{{Short description|German writer, academic and foreign advisor (1906–1984)}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2022}} [[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F031122-0007, Bonn, Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg, Vortrag.jpg|thumb|Klaus Mehnert.]] '''Klaus Mehnert''' (October 10, 1906, in [[Moscow]], [[Russian Empire]] – January 2, 1984, in [[Freudenstadt]], [[West Germany]]) was a German writer, journalist and academic. He was a correspondent in the [[Soviet Union]]; a professor in the [[United States]]; a publisher of the German-funded journal ''XXth Century'' in [[Shanghai]] during [[World War II]]; and an advisor to several German governments after the war. He was a prolific author.
== Early life and education == Mehnert was born in 1906 in Moscow, Russia. His father was an engineer.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last= |date=1984-01-04 |title=Klaus Mehnert Dead; A Specialist on Russia |language=en-US |work=AP |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/04/obituaries/klaus-mehnert-dead-a-specialist-on-russia.html |access-date=2022-07-14 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
In 1914, at the outbreak of [[World War I]], Mehnert's family left Moscow for [[Stuttgart]], Germany. His father died in [[Flanders]] in 1917 as a German soldier. Mehnert attended the [[University of Tübingen]] and the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München]] in Germany, the [[University of California, Berkeley]], in the United States, and finally the [[Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin]], where he received his PhD under Professor [[Otto Hoetzsch]] in 1928. Hoetzsch and Mehnert later took part in the short-lived society to study the Soviet [[command economy]], ARPLAN.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=David-Fox |first=Michael |title=Showcasing the Great Experiment : Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921-1941 |date=2011-12-22 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794577.003.0002 |work= |pages= |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794577.003.0002 |access-date=2022-07-12|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Mehnert was briefly a supporter of [[Otto Strasser]]'s [[Black Front]].<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Over the next ten years, Mehnert traveled frequently, to America, the Soviet Union, Japan, and China. He married Enid Keyes († 1955) in California in 1933. From 1934 to 1936 he served as a Soviet correspondent for a German newspaper. In 1936, he was questioned in the press court in [[Munich]] under suspicions of being too sympathetic to the Russians; although cleared by the [[Gestapo]], he was forced out of his job.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=J. W. M. |title=Ultranationalism in German-Japanese relations, 1930-45 : from Wenneker to Sasakawa |date=2011 |publisher=Global Oriental |isbn=978-90-04-21278-7 |location=Folkestone, Kent |oclc=810277801}}</ref> Subsequently, Mehnert moved to the United States, teaching politics at Berkeley and then at the [[University of Hawaii at Manoa]] until 1941.<ref>Mehnert, Klaus. "The Face of the Pacific." ''The XXth Century'', vol. VII, no. 2/3, August/September 1944, pp.141-162.</ref>
=== World War II === In June 1941, six months prior to America's entry to World War II, he left for [[Shanghai]], China, where he published an English-language journal named ''XXth Century'' with help from the Nazi German foreign ministry and funding from [[Joseph Goebbels]]' Third Reich [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Propaganda Ministry]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Geerken |first=Horst H. |title=Hitler's Asian Adventure |date=2015 |others=Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt |isbn=978-3-7386-3013-8 |location=Norderstedt |oclc=923658255}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> An influential promoter of anti-Allied reports and commentary in Asia, ''XXth Century'' was later described by American intelligence as "one of the slickest bits of propaganda work that has been done anywhere".