My Years with Ludwig von Mises.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

Professor?" he asked. "I can't read French and German." "Learn
it," was Lu's answer. "You are engaged in scholarly activities."
Among the students I knew best was Hans Sennholz, who was
born and raised in Germany. He was a pilot in the German air
force during the Second World War. He was shot down, captured,
and became a prisoner of war in the u.S. During his captivity he
became acquainted with Lu's books. He had studied law and political
science in Germany, and in 1949 he started studying economics
at NYU. He attended Lu's seminar for years and wrote his
doctoral thesis with him. Today he is head of the Economics Department
at Grove City College, lectures constantly all over the
U.S., and is known as one of the staunchest defenders of the free
market. He married Mary Homan, who attended the semi,nar while
she was working with the Foundation for Economic Education.
I always had-and still have-a special interest in this marriage.
One day, shortly after Hans and Mary had met, I invit~d them to
our house and told each of them-separately and in private-how
much I thought of the other one. It was a very simple way of
bringing them together. They married, and in due time their son
Robert became my godchild and is still today a special favorite of
mine. Mary Sennholz later edited the "Festschrift" On Freedom
and Free Enterprise, essays of nineteen scholars in honor of Lu
presented on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate,
February 20, 1956.
The best known of all of Lu's American students today may be
Professor Murray Rothbard. He came to the seminar in 1949 and
became one of the most devoted and able advocates of Lu's teaching.
Lu may not have agreed with all of Rothbard's views, but he
always considered Rothbard to be one of his most gifted students.
Those who have read Rothbard's pamphlet, The Essential Von
Mises, know his deep insight and warm understanding of my husband's
work. Today Murray Rothbard is professor of economics at
the New York Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn and a famous
scholar, historian, and writer in his own right.
Another man in whom Lu put great hope was Israel Kirzner. In
later years Lu chose Kirzner to be his assistant for the seminar, to
help hiIn with student problems and relieve the burden of the
office hours. Now Dr. Kirzner is professor of economics at NYU,
fulfilling all the hopes Lu cherished for him. Lu considered Kirzner's
The Economic Point of View an important and valuable work
and wrote a foreword to it.
Louis Spadaro, a quiet, positive, earnest scholar, attended Lu's
selninar for Inany years and wrote his doctoral thesis with Lu. He
is now dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at
Fordhanl University. Most of the seminar students became, over
the years, good friends of ours.
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