Karl Germer Biography

Karl Johannes Germer

(Frater Saturnus)

Born: 22 January 1885 in Elberfield, Germany,

Died: 25 October 1962 in West Point, California.

Karl Johannes Germer was Born on 22 of January 1885 at Elberfeld, a town then near Düsseldorf and now part of the present Wuppertal. Germer had two sisters, Elisabeth and Margarete, and four brothers, Otto, Wilhelm, Gustav and Alfred. He spent his childhood in Germany, and after completing his studies there, he moved to Paris to study at Sorbonne University. Between 1900 and 1904, he lived in London, while between 1908 and 1909 he was in the army at Dixmuiden, Lemberg, Stochod, and Armentières-Lens; he was awarded the Iron Cross both First and Second Class. From 1912-14, he was the Berlin representative of Alfred Herbert Ltd. machine-tool manufacturers in Coventry; during the Great War, he was at the battle-front — first in Belgium, then as leader of a machine-gun company in Russia, finally being sent to France.

In 1919 Germer first met Heinrich Tranker (Fra. Recnartus) in Leipzig. In 1923 Germer sold his home in Vienna, and headed for Munich, where together with Otto Wilhelm Barth and Tränker, he produced the journal Pansophy, the English translation of Dr. Frantz Hartmann's "Rosicrucian Lessons", and assisted in the translation of One Star in Sight, extracts from Liber Thisarb and an article describing Crowley's Ordeal of the Abyss. In 1925 Germer met Crowley in Weida, Thuringia at Tranker's house. After Crowley fell out with Traenker, he moved in Germer. It was also during this year that Germer was a patient of the psychologist Alfred Adler in Vienna. In 1926, while in Mexico, Germer divorced his first wife, Marie Wys. In June 1929, Germer married his second wife, the American Cora Eaton, in New York City, and Crowley and Germer established the Thelema Publishing Company in Leipzig, Germany. There they published Book 4 - Part I and Book 4 - Part II, "A Report on the Great White Brotherhood", Science and Buddhism, The Message of Master Therion, The Wake World, Berashith, "A Commentary on H. P. Blavatsky's The Voice of Silence", and "The Three Schools of Magick".

Between 1925-1935, Germer lived and studied with Crowley, traveling between New York and London frequently. On 2 February 1935, during a trip back to Leipzig, Germany Germer was arrested by the Gestapo with no reason given. He was transported to Alexanderplatz Prison in Berlin for ten days where, after much questioning, it was revealed that his arrest was due to his connections to "high grade Freemasons abroad". [See 13 February 1935 Arrest Warrant citing Germer's association with Crowley] He was taken to Columbia House—the Berlin concentration camp where he was kept in solitary confinement under horrific conditions for five months. He managed to get a permit to work in the architect's office and developed a number of connections with prominent prisoners and S.S. guards and officers. For three months he was kept in strict solitary confinement following an incident in which his wife sent him a cable from New York and he was accused of being a spy. He was later transferred to Esterwegen Camp, which he described as "one of the worst of the worst camps in Nazi Germany".

During his time in solitary confinement, having no access to books, Germer recited the Holy Books and attained to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. In total Germer spent six months as a prisoner in the two camps prior to being released and returning to England.

Without a permanent visa, Germer was forced to leave England and sought refuge, penniless and unable to find work. He eventually traveled to Ireland, arriving in Dublin on 1 December 1936, and found work as a machinist. He later traveled to Belgium as a representative of the machinery firm and sought to obtain a permanent visa for Ireland.

In 1939-40 he wrote his long-planned book "Protective Prisoner No. 303", about his time in Esterwegen concentration camp. At the outbreak of war, Germer was living in Belgium working in his capacity as a representative of the machinery firm until 10 May 1940 when he was arrested and transferred to a French concentration camp. He stayed there until 1 February 1941 when he received a visa with the assistance of Cora and emigrated to the United States.

Germer assumed the office of General Grand Treasurer of Ordo Templi Orientis, and on 13 July 1942 his second wife, Cora Eaton died. On 23 September 1942 Germer married his third wife, Sascha Ernestine Andre, a Viennese piano and singing teacher who had given singing lessons in Vienna under the name of 'Elly Aszkanasy'.

Over the next two decades, Germer would spend his time administering the O.T.O. and the A∴A∴ from various locations in the United States. Germer succeeded Crowley as the Outer Head of the O.T.O. and Praemonstrator of A∴A∴ following Crowley's death in 1947, having previously been acknowledged as a Magister Templi 8º=3^o. While Germer was never particularly interested in the formalities of initiatory work, many important writings from the Thelemic corpus were published under his supervision, setting the stage for the resurgence of Thelema in the late 1960s and beyond.