Erik Jan Hanussen - Biography

Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider (2 June 1889, Vienna - after 25 March 1933, Berlin), was an Austrian Jewish publicist and clairvoyant performer who lied about his origins. Acclaimed in his lifetime as a hypnotist, mentalist, occultist, and astrologer, Hanussen was active in Weimar Republic Germany and also at the beginning of Nazi Germany. He is known to have instructed Hitler in performance and the achievement of dramatic effect.

Early years

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.

Background

Hanussen performed a mind reading, muscle 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 an open 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 crowd control techniques, using gestures and dramatic pauses.

The US government's wartime Intelligence corps, the Office of Strategic Services, prepared a psychological profile of Hitler in 1943, which included this item: . . during the early 1920s Hitler took regular lessons in speaking and in mass psychology from a man named Hamissen who was also a practicing 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.

In 1931 Hanussen purchased a Breslau printing firm and began publishing an occult journal, Hanussen Magazin and Bunte Wochenschau, a popular biweekly 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 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 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, the 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 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 that, 'one of us at this table will win tomorrow, another will die. The two names are in this envelope.' During the race, Prince Lobkowicz was killed, and Brauchitsch won. After the race, Neubauer states that he opened the envelope, and found the two names inside. A day or two later a Berlin newspaper carried a report that Hanussen had urged the German Automobile Club to dissuade Prince Lobkowicz from taking part in the race, but Club officials had not taken any action.

Controversy and assassination

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 allegedly a miscalculated use of inside information that likely led to his demise shortly thereafter.

Hanussen was assassinated on March 25, 1933 (probably by a group of SA) and hastily buried in a field on the outskirts of Berlin. 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.

Personal life

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

See also

• 1920s Berlin
• Reichstag fire
• Karl Maria Wiligut
• Omen

Movies

• Hanussen (1955), played by O. W. Fischer
• Hanussen (1988), played by Klaus Maria Brandauer, director Istvan Szabo
• Invincible (2001), Hanussen is played by Tim Roth, director Werner Herzog
• Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (2005), played by Toshio Furukawa and Troy Baker

External links

• Steinschneider Genealogy
• Erik Jan Hanussen Genealogy
• Salon.com: Hitler's clairvoyant