“Parlour Bolshevik” and Pioneer in Social Research
Klaus Mehnert and the German Association for the Study of Eastern Europe 1931–1934
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Between 1931 and 1933, Klaus Mehnert (1906–1984) served as general secretary of the German Association for the Study of Eastern Europe. As early as the 1920s, Mehnert, who was born in Moscow, was fascinated by the tempo and élan behind the changes taking place in the Soviet Union. He called for similar far-reaching changes in Germany – in terms of style not content. This enthusiasm was in line with his intervention on behalf of the Rapallo line of foreign policy cooperation between the German Reich and the Soviet Union. Politically, Mehnert belonged to the Otto Strasser’s Black Front. As a result, trouble loomed on the horizon when the National Socialists came to power.
(Osteuropa 12/2005, pp. 29–48)