Thread by @safier

Thread🧵 1/ Harvard & Hitler’s Henchman: When exploring the history of antisemitism at @Harvard, there lies a disturbing, yet forgotten episode from the 1930’s, especially as it relates to the inaction of its president and faculty in the face of true evil.

2/ Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl was born into affluence and influence in Munich, Germany, in 1887. His father, Edgar was a prominent art publisher, while his mother, Katharine was the Boston-born daughter of William Heine, a Union Army officer in the Civil War & a cousin of legendary Union Army General John Sedgwick.

3/ This bicultural upbringing would later afford Ernst a cosmopolitan perspective, with a foot on each continent. In 1909, Hanfstaengl graduated from Harvard, where he was not particularly noted for academic excellence but rather for his musical talent and his height, which earned him the affectionate nickname “Putzi” — (little boy in German) — due to his lanky stature.

4/ Hanfstaengl’s charm, wit and music talents made him a popular member of the student body, most notably through his musical contributions to the Harvard football team, for which he played piano and composed fight songs that rallied crowds at games. After college, he met Helen Niemeyer, a native New Yorker and offspring of German immigrants, while working at a branch of his family business in NYC. After they married and had a son, the couple moved to Munich in 1921.

5/ Ernst Hanfstaengl’s encounter with Hitler in a Munich beer hall in 1922 marked a pivotal turn in both of their lives. After attending his first Nazi rally, spellbound by Hitler’s oratory, Hanfstaengl min declared, “What Hitler was able to do to a crowd in 2½ hours will never be repeated for 10,000 years.”

6/ Hanfstaengl became one of Hitler’s most ardent followers. Their bond deepened through the fervor of early Nazi ambitions and the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. Post-Putsch, Hitler hid from authorities in Hanfstaengl’s home outside Munich suburb in Uffing. In a critical moment, Hanfstaengl’s wife is said to have prevented Hitler’s suicide—a turning point in history.

7/ It was Hanfstaengl who helped integrate Hitler into Munich’s elite circles, aiding in transforming the image of the future dictator from a political firebrand into a figure of society. Beyond social introductions, Hanfstaengl’s $$ contributions to the Nazi cause were substantial.

8/ He helped finance the printing of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ and crafted marching songs for the Brownshirts and Hitler Youth, drawing inspiration from his Harvard days. Hanfstaengl claimed to have adapted the infamous “Sieg Heil” chant from a Harvard football

9/ His role in the Nazi regime was not trivial. As the party’s Foreign Press Chief, he was responsible for presenting the Führer’s facade to the international press and was instrumental in shaping the image of the Third Reich abroad. However it wasn’t just the press he worked to influence…

10/ On April 3, 1933, he informed an old classmate, American diplomat James G. McDonald (later the first US Ambassador to Israel) that, “the Jews must be crushed," and that the Nazis planned to assign a member of the Sturmabteilung (storm troopers) to every Jew.

11/ A major firestorm erupted when Hanfstaengl was invited to a seat of honor at Harvard at his class’s 25th reunion in 1934. Hanfstaengl’s affiliation with the Nazis was well known and Jews across America were enraged over the “open arms” he was to be greeted with.

12/ Harvard President James B. Conant, chose a path of polite engagement over confrontation, positing “It is not a university’s function to incite political battles and fan the flames of international discord.” It was a stance that would be heavily critiqued in hindsight.

13/ While his biographers have tried their best to prove otherwise, the facts remain. In 1933, Boston’s Jewish community rallied against the rise of antisemitism in Nazi Germany. President Conant, unlike other local leaders, neither participated nor acknowledged the protest, which was in stark contrast to his later communications with German universities which he sent letters of congratulations to following milestone events.

14/ The faculty and student body at Harvard followed his lead. In a telling 1934 incident, a mock trial over Hitler’s actions led to his acquittal on two of four charges by a panel primarily composed of Harvard professors. Notably, they dismissed charges related to the persecution of Jews as “irrelevant,” reflecting what was hard to see as something other than blatant anti-semitism.

16/ Leading up to Hanfsteangl’s visit, an editorial in the Harvard Crimson suggested the unthinkable: “If Herr Hanfsteangl is to be received at all," the editorial reads, "it should be with the marks of honor appropriate to his high position in the Government of a friendly country, which happens to be a great world Power, that is, by conferring upon him an honorary degree.

17/ While the complaints vocalized by Jews across the country caused the organizers of the event to tone down the Nazi’s role to a mere participant. However they made up for it by ushering him around town like a celebrity, with both prestigious alumni and President Conant hosting parties for him at their homes. In his autobiography, published in 1970, long after the Holocaust, Conant continued to insist that Hanfstaengl "had every right" to participate in the reunion.

18/ The @BostonGlobe reported on one such social outing:
“After a luncheon hosted by George S. West, Hanfstaengl accompanied a group to the country club horse races, where he placed only one bet, choosing the horse, he told reporters, because its jockey wore a brown shirt like the Nazis.

19/ As the Nazi official partied with his classmates, Campus police were instructed to be on high alert against any protests. Police tore down scores of anti-Nazi stickers that had been pasted to the fence around Harvard Yard which proclaimed "Drive the Nazi Butcher Out," and suggested that he be awarded the honorary degree of “Doctor of Pogroms”

20/ The joyous festivities were briefly interrupted when Rabbi Joseph Shubow (a close friend of Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik) confronted Hanfstaengl as he was talking to reporters in Harvard Yard. Rabbi Shubow demanded to know the meaning of a remark Hanfstaengl had made to the press on June 17, that “everything would soon be settled for the Jews in Germany." "Trembling violently," Rabbi Shubow cried out, “My people want to know . . . does it mean extermination?"

21/ A flustered Hanfstaengl replied that he did not care to discuss political matters, and the Harvard police quickly ushered the Nazi away to President Conant's house for protection. (Perhaps the only silver lining in the story is the fact that Conant refused Hanfstaengl’s offer of an annual $1,000 scholarship for a Harvard student to study in Germany)

22/ Upon his return to Germany, Hitler honored Hanfstaengl by having him open the sixth Nazi party convention in Nuremberg. Amidst adulation, Hanfstaengl lauded the Third Reich’s endorsement of racial “purity,” reflecting the chilling ideologies taking hold in Germany.

23/ Eventually, Hanfstaengl had a falling out with Hitler and fled Germany. He spent the rest of his life trying (often with the help of his friends from @Harvard) to separate himself from his actions during the 20’s and 30’s and his relationship with Hitler. (More on this in a future thread)

@BillAckman