Arthur J. MagidaBesprekingen

A guide to etiquette and visiting other people's religious ceremonies. This volume includes African American Methodist churches, Baha'i, Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Christian Congregation, Church of the Brethren, Church of the Nazarene, Evangelical Free Church of America, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Mennonite/Amish, Native American, Orthodox churches, Pentecostal Church of God, Reformed Church in America, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist, and Wesleyan churches.

Visitors guide to the church services and assemblies of God, Baptist, Buddhist, Christian Science, Churches of Christ, disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, Greek Orthodox, Hindu, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Lutheran, Methodist, Mormons, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic, 7th Day Adventist, and United Church of Christ.

Great book on the basics of attending ceremonies of religions you aren't part of. If you're in this situation and want to make sure you don't offend, it's perfect. If you just want a introduction to any of the religions in this book, it's a great resource.

How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida. Imagine you have a Jewish coworker who invites you to her temple for her daughter’s bat mitzvah. What do you wear? Bring along? Where should you sit? Or your Hindu neighbor has died and you want to express your condolences. What should you do? What would you experience? Is it OK to bring a plate of food next door? What KIND of food??
This interesting book contains chapters about 29 faiths from Buddhist to Hindu to Episcopalian to Pentecostal. Each chapter has a short history of that faith, its main tenets, and its basic worship service. It also lists life cycle events like birth ceremonies, coming of age and marriage ceremonies, and funeral services. It explains each one, what will happen, where one should sit, times, if any, when a guest should NOT enter or leave the worship space, and more information so you will know what to expect, feel more comfortable, and avoid making any faux pas.
Another way to use this book is to read the chapters of the faiths you think are either most similar or most different to Lutheranism. See if you are right! You can also just read those sections which seem most interesting to you. This book can answer questions you have always had about other faiths but never knew anyone you could ask, or if you did know someone of that faith, you did not ask them for fear of embarrassment.

Tells the story of a Sufi-raised woman who has to flee France with her family as the Nazis march in. Arriving in England, Noor and her brother decide they can serve in the war effort without turning their backs on their Sufi upbringing so Noor begins training as a radio operator and is sent to Paris to transmit information back to England on Nazi whereabouts and plans as well as helping to bring other SOE personnel to France to disrupt the Nazi program.

Noor is a quiet person. She does not seem to be a good fit for the SOE in England but she becomes one of their best agents eluding the Nazis far longer than other radio operators. She is a vital link in the line to defeat the Nazis. I liked that her upbringing was discussed as was a brief lesson on Sufism and how her teachings could affect her ability to serve during the war but how she was able to live true to her faith and yet successfully serve. Noor did not seem that she would fit into that world but to watch her was amazing. She was courageous even after her capture. I was saddened that no one would tell or knew how her life ended but she was an inspiration. I am glad I won this book on Goodreads. I learned much as I had never heard of her or heard much about SOE and their part of WWII.

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow, grew up outside Paris and lived her early adulthood there and in England before WW II turned her known world upside down. Her father was an Indian Sufi mystic who believed in harmony, beauty and tolerance and he practiced and taught it while living in the world as it was, not as he would have liked it to be. And this was the legacy he left his daughter. As she told one British Special Operations Executive (SOE), you don’t tell a lie, you say nothing. He didn’t believe it possible but she did it.

Noor Khan was a beautiful young woman, a musician, a writer with the ambition to write children’s books when the war was over. She did have one published in 1939. She could be very organized - or not, calm - or not, in which case she lost her voice. People either believed in her or not when it can to being a member of the SOE.

Unfortunately she landed in France in late 1943 when the Germans had just taken over the last large resistance cell around Paris and the SOE didn’t know. She made many mistakes and broke the SOE rules and was saved and corrected by others and luck or intuition. The expected lifespan of a radio operator was eight weeks, Noor operated for twice that and some before a former neighbour gave her up to the Gestapo. But not before she sent off information that was crucial in pre D-Day planning.

Once captured she was not tortured instead had ‘conversations’ about music, literature and the like once it was accepted she wouldn’t answer any questions about her work. She escaped twice and was recaptured and after D-Day (she didn’t know it had happened) she was moved to Dachau and killed with three other women. Noor has been officially honoured by the French and British governments as well as individual groups.

