Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889 – 25 March 1933), was an Austrian publicist,

charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in t ...

and

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to ...

performer. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a

hypnotist Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychological ...

mentalist Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes special effects that may appear to employ ps ...

occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

and

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

, Hanussen was active in

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and also at the beginning of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. He is said to have instructed

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

in performance and the achievement of dramatic effect, and for treating Hitler during his depression.

Early years

Although Hanussen claimed to be a Danish aristocrat, he was in fact a Moravian Jew, born as Hermann (Herschel Chaim) Steinschneider. Hanussen's parents travelled constantly through Austria and Italy with acting and musical troupes, taking Hanussen with them.

Career

At the age of 20, Hanussen became a chief reporter for the newspaper ''Der Blitz'' He was later drafted into the army during World War I. During this time, he used

mentalism Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Mentalists perform a theatrical act that includes special effects that may appear to employ ...

to entertain the other troops. In 1917, he adopted the name Erik Jan Hanussen, or sometimes Erik van Hanussen, and joined a circus. He soon wrote two booklets dealing with subjects including telepathy, clairvoyance, and mind-reading, which he labelled as fraudulent practices. However, he later treated these practices as genuine and claimed to have supernatural abilities. Hanussen performed a mind reading and hypnosis act at (former ) 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 the SA ("Brownshirts"). It is claimed he was a supporter of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

despite his Jewish ancestry, which was an open secret. Hanussen converted from Judaism to Protestantism in order to join the Nazi Party. He also published anti-Semitic propaganda. Stories abound of meetings between Hanussen and Hitler, including an encounter shortly before the election of November 1932, during which Hanussen taught Hitler his crowd control techniques of using gestures and dramatic pauses. Hanussen was also quite close to other important Nazi officials, to whom he had often lent money, including Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff,

Karl Ernst Karl Ernst (1 September 1904 – 30 June 1934) was an SA- who, from March 1933, was the SA commander in Berlin. Prior to joining the Nazi Party, he had been a hotel bellhop and a bouncer at gay nightclubs. He was one of the chief participants ...

and Friedrich Wilhelm Ohst. Dr. Walter C. Langer, a psychoanalyst, prepared a psychological profile of Hitler for the United States'

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

(OSS) in 1943. The profile included a reference to Hanussen: "...during the early 1920s Hitler took regular lessons in speaking and in mass psychology from a man named anussenwho was also a practising astrologer and fortune-teller. He was an extremely clever individual who taught Hitler a great deal concerning the importance of staging meetings to obtain the greatest dramatic effect."A Psychological Profile of Adolph Hitler
; see also Walter C. Langer, ''The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report'', p. 40, New American Library (1972). In 1931 Hanussen purchased a Breslau printing firm and began publishing an occult journal, ''Hanussen Magazin'' and ''Bunte Wochenschau'', a popular bi-weekly Berlin tabloid which included astrological columns. 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 Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of for ...

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 A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...

-like fashion; and various gimmicks would highlight Hanussen's dramatic verbal presentation of prophecies to the guests. He predicted 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. Alfred Neubauer, a famous motor racing team manager, refers to Hanussen in his autobiography, ''Speed Was My Life'' (first published in English in 1960). In the chapter 'A Prophecy Comes True', he describes a prediction made by Hanussen before the race at

AVUS The ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS (), is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern part of the Bundesautobahn 115. C ...

in Germany in May 1932. While at the Roxy Bar with other drivers, Neubauer challenged Hanussen to predict the winner of the following day's race. After some 'leg pulling', Hanussen wrote two names on a piece of paper, which he folded, and put in an envelope. This was placed in the custody of the barman. He had strict instructions that it be left unopened until after the race. Hanussen announced, 'One of us at this table will win tomorrow, another will die. The two names are in this envelope.' During the race, driver Georg Christian of Lobkowicz was killed, and Manfred von Brauchitsch won. After the race, Neubauer states he opened the envelope and found those names inside. Several days later, a Berlin newspaper reported that Hanussen had urged the German Automobile Club to persuade Prince Lobkowicz not to take part in the race, but Club officials had taken no action.

Reichstag fire and assassination

Predicting the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

, a decisive event that allowed recently appointed

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

to seize absolute power in 1933, was Hanussen's most famous feat of

clairvoyance Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to h ...

. It also was possibly a miscalculated use of inside information that led to his death shortly thereafter. Hanussen was assassinated on 25 March 1933, probably by a group of SA men, and was hastily buried in a field on the outskirts of Berlin, near Stahnsdorf. He was a potential competition to

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

and

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

for the attention of their

Führer ( , spelled ''Fuehrer'' when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially cal ...

, which may also have led to his murder. Hanussen's body was discovered over a month later. There are unsubstantiated claims that he may have been involved in the Reichstag fire, hypnotizing and directing

Marinus van der Lubbe Marinus van der Lubbe (; 13 January 1909 – 10 January 1934) was a Dutch communist who was tried, convicted, and executed by the government of Nazi Germany for setting fire to the Reichstag building—the national parliament of Germany—on ...

, the convicted arsonist, to commit the act. Erik Jan Hanussen is buried in the Südwestkirchhof, Stahnsdorf, near Berlin.

Personal life

Hanussen's daughter, Erika Fuchs Steinschneider, was born to his first wife Theresia Luksch in 1920.

