WASHINGTON, PA (Jan. 28, 2019)—In November, Washington & Jefferson College (W&J) Professor of Education James Longo released his book Hitler and the Hasburgs: The Fuhrer’s Vendetta Against the Austrian Royals with publisher Diversion Books.
Professor Longo’s work focuses on the history of Hitler’s campaign against Maximilian and Ernst Hohenberg, the sons of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination was the catalyst for World War I. The conflict between Hitler and the Austrian royal family culminated in Ernst and Maximilian becoming the first Austrians sent to the Dachau concentration camp.
Through his writing, Professor Longo examines the rise of the Third Reich and Nazi abhorrence of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nations, and how the royal Hasburg’s melting-pot Austrian-Hungarian Empire personified to Hitler all that he believed was wrong with the twentieth century. The work shows how Hitler demonized his enemies to gain power and spread this racist ideology across Europe—a point that remains relevant today as a new generation of politicians in Europe, Brazil, and elsewhere are using these same tactics to gain influence.
“The roots of the book began when my mother introduced me to Kurt von Schuschnigg, a professor of political science at St. Louis University who had once been the Chancellor of Austria. He was arrested by Adolf Hitler, and then imprisoned in the Dachau Concentration Camp. That introduction created a lifetime of curiosity and questions in me about history, the nature of good and evil, and about being a survivor,” Professor Longo said. “My book is the result of a decade of research and interviews with Habsburg descendants exploring the roots of Hitler’s determination to destroy the family of the dead Archduke, and their courageous fight to survive.”
Professor Longo began his research when he served as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at Alpen-Adrian University in Klagenfurt, Austria. He conducted interviews with members of royal families across Europe who were demonized persecuted, and imprisoned by Hitler as well as with three families in Germany who had connections to the Third Reich and senior citizens who had once been members of the Hitler Youth.
Already, Hitler and the Hasburgs has received positive international response and is currently being translated into Russian and other languages. This is Professor Longo’s eighth book. Hitler and the Habsburgs is available on Amazon and wherever books, e-books, and audio books are sold.
About Washington & Jefferson College
Washington & Jefferson College, located in Washington, Pa., is a selective liberal arts college founded in 1781. Committed to providing each of its students with the highest-quality undergraduate education available, W&J offers a traditional arts and sciences curriculum emphasizing interdisciplinary study and independent study work. For more information about W&J, visit washjeff.dev, or call 888-W-AND-JAY.
