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

Arthur J. Magida

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0230620531 ISBN 13: 9780230620537

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

"An astonishing story, brilliantly told." - Roger Moorhouse, author of Killing Hitler

"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

"Magida gets inside the head of the notorious Jewish clairvoyant who helped the Nazis rise to power.' - Peter Lamont, author of The First Psychic

'In this excellent biography of Erik Jan Hanussen, we follow this until recently lesser-known figure, and witness how he convinced large numbers of individuals in Germany and other parts of Cetnral Europe during the '20s and early '30s that he could read minds, foretell the future and perform all sorts of other marvels.' - The Jerusalem Post

 
'Well written and researched, Magida's book provides a fascinating look into one of the Third Reich's most interesting benefactors.
' - George Michael, Fortean Times

Book Description:

The curious history of a Jewish magician whose greatest trick was to become the personal clairvoyant and close confidant of Adolf Hitler

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0230620531
• ISBN 13: 9780230620537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256