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wasserstein |first=Bernard |title=Secret war in Shanghai : treachery, subversion and collaboration in the Second World War |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-78453-764-7 |edition= |location=London |oclc=953982008}}</ref> In its four years, Menhert "steered his publication cunningly along a sophisticated path that eschewed overt pro-Axis advocacy", according to the British historian [[Bernard Wasserstein]], with "a wide range of contributors, few of whom were publicly identified with Nazism".<ref name=":2" /> The journal was discontinued at the end of the war in 1945, and Mehnert was briefly{{Clarify|date=July 2022}} imprisoned.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The XXth Century, Shanghai, 1941-1945: A Guide – University of Hawaii Manoa Library Website |url=https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/research/collections/russia/russian-northeast-asia-collection/the-xxth-century-shanghai-1941-1945-a-guide/ |access-date=2022-07-03 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
=== Postwar === Mehnert returned to Germany after the war. In 1946, an American tribunal cleared him of having Nazi affiliations.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kotkin |first=Stephen |date=2015-03-04 |title=Rediscovering Russia in Asia: Siberia and the Russian Far East |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315701257 |doi=10.4324/9781315701257|isbn=9781315701257 |s2cid=134785020 }}</ref> He continued to face occasional accusations in the American press of spying and anti-Semitism.<ref name=":3" /> The German historian [[Norbert Frei]] describes Mehnert as "one of the adaptable 'former ones'" in the postwar leadership of the German newspaper ''Christ und Welt''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frei |first=Norbert |date=2002-12-31 |title=Adenauer's Germany and the Nazi Past |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7312/frei11882 |doi=10.7312/frei11882|isbn=9780231118828 }}</ref> Mehnert held various positions as journalist, editor, and professor. He became a foreign commentator for [[South German Radio]] in 1950.<ref name=":0" /> He was a professor of political science at Aachen Institute of Technology. He was the editor of the journal ''Osteuropa''.<ref name=":4" /> He was a government advisor on Sino-Russian matters (counseling German chancellors from [[Konrad Adenauer]] to [[Helmut Schmidt]]<ref name=":0" />). He published several books on political science.<ref>[[Walter Laqueur|Laqueur, Walter]]. [https://archive.org/details/dreamthatfailedr00laqu_0 ''The Dream that Failed: Reflections on the Soviet Union''.] [[Oxford University Press]], 1996, p. 187. {{ISBN| 978-0195102826}}.</ref> In the late 1970s he authored several books on youth movements in Western countries.{{Third-party inline|date=July 2022}}
He died in 1984 at age 77 in [[Freudenstadt]], West Germany.<ref name=":4" />
Since 2005, the "Europainstitut Klaus Mehnert" has offered a student exchange program between his former university [[RWTH Aachen]] and the [[University of Kaliningrad]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}
== Selected writings ==
;{{Cleanup list|section|date=July 2022}}in German (some translated) * ''Ein deutscher Austauschstudent in Kalifornien'' ("A German exchange student in California"). Stuttgart, 1930 * ''Die Jugend in Sowjet-Russland''. Berlin, 1932; ''Youth in Soviet Russia''. Transl. by Michael Davidson, Westport, Conn., 1981 * ''The Russians in Hawaii, 1804–19''. Hawaii, 1939 * ''Der Sowjetmensch''. Stuttgart, 1958; ''The Anatomy of Soviet Man''. Transl. by Maurice Rosenbaum, London, 1961 * ''Peking und Moskau''. Stuttgart, 1962; ''Peking and Moscow''. Transl. by Leila Vennewitz, London, 1963 * [https://archive.org/details/chinanachdemstur0000mehn ''China nach dem Sturm''.] Munich, 1971; ''China Today''. Transl. by Cornelia Schaeffer, London, 1972. [https://archive.org/details/sovietmanhisworl0000mehn ''China Returns''.] New York, 1972.
