About this episode

The episode explores the life and mysterious death of Erik Jan Hanussen, a Jewish mentalist in Nazi Germany.

Rick and Stephen go inside the case of Erik Jan Hanussen — the most famous mentalist in Weimar Berlin, a Jewish entertainer who passed as Danish nobility. He held séances for senior SA officers, loaned money to the men building the Third Reich, and predicted the Reichstag fire one night before it burned. One month after the fire he seemingly foresaw, his bullet-ridden body was found in a field outside Berlin. The "Hitler's Rasputin" version of the story is the easy one. The real case is stranger: a study in access, leverage, and what happens to useful people when they are no longer useful. Previously referenced in Episode 19 — The Green Dragon Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39SLO2D8H3k&t=160s SUPPORT THE SHOW: Buymeacoffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/StrangeAsItSeemsPodcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/StrangeAsItSeems614 FOLLOW US: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7loq8pr Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast Podbean: https://strangeasitseems.podbean.com/

People in this episode

Hosts: Rick, Stephen

Topics covered

• mentalism
• Weimar Republic
• Nazi Germany
• historical figures
• entertainment
• politics

Keywords

• Hanussen
• Nazi Rasputin
• mentalism
• Weimar Berlin
• Reichstag fire
• historical analysis
• entertainment

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SA, Third Reich

Places: Berlin, Weimar Berlin

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