The Souls' Journey: Benjamin Carraud's Insights on Past Lives and Transformation

 Benjamin Carraud continues describing memories of a past life as WWII German soldier Eugen Kuntzmann, focusing on an “intermission” after Eugen’s death on a battlefield. 

He recounts existing in a static nothingness until a noble, compassionate female being (with two male witnesses) takes him to a cathedral-like blue-lit space and communicates wordlessly, suggesting he “start over” with another life. 

To ease his fear, she shows warm scenes and then a restaurant/lobby moment where a red-haired woman holds a child and a man thinks he will have children with her; Benjamin later learns this matches where his parents met in 1987 and his father confirms the thought. 

He also connects battle memories to Prochorovka and reflects on how the experience changed his values, work, and views on propaganda, dehumanization, and responsibility.

Transcript

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 1:51

Well, welcome back, Benjamin. We're here, doing a-another interview with Benjamin Crone, about his experience and his, as having, experienced a past life as a, German soldier in World War II. We're at a point in the interview where, Eugen Kuntzmann had died in a battle, and he was there in the afterlife, remaining on the battlefield area. And, and as Benjamin e-expressed in a previous interview that, it was o-o-okay. There was no future, there was no past, He was just hanging out there, and it was okay. But then something different happened. And Benjamin, would you tell us about what happened when another party entered the scene?

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 2:35

Right. So I had been, uh, just to bridge back to the previous episode we recorded. I had been staying in this place, and I had entered this state of nothingness, I would say. Mm-hmm me- which means my environment was unchanging, and I was myself also unchanging. Quite contempt, although it's, it's not even contempt, it's just, existing in non-existence.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 3:00

Yes

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 3:00

and then I noticed that there was, uh, other beings that came and, uh, in my space. And what, what is happening? They clearly didn't belong here, but it also came very quickly apparent that they came for me. So I saw one, uh, female, call her the lady. I don't know how to explain. She radiated an air of nobility. She was accompanied a bit later down by two other beings who were seemingly male, but I don't remember interacting with them. I felt like they were more like a witness in a way. And this, uh, I don't remember how, but this lady took me to a different space, and that space itself was quite unique because it felt both huge and small. It felt like you were in a cathedral, and at the same time you were in this little cocoon where everything was an emanation of her. Very bright blue lights that don't-- never blind you. Very comfortable and she had this way of sharing with me, uh, which was direct, like there's no words needed. She just makes you understand what she wants you to understand when she needs it effort- effortlessly, which is a quite surreal experience because the-- you feel like there's such a difference between you and this other being. But she radiated compassion. Also radiated this air that she knew me better than I knew myself, which was not odd at the time, but odd to conceptualize.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 4:29

Yes,

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 4:30

And she explained relatively quickly that it was-- it would be good for me to start over, essentially, that the journey was not over here, and I essentially did what I had to do when I was there before. And but she hinted that as a suggestion, it is not forced upon you.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 4:48