;in English: * [https://archive.org/details/stalinversusmarx00mehn ''Stalin Versus Marx: The Stalinist Historical Doctrine''.] London: [[George Allen and Unwin]], 1952. 130 p. * [https://archive.org/details/sovietmanandhisw013723mbp ''Soviet Man and His World''.] New York: [[Frederick A. Praeger]], 1958. * [https://archive.org/details/pekingmoscowmehnert ''Peking and Moscow''.] New York: [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]], 1963. 522 p. * [https://archive.org/details/chinareturns00mehn ''China Today''.] London: Thames and Hudson, 1972. 322 p. {{ISBN|0500250324}}. * [https://archive.org/details/sovietmanhisworl0000mehn ''China Returns''.] New York: Dutton, 1972. 322 p. {{ISBN|978-0525080008}}.<ref>http://www.popula.com/st/no_279/2549740.htm{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> * [https://archive.org/details/moscownewleft0000mehn ''Moscow and the New Left''.] Berkeley & Los Angeles: [[University of California Press]], 1975. 275 p. {{ISBN|978-0520026520}}. * [https://archive.org/details/twilightofyoungr0000mehn ''Twilight of the Young: The Radical Movements of the 1960s and Their Legacy''.] New York, 1977. 428 p. {{ISBN|978-0030194764}}<ref>.{{cite web |url=http://www.zzbw.uni-hannover.de/HerbstHeus/Heus47_25.htm |title=Higher Education in the United States |accessdate=2008-03-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621061629/http://www.zzbw.uni-hannover.de/HerbstHeus/Heus47_25.htm |archivedate=2007-06-21 }}</ref> * ''Youth in Soviet Russia''. [[Hyperion Press]], 1981. {{ISBN|978-0830500833}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bestwebbuys.com/Youth_in_Soviet_Russia-ISBN_9780830500833.html?isrc=b-search|title=Best Web Buys Price Comparison Shopping}}</ref> * [https://archive.org/details/russianstheirfav00mehn ''The Russians & Their Favorite Books''.] Stanford, CA: [[Hoover Institution Press]], 1983. {{ISBN|978-0817978211}}.
;in German: * ''Peking und Moskau''. DTV, 1964. 508 p. * ''Der deutsche Standort''. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1967. 415 p.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antiqbook.de/boox/buchge/BU001786.shtml |title=Der deutsche Standort - KLAUS MEHNERT |accessdate=2008-03-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718195840/http://www.antiqbook.de/boox/buchge/BU001786.shtml |archivedate=2011-07-18 }}</ref> * ''China nach dem Sturm''. 1971. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 340pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-01593-8}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antiqbook.de/boox/buchge/BU001787.shtml |title=China nach dem Sturm - KLAUS MEHNERT |accessdate=2008-03-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718195844/http://www.antiqbook.de/boox/buchge/BU001787.shtml |archivedate=2011-07-18 }}</ref> * ''Amerikanische und russische Jugend um 1930''. 1973. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 297pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-01629-4}} * ''Moskau und die neue Linke''. 1973. 219pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-01661-4}} * ''Jugend im Zeitbruch: Woher-Wohin''. 1976. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 511pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-01753-6}} * [https://archive.org/details/kampfummaoserbeg0000mehn ''Kampf um Maos Erbe: Geschichten machen Geschichte''.] Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1977. 319 p. {{ISBN|978-3421018250}}. * ''Maos Erben machen's anders''. 1979. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 171pp * ''Ein Deutscher in der Welt: Erinnerungen 1906–1981''. 1983. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 447pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-06055-6}} * ''Uber die Russen heute: Was sie lesen, wie sie sind''. 1983. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 352pp, {{ISBN|978-3-421-06163-8}}
;in French: * ''La Rebelión De La Juventud''. 1978.
;In italian: *"Cina rossa". 1972. Milano: Bietti, 372pp.
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/31941/simple-search?location=10524%2F31941&query=Volume+1&rpp=100&sort_by=dc.date.issued_dt&order=ASC&etal=0&filter_field_1=author&filter_type_1=equals&filter_value_1=Mehnert%2C+Klaus%2C+1906-1984 Articles by Mehnert] published in XXth Century * [http://libweb.hawaii.edu/libdept/russian/index.html#background The Russian Collections] of the [[University of Hawaii]], initiated by Mehnert * [http://www.europastudien-kaliningrad.de/ Europainstitut Klaus Mehnert] (German)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehnert, Klaus}} [[Category:1906 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:Writers from Stuttgart]] [[Category:People from Moskovsky Uyezd]] [[Category:German Nazi propagandists]] [[Category:Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University]] [[Category:20th-century German journalists]] [[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the German Empire]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg]] [[Category:20th-century German male journalists]]