While rereading texts on this website I realised that long after I started to make this website, I have been writing short biographies of people that (possibly) were acquaintances of Farwerck. The poet August Heyting deserves a place among these ranks.
Heyting was born in Dutch Indonesia in 1879. He married in 1907. He studied in Breda (Netherlands) and got involved in stage playing. At that time he also wrote, something not everybody was happy about, since he was more productive than he was good in the eyes of some.
Also in 1906, Heyting started to write about the Germanic past. He used the pseudonym Gustaaf van Elring for his play “Harald de Skalde” (‘Harald the Skald’). In this way he path started to close in to that of Farwerck.
On 18 November 1931 Farwerck, Heyting and some others were involved in the foundation of the “Nederlandsch Ario-Germaansch Genootschap” (‘Dutch Ario-Germanic Society’). The circle wanted to study not non-Christian past of the Dutch people.
Already on 27 November, a few people, among whom Heyting and Farwerck left the group. It seems that they were of the opinion that the others involved had too political aims.
Closely thereafter, Heyting had another group with a somewhat similar name. In 1932 -namely- he founded the “Kelto-Germaanse Studiekring Yggdrasil” (‘Celto-Germanic Study circle Yggdrasil) together with Elle Gerrit Bolhuis (1887-1970). I have found no indication of Farwerck’s involvement in this second group.
If this was the start of his poem, or if the poem was started first and the group later is not entirely clear, but a fact is that Heyting started to write the massive poem “Yggdrasil”. He did a massive amount of study and started to lecture about the Germanic past. These lectures are bundled in two of the three volumes of the Yggdrasil publication. The third was the poem itself. The group published more than just the poem and the lectures though. There were also other writings of Heyting and after his passing, some memorial publications. The publishing house seems to have had the name “Trifos”. The publications were all limited and are nowadays hard to find. If you do find one, you are bound to have to spend some money. Since we are talking about WWII time, many of these publications can be found in digital national archives.
As Heyting and Farwerck co-founded and left the Ario-Germanic Society it is almost certain that they knew one another. There are a few similarities between the two. Both (at least in the beginning) were against anti-Semitism (perhaps there lays a reason for them leaving the first group), yet both moved towards National Socialism (and different positions on the Jews). Of course they also shared their interests in the Teutonic past. I would like to find out how far the two influenced each other.
I said that I have found no indications that Farwerck was involved in Heytings second group, but just before he left his lodge, Farwerck’s co-Masonic lodge and Heytings group had a midwinter celebration together (a lecture). At that time they certainly still were in contact.
It is unclear if Heyting joined the National Socialist Movement (NSB) himself, but we do know that he joined the “Kulturkammer” Zwart Front / Nationaal Front (‘black front’ / ‘national front’). This is quite ironic. The Black Front found the NSB too plebeian and was very antisemitic, while the NSB initially was not. What is even more ironic, is that it was Black Front who from 1935 started to stir in Farwerck’s past in Freemasonry. If Heyting had anything to do with that I don’t know, but if his comrades found out that just a few years later he lectured at a lodge of the man they now had their arrows aimed at… What I also don’t know if Heyting remained a member of the Front until the end in 1941 and if him and Farwerck were still in contact after the war.
Heyting passed away in 1949, just before he turned 70.
