Erik Jan Hanussen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

Hanussen, also known as Erik Jan Hanussen (2 June 1889, Vienna - after 25 March 1933, Berlin), was a clairvoyant, mentalist, occultist, and astrologer, active in Weimar Republic Germany and also at the beginning of Nazi Germany.

Although Hanussen claimed to be a Danish aristocrat he was in fact a Czech Jew, born as Hermann Steinschneider. Hanussen's father Siegfried Steinschneider (1858, Prostějov - 1910) was an actor and caretaker of a synagogue who married Antonie Julie Kohn in Vienna, Austria.

Hanussen performed a mind reading and hypnosis act at La Scala in Berlin that catapulted him to stardom. At his height he enjoyed the company of Germany's military and business elite, also becoming close with members of and lending large sums of money to the SA (Sturmabteilung). It is claimed he was a supporter of Nazis in spite of his Jewish ancestry, which was never a very well kept secret.

Legends abound about meetings between Hanussen and Adolf Hitler, including a meeting between the two just before the German election, November 1932, during which Hanussen taught Hitler secret crowd control techniques with the utilization of gesture.

In 1931 Hanussen published a Breslau printing firm and began publishing an occult journal, Hanussen Magazin and Bunte Wochenschau, a popular biweekly Berlin tabloid which included astrological columns.[1] He used the proceeds from his publishing ventures and stage shows to purchase a mansion which became known as The Palace of the Occult, which he renovated and turned into a luxurious interactive theatre for fortune-telling games. Guests would sit around a large circular table and place their palms on glass with symbols lit from beneath; the room lights would be lowered in a séance-like fashion; and various gimmicks would highlight Hanussen's dramatic verbal presentation of prognostications to the guests. He could predict events in the lives of the individuals present. But controversy arose when he predicted the future of Germany. He became successful, was always in demand in various venues, and had a full-time valet.

Predicting the Reichstag fire, a decisive event that allowed the recently-appointed Chancellor of Germany Adolf Hitler to seize absolute power in 1933, was debatably Hanussen's most famous feat of clairvoyance. It was also a miscalculated use of inside information that likely led to his demise shortly thereafter.

Hanussen was assassinated on March 25, 1933[2] (probably by a group of SA [Sturmabteilung]) and hastily buried in a field on the outskirts of Berlin; presumably because he knew too much or was owed too much money. He was also potential competition to Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels for the attention of their Führer. His body was discovered in late April of the same year. There are unsubstantiated rumors that he may have been involved in the Reichstag fire by hypnotizing and directing Marinus van der Lubbe, the convicted perpetrator of the crime, to commit the act.[3]

Hanussen's daughter, Erika Fuchs Steinschneider, was born to his first wife Theresia Luksch in 1920.[4] After their separation, Theresia resettled with her young daughter to Merano, Italy where Theresia eventually met, married, and later divorced a Mr. Fuchs, the heir to a brewing company.

Hanussen was possibly survived by a son born to a mistress. This son was put in an orphanage and survived the war. Hanussen II became somewhat famous performing as a clairvoyant.

Contents

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Gordon, Mel: "Hitler's Jewish Psychic". "Guilt & Pleasure" (3). Roger Bennett, Summer 2006
  2. ^ Gordon, Mel: "Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant". Feral House, 2001, p. 249
  3. ^ Gordon, Mel: "Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant". Feral House, 2001, p. 242
  4. ^ Steinschneider, Phil: Steinschneider Genealogy. Accessed 2008-02-13

[edit] References

[edit] Movies

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages