Suchergebnisse

Ours was an old friendship: it was nearly thirty years ago that I met Waldemar Gurian for the first time in Bonn. At that time he was a brilliantly promising young man. He was expected to play an important role in the intellectual renovation which seemed to be underway in Germany. All that was stopped by the coming of the Nazis, which forced him to leave his country. Thanks to the facilities offered him by the University of Notre Dame, Waldemar Gurian resumed his activities as a scholar and a teacher with a courage that I admired. I would like to express also my admiration for his staunch dedication to the principles of freedom, and for his work as an historian of ideas, as a political philosopher and as an expert in international affairs—with regard to Russian bolshevism especially. He had many other interests. His understanding of spiritual life was remarkably broad. His profound Catholic faith made it possible for him to overcome many painful trials, and it was this background of anxiety and nostalgia which, from the very beginning of our association, aroused in me a feeling of affection for him. The founding of the Review of Politics, and its development into a most remarkable work of scholarship, of broad and living understanding of contemporary events, of human and philosophic value and of doctrinal soundness are also traceable to his Catholic faith, as well as to his very firm sense for intellectual and scientific rigor. The death of Waldemar Gurian means to me the loss of a faithful friend, and it is with deep emotion that I pay tribute to his memory