Julius Evola

The Philosopher and Magician in War: 1943-1945

Gianfranco de Turris

• Publisher: Inner Traditions
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781620558065
• eBook ISBN:
  9781620558072
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosopher Biographies

An intimate portrait of Evola and his wartime activities that rebuts many of the Fascist pseudo-myths about him

• Traces the Baron’s activities in Italy, Germany, and Austria during World War II

• Clarifies Evola’s relations with Nazism and Fascism and reveals how he passionately rejected both ideologies because they were totalitarian

• Draws on personal conversations with those who knew Evola, new documentation never before made public, and letters from the Hakl and Scaligero archives

Baron Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola, known to the English-speaking world as Julius Evola (1898–1974), was an Italian philosopher, magician, painter, occultist, Orientalist, linguist, and champion mountain climber. Often considered a pillar of Neo-Fascist thought, Evola opposed Fascism and called himself a “radical traditionalist.”

In this exploration of Evola’s inner and outer life from World War II into the early 1950s, Gianfranco de Turris, who knew Evola when he was alive and is the executor of his estate, offers a new portrait of Julius Evola and debunks many of the pseudo-myths about his activities during the war. Drawing on personal conversations with those who knew him and new documentation never before made public, including letters from the Hakl and Scaligero archives, the author traces Evola’s activities--including his time on the run and living under assumed names--in Italy, Germany, and Austria from 1943 into the mid-1950s. He shares a thorough account of the Baron’s sojourn at Hitler’s headquarters in Rastenburg, his work for the German secret military services, and his passionate rejection of the racial theories that were the core of Nazi ideology. The author outlines Evola’s critiques of Fascism and Nazism and also explores Evola’s disapproval of the Italian Social Republic because it was destroying traditional values in favor of modernity.

Detailing the Baron’s occult and magical work during the war, de Turris shows that the only thing Evola took with him when he escaped Italy was the UR Group papers, material that would later become the three-volume work Introduction to Magic. Sharing details from Evola’s long hospital stays during and after the war, the author proves that the injury that led to Evola’s paralysis was caused by an Allied bombing raid in Vienna and not, as rumor has it, by a sex magic act gone horribly wrong. The author shares photographs from the time period and the Baron’s correspondence with René Guenon on the possibility of restoring the spiritual and magical power of an authentic Freemasonry.

Offering conclusive evidence that Evola was not part of the Nazi regime, de Turris sheds light on the inner workings of this legendary occult figure and what Evola believed was the best approach for the magus to take in the modern world.

Table of contents

• Cover Image
• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Table of Contents
• Foreword: Following the Trail of History by Giuseppe Parlato
• Translator’s Foreword
• Author’s Preface to the First Edition
• Author’s Preface to the Second Edition
• Author’s Preface to the Third Edition
• Chapter One: July 25 to September 8, 1943—A “Danse Macabre”
• Chapter Two: In Hitler’s Headquarters—On the “Immobile Train”
• Chapter Three: The Return to Italy
• Chapter Four: Open City—Nine Months in Rome
• Chapter Five: Contacts and Relations with the SD
• Chapter Six: Northward Bound across Enemy Lines
• Chapter Seven: Incognito in Vienna
• Chapter Eight: Urban Legends—Unsolved Mysteries
• Chapter Nine: The Hypothesis of Rectified Freemasonic Rites
• Chapter Ten: After the Bombardment
• Chapter Eleven: From One Hospital to Another—From Austria to Italy
• Chapter Twelve: Julius Evola’s Activity during the Italian Social Republic
• Appendix I: Documents, Maps, and Photographs
• Appendix II: Articles from La Stampa
• Footnotes
• About the Author
• About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
• Books of Related Interest
• Copyright & Permissions
• Index