My Battle Against Hitler

by Dietrich von Hildebrand,John Henry Crosby

  My lecture took place the next day before a very small audience. Even so, Cardinal Baudrillart offered some very friendly remarks at the opening, as he did also at the conclusion. I spoke about National Socialism, its absolute incompatibility with Christianity, and the political danger it represented. Above all, I spoke about Austria, its mission, and its entirely unique identity with respect to Germany. D’Hartcourt had naturally come to my talk.

  Jacques Maritain had invited me to Meudon for the evening of December 22, which made me very happy. This was the same evening on which I wanted to take the night train back to Vienna, or perhaps to Salzburg, so that I could still reach Vienna on December 24 before Christmas Eve. Maritain brought me to Meudon himself. I had not seen him since 1928, and so I only knew him fleetingly. Now, however, our contact suddenly took on a new character in light of my fate, my flight from Germany, my battle against Nazism, and my work in Austria. He was incredibly charming toward me, and for the time I experienced the tremendous appeal of his religious personality. The great spirituality in his face, the reflection of a deep religious existence, impressed me deeply and won me over. I also met his wife, Raïssa, about whom I had already heard so much. She was very warm as she greeted me, but I did not come away that evening with a definite impression of her personality.

  After dinner Maritain led me to his house chapel where we made a brief visit before the Blessed Sacrament. Then he accompanied me back to Paris, or at least far enough for me to find my way to the train station alone. He gave me his book, Le Degrés du Savoir [The Degrees of Knowledge], and asked me as we were returning to Paris what I would think if he were to send Dollfuss one of his books as a token of esteem. I was very happy that he seemed to have a real veneration for Dollfuss and urged him to do so.

  I forgot to tell about an evening that took place in a house belonging to the German Order*89 behind St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The occasion, I think, was a lecture by Mataja. Following the lecture, we sat together at a restaurant within the building, i.e., myself, Klaus Dohrn, along with Mataja and two of his friends, Oscar Bam*90 and Simon. The evening was important insofar as the acquaintance with Simon became an important factor. We became friends and he played quite a role in my life throughout the time I lived in Vienna.

  Simon was an economist with a doctorate in the field. He had played a certain role under Seipel. He was a Jew, as one can already surmise from his name, but very liberal. He was the nephew of Johann Strauss. Strauss had married a Jewish woman, the sister of either Simon’s father or mother. I detected nothing of this musical kinship in him; as educated as he was, and as many interests as he had, he was totally unmusical. I immediately liked Simon very much, while he showed great interest for me and our journal.

  Oscar Bam was a senior member of the staff at the Reichspost. I think he always wrote the articles on foreign affairs; he may even have been an editor of this section. He was also a Jew, though probably baptized as a Catholic. Funder had already told me about him. Bam was a completely different type than Simon. He had a much more exclusive orientation to politics and he was not as intellectually independent as Simon. But he too was a very attractive person, approaching me in an extremely friendly way. He and I also struck up a lively contact, and Gretchen and I were often guests of the Bams. His wife was a Russian aristocrat.

  This was also the evening our contact with Mataja—who was a strong personality and very interesting—finally became closer. The relationship to Mataja was a definite enrichment for me and turned out to be an important factor during our years in Vienna. Klaus also became quite attached to Mataja, whom he liked very much.

  Simon showed a great interest in me, though, as I later noticed, the fact that he considered me a rising political star played a certain role in this. In reality, there was no basis for this. But he thought that I was the strongest intellectual influence on Dollfuss, in which respect I was supposedly his confidant. Simon said to me, “But after all, you have the greatest influence.” This notion was immensely attractive for him, and so, for the moment, I was in his eyes surrounded by a glamorous halo, which had no basis in reality.

  About this time, von Hildebrand was invited to a gathering of people in Ernst Karl Winter’s circle who, he writes, “while being opponents of National Socialism, were also critical of the Dollfuss government.” The philosopher Aurel Kolnai was one of them, as was Nikolaus Hovorka (1900–66), a publisher, and August Maria Knoll (1900–63), a sociologist.

