Waldemar Gurian


Waldemar Gurian was a Russian-born German-American political scientist, author, and professor at the University of Notre Dame. He is regarded particularly as a theorist of totalitarianism. He wrote widely on political Catholicism.
Gurian was born into a Jewish family in 1902 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was brought to Germany in 1911 by his mother, who had him christened in 1914 as a Catholic. He studied with political philosopher Carl Schmitt at the University of Bonn but disagreed on issues of political theology. In 1939 after escaping Nazi Germany Gurian took a professorship at Notre Dame, where Gurian founded The Review of Politics. The quarterly scholarly journal was modeled after German Catholic journals. It quickly emerged as part of an international Catholic intellectual revival, offering an alternative vision to positivist philosophy. For 44 years, the Review was edited by Gurian, Matthew Fitzsimons, Frederick Crosson, and Thomas Stritch. Intellectual leaders included Gurian, Jacques Maritain, Frank O'Malley, Leo Richard Ward, F. A. Hermens, and John U. Nef. It became a major forum for political ideas and modern political concerns, especially from a Catholic and scholastic tradition.

Selected bibliography

For a complete list, see B. Szczesniak, "Select Bibliography of Waldemar Gurian." The Review of Politics 17.01 : 80-81.