Okay

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 4:49

and because she felt my uneasiness at the idea of, I mean, quite frankly, uh, fear at the idea of coming back, because then I f- I felt still connected to that existence in, during the war, that she didn't try to contradict me or anything. Instead, she did this strange wave of the arm, and it's like a dimension within itself opened underground because I was invited to look down. And then I felt that in this volute of space that she had created, I could... I don't know how to explain, but I co- It's like I could experience also being in there, which was a space in itself. And I don't remember what she showed me, but she showed me a succession of little moments that I, I don't remember, but I remember the warmth. That's something I remember very well. It was, it felt warm. It felt alive. And Her last point was a bit different because she went with me and she took me to this, it looked like a restaurant or this strange lobby, and she wanted me to focus on two beings, and they were seated not in front of each other, like kind of like this way. And, and the, there was a woman, redhead, who took a child on her lap, and I remember very clearly thinking that the man who was looking at her thought, "I will have children with that lady." And then that scene was taken away from me and the impression I had was this would be, great parents in a way. And that's, uh, somehow the lady felt that that I was accepting that possibility of coming back, and she didn't give me any chance to expand on that. She just... Like she tapped me on the sternum here, or she pushed me, and I felt myself falling down. And the next thing I remember is being in this strange room where there's, I remember being a, a light on the, on the right-hand side, uh, kind of square, um, kind of like a rectangle. And the thing in front of me looked like a Christmas tree, you know, like very dark, dark blue, and the walls were two different colors, and I could describe them. And that was it. I had experienced, the-- throughout this night, this incredible sequence that tied everything together because for the first time, I had some kind of contin-continuity between the Organ Kuntzmann life, both alive and dead, and now something that com- could somehow tie to my existence. Although f- I wasn't really sure. But I started to be sure when I started to research that intimation, which is something I had never done before. I had already v- an understanding that this scene with this man named Georg that I had seen was real because the Kuntzmann family had the same family tale. Ge-Georg Kuntzmann, the real brother of Organ Kuntzmann, survived the war and told them the same story that he was in the vicinity when it happened. So I knew that this had some, reality to it. But then I started to look also at this crazy battle that I saw, this last battle that I saw before fading into the darkness of the night. And I found that four days after Organ died, there was a very specific battle that was the Battle of Prochorovka, where the elite of the SS was engaged by a much larger amount essentially a guards army of the Soviet Union, a guards t-tank army, so elite. And on one day, on a small squa-- on a small battlefield, 'cause it's about three kilometers by two and a half, it's pretty small you had just carnage the entire day. I found tales of survivors that are describing what I saw, tanks ramming each other. So I think this is what I saw. And also when I talked to my parents, they told me something funny because the, this scene that I was describing about meeting this couple, for some reason, I didn't connect them with my parents at all. I don't know why. But they said that the s- the space I describe is where they met in 1987, so four years before I was born. And my father confirmed the thought that I heard him have, which is when he saw my mom, he had this thought that he will have children with that with that woman.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 8:52

Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. What an incredible not only for you, but for your parents, I would think as well,

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 9:02

Yeah

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 9:02

that you had been privy to the father's thoughts about your mother, that this is who I would like to have children with. And here so amazing and wonderful. It's so incredibly deep and on so many perspectives.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 9:20

Yeah

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 9:21

uh, amazing and wonderful

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 9:25

You know that when I distill my story down to one sentence, I just say that my life is a gift.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 9:30

Oh,

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 9:31

I genuinely remember somebody coming to get me from my home and just gifting me back the chance to come, how wonderful is that?

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 9:40

Yes, that's right. right.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 9:43

Because then there's in-- these intermission memories, they also add another layer to the story beyond the comprehension of... 'Cause these are very abstract concepts. Of course, they help you live your life. But knowing that, you have suffered before, but it didn't stop allow me that word, didn't stop the universe for still extending its hand and say, "You still have a part to play in this." I think it's a beautiful thing to me. I'm young. I'm 34. It's an, it's a good way to live having this this kind of knowledge, I really take it as a gift, life now. You know the life I live now. You're aware of my movements and how I spend my days.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 10:16

I am. Yes

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 10:18

I wasn't like that before. I think I took life a little bit too seriously. I had forgotten that what you're missing when you're not alive is the ability to act on matter. It... Big or small. We're talking now. That's a pretty cool thing to experience

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 10:33

Yes. Yes. So earlier in your life, before these spontaneous past life memories came to you you were really on, on business and developing a career, et

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 10:46

Yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 10:46

right?