  Although some of their critique was not mistaken, I was not entirely comfortable in this company. It showed me how difficult the situation was—and how many difficulties Dollfuss had to contend with. Hovorka owned Reinhold Press, which I knew about because Moenius had published a book there. I also got to know Hovorka outside the context of this gathering. He had a handsome face and was very attractive as a person. He was a very pious Catholic, a daily communicant, who shared the political orientation of our journal. He was not a disciple of Winter, though he belonged to his circle, without sharing Winter’s socialist sympathies.

  A certain Karpfen*91 was his friend and collaborator. Karpfen was a Jewish convert. Hovorka recommended him to me as a contributor to the Ständestaat. Karpfen was very talented and thereafter he wrote frequently in our journal.

  Back then I did something very unloving and ungrateful. Unfortunately it was one of those mistakes which one can no longer make good, that is, which one can only repent of but no longer undo. I had the impression that my friend from the year 1912, the old man Richard von Kralik,*92 was not entirely unambiguous in his rejection of Nazism. Was it because he had ties to the Schönere Zukunft or because, when I visited him in 1922, he had been so dismissive of Marc Sangnier and his pacifism? I was afraid of getting into discussion with him and for this reason did not immediately visit him upon arriving in Vienna. When Weber tried for the last time to connect the Ständestaat with the Schönere Zukunft—I have already described this—he told me that he had also visited Kralik, who was very offended that I had not sought him out.

  Now the first months in Vienna were so incredibly filled with work, with practical things, and with meeting people in connection with the journal that I hardly could find the time to travel to Döbling to visit Kralik. But of course I should have made the time to do so. Kralik died in the course of the winter. How unjust it was of me to offend this noble man who in earlier times had been so kind to me, who had done so much for the old Austria and also for the Church, and who was such an original and charming personality. Now it was too late to visit him and to explain everything to him.

  Why did I not immediately go to him after Weber told me this? Certainly, I feared that he would give me all sorts of suggestions for the journal, or even urge me to work together with Eberle. At the time, I thought I needed to avoid everything that might complicate the execution of my plans. But clearly this was a mistake. I should have recognized that a loving attitude toward the old man had greater priority, since objectively a visit on my part could not have hindered or even complicated my plans. After all, he did not have an influential position at that time.

  I had asked Baumgartner whether he knew a priest by the name of Oesterreicher.*93 I knew that the young Jewish medical student, who had written me in 1923 and who had later informed me of his ordination at St. Stephen’s in 1927, lived in Vienna (or within the Diocese of Vienna in any case). Baumgartner told me that he knew Oesterreicher well, and so I asked him to tell Oesterreicher that I hoped to become acquainted.

  It must have been just after Christmas that he came to see me one day. A blond priest entered the room. He was of middling height, a bit on the shorter side, and his face was attractive as far as his features were concerned. But he was incredibly awkward, one of those people who do not know what to do with their arms and legs. I could not quite understand why he was so awkward. He seemed always to have a slightly ironic smile. I received him very warmly, and we spoke about his letter to me, and mine to him. I told him how happy I was to see him aga
in now that he was a priest. Not much came of this first encounter. But a contact had been established which soon began to develop and would lead to a friendship that would play a role over the course of many years.

  Through Franke I had received an article for the Ständestaat by von Herrnritt,*94 who was a well-known jurist. Herrnritt had previously been chairman of an important government agency. I was very happy about the article, which was very good. It was of greatest importance that we also published articles by respected Austrian personalities. But they had to be articles which, at the very least, did not contain anything contrary to the spirit and to the political vision we represented, and that was not so easy. Herrnritt was a great acquisition for my work, and we would later develop a very friendly relationship. He also became a faithful attendee of the afternoon discussions which I later began to host. We also received an article from Count Dumba,*95 another distinguished man who had represented Austria in the League of Nations.

  * * *

  *1 Ludwig Quidde (1858–1941), German historian, politician, and Nobel laureate.

  *2 Alfred Hugenberg (1865–1961), industrialist, nationalist, and leader of the German National People’s Party.

  *3 Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (1869–1955) stood at the center of efforts to restore the Bavarian monarchy.

