Customer Reviews

The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle

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Arthur Magida's latest book at times made me forget that this man actually lived and breathed and fell into cahoots with the Nazis to secure his status in Berlin. The Nazi Séance reads like fiction, and that is a wonderful thing. Though it is a historical work, I was not overwhelmed with chronological context or an abundance of dates as both were elegantly woven into the story as a backdrop to the book's true focus: who was Erik Jan Hanussen and how did he, a poor Jewish boy from Vienna, wind up as Helldorf's right hand man and closely tied to the Nazis? I am not a devoted scholar of history and found the book incredibly readable and, at times, downright captivating. Magida has certainly done his research, but he has worked just as hard to make sure that Hanussen, not the time he lived in, takes center stage in a masterfully told tale that shows just how magical Hitler's Jewish clairvoyant had to be to stay one step ahead in his game of deceit.

An incredibly researched an beautifully written account that reads like a novel. The combination of a world of magic, mystery, and terror is superb.

Couldn't put it down.

An intriguing book before opening the cover, The Nazi Séance: The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler's Circle steals the reader's attention in very much the same way a magician captivates an audience. The tale is almost too fantastical to believe, but here it is, laid out through the hard work of a writer who approaches this history as if he had infiltrated 1930s Germany as a time-traveling journalist.

A character in one of John Irving's novels edits books. He has a secret weapon for selecting sure-fire best sellers. If the cleaning woman in his office reads a manuscript under consideration and tells him something like "Lordy, lordy, I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next!," then the editor knows he's got a winner.

Arthus Magida's "The Nazi Seance" is a winner. I couldn't wait to see what Hannussen was going to try and pull off next, or from what back-against-the wall situation he was going to try to escape by the skin of his teeth.

Years ago I slogged my way through William L. Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." With great economy and a sense of the telling anecdote Magida recreates the period in Berlin between the two world wars in a far more readable fashion than Shirer.

Incredible story--Magida delivers in a thought-provoking style. The story, emotions and motivations of Hanussen, are interwoven and illuminated brilliantly with that of a tumultuous Berlin. Truly engaging read.

The unsympathetic and historically marginal Erik Jan Hanussen, a Jewish Nazi sympathizer, doesn't merit another book. This is a Vanity Fair feature on steroids.

The author has nothing meaningful to say. He fills up the book with trite ramblings about the evil Nazis and the cynicism of Hanussen. He ascribes motives to each of the characters with no historical justification whatsoever. He reports gossip from the 1930s regarding events associated with Hanussen as truth before telling us it is all idle speculation. He has no insight or original point of view into the topics he writes about. In short, this was one of the worst biographies I have read.

Arthur Magida's biography of the psychic Erik Jan Hanussen begins with a novelistic flourish but his writing quickly becomes tedious and flat. The author inflates every chapter with banal historical comments, like "The Nazis thought they were eternal -- and with one thousand years at their disposal, they pretended they were as close to eternity as mere men would get." A more astute and satisfying version of this story -- as well as a visually more exciting book -- can be found in Feral House's ERIK JAN HANUSSEN: HITLER'S JEWISH CLAIRVOYANT.