The book is based on extensive research, including manuscripts and documents, as well as interviews. At times it was a ponderous read particularly when dealing with some of the Sufi teachings, as well as the SOE. I think it is the author’s writing style as well as the subject matter. Having read a number of researched historical fiction on the resistance in France and the role of the SOE learning how it operated with Noor was an eye-opener. It wasn’t the smoothly operating organization portrayed in other books. This could be because of timing, it was published in 2020 so more documents may have been made available to researchers. It is worth reading.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is definitely one of the most interesting and unique reading experiences for me this year. The moment I saw the title of this book, I felt it would be an interesting one to read, and it did not disappoint. If you enjoy history, especially reading about lesser known topics or more obscure things, this may be a book for you. If you enjoy reading about performers, mentalists, clairvoyants, etc., this may be a good book for you as well as it does have some discussion of that trade as well, including quotes and comments from Teller (of Penn & Teller). And if you happen to be a World War II or Nazi Germany history buff, you may to grab this one. In other words, there is something to interest various folks.

The strength of the book is in the narrative. Magida writes this book as if it was a novel. And even if you know the fate of Erik Jan Hanussen, the psychic in question, you still want to read through it. There are moments when you feel sympathy for the guy and moments when you say, "what was he thinking? Is he really that blind?" Those moments in reading help show that Hanussen was a complex individual. True: he was swindler; he was very selfish (looking after numero uno, so to speak), and he was quite the charmer able to live off his wits. But the guy was also quite the performer struggling to move in a world that was collapsing around him. It is quite the tragic story. It is well written, and the pace just moves along.

In addition, the book is very well researched as evident from the extensive notes at the end of the book. Also, there are some revelations (well, maybe to some). For example, where the Nazis stood when it came to the occult. It is commonly asserted that the Nazis were big on it, yet this book argues that it varied: some Nazis were indifferent, others embraced it. Also fascinating to see was how the Nazis used the clairvoyant for more than just his abilities. Hanussen often lent them money and bailed them out of debts, something he thought he could use as leverage. That and the fact that he pretty much became a Nazi mouthpiece, at least until they turned against him, and by then, it was the end. This detail may make a lot of readers wonder: why did he not leave Germany when he could? How could he not see what the Nazis would do? So on.

Overall, this is an excellent book that I do recommend.

1st quality pbk. ed., rev. and expanded. We North Americans live in a remarkably diverse society, and it’s increasingly common to be invited to a wedding, funeral, or other religious services of a friend, relative, or coworker whose faith is different from our own. This guidebook helps the well-meaning guest to feel comfortable, participate to the fullest extent possible, and avoid violating anyone’s religious principles―while enriching their spiritual understanding.

Please note that I received this via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

This was really good. I don't know what else to say. Magida did a great job with telling us the story of Noor and how she came to be a spy. Magida also has pictures of Noor's family and different locations that helped tell her story. I also loved that he included further reading for those out there that want to read more information. I finished this book at 80 percent, the remaining parts of it were notes.

"Code Name Madeline: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris" follows Noor Inayat Khan. She is flying in a plane under the cover of night during a full moon into France. From there Magida traces her family's history (her father was Inayat Khan and was descended from nobility, her mother was Ora Ray Baker, an American). Magida goes into Khan's family and their disapproval of Ora and then we get to Ora's birth in Moscow of all places. The book jumps forward and then we are following Noor as she decides to do what she can to resist Hitler and the Nazi regime. Her story is one of determination and also sadness because you find out what became of her. I had never heard of her before this book and I have to say that Magida did her justice.

The writing I thought was crisp and was filled with so many historical tidbits it keeps you reading. Magida is able to fan your interest with not boring you to death which many writers of history are not that great at.

The flow of the book was really good and was broken up with pictures of Noor, her family, and other things. It really made her came alive to me with the addition of the pictures.

The setting of Europe during the Nazi regime is heartbreaking. Finding out what became of Noor and others during the war still boggles my mind. You wonder how human beings can be so cruel to each other.

The ending to me is bittersweet:

At the close of the day when life's toil fades away,

And all so peaceful sleep,

No rest do I find since Thou left one behind, 'Till

Death around me doth creep.

