ThoughtGallery.org > German Fakirs in Weimar Berlin: An Illustrated Lecture by Mel Gordon

German Fakirs in Weimar Berlin: An Illustrated Lecture by Mel Gordon

After World War One, a number of Europeans began to imitate Indian fakirs on Berlin variety stages by performing superhuman feats, like piercing their bodies with nails and pins, stopping their pulses, being crucified, even spontaneously bleeding from their eyes and hands. These home-grown fakirs quickly entered the German political scene as Marxist journalists used them as counter-examples to the sainted Therese Neumann, a miracle-worker and stigmatist in Southern Germany.

Mel Gordon is the author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler’s Jewish Clairvoyant, Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; the lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Gordon also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.











When: Mon., Jun. 6, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Where: Morbid Anatomy Museum
424 Third Ave. Brooklyn

Price: $12
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After World War One, a number of Europeans began to imitate Indian fakirs on Berlin variety stages by performing superhuman feats, like piercing their bodies with nails and pins, stopping their pulses, being crucified, even spontaneously bleeding from their eyes and hands. These home-grown fakirs quickly entered the German political scene as Marxist journalists used them as counter-examples to the sainted Therese Neumann, a miracle-worker and stigmatist in Southern Germany.

Mel Gordon is the author of Erik Jan Hanussen: Hitler’s Jewish Clairvoyant, Grand Guiginol: Theatre of Fear and Terror, Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin, and many other books. Voluptuous Panic was the first in-depth and illustrated book on the topic of erotic Weimar; the lavish tome was praised by academics and inspired the establishment of eight neo-Weimar nightclubs as well as the Dresden Dolls and a Marilyn Manson album. Gordon also teaches directing, acting, and history of theater at University of California at Berkeley.

Buy tickets/get more info now