In fiction

Films

* ''Hypnose'' (1919), starring Erik Jan Hanussen * ''Der rätselhafte Tod'' (1921), starring Erik Jan Hanussen * '' Hanussen'' (1955), played by

O. W. Fischer Otto Wilhelm Fischer (, ; 1 April 1915 – 29 January 2004) was an Austrian film and theatre actor, a leading man of West German cinema during the ''Wirtschaftswunder'' era of the 1950s and 1960s. Biography He was born in Klosterneuburg nea ...

* '' Hanussen'' (1988), played by

Klaus Maria Brandauer Klaus Maria Brandauer (; born Klaus Georg Steng; 22 June, 1943) is an Austrian actor and director. He is also a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. Brandauer is known internationally for his roles in '' Mephisto'' (1981), ''Never Say Never ...

, director Istvan Szabo * '' Invincible'' (2001), played by

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (; born 14 May 1961) is an English actor. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the " Brit Pack". After garnering attention in television productions '' Made in Britain'' (1982) and '' Meantime'' (1983), ...

, director

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusu ...

* '' The Illusionist'' (2006), the protagonist Eisenheim, played by

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...

, is based loosely on Hanussen. He has a similar Jewish background and comes to prominence for a magic show that incorporates elements of spiritualism and the occult, a fictionalized version of Hanussen's act. * ''

The King's Man ''The King's Man'' is a 2021 spy action film directed by Matthew Vaughn from his story and a screenplay he wrote with Karl Gajdusek. The third instalment in the British ''Kingsman'' film series, which is based on the comic book '' The Secr ...

'' (2021) includes Hanussen as a character played by

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González (; ; born 16 June 1978) is a German and Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including three European Film Awards and three German Film Awards, along with nominations for two Golden Globe Awar ...

Theatre

* ''Palace of the Occult'' (2015), written and performed by Neil Tobin

Novel

* ''El mentalista de Hitler'' (2016), a "historical noir" novel written in Spanish by the Uruguayan author Gervasio Posadas, closely based on Erik Jan Hanussen's true biography.

Other mentions in popular media

* In the Japanese television drama '' Laughing Matryoshka'' (2024), a politician is heavily influenced by a former classmate, now his secretary. A reporter who is investigating him finds a connection between the secretary and Hanussen.

References

* * *

Sources

* Bernauw, Patrick, Guy Didelez, and Mirjam Pressler. 1997. Brennende Sterne. Bindlach: Loewe. * Cziffra, Géza von. 1978. Hanussen, Hellseher des Teufels: d. Wahrheit über d. Reichstagsbrand. München: Herbig. * Frei, B. (1980) ''Der Hellseher: Leben und Sterben des Erik Jan Hanussen'', Prometh-Verlag: Koln. * Gauding, Daniela. 2006. Siegmund Sische Breitbart: Eisenkönig, stärkster Mann der Welt: Breitbart versus Hanussen. Teetz: Hentrich & Hentrich. * Gordon, M. (2001) ''Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish Clairvoyant'', Feral House. . * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1992. Manuale di lettura del pensiero: corso pratico in 12 lezioni. Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee. * Hanussen, Erik J. 1990. Der Untergang von New York: Roman. Köln: Smaragd-Verl. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1989. La notte dei maghi: autobiografia di un veggente. Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1979. Unser zweites Leben. Klosterneuburg/Wien: Aktuell-Verlag. Spiritualist ZauberkuÌnstler Oesterreich Deutschland. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1932. Berliner Woche (5-27: Erik Jan Hanussen's Berliner Wochenschau ; 28-40: Hanussens Bunte Wochenschau ; 41-44: Die Hanussen-Zeitung ; 45: Bunte Wochenschau ; 46. 47: Astropolitische Rundschau). Berlin: (Hanussen). * Eng, Peter, and Erik Jan Hanussen. 1930. Lache Medusa. Berlin: Gurlitt-Verl. * Hanussen, Erik Jan, and Heinrich Wissiak. 1930. Der Leitmeritzer Hellseher-Prozess Hanussen; ausführliche Wiedergabe der sensationellen Gerichts-Verhandlung mit zahlreichen bisher unveröffentlichten Dokumenten. Teplitz-Schönau: Im Selbstverlage. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1930. Meine Lebenslinie. Berlin: Universitas. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1920. Schließen Sie die Augen! Brettelieder. Wien: Nestroy-Verlag. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1920. Das Gedankenlesen: Telepathie. Wien: Waldheim-Eberle. * Hanussen, Erik Jan. 1915. Was so über's Brettl ging Poetika aus Musentempeln, die ohne Vorhang spielen. Olmütz: Groak. * Kugel, Wilfried. 1998. Hanussen: die wahre Geschichte des Hermann Steinschneider. Düsseldorf: Grupello. * Magida, A. (2011) ''The Nazi Seance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle'' Palgrave Macmillan Books. * Müller, Delia. 2006. Das bittere Erbe: Erika Fuchs, Tochter des Hellsehers Hanussen, erzählt. Bolzano: Athesia Spectrum. * Palacios, J. (2005) ''Erik Jan Hanussen, la vida y los tiempos del mago de Hitler'', Barcelona: Oberón.

External links

Steinschneider Genealogy

Salon.com: Hitler's clairvoyant

Official website: Palace of the Occult (interactive play)

''Berliner Wochenschau''
a biweekly tabloid published by Erik Jan Hanussen at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanussen, Erik Jan 1889 births 1933 deaths Austrian astrologers Austrian Jews Austrian occultists Austrian people murdered abroad Clairvoyants Deaths by firearm in Germany Entertainers from Vienna Mentalists Moravian Jews People murdered in Berlin People murdered in Nazi Germany Unsolved murders in Germany