) the same as Arianism – a Unitarian Christian heresy practiced by top 12 Templars.

Ariosophy became far, far more influential that Theozoology (which remained other obscure); however, it was his magazine Ostara (named after West Germanic spring goddess ;ostre… and neopagan spring equinox festival) that – most likely – ideologically influenced Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler was reportedly one of the avid publication’s readers in his late teens, and it is highly probably that it did significantly influence his worldview. In the preface of issue one in the 3rd series of Ostara, circa 1927, Lanz von Liebenfels confidently wrote:

“One shall remember that the swastika- [i.e., National-Socialist] and fascist movements are basically offspring of Ostara“

Not surprisingly, his perceptions of Knights Templar and their history were weird (to put it mildly). He perceived the Templars pretty much as all other Neo-Templar groups: as a medieval occult society that searched for the “forbidden knowledge”, Holy Grail… the whole nine yards.

However, he went much, much further than that (in the Nazi direction, of course). He somehow came up with the idea that the Templars had the goal of establishing an Aryan empire (!!) across the entire Mediterranean area (not true at all).

He interpreted the persecution of the Templars as a triumph of racially inferior people whose aim was to undermine the rule and purity of the Aryan race. In addition, he was convinced that the Catholic Church had been suppressing true Christian teaching since that time, as the core of which he regarded his ideas of a racial struggle.

He envisioned the ONT as a new beginning of the crusade against lower races that had been interrupted for centuries. Total rubbish, of course (to put it mildly), but racists always had (still have) serious mental health issues.

Hitler never admitted that he owed any of his ideology to anybody; all his ideas were his – and his only. Hence, he predictably refused to acknowledge any “ideological debt” to Lanz and his paper.

After Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, Lanz hoped for Hitler’s patronage, but the latter instead banned him from publishing his writings, all copies of Ostara were removed from circulation and ONT for all practical purposes ceased to exist.

There are rumors that it went underground (interestingly, it was not officially banned) and still secretly exists today but these are… well, rumours.

Lanz von Liebenfels died in Vienna, in 1954, at the ripe old age of 79.