  *4 Heinrich Held (1868–1938), minister president of Bavaria from 1924 to 1933.

  *5 Just prior to Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923, von Hildebrand had learned that his name was on the Nazi blacklist.

  *6 Fritz Beck (1889–1934), pacifist who directed the Student Welfare Fund in Munich.

  *7 Theodor Georgii (1883–1963), sculptor married to von Hildebrand’s sister, Irene.

  *8 An aristicratic Russian emigrant in Munich whom von Hildebrand befriended and supported financially.

  *9 Probably André d’Ormesson (1877–1957), French diplomat stationed in Munich in 1933.

  *10 Fritz-Joachim von Rintelen (1898–1979), a professor of philosophy in Munich.

  *11 Anton Stonner (1895–1973), an Austrian theologian.

  *12 Anatole de Monzie (1876–1946), was in fact French Minister of Education.

  *13 Siegfried Johannes Hamburger (1891–1975), philosopher and von Hildebrand’s closest friend.

  *14 Johann Ernst Sattler (1840–1923), painter and father-in-law of von Hildebrand’s sister, Eva, called “Nini” (1877–1962), who was married to architect Carl Sattler (1877–1966).

  *15 Johan Huizinga (1872–1945), eminent medieval historian, best known for his book The Waning of the Middle Ages.

  *16 Marinus van der Lubbe, executed in 1934.

  *17 Robert d’Harcourt (1881–1965), French literary historian and journalist.

  *18 Friedrich Wilhelm Foerster (1869–1966), philosopher, educational theorist, and pacifist then living in France.

  *19 Wolfgang Braunfels (1911–87), art historian and son of composer Walter Braunfels (1882–1954), who was married to von Hildebrand’s sister Berta, nicknamed “Bertele” (1886–1963).

  *20 Roland Köster (1883–1935), diplomat and German ambassador to France (1932–35).

  *21 André Gide (1869–1951), French novelist, playwright, and poet.

  *22 Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), major French philosopher known for developing a new Christian humanism rooted in Thomism.

  *23 Alfred Baudrillart (1859–1942), French theologian, historian, and bishop, would only become cardinal in 1935.

  *24 Jean Cardinal Verdier (1864–1940).

  *25 Then vice chancellor under Hitler.

  *26 Fritz Gerlich (1883–1934), fierce Catholic journalist and opponent of the Nazis who had been arrested the previous year.

  *27 Also known as Therese Neumann.

  *28 Hermann Esser (1900–81), Nazi politician and minister of economics.

  *29 A popular Nazi song.

  *30 Ludwig Kaas (1881–1952), theologian, politician, member of the Reichstag, and longtime chairman of the Center Party, the major Catholic political party in Germany at the time.

  *31 Nickname of von Hildebrand’s eldest sister, Eva.

  *32 Writer and cosmopolite in Florence.

  *33 A spring music festival in Florence.

  *34 The Concordat was signed July 20, 1933.

  *35 Robert Leiber SJ (1887–1967), private secretary to Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII.

  *36 Actually in 1944.

  *37 Hans Schemm (1891–1935).

  *38 Karl Vossler (1872–1949), professor of Romance studies.

  *39 Wilhelm Berning (1877–1955). By the time Berning joined the Staatsrat, the former upper chamber of the Prussian legislature had been reduced to an advisory capacity.

  *40 Conrad Gröber (1872–1948).

  *41 Nikolaus Bares (1871–1935), bishop of Berlin.

  *42 Count Konrad von Preysing (1890–1950), bishop of Eichstätt until 1935 when he became bishop of Berlin.

  *43 Hans Frank (1900–46).

  *44 Otto Klemperer (1885–1973), renowned German conductor.

  *45 Max Scheler (1874–1928), major German philosopher and close friend of von Hildebrand.

  *46 Ferruccio Busoni (1866–1924), Italian composer and pianist.

  *47 Tristan und Isolde, an opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–83).

  *48 A conservative nationalist German party.

  *49 Klaus Dohrn (1909–79), German journalist and relative of von Hildebrand’s sister, Eva, by marriage.

  *50 A gathering focused broadly on Catholic thought and culture held annually each summer at the University of Salzburg.

