In the historiography of parapsychology, little or no attention has been paid to the fact that a number of people who became known as “clairvoyants”, “paragnostics” or “telepaths” were Jewish. Existing research on parapsychological points of reference in Jewish cultural history deals either with biblical or rabbinical-Talmudic traditions, while little is known about modern times or even contemporary history. This research project therefore focuses on personalities of Jewish origin from the history of parapsychology.
With the support of the Institute, Dr. Wilfried Kugel (Berlin) launched a historical research project between 1994 and 1995, focusing on the controversial figure of Hermann Steinschneider (1889-1934), who became famous as “Hanussen”, particularly during the Weimar Republic. Kugel was able to draw on the library and archive holdings of the IGPP. Also with IGPP support, his groundbreaking and widely received monograph was first published in 1998 and was republished in 2025 in an updated and expanded revision. In addition, previously little-known biographies are being rediscovered and examined. The focus is on biographies of Jews whose extraordinary abilities have aroused the interest of scientific parapsychology and given rise to discussions. The field of Jewish trick and illusion art is also covered. On the one hand, the research project includes archival work, such as the systematic indexing of the numerous documents on the “Hanussen” case in the partial estate of the lawyer Albert Hellwig in the IGPP archive. A second area of responsibility is the preparation of biographical studies, for example on the American-Polish clairvoyant Bert Reese (1841-1926), Ludwig Kahn (1873-circa 1966; see picture) from South Baden, Ludwig Aub (1862-1926) from Munich or the graphologist and “psychometrician” Raphael Schermann (1879-circa 1945) from Vienna. If possible, i.e. if there is sufficient evidence from sources, other Jewish psychics or paragnostics will be included. In addition to evaluating the holdings in the IGPP archive, this also requires research in other archives.
It examines whether and to what extent Jewish forms of socialization and lines of tradition were relevant to the activities and impact of these individuals for their respective external and internal perceptions and in what way historical processes and events as well as any anti-Jewish resentment had an effect on their biographies. The comparative perspective examines possible similarities and differences in the biographies of Jewish clairvoyants and paragnostics. In an extended approach, the focus is on the significance of the often ignored overall biography of such a personality for their success or failure, for their recognition or rejection within the overall framework of parapsychology. From this point of view, the research project is located at an interface between Jewish cultural and social history and the history of parapsychology, which has yet to be clarified by the project itself.
