Double-bill: Hungarian and Italian magicians make POW 'home runs'
A double-bill blog post, telling the stories of V.J. Astor and Yrus, two magicians who were captured during World War Two and who managed to escape and make it back home.
V. J. Astor
Hungarian Victor Jamnitzky (1922-2011) became interested in magic aged 8, but was persuaded to pursue a career in medicine by his father. He began to study medicine in Budapest in 1941, working part-time at a theatre to pay for his studies. But, his passion for magic prevailed and he dropped out of university. He passed a state examination to become a registered artiste and starting working as a magician full-time.
Adopting the stage name 'Nicoletti', Jamnitzky enjoyed early success, touring central Europe, including bookings at Berlin's prestigious Wintergarten and Scala variety theatres.
In 1944, fearing Hungary might conclude a separate peace with the Allies, Hitler's Germany occupied Jamnitzky's home country. At the same time, the Soviets were advancing towards Hungary's borders. Aged 21, he was called up for war service and with minimal training joined the Hungarian army’s desperate fight to stem the Red Army’s westward advance.
In September 1944, Soviet forces crossed the Hungarian border and by early 1945 they defeated the defending forces. Jamnitzky was captured by Russian troops, probably during the Siege of Budapest.
Hungarian soldiers taken prisoner by the Soviet Army
(Source: Creative Commons)
Hungarian prisoners-of-war and civilian internees were deported from Hungary to transit camps in Romania and Western Ukraine. From there, they were moved to labour camps (or gulags), of which there were some 2,000, spread throughout the Soviet Union.
It is estimated that up to 600,000 Hungarians were deported, including 200,000 civilians. An estimated 200,000 prisoners perished while captive, from epidemic dysentery, harsh weather, and malnutrition.
Jamnitzky was sent to a camp in Russia, but somehow managed to escape and make his way back to Hungary. He was fortunate, as many of his fellow prisoners were held until 1955.
Arriving back in Hungary, Jamnitzky found the Hungarian army defeated and the country occupied by the Soviets. Slowly, he picked up his pre-war career in magic.
As the Communists took control of post-war Hungary, Jamnitzky's show was nationalised and his touring was limited to Hungary and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe.
V.J. Astor (Victor Jamnitzky)
(Source: Unknown)
Starting in 1950, Jamnitzky began to use the stage name 'Astor' or 'V. .J. Astor' and eventually developed a large touring illusion show employing thirty people. He also founded a school for magicians in Budapest.
After the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, Jamnitzky was occasionally allowed to perform outside of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc. After a performance in West Germany in 1965, he defected, staying there with his wife - making his second escape from the Soviets!
Jamnitzky settled in Wuppertal Langerfeld, where he continued to work as a magician. He started a magic shop there, which he ran from 1971 to 1993. Jamnitzky invented over 200 effects, marketing them in his 'Laterna Magica' (German: Magic Lantern) and other catalogues. He became a popular writer on magic theory and performance and was awarded Writer of the Year by the Magische Zirkel von Deutschland (Magic Circle of Germany) in 2000.
V. J. Astor is regarded by many as one of the best German-speaking writers on magic.
Clear Through (a popular effect by V. J. Astor, 1970s)
(Source: V. J. Astor)
Yrus
Naples-born Wilhelm von Sury (1922-2008) joined Italy's merchant marine navy in 1940. Aged just 18, he completed mariner training and was assigned to one of the merchant fleet's 1,000 ships.
The same year, after France fell to the Nazi invasion, Italy joined World War Two as one of the Axis powers. On joining the war, the Italian government took over the merchant fleet and used it to supply Italian troops fighting in North Africa and the Balkans.
In 1943, three years after Sury joined the merchant marine, the Axis powers in North Africa surrendered. Exploiting their success, the Allies started bombing Rome on 16 May and invaded Sicily on 10 July, as a prelude to invading mainland Italy. Mussolini was deposed and King Victor Emmanuel III took over political control of the country. Facing imminent occupation by the Allies, the Italians signed an armistice two months later, on 3 September 1943.
