Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin Elephant", that every magician of the 20th century was "haunted" by Robert-Houdin, "…who cast an enormous shadow over their generation." American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (born Ehrich Weiss) was so impressed by Robert-Houdin that, after reading his autobiography in 1890, Ehrich adopted the stage name of "Houdini" in honour of Robert-Houdin. He incorrectly believed that an "i" on the end of a name meant "like" in French; but Houdini, his own career and reputation established by that time, later lost his youthful respect for Robert-Houdin, believing that he took undue credit for other magicians' innovations, and wrote "The
Elsa Ehrich arrested in Hamburg and stayed in the camp for war criminals PWE29 in Dachau, where she shared the cell with Maria Mandel. She was transferred to the Polish authorities. In 1948, she stood before the District Court of Lublin at the second Majdanek Trials, accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ehrich was found guilty of the allegations and on 10 June 1948, was condemned to death by hanging. After the announcement of the judgment, she asked the Polish President for clemency, on the grounds that she had a small son and wanted to atone for her guilt.