Bitter nights of despair hath made fragrant the air,

Tear drops hath turned into dew,

I watch and I wait 'till Thou openeth the gate, And

Thy love leadeth one through.

"untitled," Noor Inayat Khan

Code Name Madeleine is a rare combination: a work of history that is quick, compelling, and substantive. It's the perfect gift book for anyone interested in WWII or women's history, but it's also just a great—and true—story about what one woman can accomplish, despite her own imperfections (and we all have them).

Code Name Madeleine tell the story of Noor Inayat Khan, daughter of a Sufi mystic father and an American mother. Khan worked as a British agent in occupied France during WWII. Khan's upbringing focused on spiritual values: truth, a refusal to judge others, and non-violence. Her father, however, also taught her that failing to take action against an evil, even if taking action requires violence, can be worse than the original violence itself.

Khan is a quirky woman, ill-suited in many ways for undercover work, but her ill-suitedness actually creates its own kind of competence, not by the book, but effective nonetheless. She may be the only undercover operative ever who was committed to never lying, whether to her handlers or the enemy she way spying upon.

Whether or not you usually read nonfiction, you should read Code Name Madeleine. It will introduce you to a remarkable woman and help you think about the ways we can respond to injustice and cruelty in our own time.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via EdelweissPlus. The opinions are my own.

Although I thought the writing got bogged down at times with names and details (it was well researched), this is a fascinating story about someone whom I had never heard about. Although her story has been told in other books and on film, it bears retelling.

I did find frustrating that despite her intent and bravery Noor was careless in so many facets of her operations. Perhaps that was just indicative of wartime operations; her handlers also seemed careless at times, especially when there were indications that her radio had been captured, yet they continued believing it was her transmitting, sending many other operators into traps set up by the enemies.

I am not a big fan of nonfiction, but am glad I read this and encourage others to do so as well. I learned a lot about the SEO and its wartime activities and met an incredible woman.

A straightforward guide to the rituals and celebrations of the major religions and denominations in America from the perspective of an interested guest of any other faith, How to Be a Perfect Stranger is based on information obtained from authorities of each religion. It is not a guide to theology, nor is it presented from the perspective of any particular faith. These easy-to-use guidebooks help the well-meaning guest of any other faith to feel at ease, participate to the fullest extent possible, and avoid violating anyone's religious principles or hurting their feelings.

I think this book should be in every house, possibly every school. We may never need some of the sections, but I'd so much rather have it to check than not have it.

The book has a wonderful title, doesn't it? It titillates and intrigues, and coupled with the image on the cover it pretty much guarantees that anyone who sees it will want to pick it up. Nazis, the Occult, the very thought of a Jew being Hitler's psychic consultant for any amount of time? It's wondrous, and perhaps even more surprising, entirely true.

So why the two stars then, even if the rating is a rather high two star rating?

Unfortunately, it's for how much just isn't there.

[a: Arthur J. Magida|15654|Arthur J. Magida|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] did an impressive amount of research, but unfortunately when it comes to his chosen topic there just isn't a lot that remains. Interviews he conducted with people who had met Hanussen, or had seen him perform, are sadly short and not very much referenced. There appear to be few surviving letters from the man, and thus the image that we are stuck with of him is second or third hand more often than not. Even the interview with his daughter is tinged with a bit of confusion. Hanussen himself has become something of the illusion he desired himself to be. We know bits and pieces, but most of what we are relying on are stories and legends, changed and made sense of. We have to go on what remains in the end.

The most intriguing section was towards the end in reference to Hannusen's prediction of the Reichstag fire, but nonetheless I am left a bit baffled by the book. Did Magida, like Hannusen's own daughter, end up believing he had something of the clairvoyant in him for true? So much is lost in mystery, and this book left me desiring rather a lot more than what it contained. The author chose a wonderful subject to be sure, I just wish there had been far more information and primary sources in these pages.

The entry on my own church was correct. This makes me more willing to believe that the rest are equally correct.½

Weimar Germany, and especially Berlin in the 1930’s, was a desperate, eventually doomed, country and desperate places attract a wide variety of human detritus — gangsters, hoodlums, charlatans, psychics and psychotics — all brewed together into a lethal mix that led eventually to the creation of the Nazi regime.