  *51 Kurt von Schuschnigg (1897–1977), politician and later chancellor of Austria.

  *52 Friedrich Funder (1872–1959).

  *53 Karl Lueger (1844–1910) had been mayor of Vienna until 1910.

  *54 Anton Rintelen (1876–1946).

  *55 Eduard Ludwig (1883–1967), director of the Austrian federal press division that oversaw various official channels of communication.

  *56 A large public park in Vienna.

  *57 Ludwig von Pastor (1854–1928), German historian best known for his forty-volume History of the Popes.

  *58 Ferdinand Frodl, SJ, Catholic moral theologian.

  *59 Josef Biederlack, SJ (1845–1930), professor of moral and pastoral theology.

  *60 Edmund Weber (1900–49).

  *61 Eugen Kogon (1903–87), journalist and political scientist, editor of the weekly newspaper Schönere Zukunft until 1932

  *62 An Austrian newspaper, tainted by anti-Semitism.

  *63 Joseph Eberle (1884–1947), founder and publisher of Schönere Zukunft.

  *64 Fritz Flor (1905–39) belonged to a group of university students with strong nationalist leanings.

  *65 The return journey to Florence from Vienna passed through Salzburg and Villach.

  *66 Martha Hummert, the von Hildebrands’ housekeeper in Munich.

  *67 Aurel Kolnai (1900–73), philosopher and political theorist who studied briefly with Edmund Husserl, under whose direction von Hildebrand had written his dissertation.

  *68 Ernst Karl Winter (1885–1959), Catholic social philosopher, vice-mayor of Vienna (1934–36), known for his political maxim “stand right, think left.”

  *69 Georg Moenius (1890–1953), German priest, journalist, and opponent of the Nazis.

  *70 Ignaz Seipel (1876–1932), Austrian priest, conservative politician, and—twice—chancellor of Austria.

  *71 Heinrich Mataja (1877–1937), politician and a previous Austrian foreign minister.

  *72 For further explanation of the “corporative state,” see p. 137.

  *73 Karl Handloss (1871–1934), priest and seminary rector in Vienna.

  *74 The sister of von Hildebrand’s most important teacher in philosophy, Adolf Reinach (1883–1917).

  *75 A seminarian and Walter Breitenfeld’s son.

  *76 Alfred Verdross (1890–1980).

  *77 Ernst Felix Petritsch (1878–1951).

&
nbsp; *78 Raimund Poukar (1885–1980), became editor of Der christliche Ständestaat in 1937.

  *79 Josef Habbel (1903–74), one of von Hildebrand’s publishers.

  *80 Wilhelm Schmidt, SVD (1868–1954), leading Catholic anthropologist.

  *81 Zita von Bourbon-Parma (1892–1990), widow of Emperor Charles I of Austria (1887–1922), and her son, Otto (1912–2011), the claimant to the throne.

  *82 Léon Noël (1878–1953), Belgian priest and philosopher at the University of Louvain.

  *83 Paulin Ladeuze (1870–1940), Belgian priest, theologian, and bishop.

  *84 Albert E. Michotte (1881–1965), Belgian priest and psychologist.

  *85 Edgar de Bruyne (1898–1959), Belgian philosopher and professor in Ghent who discovered von Hildebrand for Belgium.

  *86 Social encyclical issued in 1931 by Pope Pius XI.

  *87 Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948), philosopher, Marxist during his student years, and convert to Christianity.

  *88 Martin Fuchs (1903–69), Austrian journalist and diplomat.

  *89 The Teutonic Knights, which by then had a purely religious and charitable mission.

  *90 Oscar Bam, author and journalist.

  *91 Otto Maria Karpfen (1900–78), chemist, journalist, émigré to Brazil where he became a distinguished editor and literary critic (under the name Otto Maria Carpeaux).

  *92 Richard von Kralik (1852–1934), writer.

  *93 Johannes (later, John) Oesterreicher (1904–93).

  *94 Rudolf von Herrnritt (1865–1945).

  *95 Count Konstantin Dumba (1856–1947), Austrian diplomat.

  1934