Review: A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany

A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany by Monica Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Demon-Haunted Land is short, dense, and not at all what I expected it to be.

Post-WWII Germany has a lot of internal struggles going on. We're not taught in school about what happened when the war was over except for minor bits and pieces. From an American perspective, I never once thought about how the German citizens felt after they loss. There's a moment in this book where we read about feelings of collective guilt. People aren't moving on with their lives. The war has shattered the country in numerous ways. People who were part of the Nazi Party still have those beliefs while others are struggling to figure out why they had to suffer when they weren't the ones fighting or doing all those horrible things.

This conflict manifest itself in the form of physical pain for a lot of people. Otherwise, if not an ailment or injury, people assumed everything bad that happened to them was the result of what had occurred. That there is a negativity hanging over them. A curse. if you will. There's a line in the book which I'll paraphrase here. It went something like "Those who look for a cause for their pain blame others." It is in this spirit that the book talks about Witchcraft. This was a let down for me because I honestly thought, with how it's on the cover and the description, that Witches were going to have a bigger focal point. Witchcraft comes up sporadically. First in a quick story in the beginning of the book, and then sprinkled throughout other chapters. Nothing too heavy. Someone's child is sick, the neighbor who has a competing business must have used witchcraft on them. More important than the accusations are the fact that these cases usually went to trial for slander and ruining people's reputation.

What the book is mostly about are wonder doctors, or glorified lay healers, specifically Bruno Groning. Bruno was a mystic with no medical background. He traveled around the country giving lectures on faith healing. Many considered him to be a Jesus-like figure who can cure any ailment. He constantly told people that their belief in God will pull them through. They had to focus on healing energies and that by thinking about the pain and negativity it would interfere with their recovery. As with most faith healers, there isn't proof that Groning legitimately did anything. People either recovered or they didn't. It sounds a lot like people were mainly inspired to believe they can overcome their ailments and put in the efforts themselves such as the cases where people throw away crutches or walk on their own. Groning was also a drinker and and slept around. At one point he's managed by a husband and wife team who were heavily involved in the Nazi party. The man, Otto, even worked at a concentration camp.

Another Faith Healer tells a man he will cure his sterilization. The man's wife becomes pregnant, but it turns out she slept with the Faith Healer. You see how this all goes. Groning, the first healer and the one mentioned the most, ends up going through countless trials up until his death in 1959 from cancer.

There's a few pages dedicated to the story of the Virgin Mary apparition that is mentioned on the back cover. While playing, a few girls discover what appears to be the Virgin Mary praying. People start flocking to see this apparition until the local government and the church step in to denounce it as being a hoax. I believe it is implied it was people playing dress up to scam others because if I'm remembering this section correctly, I think a Jesus or other religious figure is also mentioned to have shown up at one point. It's a very small portion of the book, and took only a few minutes to get through this bit.

This was a well researched and informative book. What it wasn't was a book about Witches or the occult that I expected it to be. I was thinking it would be a Post-WWII Paranormal Germany situation and it's truly a bunch of bogus guys and some trash talking the neighbors. Groning was an interesting figure to follow as he was a cross between a Jesus figure and also a mild replacement for Hitler. Someone the Germans can look to and believe he can cure them of their diseases. He didn't want power, or money. Maybe some coffee and sausages. I won't say that I didn't like the book. It took me on an adventure back in time that I wasn't planning on going on.

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