Thriving for a while in this stew of misery and excess was Erik Jan Hanussen, an opportunistic mystic and performer, a Jew who catered to the egos of Arian gangsters and Nazi warlords. His one goal was to live well and prosper, taking advantage of the gullibility of his wealthy patrons and promote whatever side seemed to be able to get him what he wanted. If that meant catering to Hitler and his crew, to the detriment of his fellow Jews, so be it. He seems to have been a master at turning a blind eye on what was actually happening to Germany during his own personal ascendancy.

Hanussen was charismatic and the headlines and letters from this period attest to the success he had on stage and in late night soirees. His act was persuasive and he built a fortune while bankrolling certain Nazi collaborators who needed a financial boost.

The Nazi Séance is an engrossing tale, well told and persuasively documented, shining a light on one of the minor characters tragically caught up in the horror that was Nazi Germany in the 1930s. It seems ironic that the mentalist and fortuneteller, while successfully persuading crowds of his powers of second sight and deduction could not predict his own doomed ending.

***************
As a side note, while this is technically an LT Early Reviewer review, I never received this book from the publisher and, in fact, never heard from the publisher after writing more than once to inquire about not having received my copy. Only because of my interest in the subject did I eventually buy a Kindle version of the book.

This was a biography of a little-known figure who was fairly interesting, but not really for the reasons implied by the cover hype ("Hitler's circle!") I would probably not have requested it from LibraryThing Early Reviewers if I had realized that Hanussen was at best a peripheral figure in Hitler's reign and had no real ties to Hitler's inner circle. I felt that there was a lot of worthy material in the book, but it would perhaps have been better used in compiling a history of stage magicians and psychics. (With illustrations. I would read that book.) The author obviously cannot be blamed for the cover, but neither can the publisher be blamed for finding it difficult to make the book sound like a gripping read.

A note about these newly posted non-link reviews.

Here's another book from the LibraryThing.com “Early Reviewer” program. I was pretty sure that when I put in my requests for the February batch, that I'd end up getting this, having read extensively in both things Occult and things Third Reich. I figured that Arthur J. Magida's The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle was going to be a home-run, after all Nazis! and Séances! and Psychics!, how could it go wrong?

Unfortunately, Magida's book lacks all the drama and luridness that one might expect of its subject … and veers fairly close to being something of a bait-and-switch. From the title/subtitle one might think that Erik Jan Hanussen was doing spiritualist parties for Hitler, and that the book was going to have a whole bunch of juicy details about these … but the closest that it's suggested that Hanussen was in on-going touch with “Hitler's Circle” (note the omission of “Inner” in that) was that it appeared that he had knowledge about the notorious Reichstag fire in advance of its happening.

Is it the author's fault that the “fun read” that I'd anticipated the book being did not materialize? I'm sure that this sells better being marketed like a pulp novel than as a biography of a minor figure from Germany between the world wars … but it's much more the latter than the former, and reading through it I kept waiting for it “to get good”.

As a biography of Hanussen, it's quite good, and really remarkably well researched, given both the ephemeral nature of the psychic stage show, and the grinding obliteration of WW2 on the places he lived and worked. This is, on that level, a very interesting look into the work of psychic/spiritualist performance at the time, with many others aside from Hanussen discussed. Many of the details are impressive in that they were able to be retrieved (such as the deal that he got for a series of shows in Paris).

Hanussen himself is presented somewhat as an enigma, both a self-confessed “carny” playing his audiences, and a possible psychic, with a long string of otherwise-hard-to-explain revelations … including the one that won him a major court case and ended up being a huge boost to his career. He also appears to have been a bit of a fool … or certainly deeply naive … in believing that Hitler and the Nazis were just “posturing” and would prove to be reasonable people. He was a strong supporter of the Fascist movement, publishing issue after issue of his magazine promoting Hitler as a savior of Germany, with glowing predictions for the future. Did he believe this, or figure he was being “useful” to the biggest, nastiest dog on the block? Needless to say, as a Jew, this seems to be an insane course to have taken, but somehow he dodged that reality for years.

