Paul Hollander (3 October 1932 – 9 April 2019) was a Hungarian-born political sociologist, communist-studies scholar, and non-fiction author. He is known for his criticisms of communism and left-wing politics in general.

Background

Born in 1932 in Budapest, he lived in Hungary with his Jewish family. When the Nazis persecuted Jews throughout the city, he had to hide from them when he was 12. His family was deported to work, after the communists came to power. He fled to the West during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was bloodily put down by Soviet forces. First he escaped Austria and then to England.

Career

Hollander earned a Ph.D in Sociology from Princeton University, 1963 and a B.A. from the London School of Economics, 1959. He was Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Center Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. The anti-communist scholar wrote many books and articles. He is best known for his works Political Pilgrims: Western Intellectuals In Search of the Good Society, published in 1981, and Anti-Americanism, published in 1992. He was a member of the national advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. He also compared Donald Trump, now a former U.S. President and a 2024 presidential candidate, with other dictators such as Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong.

Works