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 10:47

yep. And I had made a lot of sacrifice to reach that goal. It's something I studied, something I had done. I think by the time I experienced my past life story, I had created two businesses. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to work hard, just make money, be the top, have the nice car, be able to have apartments in every city I want. Just silly things. Silly things

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 11:10

In hindsight, silly things, but at that time, based on your experience to that date, this was the, looked upon by society as a big deal, right? A

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 11:20

Exa- exact, yeah. Yeah, but

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 11:23

And

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 11:23

In a way I think one of the consequences is that I am the captain of my dreams now. I'm not the captain of other people's dreams.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 11:31

Yes.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 11:31

Because at the end of the day, you know, y- uh, I mean, your, your soul is in your keeping only, right? At, uh,

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 11:38

Right.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 11:38

no point did I get... I mean, I tried in the intermission to blame it on the Black Hole, to blame it on everybody, blame it on Hitler, but I pulled the trigger.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 11:47

Mm-hmm.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 11:47

It's funny. And, I discover it down the line how it affected me when I talk to people like you, for instance, and I realize how much I've changed, how much I've learned. Um, you know, the job I did after this past life experience, my book ends the moment I take my flight to go back to China in 2018. And I, I went

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 12:05

Okay.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 12:05

went back to work for a cancer hospital. I was working with families of children who have cancer. I found, not joy because it's not the right word, but I found a lot of satisfaction being able to use my skills in a way that was something I resonated with, life is funny. You never know what happens to you.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 12:24

I think that of the gifts that you've received in this lifetime is that you were not born into the same scenario that Eugen Kuntzmann was born into. I think that through this process, you w- were able to understand more about how your consciousness in that previous life really was-- through a, very extreme experience and these things affected him. This whole thing with being a SS officer and you have all these horrors and things you're involved with. But then later on when you... 'Cause you were there af- the intermission time of this man who had been happy to, or n-not affected by killing another human. And then during the time of the intermission, it, that changed, right?

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 13:26

Yes. Oh, it's a powerful statement you made. There's so many things I wanna answer. I think g-globally when it comes to the looking at the how do you make an army of monsters? How do you... W-what happens at some point in the story of a nation so that it's in like a lot of its bright young men decide to use this case this way? I don't look at it from the perspective of an organ anymore, to be honest. I've I've gone past that. I tend to look at it from the perspective of the nation as a whole, because I think something-- it has to be a confluence of very powerful forces happening at the right time for an entire generation, because it's not just, it's not just the hateful. It's because, I, I believe in the laws of natural distribution. I think in, at any given time in a population, you will have some criminals, some people who will have pleasure in killing or will have no-- or on the other hand, or will have no pleasure to-- or will have no problem doing it and will use that for their benefit.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 14:27

Mm-hmm.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 14:28

But for the majority, this is not the case. They are, I would say, normal, as in they fit the norm. They probably feel bad when they hurt people they don't know. They probably would do the right thing if given the chance. However, when you look at the nation as a whole, you had the bright and the capable. You had the fortunate. You had the sons who were fortunate enough to learn music so that they could go and play the violin between two killing sessions. It happened. You--

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 14:57

uh...

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 14:57

and, and you had the destitute. You had the poor man who either joined the SR or the SS, or he starved. Or you had the man who just didn't know what to do with his life. So now I tend to, I tend-

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 15:10

or you have, let me just interject, or you have the boy is the other side of the battle is too young to be in the army and is expected to go plant bombs. And he got caught. He didn't have a lot of options either

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 15:30

No it's it's, It's something I like to mention. It's-- I'm happy you do it. The bravery of the people in the Soviet Union was just... it's the level of sacrifice that they had to go through to, to survive because it's important to look at it from their perspective. They had an ogre unleashed on them. The losses they suffered, the violence unleashed on the ground. I think a lot of nations would have caved and say,

