Otto Wilhelm Rahn (18 February 1904 – 13 March 1939) was a German writer, medievalist, Ariosophist and an Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant) of the Schutzstaffel, who researched grail mythos. He was born in Michelstadt, Germany, and died in Söll (Kufstein, Tyrol) in Austria.

Speculation still surrounds Otto Rahn and his research. From an early age, he became interested in the legends of Parzival, the Holy Grail, Lohengrin and the Nibelungenlied. While attending the University of Giessen he was inspired by his professor, Baron von Gall, to study the Albigensian (Catharism) movement and the massacre that occurred at Montségur. Rahn is quoted as saying that "It was a subject that completely captivated me".

Work

In 1931 he travelled to the Pyrenees region of southern France where he conducted most of his research. Aided by the French mystic and historian Antonin Gadal, Rahn argued that there was a direct link between Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Parzival and the Cathar Grail mystery. He believed that the Cathars held the answer to this sacred mystery and that the keys to their secrets lay somewhere beneath the mountain peak where the fortress of Montségur remains, the last Cathar fortress to fall during the Albigensian Crusade.

Rahn believed it was possible to trace the Cathars, who guarded the Holy Grail in their castle at Montsegur, back to Druids who converted to Gnostic Manichaeism. The Druids in Britain were forerunners of the Celtic Christian Church. He saw that the culture of the medieval Cathar stronghold of Languedoc bore a strong resemblance to the ancient Druids. Their priests were akin to the Cathar Parfaits. The Cathar secret wisdom being preserved by the later Troubadours, the travelling poets and singers of the medieval courts of France-M. Sabeheddin, [Countermedia].

Rahn's SS service and death

Rahn wrote two books linking Montségur and Cathars with the Holy Grail: Kreuzzug gegen den Gral (Crusade Towards the Grail) in 1933 and Luzifers Hofgesind (Lucifer's Court) in 1937. After the publication of his first book, Rahn's work came to the attention of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, who was fascinated by the occult and had already initiated research in the south of France.

Rahn joined his staff as a junior non-commissioned officer and became a full member of the SS in 1936. It was an uneasy partnership for Otto Rahn; later, he explained his SS membership to friends in the following way:

A man has to eat. What was I supposed to do? Turn Himmler down?

Journeys for his second book led Rahn to places in Germany, France, Italy and Iceland.

Openly homosexual, frequenting anti-Nazi circles, and having fallen out of favour with the Nazi leadership, Rahn was assigned guard duty at the Dachau concentration camp in 1937 as punishment for a drunken homosexual scrape. He resigned from the SS in 1939.

But the SS wouldn't allow anyone to resign without consequences. Soon, Rahn found out the Gestapo was after him, and he was even offered the option of committing suicide. He vanished. On 13 March 1939, nearly on the anniversary of the fall of Montségur, Rahn was found frozen to death on a mountainside near Söll (Kufstein, Tyrol) in Austria. His death was officially ruled a suicide.

Rahn in popular culture

Rahn has been described as the inspiration behind the Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark, although neither George Lucas nor Steven Spielberg has ever mentioned anything about his having inspired the film.

Rahn appears as a minor character in Michelle Cooper's A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes in Exile.

Rahn has been the object of many rumours and strange stories, including that his death had been faked, although all such speculation has failed to be substantiated. He features as a character in the 2008 novel The Judas Apocalypse by Dan McNeil. In the novel, Rahn helps a fellow German archaeologist search for the lost treasure of the Cathars. He also figures in Citadel by Kate Mosse, the "Berlin Noir" novel The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr and Blood Lance by Craig Smith. In the Italian comic book Martin Mystère, Rahn fakes his death and joins the United States Secret Service "Elsewhere".

Richard Stanley, cult director of such films as Hardware and Dust Devil, also made a documentary about Rahn and his fixation on the Holy Grail called The Secret Glory in 2001.

Rahn is also mentioned by Colonel Ardenti's character in Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum, published in 1988.

Sorceror's Feud (2014) by Katharine Kerr is another novel that has Rahn as a character.

Works

• Kreuzzug gegen den Gral. Die Geschichte der Albigenser (Broschiert) (in German), 1934, ISBN 3-934291-27-9; ISBN 978-3-934291-27-0.
• Croisade contre le Graal: Grandeur et Chute des Albigeois (Broché) (French translation), 1934, ISBN 2-86714-184-2; ISBN 978-2-86714-184-3.
• Crusade Against the Grail: The Struggle between the Cathars, the Templars, and the Church of Rome (First English Translation by Christopher Jones), 1934/2006, ISBN 1-59477-135-9; ISBN 978-1-59477-135-4.
• Luzifers Hofgesind, eine Reise zu den guten Geistern Europas (Rahn's book on Luciferism), 1937, ISBN 3-934291-19-8; ISBN 978-3-934291-19-5.