In the book he has one significant Nazi contact, Count Wolfgang Heinrich von Helldorf, a high-ranking officer in Berlin, and a “fallen aristocrat” whose own estates had been frittered away. Hanussen provided Helldorf with the opportunity to enjoy the “rock star” wealth that he commanded on and off (along with some other “rock star” perks), and also ended up lending large sums to both Helldorf and other Nazi officers. Evidently Hanussen thought these connections would keep him above the dangers in the street, but they actually ended up being the very things that led to his murder. Certainly his other brushes with the Nazi leadership (such as a chilling encounter with Goebbels) makes one wonder how he was able to not see the danger of his situation.

Due to these connections, the book also manages to paint an picture of the “descent into madness” that accompanied the rise of the Nazi party. While not breaking any new ground on the subject, it provides a perspective not as well covered in other sources I've read (frankly, there are parts of The Nazi Séance that resemble nothing quite so much as the tenser parts of The Sound of Music!).

Again, I was hoping for another look at the Occult underpinnings of the Nazi regime, as told from the perspective of the activities of Hanussen's career … and there is very little of that in this book. As a biography of a performer who was delusional in regards to the evil he was sidling up to, it's a very well done study, but it's not what I (and I'm guessing most people would be) expecting. This has only been out a few months, so it should be available in your local brick & mortar book store (if you still have any near you), but it's rather telling that the new/used channel at the on-line big boys already have copies of this kicking around for under two bucks.

CMP.Ly/1

A link to my "real" review:
BTRIPP's review of Arthur J. Magida's The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle (808 words)

During the Twenties and Thirties, Erik Jan Hanussen amazed crowds with his mind reading abilities. Hanussen, the stage name for Hermann Steinschneider, was born in 1889 when Vienna was the capital of the multiethnic empire of Austria-Hungary. After a life of poverty, Steinschneider took to the stage, eventually changed his name to Erik Jan Hanussen and sought fame and fortune in Weimer-era Berlin. Hanussen claimed he was a Danish aristocrat and amassed vast wealth. Arthur J. Magida, the award-winning journalism professor at Georgetown University and writer-in-residence at the University of Baltimore, writes a highly readable and highly entertaining book chronicling the life and death of Erik Jan Hanussen.

The Nazi Seance: the strange story of the Jewish psychic in Hitler's circle seems like a sensational title worthy of History Channel bottom-feeders. This could have been something high on speculative hysterics and low on facts. Magida does a brilliant job separating fact from fiction. Not an easy task with someone like Hanussen, who baffled his audiences with acts of deception and manufactured a personal mythology that reads like a mashup of Horatio Alger and The Prestige.

As the Weimer Republic suffered the economic devastation of the Great Depression and hyperinflation, its political situation, always tenuous at best, began to devolve into anarchy. Communists and Nazis fought in the streets. Each tried to exploit the atrocities of the other, most notably in the Reichstag fire. In a brilliant passage, Magida ably parses the half-baked conspiracy theories of both the Nazis and the Communists. He debunks The Brown Book, a piece of Communist literature meant to indict the Nazis, as pure fabrication. (An indictment all the more damning since the great novelist Arthur Koestler was one of the authors.) Magida explains, "History is messy. The Reichstag fire is messy. And politics is always messy, particularly its cavalier attitude towards truth. With the fire, each side - the left and the right - devised a narrative that suited its purpose. Both narratives, to some extent, were preposterous." Every citizen concerned with their civil liberties should remember this. With the Internet making it easy for the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements to declare they know the solution to all the world's problems, it becomes easy to forget how messy history is and how it can be hijacked by extremist sideshow clowns.

At the height of his fame and wealth, Erik Jan Hanussen befriended Count Wolfgang Heinrich von Helldorf. Count Helldorf came to head the SA in Berlin. (The Sturmabteilung were the elite bodyguard units of the Nazi Party.) Unlike his other working class counterparts in the SA, Count Helldorf came from the Prussian military aristocracy. As a bankrupt aristocrat prone to gambling, Helldorf came to Hanussen to bail him out of his debts. Magida follows the money to stranger places. It turns out that Hanussen bankrolled the SA, the very same paramilitary thugs who harassed Jews, Communists, and anyone else unfit in the eyes of the Nazis. As Helldorf's stormtroopers marched down the Berlin streets, chanting for the death of "banker Jews," their boots were paid for by Hanussen. In the end, Hanussen was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives, the bloody Nazi purge by the SS to defang the SA.