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 15:55

Yes. Yes

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 15:56

we cannot, fight against that level of violence." And, and they did. And they did. And it-- You can be anti-war as much as I am. I am-- I abhor war, but you, you have to look at the sacrifices of our forefathers, Soviets included. I think the sacrifice of this nation is-- should be celebrated because in all its darkness, I think it, it shows us that we have the strength to overcome anything. Anything. Anything.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 16:22

a n-

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 16:23

If we're-

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 16:23

there's a no- there's a nobility in that sacrifice,

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 16:27

Yes.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 16:28

so many people

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 16:29

Oh, yes. And I, I, we, we could talk about it for a long time, but I remember a lot of, of battle sequences and, and when you, when you look at how it happened, I am convinced that the people who were fighting knew they were about to die. They knew it. They were going to certain death. And I have nothing negative to say about the Soviet man. I, I could talk bad about their leadership or their doctrine or how they used their men or how they... Which are-- which was frankly shocking for a German officer seeing waste of troops, waste of positions, just general incompetence at all level. You-- especially early war. Later down it was better, but the common man stood his ground. And you only have that strength when you are fighting for something greater than yourself. And I hope that everybody who listens to this spares a thought for the millions and millions of men and women, especially in the Soviet Union, that laid down their lives when they had no business being in the battlefield in the first place.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 17:28

Yes. Yes.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 17:30

I,

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 17:30

Yes

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 17:30

I think about them a lot, especially where I live now, where I have a lot of Russian friends, and I share my story with them. And they-- every single one of them has a story about their ancestors in the war, and usually it's not a nice one. So it's important for me to remember that. At the end of the day I always like to try to blend Eugen in his time because I think it gives a lot of explanations as to what led those men into the cauldron. But it al- it also it's important to understand that there was millions of people who were affected by men like Eugen. So f- you know, for me, th-this is something I say in my author's note at the beginning of my book, and it's very important. In no way am I trying to excuse what happened. But I think the erasing them is killing them two times, both the perpetrators and then the victims, which is why I'm happy to share everything about what I remember, both enemies and friends and

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 18:24

Right.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 18:24

allies alike.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 18:26

Right I think one of the, one of the things that struck me about your analysis of the of how a man is-- comes to go from being a son of a toy shop owner to being who Eugen was in, in the long run is really, it's a, it's he is complex and had human doubts and feelings just like anybody else in, in the midst of all this

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 18:56

Yeah. It's-- And I think what happened to him can happen many times over. I think in, in our day and age, we're at a time where the... I notice a push, if you allow me that observation.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 19:09

Oh, yes

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 19:09

because what I remember is that to make a man like Orgon, you need years of propaganda, obviously. And I'm noticing a push, and I'm very worried to desensitize the, the-- especially the younger generations to, to-- for me, what is the door to the violence we witnessed in, in-- during the Second World War, which is to dehumanize the people you... So you-- It's okay to use derogatory terms against immigrants, against minorities, against anybody that is not like us. And if you expose the younger generations to this kind of discourse day in and day out, if at some point you blow the whistle and you ask them to take arms to clean up the country, because this is something I hear from my friends in your country, uh, I am worried that a lot of people would take up arms. It's a shared responsibility we have. When we say we need to teach history so it doesn't repeat, I agree. But I think teaching history is very important to show that it was men and women just like we are now. Same brains, same mind, same way of functioning. If you apply the same pressure to young human beings the same kind of diamond will come out at the end. Just sharp.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 20:25

That the humans do not hate by their nature.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 20:29

it's taught, yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 20:30

learn, they learn to hate

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 20:32

Yeah, and you have to teach two things to make a murderer. You have to teach him how to hate, and you have to teach him how to ignore himself. This is something I remember from officer school. Strangely enough, you would think they keep telling you, "Oh, you're gonna do great things," et cetera. No, from day one, they're telling you will do horrible things, f- least of which sending men to their death. When you give an order and your own men are going to their death, you have to live with that. But beyond that, you know that they were telling us straight, "You will do horrible things for Germany, things you can never speak about." And that's how you make a murderer. You prepare slowly so that he has both the left hand and the right hand, he has the hate, and he has a cold heart. You put them together, you have a man that presses the trigger. And it-- Yeah I'm sad to see that it's we are planting seeds again. it's

