The Nazi Séance The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle

by Magida, Arthur J.

• ISBN13: 9780230620537
• ISBN10: 0230620531
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-11-22
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

Erik Jan Hannussen, a popular Jewish stage magician and mentalist from Austria, wowed audiences and amassed a small fortune in the 1920s and 30s. Perhaps his greatest trick, however, was that of becoming Hitler's personal psychic and advisor, moving comfortably in Nazi circles for many years while hiding his Jewish heritage. But for all his supposed clairvoyance, he failed to see what awaited the Jews of Europe in the years ahead. Much too late, Hanussen realized that even he couldn't beat Mephistopheles at his own game. The story of Hannussen, of how he operated, and how he was eventually murdered, illuminates the character and proclivities of some of the men who would go on to destroy Europe. Fascinating and disturbing, The Devil's Prophet chronicles Hanussen's rise from obscurity to fame and his unusual powers that fascinated Europe and America before he came to the same tragic end that so many of his fellow Jews endured at the hands of the Nazis.

Author Biography

Arthur J. Magida is writer-in-residence at the University of Baltimore, a journalism professor at Georgetown University and recipient of  multiple awards in journalism and the humanities, including the Simon Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association, the A.D. Emmart Award and the Smolar Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. His books include The Rabbi and The Hit Man, Prophet of Rage: A Life of Louis Farrakhan and His Nation, Opening the Doors of Wonder and How To Be a Perfect Stranger. A native of New York City, he lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Table of Contents

"Hanussen (and his relation to Hitler) is one of the strangest enigmas of the pre-war era. Arthur Magida has done a great service in illuminating this figure of mystery - and the light his story reflects on the growing darkness surrounding him." - Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler and How the End Begins
'The Nazi Séance is a fascinating journey into the magical thinking of Hitler and his cronies, and the life of a Jewish conjuror who tried - and failed – the ultimate magic trick: to survive Nazi Germany as one of Hitler's own.' - Stephen L. Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde, authors of Sleights of Mind: How the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals Our Everyday Deceptions
'In a history that reads like a novel, Arthur Magida, gives us much more than a finely written researched and well-researched examination of the 'Nazi' Jewish psychic.' – Lawrence Kushner, author of Kabbalah: A Love Story
'Magida's passion illuminates a thoroughly researched and engaging account of a momentous, sinister, and also at times tragicomic episode of German history'. –Christopher Sandford, author of Masters of Mystery: the Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini
'Arthur Magida's haunting and vivid historical portrait illustrates how opportunism and spiritual fashion flourished on the margins of the Third Reich. It is a chilling parable about the ultimate price paid by those who blindly allied themselves with brute power.' - Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America
"An astonishing story, brilliantly told."—Roger Moorhouse, author of Killing Hitler
"Magida gets inside the head of the notorious Jewish clairvoyant who helped the Nazis rise to power.'—Peter Lamont, author of The First Psychic