For anyone looking for a sober account of Nazism and the occult should read The Nazi Seance. I'm giving this book a high score, not only because it is a page-turner and well-researched history, but also because Magida achieves the impossible. He writes about a sensational topic and shows that historical truth trumps irresponsible speculation and tabloid hysteria.

Out of 10/9.5

http://www.cclapcenter.com/2013/04/book_review_the_nazi_seance_by.html

OR

http://driftlessareareview.com/2013/04/05/cclap-fridays-the-nazi-seance-by-arthu...

Magida sticks close to the documented evidence in his account of Hermann Steinschneider, an Austrian Jew who adopts the stage name and persona Erik Jan Hanussen in his quest for first an income, and soon wealth and celebrity. Ultimately Hanussen becomes a renowned mentalist and stage magician, with an enterprise encompassing stage performances, private consultations, a weekly paper, and projects including a "strongwoman" sideshow act he took to the United States, and a failed speculative spa property.

It appears Hanussen was at his height perhaps the best-known magician in Europe, gaining notoriety through his vindication in the Czech courts once state charges of fraud are found without grounds after Hanussen "demonstrated" his talents before the court. In the end, though, Magida argues Hanussen's undoing was in maintaining he had genuine psychic abilities, and in believing it feasible to remain in Berlin in 1933, as a publicly-established Jew, by conning the Nazis while stockpiling IOUs from ranking members of the Sturmabteilung. He was wrong.

Magida tracks strictly within the the bounds of established fact, leaving unaddressed anything else however relevant. This is a strength of the narrative, but leaves odd gaps: the primary source for all background on Hanussen is his autobiography, which Magida acknowledges strains credulity in many places. Yet the first two chapters largely relay the story told by Hanussen, with some comment and framing by Magida, even while the seminal shift from knockabout clown to con man is largely passed over. Magida shares that Hanussen learns the key talent of "muscle reading" (the basis for many psychic performances), but there is nothing on why Hanussen chooses to pursue this line, nor how he translates this one skill into a stage show. Presumably there simply is no account of this: there is only the testimony of Hanussen's teacher of muscle reading, and the fact that a manual on muscle reading (still considered the premiere example) was written by Hanussen himself. But here is the irony: it would appear Hanussen wrote this manual because at the time a book seemed more lucrative than practicing the craft, though that is not how it turned out. So in the end we read a lot that is probably made up by Hanussen, and nothing on what Hanussen did to transform himself from small-time con to major mentalist and stage magician.

Another gap: little to nothing on the role of mysticism and the occult in the Nazi party and ideology, or even among select Nazis. One reference to the hollow earth theory, an example with little direct relation to how Hanussen's mentalist act could reasonably prove attractive to Hitler or other high-ranking Party members. The influence of occult sciences in Nazi history isn't necessary to the story, but it's an obvious question that is left largely unaddressed.

In the end, Hanussen's story is largely a sidelight if an entertaining one. The important part of the book has less to do with his alleged role in Hitler's Circle, than with the possibility Hanussen may have had inside knowledge of the Reichstag Fire, better establishing the long-held belief (never proven) the Nazis were behind it. Evidence is circumstantial and again Magida is careful to walk the line of what can be established; but it's persuasive that the fire may have been planned and implemented by the Berlin SA chief Count Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf. Magida does a smart job of outlining von Helldorf's role in street fighting and pogroms, as well as establishing the Count's reliance upon Hanussen to bail him out of recurring financial problems, prior to the fire. And then he dangles these two facts: first, while Hitler and Goebbels race to the Reichstag to establish what is occurring (and capitalize on the opportunity to smash the Communists), von Helldorf later testified he calmly instructed an aide to go down and call him if he was needed, as though he already knew what was afoot; and second, Hanussen "predicts" the event one evening before the fire at a major private party, without naming the Reichstag specifically, and the night of the fire he calls a liberal newspaper 20 minutes after the alarm is sounded and claims the Communists have set fire to the Reichstag. To his credit, Magida doesn't speculate who may have ordered the fire, assuming von Helldorf was implementing someone else's vision, nor on the nature of the conversation between Hanussen and von Helldorf which would have revealed the plans. But he does establish that von Helldorf was capable of such an act of terrorism, that he made public statements which suggest he did, and that it would have been in character for von Helldorf to tip his hand to Hanussen. Yet it seems clear Hanussen's "slip" in using his inside information was not condoned by the Nazis, and it was probably a key factor in the decision to kill Hanussen then. (That and when he was caught trying to swindle the Nazis on a business deal.) He was murdered less than a month later.

