Arno Mayer’s Scholarship

Professor Mayer’s works of scholarship remind us that history is not entirely out of the realm of the subjective. He chose to emphasize the anti-Communism of Hitler and National Socialism rather than the anti-Semitism of the movement. Some saw this as too leftist an interpretation, others as a necessary re-evaluation of Nazi belief. Certainly the Germans before and during the Third Reich were more afraid of Communism than of Jews. Hitler seems to have combined the two fears in his insistence that the Soviet Union was run by Jews. He also had a respect for Stalin and viewed him as a fellow anti-Semite. Professor Mayer's works remain very useful. And the Holocaust Museum has given him its approval. In general, the rise of Fascism after World War I was very much the result of the fear of Bolshevism — the fear of Jews only as the falsely alleged leadership of Bolshevism.