He was an architect and astrologer and was used by the German military in the Third Reich, not necessarily willingly Straniak was forced to be a Nazi, holding his family hostage.
As a test, leaders of the German Navy requested him to locate the pocket battleship Prinz Eugen, then at sea.
The Navy provided him with charts and were reportedly amazed that he had pinpointed the warship even though it was on a completely secret mission off the coast of Norway.
[citation needed] According to Karl Spiesberger in his book Reveal the Power of the Pendulum, Straniak believed that brass was the most suitable material for all kinds of dowsing and that even fruits such as apples, oranges, pears and lemons demonstrate a polarity at each end.
In September 1939 the Nazi government gathered together psychics, mediums, dowsers, and occultists into an organization to assist the war efforts against the West.