The insinuations of Hanussen becoming a personal psychic or confidant of Hitler are blatant exaggerations, and appear limited to the book's marketing rather than Magida's argument. It becomes clear that if Hitler did speak with Hanussen, it was done in a public area and smacks of a chance meeting between two strangers who knew of one another by reputation, rather than an intimate discussion in private residence or office. Nothing else came of it. Hanussen was connected to the Nazis through von Helldorf and a few other SA officers, not Hitler or anyone in his circle.

[The Nazi Seance] by: [[Arthur Magida]] Very good book. Its about a jewish psychic in 1920's/1930's Berlin and his larger then life story. Part psychic, part con man, Erik Jan Hanussen was very capable of entrancing his audience. He would appear to read people's fortunes, and involved himself in all manners of the occult for fame and a price. This is a well written book if you like to read about history and interesting personalities.

As stated by other reviewers this is the story of Erik Jan Hanussen, a psychic during the time of occult craze of the early 20th century who's life was set against the backdrop of Germany in the 1920's. I found it to be an easy read scratching the surface of this time period and the culture of the time. Still it was disappointing.

The cover states the it is "The strange sotry of a jewish psychic in Hitler's circle" which is true according to Magida but not the depth that is stated in the hype. We find the Hanussen had contact with a player in the Nazi political machine and was helpful in financing the Nazi party in its time of need but there seems to be little else connecting him to Hitler. My disappointment is that this is a surface biography giving the reader little depth in any of the subjects that are hinted at in the first chapter.

Hanussen rightly so gets the focus of the book but we learn little about the psychic/clairvoyent fervor that was sweeping Europe and the U.S. at the time. Hanussen was a con man using non-psychic techniques but the author only gives us a taste of what a performance by Hanussen was like. Hanussen is not a likeable character but it would be nice to have read more about his character than what Hanussen wrote about himself. Maybe more depth about the world Hanussen was immersed in by research into other psychics of the time to give a comparison or contrast.

Also his connection to the Nazi party does not seem to be as nefarious as one is led to believe from the cover statement and hype of the book. The reader gets a five page examination of whether Hanussen ever met Hitler or not without ever being led to a conclusion. Walking away from the book, I feel that even if Hanussen had met Hitler it was inconsequential, not that he was part of Hitler's inner ciricle.

I appreciate the book for letting me learn a bit about a personality I hadn't come across before in my readings. The book itself was more of an introduction to some ideas akin to an hour documetary on the History Channel. Touching the surface of some deep ideas while never really giving us more than a cursory look at what seems to be a very interesting character. My pessissmistic self feels that maybe this is all the information the author could find concerning Hanussen. If so maybe, that is why Hanussen has been a footnote at best when mentioned in other works.

Thank you, LT early reviewers and to Palgrave Macmillan!

To summarize the wildly out-there autobiography of Erik Jan Hanussen, born Hermann Steinschneider in 1889, his life was just one amazing feat after another. It's pretty obvious that a reader shouldn't depend on Hanussen's exaggerated account of his life, so in The Nazi Seance, Arthur J. Magida has tried to discover the realities behind the man. From humble beginnings as the son of poor Austrian Jewish parents, Hanussen not only remade himself into a wealthy mind reader, psychic and hypnotist under the not so modest title of "Europe's greatest oracle since Nostradamus," but also into Danish nobility. Sadly, the psychic failed to predict his own death in 1933 at the hands of the Nazis. The author of this book first heard of Hanussen while reading a book about the famous Indian rope trick; with his interest piqued, he started researching this colorful character, leading to the publication of this book. While Hanussen takes center stage in this book, around his story Magida also, albeit somewhat briefly, explores the cultural scene in Berlin, "primed for someone like Hanussen," as well as the economic and political climate which would allow for the rise to power of the Nazis.

