Re: Beilock says ‘reflection does not mean capitulation’
Leo von Zumbusch studied dermatology in Vienna. During World War I, he served as a physician in the German army. A conservative, he next served in the Freikorps, a right-wing paramilitary group mainly consisting of former German soldiers, as they demolished the communist Bavarian Soviet Republic that had declared independence as the war ended. Eventually, he returned to science and became a professor at Munich’s renowned Ludwig Maximilian University.
Von Zumbusch was elected Rector, essentially president, by the faculty in 1932. As the Nazis replaced the crumbling Weimar Republic, he took a middle road, something less than all-out battle. Seeking coexistence with the Nazis, he nonetheless attempted to maintain the university’s independence from the increasingly dictatorial regime. Even in the face of the 1933 Nazi book burnings, he practiced restraint. To him, universities were educational institutions, not political organizations.
His delicate balancing efforts were for naught. The Nazis ignored them, and simply replaced him as Rector in 1933 with one of their own. Total loyalty and control was their goal, not compromise. Dialogue has a short lifespan in such an environment, especially when it’s unlucky enough to be defended by those who face hungry predators thinking they can outsmart the binary framework of fight or flight.
Von Zumbusch intended to quietly return to research, but the Nazis had other plans. Shortly thereafter, he was denounced by colleagues, who alleged he had privately criticized the government. In 1935, he was forced into retirement through new legal authority the Nazis had given themselves over universities. He died in 1940. The university he led under a decade prior declined to even send anyone to officially attend his funeral. He remains largely forgotten today — not a Nazi, but certainly not a hero either. After standing up for no one, there was no one left to stand up for him.
Thomas Lane is a former opinion editor at The Dartmouth and member of the Class of 2024 who majored in German and economics. He currently studies for a master’s in health economics, policy, and management at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. Guest columns represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
Thomas Lane '24 is a former Opinion editor.
