Globally known Hungarian-American Historian John Lukacs passed away

He believed that the Cold War was an unnecessary waste of American treasure and life and saw populism as the primary threat to modern civilisation. He published more than thirty books, and his favourite genre was the essay that was easy-to-understand even for non-professionals. John Lukacs was 95 years old, and he passed away in his Phoenixville (Pennsylvania) home because of congestive heart failure.

Hiding from the Wehrmacht

He was born on 31 January 1924 in Budapest in a Jewish civic family, and his father was a physician. Lukacs attended a classical gymnasium, had an English language tutor and spent two summers in a private school in England. After his graduation, he studied history at the University of Budapest. Though both of his parents converted to Roman Catholic faith after the German occupation of Hungary, he was forced to serve in a Hungarian labour battalion for Jews. From there, he escaped and was

hiding in a cellar until the end of the war, but he never saw his parents again.

Since he did not expect too much from the occupying Soviet troops, he left Hungary in 1946, went to the United States and worked there as a history professor at Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia) until he retired in 1994. Of course, he was visiting professor many times at Princeton, John Hopkins and Columbia universities, and from the 80s, at Hungarian universities as well – szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu reported.

He wrote more than 30 books and hundreds of papers. His main field of research was the history of WWII, but he published a lot about American history and philosophical issues, too. His favourite genre was the essay, and even though he wrote them with a high-level language and professionalism, they were understandable even for non-professionals.

The Soviet Union would have collapsed even without the Cold War

He regarded populism as the main threat to modern civilisation and identified it as the main essence of both Nazism and Communism. In his books,

Lukacs defended the Western civilisation against the mass culture and the rise of vulgarity.