Hanussen is certainly a strange subject, one who might make an interesting fictional character in an historical novel. Yet as Magida shows, he was all too real, going through his career challenged by a number of critics who disputed his psychic credibility. After a brief period away from Europe (leaving New York, for example, before he could be prosecuted) he returned , and after being found not guilty in a fraud case in Czechoslovakia in 1930, boarded a train for Berlin where he found a ready-made audience for his "telepathic acts." As the author notes, the modern age that brought forth "speedy trains, miracle medicines, inexpensive goods, mass production..." also produced people who were "anxious and adrift," who, having "lost their way," often turned to the spirit world for help. Hanussen soon "became a magnet -- for pretty women; for the lost and confused who paid large sums to know their future..." taking advantage of their fears and becoming very rich in the process. He also started a newspaper, had plans to open a healing spa, and made a lot of enemies. He began cultivating the friendship of Count Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf, who became the head of the SA (Storm Troopers) in 1931, and according to Magida, "had the confidence of the highest levels of the Nazi machine," by 1933. Keeping the fact hidden from Helldorf that he was a Jew, Hanussen loaned him large sums of money in return for Helldorf's protection and clout. He also began avidly promoting Hitler and the Nazis in his own newspaper, and held on to several IOUs from Nazis who borrowed money from him -- which would, along with the events of a seance the night before the Reichstag fire, lead the psychic down a path that even the great Erik Jan Hanussen could not foresee.

This book is helpful for anyone who might want a barebones outline about the interwar years in Berlin, offering a very brief look at the cultural, economic and political circumstances in which the Nazis were able to assume power and later set aside any pretense of a democratic government. As a Jew cozying up to Nazi acquaintances during this time, Hanussen's story is intriguing and definitely worth examining, but it is difficult to feel much sympathy for this con man/huckster except where his daughter is concerned. The author's presentation is also a bit waffly. As one example, it's difficult to decipher here whether or not Hanussen actually even met Hitler -- the author is less than clear on this issue. In examining different sources that put the two together or deny they ever met, the author uses phrases like "It's improbable," or "slightly more probable," or "this version has the ring of truth." After examining one account by a "left-wing German editor who had waged a campaign against Hanussen in 1932," stating that Hitler and Hanussen never even met, the author notes "That should settle the question..." then in the next sentence, "It doesn't," summing up this entire chapter by saying "If it was true that Hanussen and Hitler met..." There is a lot of this type of meandering theorizing that goes on, which at times made me question the author's confidence in his sources or his interpretation.

Despite my misgivings, and in and around the waffling, there's a good story here that piqued my own curiosity enough to want to learn more. If you want a straight point A to point B kind of biography, this book might be a little challenging but otherwise, the story of this "Jewish Psychic" is worth reading.½

An interesting book about a mentalist and magician in the early 20th century. As a Jew named Hermann Steinschneider, born in Austria, he changed his name to Erik Jan Hanussen, to make it appear that he was of Danish ethnicity, and thus more acceptable to Germans. Learning some show tricks and stagecraft, he bacame wealthy as an entertainer and mind reader. Some of his fans were Nazis, and he became well known to many of the inner circle of the Nazi party, especially when he was able to lend them money and give them some spiritual favors. He was sometimes known as the "Nazi Rasputin" for his hold over some party members.

He was famous as a mind reader, but he used a technique called "muscle reading" which allowed him to "read" the involuntary muscle movements of his mark in giving subtle clues and directions. He is perhaps the only magician to have his mind reading and clairvoyent techniques used in a courtroom, and used as evidence for his acquittal. In December 1929 he was tried in Leitmeritz, about 45 miles north of Prague, in what was sometimes called "the last witch trial in Europe."

However, he seemed to be somehow involved in the Reichstag fire plot, and "predicted" the fire before it actually happened, damaging the Nazi claims that led to their rise in power. In a sudden reversal of fortune, Hanussen was arrested by the police, and was later murdered by being shot with three bullets in a lonely woods.

An interesting footnote to Nazi Germany and their rise to power in 1933. also, another entry into the investigation of the influence of the occult and spiritualism on Hitler and the National Socialists.