Caspar Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing (23 June 1927 – 25 January 2009) was a German writer, scholar and publisher. He was a leading thinker of the post-war political right in Germany.[1][2] He is associated with theGerman New Right.
Schrenck-Notzing was born in 1927 in the Bavarian capital Munich. He was a descendant of one of the oldest patrician and noble families of the city. Among his ancestors were the physical researcher and spiritistAlbert von Schrenck-Notzing, his grandfather, and the female aviation pioneerGabriele von Schrenck-Notzing, his grandmother.He later in life inherited from his father a considerable fortune and became a major shareholder in the companiesWMF Group (tableware manufacturer) and BASF, the chemical manufacturer.
After hisAbitur exam at theGymnasium, Schrenck-Notzing studied history and sociology inMunich,Freiburg andCologne in the years after the war. While a student he began to publish articles in conservative and right-wing newspapers.His first major book publication was a history of IndiaHundert Jahre Indien (One hundred years of India) in 1961.
Schrenck-Notzing became nationally renowned in Germany for his 1965 book,Charakterwäsche (Character washing), a scathing critique of the Allied process of "re-education" after World War II and especially their licensing system that in his opinion favored left wing newspaper editors. The book was reprinted in many editions and met with appraisal in right wing and conservative circles. Mainstream critics call it an example of anti-American post-war literature.[3]Although critical of U.S. influence in Germany, Schrenck-Notzing paid close attention to intellectual debates in America, in particular paleo-conservative, but also classical liberal and libertarian thinkers. He also put some hope in a European "Conservative International" alliance in the form of CEDI (European Documentation and Information Centre).[4] He also occasionally published inDer Monat, a monthly journal led byMelvin Lasky.
In 1970, Schrenck-Notzing established his own, bimonthly magazine called “Criticón” together with the right-wing publicistArmin Mohler that became a focal point for intellectuals from the right wing of theChristian Democratic Union of Germany and non-party affiliated conservative thinkers. Among the contributors of ‘’Criticón’’ were CDU politicianAlexander Gauland, political scientist Klaus Hornung, CSU politician Hans Graf Huyn, Austrian writerErik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, social philosopherGünter Rohrmoser, Catholic philosopherRobert Spaemann, General and military historian Franz Uhle-Wettler and the historianKarlheinz Weißmann. Schrenck-Notzing stayed at the helm of the journal until 1998 when he gave up the editorship, the paper ceased publication in 2007. In 1996 he published as the editor an "Encyclopedia of Conservatism" (Lexikon des Konservatismus).
He donated his private library of more than 20.000 volumes to the Förderstiftung Konservative Bildung und Forschung (Foundation for Conservative Education and Research) which has since then established the Library of Conservatism (Bibliothek des Konservatismus) in Berlin.
When he died in 2009, Herbert Kremp, the former editor-in-chief of the dailyDie Welt, wrote that Schrenck-Notzing was a "conservative literary man who could in the United States or in Great Britain have been a well respected critic of his times who would have been printed everywhere. In the Germany, even in Bavaria, that counted as a taboo breaker".[5]The U.S. paleo-conservative political philosopherPaul Gottfried wrote an obituary inModern Age and called him "one of the most insightful German political thinkers of his generation".[6]
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