Hanussen (Pt. III): The Grand Prixdiction, Aryan Race Car Assassins, & Spying for Zi*n—A PPM + Things Observed Collab

The ongoing PPM + Things Observed collab investigation into Erik Jan Hanussen is back, this time w/ a mammoth installment that takes us into some pretty “spicey” places, to use Luke’s phrasing. We’re going on a deeeeep, forensic dive into Hanussen’s Grand Prix-diction—the prophecy that EJH delivered the night before the AVUS Race in Berlin in a club filled w/ Nazi & British aristocratic Formula One racers, in which he foretold both the winner of the race & the fiery death of Prince Lobkowicz that would occur the following day… Specifically, we’re zeroing in on the reams of circumstantial evidence that seem to indicate a conspiracy by elements of the Nazi party & German military to assassinate the Prince, either thru mechanical sabotage or vehicular manslaughter, and the likelihood that Hanussen’s prophecy was either a decoy to distract the public from the conspiracy at the behest of the Nazis or else a final & possibly reckless attempt to warn the Prince off from driving in the race, an extension of Hanussen’s role as an intel asset for the British. Regardless of these varying interpretations for the motivations behind Hanussen’s prophecy, I think you’ll find that the evidence we’ve pulled together that indicates this potential conspiracy & cover-up is pretty compelling. 

Here’s some of the logic & supporting evidence that we’ve compiled that supports an assassination hypothesis: 1. Hanussen’s prophecy & the fact that his feats of clairvoyance were almost always informed by inside information… 2. The symmetry b/w his Grand Prix-diction & Reichstag prophecy less than a year later, which seems indicative that the Nazis were using him for psyop purposes… 3. The paper trail of repeated warnings, from Bugatti importers like Vladimir Gut & folks like Hanussen, attempts to warn Lobkowicz off from using the vehicle & competing in the AVUS contest, which, when juxtaposed w/ other evidence, seems likely to have either served a narrative controlling purpose or else been attempts to blow the whistle on his imminent assassination… 4. The history of Prince Lobkowicz’s Catholic noble family & their close relationship w/ the Habsburgs, who Hitler harbored a vendetta against. 5. The fact that, less than a decade after his death, the Nazis would expropriate all of the Lobkowicz properties once they occupied Czechoslovakia. 6. Prince Lobkowicz’s relative Maximilian Lobkowiicz, and his support of the nascent, British-backed Czechoslovak republic, as well as the fact that he would serve as the Czech ambassador to Britain, representing the territory once the Nazis conquered it—further indication of how the Nazis would have viewed the family as their enemies. 7. The strategic importance & geographical centrality of Bohemia & Czechoslovakia moreover to Hitler’s vision of a “Greater Germany” and the Anschluss. 8. The fact that the Nazis & the public were craving an Aryan victory at the 1932 AVUS Grand Prix, and that Hanussen also predicted that the Prussian nobleman von Brauchitsch would be victorious, hinting at an element of race fixing that would also provide further justification to kill Lobkowicz (the last thing the Nazis would have wanted was this Czech republic-supporting aristocrat & pawn of the British to have beaten the Aryan racers who were members of their National Socialist Motor Corps). 9. Speaking of, the fact that the racers who came in 1st & 2nd were both members of the NSKK. 10. The fact that the winning racer was a member of this Prussian family of military careerists, including the literal Commander-in-Chief of the German army during WWII & another Major General, and that, following the war, he was suspected of being a West German spy & was ultimately imprisoned bc of it, making him an ideal candidate for having been involved in possible sabotage. This is but a sprinkling of the veritable sea of information that we splash at you. 

Other highlights include: Rudi Caracciola delivering a bulletproof Mercedes to Hitler; the strange prevalence of unexplained suicide among the wives & lovers of Nazi officials & spies; Bugatti’s border town factories in Alsace; the history of the motorized paramilitary called the NSKK & Martin Bormann's hand in founding it; Walter von Brauchitsch's indebtedness to Hitler, who loaned him some 60k marks to help the down-bad General leave his wife; Bernd von Brauchitsch's role as Hermann Göring's adjutant, testimony against Göring during Nuremberg, & eventual career as director of two Krupp companies; the AVUS winning racer Manfred von Brauchitsch's brief service in the Reichswehr & the likelihood that he joined the NSKK after the debilitating accident that made his cont'd military service impossible; the fascinating history of the von Lobkowicz family's involvement in the Defenestration of Prague & some of the precipitating events that led to the Thirty Years War; the likelihood that they've intermarried w/ the Thurn und Taxis family, indicated by Thurn und Taxis's inheritance of one of their properties, which of course brings us to the subtext of Pynchon's CoL49, Trystero, & the historical symmetries that Pynchon draws b/w armed conflicts throughout the ages; this, in turn, causes us to contemplate whether there could be some sort of esoteric, parapolitical blood feud b/w the aristocratic families of the von Lobkowiczs & the von Brauchitschs, & that this informed Lobkowicz's assassination & the Nazi expropriation of Lobkowicz castles & the like. And then, in the latter portion of the EP, we contend w/ Hanussen’s numerous connections to Zionist elements & the fact that, during the same journey throughout the Levant & North Africa that saw him become an intel asset & likely meet Aleister Crowley, he also toured Mandatory Palestine w/ “high Zion*st officials”—which forces us to update our list of alternating theories of Hanussen w/ a 4th option, one where Hanussen was, at the deepest level, a Zion*st at heart & loyal to the Zionist project... Atho there appears to be a relative dearth of info regarding his Zionist ties when compared to others, a Zi*nist angle can function as a sort of unifying theory for EJH, as it would account for his infiltration of both Nazi & British intelligence (as evinced by the Zi*nists' double-dealings w/ both the Nazis & Britain & their vacillating allegiances during the early 20th century). We also end w/ a quick note about the importance of holding the ambiguities & seemingly contradictory info regarding Hanussen's life in one's mind simultaneously when examining him—as well as resisting the urge to try & force his life to conform to some singular motivational & psychological schema. And finally, in light of the ongoing tragedy in Palestine, we also consider some of the historical valences & current examples of Zion*st collaboration w/ fascists, from Nazis like Adolf Eichmann to the arming of the Az*v Battalion. There's plenty more beyond this, but I've probably maxxed out the notes to an extreme degree already, so we'll leave it there. 

Songs: 

| Ghostface Killah - "Assassination Day" | 

| George Harrison - "Faster" | 

| Ariel Pink - "Kinski Assassin |