Harvard University’s history of anti-Semitism goes back at least as far as the 1930s
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
—Mark Twain
Harvard University’s history of anti-Semitism goes back at least as far as the 1930s. Then as now, the inaction of its president and faculty in the face of true evil would have disturbing repercussions. A Harvard grad would rise to the upper echelons of Nazi Germany.
Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl was born in 1887 in Munich, Germany. His father, Edgar, was a prominent art publisher, while his mother, Katharine, was the Boston-born daughter of William Heine, a Union officer in the Civil War (he was a cousin of legendary US Army General John Sedgwick).
Ernst Hanfstaengl was sent to America following high school to attend Harvard. Hanfstaengl’s charm, wit, and musical talents made him popular among 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. Following graduation in 1909, he married and opened a branch of the family business in New York before returning to Munich in 1921.
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