Friedrich Bernhard Marby (10 May 1882 – 3 December 1966) was a German rune occultist and Germanic revivalist. He is best known for his revivalism and use of the

Armanen runes Armanen runes (or ''Armanen Futharkh'') are 18 pseudo-runes, inspired by the historic Younger Futhark runes, invented by Austrian mysticist and Germanic revivalist Guido von List during a state of temporary blindness in 1902, and described in ...

. Marby was imprisoned during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, which may have been due to a denunciation by

Karl Maria Wiligut Karl Maria Wiligut (alias Weisthor, Jarl Widar, Lobesam; 10 December 1866 – 3 January 1946) was an Austrian Völkisch occultist and soldier. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and was a leading figure in the Irminis ...

. According to the Odinist magazine ''

Vor Trú VOR or vor may refer to: Organizations * Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales * in Austria * Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster Science, technology and medicine * VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in aviation * Vestibulo ...

'', Marby "was one of the most (if not the most) important figures in the realm of runic sciences" with an impact felt not only by contemporaries but "among today's researchers and practitioners."''

'', issue 69.

Early life

Born in

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', ) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in popula ...

, Ostfriesland, Friedrich Marby trained as a printer and worked as an editor.

Rune scholarship

Marby was neither a university scholar nor a favoured Nazi ideologue. From 1924, he began publishing his amateur theories and research. There was a school of rune scholars who interpreted

the Eddas "Edda" (; Old Norse ''Edda'', plural ''Eddur'') is an Old Norse term that has been applied by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works: what is now known as the ''Prose Edda'' and an older collection of poems ( ...

completely in anti-Semitic fashion, but Alan Baker in his book '' Invisible Eagle'' singles out Marby as one of the exceptions. Marby, along with

Siegfried Adolf Kummer Siegfried Adolf Kummer (24 September 1899 in Radeberg – 1977 in Dresden) was a German mystic and Germanic revivalist. He is also most well known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row. He, along with Friedrich Bernhard Marby, w ...

, was criticized in a report to

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

by the ''Reichsführer's'' chief esoteric runologist,

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (15 January 195329 August 2012) was a British historian and professor of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter, best known for his authorship of several scholarly books on the history of Germany between the W ...

states that Wiligut censured the two men "for bringing the holy Aryan heritage into disrepute and ridicule", suggesting "this criticism may have led to Marby's harsh treatment in the Third Reich." According to ''Vor Trú'', Marby spent eight years and three months in the camps at Flossenbürg,

Welzheim Welzheim () is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 35 km east of Stuttgart, and 15 km northwest of Schwäbisch Gmünd. Welzheim has 11,239 (2005) inhabitants and is located in the 'Welzheimer ...

, and

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

before being released on 29 April 1945. He resumed publishing his magazine ''Forschung und Erfahrung'' (''Research and Experience'') and books. He died in 1966. Marby's "runic gymnastics" (') was advocated as "Rune-Yoga" (also "Runic Yoga", "Stadhagaldr") by Stephen Flowers ("Edred Thorsson") from the 1980s onward.Edred Thorsson, ''Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic'', Weiser Books, 1984, p. 15. Edred Thorsson, ''Rune might: secret practices of the German rune magicians'', Llewellyn's Teutonic magick series, 1989. Edred Thorsson, ''The Truth About Teutonic Magick'', Llewellyn's vanguard series, 1994. Later also: L. E. Camp, ''A Handbook of Armanen Runic-Wisdom: History, World-View, Rune-Yoga, Divination, the Sidereal Pendulum and the Runic-Zodiac'', 2005. Criticized by Sweyn Plowright, ''The Rune Primer'', 2006 (esp. pp. 137-139).

References

External links

Stadhagaldr - Runic Yoga
* http://www.oocities.org/odinistlibrary/OLArticles/Articles/FredericBernardMarby.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Marby, Friedrich Bernhard 1882 births 1966 deaths Adherents of Germanic neopaganism Dachau concentration camp survivors Flossenbürg concentration camp survivors German modern pagans German occultists Occultism in Nazism People from Aurich People from the Province of Hanover