Wednesday, August 7, 2019

In 1938, the Nazis Were About to Arrest Ludwig von Mises as an “Enemy of the State” Because He Publicly Criticized Them and Had a Jewish Ancestry

Ludwig von Mises was born in Austria in 1881. He wrote his first book while he was still a university student. He served as an artillery officer on the eastern front in the “Great War,” as World War I was known. Afterward, he became the chief economist for the Chamber of Commerce in Vienna. Although he was a retiring, almost reclusive, scholar, he gradually gained an international reputation, based on a series of important articles, books, and lectures that championed nineteenth-century classical liberalism. (By this, of course, I do not mean modern liberalism. In the twentieth century, the liberals hijacked the name, but not the meaning.)

In 1938, it became clear that the Nazis were about to arrest Mises as an “enemy of the state.” He had offended them not only because of his public criticisms of National Socialism, but also because he was of Jewish ancestry. He fled to Switzerland and eventually moved to the United States, where he assumed a teaching position at New York University.

He died in 1973 at the age of ninety-two after a long and distinguished career. His students, protégés, and devoted fans included economists, small business owners, corporate executives, politicians, scholars, teachers, and high school and college students. Most of his books remain in print and are just as relevant today as when they were first written.

Mises left his personal library to Hillsdale College. He explained his decision by writing, “Hillsdale, more than any other educational institution, most strongly represents the free market ideas to which I have given my life.” That is a remarkable testimony—and a remarkable legacy. For twenty-six years, Hillsdale has hosted the Ludwig von Mises Lectures and published the Champions of Freedom series in Mises’ honor. We have sought in our own way to keep his memory and his work alive.

—George Roche, “The Revolt Against Reason,” in Human Action: A 50-Year Tribute, ed. Richard M. Ebeling, Champions of Freedom: The Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series 27 (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2000), 141-142.


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