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 21:20

Yes.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 21:20

sad. It's just sad. Yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 21:23

I think it's so interesting the way you so naturally talked about when you were in officer school, because Benjamin Caroe never w- was in the Army, never went

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 21:33

Yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 21:34

school,

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 21:34

Yeah, true

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 21:35

that you as a person, having had this very real experience, remember so, so vividly being in officer school and what they told you. I- in a way it's really unique situation where you have this very, very detailed, recollection of a lot of Eugen Kuntzmann's life. a lot of his... A lot-- that training and all these different battles and things. Y- experience in-- wasn't moment in, his life, it was a lot of life w- with a wide variety of things. and this was-- Now were mostly, most of these recollections, uh, in your second regression, or did they come spontaneously?

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 22:21

Most of them spontaneously, yeah. But

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 22:23

Okay.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 22:24

The information in the regression, the first one that I received, most of them were regarding my last day. The rest was things I used parsimoniously. Most of it came spontaneously, to be honest. Yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 22:35

Oh, okay

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 22:36

Sometimes just through discussion, like what I was telling you about the officers' school is something that came when I was talking with a friend, and he said something that was wrong and the whole thing came back, and I said actually..." Yeah. Yeah.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 22:51

Wow. Wow. Now are you a person that has an urge to connect with people on the other side or things like that? I, I-- doing this interview, I've met a lot of people that are mediums and that conduct past life regressions and that, that are, really spend a lot of their time, uh, focusing on connecting with the other side in the after... what happens after this human life. Do you have any urge to do that or not really?

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 23:23

No I've had I've had these kind of experiences in my life feeling like the postman, I always say. Feel like I, there's a message I have to deliver. I've done it probably around 30 times in my life. I think last time was probably over two years ago, to be honest with you. It's a, it's-- I don't I'm not going to say I don't mind doing it because it is not something I particularly enjoy.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 23:44

Okay

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 23:45

can help, I'm always happy to help, but I'm not in any way or form trying to develop that or to make it a core of what I do in the future. To be fair, I'm still reinventing who I am because it's, My book just came out, "Finally, I'm Free." I'm realizing that the way I wanna spend my time is very different from what I expected. I thought I would be, diving headfirst into work to write something else or anything. It turns out what I wanna do is just sometimes being at 5:00 a.m. on the beach and, uh, watching the sunrise. The rest I will figure it out later. We will see. Ask me again in one year. Let's-- Interview me again in one year. You'll know.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 24:23

I would certainly l-- very much look forward to that. I'm glad that you're going to be taking a little time to be in, in non-production mode, I guess I would call it, where you're gonna take some time to, just let the let the responsibility off. I certainly can say that I do expect that there's gonna be a lot of interest in your book and you're gonna be asked to a-about it a lot. And I really appreciate that you've been on and you've done all this work with me to go in, in detail to it. There's so much that you've shared with us, and there's so much that people who listen to this series are gonna take away. It, it's amazing and genuine and real, and I thank you so much Benjamin Carroll for being with us and being so generous with your time.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 25:14

You so much. Everything you've said, I return it back to you. I cannot express how happy I am to have this space to talk about it. It's it's a strange sensation to be so open about something so intimate, but when it happens with people with you, I feel like we are working together to make it a nice story. It-- I'm happy because, I-- when I was younger I had this... I had some fears about how my story would be perceived, especially because of the Nazi aspect, and I realized that there are people such as yourself where, it's not so much about all of this, it's just about life. And I like this kind of conversation, so thank you for inviting me.

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 25:52

Yes. you're welcome. And that's really, I look forward to being in touch with you and all the great things that you're gonna do in the future.

benjamin_3_02-25-2026_202626 26:00

Likewise. Likewise. Take care

james_3_02-25-2026_082626 26:03

Thanks. Bye-bye.