When it comes to secret societies, Freemasons and Illuminati, they are usually located in the past. If you don’t immediately push them into the realm of myths. However, the conspiracy stories that arose from this cannot be got rid of. Did the Freemasons Assassinate Kennedy? Are they responsible for the world wars along with the Illuminati?
Stories like this keep popping up. And in recent years they have found fertile ground, often in connection with anti-Semitism, among the Reich citizens or the QAnon movement. Both groups talk about a “deep state” or shadow state that governs Germany or America. And about the fact that this shadow state has to be eliminated.
The fact that this is more than just talk has shown the large raid on a group of Reich citizens around Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss shown last December. Because: The group was planning a violent putsch. A story that sounds like a conspiracy story itself. That’s why she appears just like the Freemasons and Illuminati in the four-part podcast series on “conspiracy myths” of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. “Secret societies – Freemasons, Illuminati, Reich citizens” means the first, under badw.de as well as part of the BAdW cast series that can be found on Spotify & Co., for which the speakers for digital communication Laura Räuber and Ruth Zapf are responsible. The next parts will revolve around anti-Semitism, hatred and hate speech and climate change denial.
The Reich citizens as a secret society? Well, the troupe around Prince Reuss, which is recruited from members of the German armed forces, among other things, fits into the picture with their fantasies of a coup. And after listening to the podcast, it can be said that it was or is more dangerous than the Freemasons. Their ideals have always included humanity and tolerance, as one can tell from two “old masters”. Masonic lodge Lessing to the flaming star learned from Munich. And how you can hear the two gentlemen talking about the relationship between the Freemasons and the craftsmen’s guilds. About the men’s, women’s and mixed lodges that exist in Munich. Then that sounds like a rather harmless club. The rest belongs in the realm of myth.
Adolph Freiherr Knigge was also a member of the Illuminati
It is different with the Illuminati order and its founder: the philosopher and canon lawyer Adam Weishaupt from Ingolstadt, about whom Olaf Simons from Erfurt tells more details. Weishaupt wanted to establish a republican empire of reason. He had Masonic lodges infiltrated. And with the help of Adolph Freiherr Knigge, who joined the Illuminati in 1780, the order secured key positions in science. It is interesting how close the world of the “beautiful” was to the subversive attitude of the Illuminati. For example, Goethe also belonged to the Illuminati, although not really as an active member. And the musicologist Helmut Perl is certain: Mozart was also Illuminated.
Laura Räuber and Ruth Zapf, who, as they reveal, sit “in the smallest office” at the Academy of Sciences, tell a lot about it themselves. And whose budget is probably not one of the biggest there either. The sound effects sound rather simple and to be expected. For example, a cow can be heard with the word “land” and a crackling fire can be heard from the off with the phrase “like a wildfire”. And it could be said in a very similar way: You’ve heard a lot about the Freemasons and Illuminati.
Nevertheless, the scientists involved, including the historians Helmut Reinalter and Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, not only provide expertise, but also variety. It is also interesting that Räuber and Zapf include the history of the Academy of Sciences, which was also infiltrated by the Illuminati at the time. And it remains interesting to hear how they ultimately draw the link to climate change deniers.
The BAdW cast “Conspiracy Myths” is under badw.de and can be found on the usual streaming services.