Wolf Messing was an alleged psychic and telepathist whose predictions were taken seriously by both Hitler and Stalinduring World War II. He was a teacher for the officers of the NKVD (KGB).The Mentalist who performed in the USSR with the psychological experiments of "mind reading", Honored Artist of Russia (1971)
Background
Messing was born on September 10, 1899 in the village of Góra Kalwaria, 25 km southeast of Warsaw, at a time when Poland was a territory of the Russian Empire. He claimed that his psychic abilities developed in his early life. His father, brothers, and all his relatives were killed in Majdanek and in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Education
At the age of six Messing was sent to a religious school, where he distinguished himself by his devotion and his incredible ability to memorize prayers. Later he was enrolled in a yeshiva, but ran away after two years.
Career
Messing could become cataleptic (entering a trancelike or unresponsive state of consciousness) at will. Later he found out that he could foretell the future in this state. Meanwhile, young Wolf began to work in the Berlin Panopticum (a circus) and a variety theater.
When he turned 16, Messing began his first tour, traveling to the city of Vienna. But he was no longer a circus attraction. Messing had developed a program of psychological experiments, as he modestly refered to them. During these “experiments” the teenager would execute commands sent to him mentally, tell biographies of people he never met before, and find items hidden by the audience.
Between 1917 and 1921 Messing travelled with Zellmeister(his manager) in Europe, and performed in capitals like Paris, London, Stockholm, Rome, Geneva. He then stayed in Warsaw, only to continue from 1922 onward to work and travel again as a stage performer, together with his manager. They also went to countries like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, India, Japan, and Australia.
In 1937 Messing predicted the death of Adolf Hitler if he decides to invade Russia, which attracted the attention of Gestapo, Nazi German secret service. He was arrested in Warsaw and sent to prison. While he was imprisoned in the cell, he used his power of hypnosis to gather all the personnel of the prison in his camera including the chief of the prison, then he made them believe that there are diamonds scattered across the floor of his cell. The Nazi guards started collecting the diamonds while he just freely left the cell and closed the cell door after himself. After that he fled to USSR, while all his other relatives tragically died in Nazi concentration camps.
In USSR he also attracted attention of Soviet secret service and KGB. He was personally tested by Stalin and Beria, the special commission which was called by Stalin. The commission has verified that he have got 100,000 roubles (around $120,000 according to that’s time exchange rate) from a State Bank of USSR presenting to the bank clerk just an empty piece of paper. After he got the money he gave them back. The teller, realizing what he did, had a heart attack. Other time Stalin’s deputy Beria ordered to keep him in the KGB building and not to allow Messing to leave the room and the building. He left the room and the building without any obstacle, despite the fact that the building was very well guarded.
Messing went on to perform and become a successful entertainer in Soviet Russia. However, he was still consulted by heads of state up until Nikita Khrushchev, whom he advised regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Krushchev asked Messing what the outcome of the crisis would be, he was assured that it would not lead to world war three.