The same day that the armistice was signed, the Allies closed in on the Italian mainland. The invasion by 15th Army Group, took place from 3 to 17 September. Air, surface and sub-surface attacks were stepped up, as the Allies fought to secure a foothold in Italy and defeat the mainly German and Italian defenders.
A day after the armistice was formally announced on 8 September, the German army invaded mainland Italy from the north, occupying all of the country not already under Allied control.
In this melee, Sury's merchant ship was sunk by the Allies in the Gulf of Trieste, in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea. Meanwhile, around the world, the Italian Navy scuttled many of its ships to avoid them being taken by Axis Powers.
Sury was rescued from the sea and returned to dry land. By 10 September though, the important port of Trieste had been captured by the Germans, who were no longer Italy's friends. He was one of 700,000 Italian service personnel captured, rounded up and deported in the days immediately following the armistice.
German prison camp for Italian military (September 1943)
(Source: Creative Commons)
After disarmament by the Germans, the Italians were given the choice of continuing to fight with the German army (either in the armed forces of the Italian Social Republic, the German puppet regime in the Axis-occupied parts of Italy, or in Italian 'volunteer' units in the German armed forces) or, otherwise, be sent to detention camps in Germany. Only 10 percent agreed to enrol.
Sury opted for detention and was taken to a small camp 250-miles away in Nazi Germany-annexed Austria. He ended up in Bad Gastein, a spa and ski town in the High Tauern mountains south of Salzburg. It was a picturesque location to be incarcerated. Like the other Italians, he was classed as an 'Italian Military Internee' (Italienische Militärinternierte, I.M.I.).
The camp at Bad Gastein comprised just a few requisitioned homes and hotels. It was probably chosen as a prison camp because the hotel and holiday lets there were not required during the war years.
An estimated 37,000 to 50,000 Italian internees died during their detention. The primary causes of death were the forced labour, disease and malnutrition, executions inside the camps, and Allied bombings of facilities where they worked. For Sury, the harsh mountain weather in Bad Gastein must have been particularly difficult.
Sury managed to avoid death by escaping from the camp at Bad Gastein. Miraculously, he managed to make his way south down from the mountains, through Nazi-occupied territory, to Naples in Italy's Allied zone. It was a journey of 700 miles.
Sury saw out the rest of the war in Italy. After the war, he relocated to Switzerland, where he met his future wife. He became a Swiss-citizen and completed the mandatory military service required of all able-bodied Swiss citizens. Later, he was employed in Switzerland's famous watch industry, before training as a graphic designer. In 1962, aged 40, he took a job in a department store where he developed a fascination with the tricks and props sold on the magic counter in the toy department.
Yrus (Wilhelm von Sury)
(Source: Magicians in Action, Christian Scherer)
He gained a passion for magic and became sufficiently adept at performing to pass the entrance examination for the Magic Ring of Switzerland (M.R.S.). He helped found a local group of the M.R.S. in the city of Winterthur. Starting to perform semi-professionally, Sury adopted the stage name Yrus.
Other jobs followed but Sury maintained a strong interest in magic, helping establish another M.R.S. branch in St. Gallen and later serving as president of the 'Club of Magicians of Eastern Switzerland'. He died in 2008.
An ingenious trick inventor, Yrus will long be remembered among experts. Many of his inventions were ahead of their time and he became known as one of the pioneers in the field of electronics in magic.
Time Special (a non-electronic trick by Yrus)
(Source: YouTube)
V. J. Astor and Yrus both successfully made 'home runs', escaping enemy prisoner-of-war or internment camps and making it back home to their native countries. Unfortunately, while multiple sources attest to their miraculous home runs, there is scant detail on the escapes themselves. If any readers can add more information to the accounts above, please do get in touch and I'll update the blog.
Related article: Paul Potassy: "Magic saved my life", a blog post about an Austrian magician captured by the Soviets and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Russia. Blog link.
Related article: 'Hungarian magician Dr. Laszlo Rothbart, survives Nazi concentration camp', tells the story of another Hungarian magician, who became a prisoner of the Germans. Blog link.
Research supported by The Good Magic Award 2021 from The Good Thinking Society
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