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The Jew of Linz: Wittgenstein, Hitler and Their Secret Battle for the Mind

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From the coindidence (a well known fact and not one discovered by the author) that Hitler and Wittgenstein briefly attended the same school (and appear in the same school photograph) the author weaves his fantastic fiction. If the "Jew of Linz" is a historical personage (remember the only source for his existence is the word of Adolf Hitler) the evidence for Ludwig Wittgenstein (whose family were converted jews) being "responsible" for Hitler's anti-semitism is at best circumstantial. Wittgenstein and Hitler were not even in the same class (despite being borne in the same year, 1889, Hitler was regarded by his teachers as stupid and kept down a year). There is no evidence whatsoever that they met or had any meaningful interaction. There is no evidence either to support the assertion that Wittgenstein was a Soviet agent - he was a politically naive idealist with left wing sympathies, in the 1930s (like many other equally naive intellectuals) he greatly admired the Soviet Union (and was completely ignorant of life there). He applied to emigrate and work there as a factory worker - the Soviet authorities offered him a chair in Philosophy at a provincial university (which he refused) - he was surely too eccentric and unstable to be a serious intelligence officer. Again the so-called "evidence" is circumstantial - he was at Cambridge University at the same time as other notorious spies. There is no documentary evidence from the KGB archives to suggest that Wittgenstein was a spy. This book is simply nonsense - its only value is to serve as corrective to the predominant tendency to view Wittgenstein as a secular saint - the author does not think that Wittgenstein was a particularly nice man and was a bad influence on young men (to whom he was sexually attracted) but those who want a proper biography should read Ray Monk

Cornish examines the realschule in Linz with unprecedented thoroughness and concludes quite convincingly that the Jew Hitler refers to in Mein Kampf is indeed Wittgenstein. While it is true that much of the book is conjecture, each step is a logical progression from the previous one. Why did the Russians offer Wittgenstein a "noncommunist" a very prestigious post heading the philosophy dept. of a major university in communist Russia if he did not render some major assistance to them? He was positioned to recruit the Cambridge spies. It may be conjecture, but it seems rather logical. A fascinating read.

Pursuing some foundational history of analytic philosophy, I thought a biographical window into Wittgenstein might help, and read this book which was like a sock in the jaw. I was left staring at the wall, are the author's theses true, verifiable, falsifiable? A somewhat ironic question since the toughest of analytical standards suddenly lands itself in both historical and occult deep water. I must then withdraw endorsement whatsoever of the conclusions, yet note, what an interesting book for reasons the author didn't quite intend. Beyond the question of Wittgenstein and Hitler, and Wittgenstein and Communism, the author braves the most dangerous (epistemologically and otherwise) of questions, the occult stench surrounding Hitler, a factor frequently noted, and as frequently factored out as crackpot. The account here is borderline, but not crackpot, and in fact one of the few accounts able to state some facts. My point is that to state them in the context of the toughest epistemological critics is an interesting exercise beside the wild books in this genre. Wittgenstein is not quite the man we thought, with the heritage of Schopenhauer lurking in the background. And the book reminds us that Schopenhauer had a viable, almost unknown, consideration of the occult, a lost thread of modern philosophy he alone had the epistemology to handle, distinguishing spiritual magic and superstition from so-called 'idealist magic' (almost as bad to think about), that is, the unknown fringe psychology of the noumenal, where scientific psychology also simply fumbles the ball. This can be useful for entering this dangerous field of the unknown Hitler without the suggestible hallucinations that corrupt most accounts, or the absolute skepticism that also misses the point. The real crooks here never got caught, and it is finally hopeless to try occult analysis of Hitler. Nothing ever succeeds here. It is a question that noone has ever clarified, and where a host of shadowy figures pursue their dementias. One can simply file away the author's theories and find this account of Wittgenstein and his milieu as an exotic glimpse of an enigmatic philosopher.