Magic at War

An incredible true story of how the brotherhood of magic saved a life in the midst of world war... Magician Jac Olten (1913-c.1995) was born as  Alfred Mihiel in  Marseilles, France.  Performing as a faux 'Count,' he developed a silent cabaret act which featured manipulation and other magic. Wearing white gloves, he worked with billiard balls, cards, silks and cigarettes in an act styled on those performed by Cardini and Jose Frakson. By his twenties, Olten had turned professional. He toured throughout Europe, achieving success, particularly in Germany. Alongside magic, he was a professional gambler. Jac Olten ( Alfred Mihiel) (Source: Author's collection) Near the start of the war, Olten was performing in Weimar in central Germany. Unlike other foreign performers who had left Germany as war-clouds loomed, Olten chose to stay - gambling that war would be averted - or else he didn't leave fast enough after the war started. It was the wrong bet. One evening, during the mi...

A German magician in a Welsh prisoner-of-war camp discovers how the brotherhood and art of magic can transcend war. Some of the magicians who served as sailors, soldiers and airmen in World War Two, inevitably became prisoners-of-war (POW). Those serving with the Allied Powers ended up in the hands of the Axis Powers led by Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan and Fascist Italy, or vice versa. The majority of POWs from the Axis Powers were captured by the Soviet Union, who held 3 million POWs in thousands of camps. Others were captured and held by the Western Allies and dispersed throughout the world. In Britain, at its peak, there  were 390 major POW camps  to house half a million POWs or surrendered enemy personnel (SEP).  Another 400,000 prisoners were sent to the U.S.A.  Countries in the British Empire, such as Australia, Canada and India, also took in POWs. On e Axis soldier to end up incarcerated in Britain, was a German magician called Ludwig Hanemann. Ludwig Fra...