He stayed there through his "retirement", which only meant that he no longer had to teach. Through it all, he managed to continue his studies, so that after he left the military, he was able to complete his degrees in the United States, eventually settling in Madison, Wisconsin. He found no signs of hostility and none of the Germans he met seemed to care that he was not of Aryan stock. His description of what it was like to go back to Germany after the war as a member of a victorious army is very telling. He spent some time in the military forces of France and England although he did no real fighting. Rudin was there through it all, fleeing the Nazis after the Anschluss in Austria and going to France through Switzerland. To so many, Bolshevism was the greater threat and they had no qualms about the Germans moving against the Soviet Union, viewing such a war as a modern crusade. Furthermore, he describes how popular Nazism was in Austria, as even some Jews would have joined the movement if they had been allowed. Underlying his story is the historical roots of anti-Semitism, as the murder of Jews was hardly without historical precedent in Europe. His account of being Jewish in Europe in the 1930's and later is an incredible tale of response to the rearing of a "social" movement where his heritage made him and his relatives expendable. This book is split into two parts, and while the mathematics is interesting, the personal history is fascinating.
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