German mentalist Erik Jan Hanussen was born in 1889. He died pursuing a dangerous game, exploiting superstition within the Nazi regime. Or, as we might say it today, “Be careful with your cold reading in a totalitarian dictatorship.” Hanussen probably advised Hitler on his showmanship and was a favorite of party leaders. But as he was Jewish, born Hermann Steinschneider, he tried to conceal his history while exploiting his insider’s status. He predicted the Reichstag fire just days before it happened in 1933. How did he do it? Pre-show. Historians suspect that Hanussen heard rumors through his party friends and used the information to make headlines. Unfortunately, the fire was a Nazi-organized plot to seize the government. No mere mentalist should have been talking about it. Hanussen was murdered just weeks later.
