PublishedPalgrave, April 2013 |
ISBN9780230342040 |
FormatSoftcover, 288 pages |
Dimensions22.5cm × 14.6cm × 1.9cm |
World War I left Berlin, and all of Germany, devastated.Charlatans and demagogues eagerly exploited the desperate crowds. Fascination with the occult was everywhere - in private seances, personalized psychic readings, communions with the dead - as people struggled to escape the grim reality of their lives.
In the early 1930s, the most famous mentalist in the German capital was Erik Jan Hanussen, a Jewish mind reader who became so popular that he rubbed elbows with high ranking Nazis, became close with top Storm Troopers, and even advised Hitler. Assuming he could manipulate the Nazis as he had manipulated his fans, Hanussenturned his occult newspaper in Berlin into a Nazi propaganda paper, personally assured Hitler that the stars were aligned in his favor, and predicted the infamous Reichstag Fire that would solidify the Nazis' grip on Germany. Seasoned with ruminations about wonder and magic (and explanations of Hanussen's tricks), The Nazi Seance is a disturbing journey into a Germany as it descends into madness - aided by a "clairvoyant" Jew oblivious to the savagery of men who pursued a Reich they fantasized would last 1,000 years.
