The editors offer a highly readable text in the spirit of Max Weinreich's Hitler's Professors (1946). Extending beyond the humanities, 15 authors delve into the process of the nazification of higher education, along with a modest comparison with Mussolini's Fascism. . . . These authors focus on examples where individuals compromised themselves in repeated demonstrations of anti-Semitism, e.g., Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt. Each article can stand on its own. ★★★ Highly recommended. 

—D. A. Meier, Choice Reviews, Dec. 2024 (p. 374). 

Those in contemporary society who promote political correctness over sound analysis, social relevance over impartial examination and narrow dogma over broad-minded liberal values would do well with to read these fifteen essays that demonstrate how such promotion among the German academics of the 1930s was a major factor in justifying the Nazi regime’s policies and their terrible consequences. 

—Stefan C. Reif (University of Cambridge), Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 49.5 (2025): 94. DOI: 10.1177/03090892251328742. 

[W]e need more books like The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich. In a time of intensifying anti-Semitism, the volume edited by Levinson and Ericksen ought to be read by every single academic who stands in the tradition of the universities in Germany and surrounding countries. 

—Kristen de Troyer, (2023). “Confronting the Nazi Past of the University of Salzburg.” Review article of The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich, edited by Bernard Levinson & Robert P. Ericksen. Review of Biblical Literature 25 (2023): 2–10. 

This book explores the history of when the humanities failed to humanize, recalling George Steiner’s famous question, as scholars steeped in the humanities instead advanced racial hatred, censorship, and the glorification of nation, race, and Führer. It is an insightful and worthwhile read for any scholar of the humanities. . . . 

Given the book’s focus on the nature, value, and meaning of the humanities and how humanities scholars betrayed their values, any graduate student or scholar in the humanities—but 

especially those interested in the history of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust—would find this book of tremendous interest. It tells the story of the failure of humanities faculties at some of the world’s greatest universities of the time, including Göttingen, Tübingen, and Berlin. . . . One clear lesson for today is that work still needs to be done to ensure the humanities humanize. 

—William Skiles, Religious Studies Review 51.1 (2025): 176–77. 

This book is more topical than the editors could have expected (or feared) when it was published in 2022. It illustrates how the humanities at German universities adapted to the Nazi regime. There are few heroes, some villains, and many opportunists. It is shocking to see how pliable even great scholars were at the onset of the Nazis, how they ignored the fate of their colleagues and friends who were being persecuted for racial or political reasons. What does that mean for today? When I began writing this report, the academic world was appalled by Columbia University’s willingness to cave in to pressure from the United States government. This seemed to show that the cowardice of academia is a recurring theme in modern history. Meanwhile, Harvard has set an example of resistance, and others seem to be following. This is evidence of a significant difference between German universities after 1933 and American universities today. American universities are embedded in a society that still embraces democratic values, and they have the opportunity to learn from the failure of German universities. . . . 

My summaries cannot do justice to the richness of the stimulating articles in the volume, which itself can only touch on some of the aspects involved. . . . The volume is thus a powerful illustration of how easily the humanities can be led to support inhuman values. 

—Hartmut Leppin, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2025.07.05 (5 pages). 

It is important for scholars to understand the history of their disciplines; yet, the influence of Nazi associated scholars on modern disciplines has been shockingly understudied. A new book, The Betrayal of the Humanities, provides an important work of historiography which digs into the role of the scholars and universities during the Third Reich and their lasting impact on the academy. 

—Kristofer Dale Phan Coffman, “Review Article: The Betrayal of the Humanities,” Word and World 45.1 (2025): 112–21. 10 pages. 

Just how one of the great culture nations of the West turned from the individualistic and intellectual freedom-affirming values of the Enlightenment, in whose formation it had played a major role, to an oppressive, intolerant, and xenophobic society has been a troubling topic for historians for almost a century, not least because it implies the further question: Could it happen here? 

The volume under review . . . contains fourteen essays discussing the experiences of participants in various intellectual professions (those covered by the native term Bildungsbürgertum) during the Nazi period. Commendably, the editors have sought a “transdisciplinary readership” (p. xviii) and have succeeded in presenting excellent articles accessible to nonspecialists. 

—Gary Beckman, Journal of the American Oriental Society 145.1 (2025): 221–3. 

Der vorliegende Band [ist] beeindruckend. [The present volume is impressive]. 

—Peter Heine, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 119.2 (2024): 71–73. 

The Betrayal of the Humanities is a testimony to what can go wrong if humanistic education is separated from ethics, from moral imperatives, and from the face of one's neighbor. We would do well to heed its warning. 

—Kathleen Gallagher Elkins. “Betraying the Family Tree of Biblical Studies in the Nazi- Era University.” Review article of The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich, edited by Bernard Levinson and Robert P. Ericksen. Review of Biblical Literature 25 (2023): 11–19. 

My first response was fascinated horror and then a burning need to know more… This new interdisciplinary volume, The Betrayal of the Humanities, while building on a current of recent scholarship, contains material that makes it especially relevant for members of the Society of Biblical Literature who specialize in the historical humanities, including Hebrew Bible, Assyriology, Egyptology, early Christianity, and rabbinics. It covers issues known to few scholars of religion, myself included. Today more than ever it is crucial for people to study such works, given the renewed attractions of authoritarianism, anti-Semitism, and Christian nationalism in many countries. 

—Kristen Lindbeck, “The Collegiality of Evil.” Review article of The Betrayal of the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich, edited by Bernard Levinson and Robert P. Ericksen. Review of Biblical Literature 25 (2023): 19–28. 

Levinson and Erickson’s Betrayal of the Humanities represents a current trend in scholarship to critically reevaluate the history of the Nazi era. The editors have framed the essays concerning specific fields of study, institutions, and individual scholars within a meta-discussion about the values of the humanities in higher education. 

—Rannfrid I. Lasine Thelle, “Challenges of Reckoning.” Review article of The Betrayalof the Humanities: The University during the Third Reich, edited by Bernard M. Levinson and Robert P. Ericksen. Review of Biblical Literature 25 (2023): 29–40. 

Betrayal of the Humanities contains many examples of academic practitioners who aligned themselves with National Socialism, including about two-dozen leading professors who received honorary or military appointments in the SS. 

—Matt Lebovic, “How Nazi-sympathizing scholars prepared the ideological groundwork for genocide,” The Times of Israel, March 25, 2023. 

While these accounts and perspectives about a receding era stand very well on their own, I can't help but see resonance with some of the intense fights over the role and function of universities today. 

—Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law, Harvard University, The Harvard Gazette, July 16, 2024.