Rune Masters III

Friedrich Wannieck

Friedrich Wannieck (1838 Brno, Austrian Empire –1919) was a prominent and wealthy Austrian/German industrialist most notable for his successful business ventures and his enthusiastic support for the völkisch author, pioneer of Germanic mysticism and runicrevivalist, Guido von List. He is the father of Friedrich Oskar Wannieck.

He was an Armanist and supporter of List's Armanen runes system. He was also an ardent spiritualist and a firm believer in the Theosophical mahatmas, Morya and Koot Hoomi

Biography

Wannieck founded Friedrich Wannieck & Co. in 1864. He was also chairman of the Prague Iron Company and the First Brno Engineering Company, both major producers of capital goods in the Habsburg empire. He was also president of the organisation and publishing house Verein "Deutsches Haus" ("German House" Association) in Brno. This was a nationalistassociation for German inhabitants of the city, who knew it by the name of Brünn and felt encircled by the overwhelming Czech population of South Moravia (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 37).

In 1888 the Verein "Deutsches Haus" published an historical work entitled Der altdeutsche Volksstamm der Quaden [The Ancient German Quadi Tribe] by Heinrich Kirchmayr. Wannieck was impressed by the parallels between List's clairvoyant account of the Quadi and the academic study of Kirchmayr. Between Wannieck and List there developed a regular correspondence that laid the basis of a lasting friendship. The Verein "Deutsches Haus" later published three of List's works in its own book-series of nationalist studies of history and literature (ibid.).

Wannieck's munificence eventually led to the foundation of the Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft(Guido von List Society) twenty years later. Around 1905, he and his son Friedrich Oskar were among the signatories to the initial announcement endorsing the formation of the Society. This came to fruition with an official founding ceremony in 1908. The Society's assets came mostly from the Wanniecks, who put up more than 3000 crowns at the inauguration (ibid., 43-44).