Ludwig von Mises Papers Discovered in Moscow

In March 1938, the Nazis occupied Austria. They broke into the apartment of Ludwig von Mises, who was away teaching in Geneva. The Nazis took all the papers and correspondence of this Austrian economist they considered their most important intellectual enemy. At the end of the war, the communists confiscated the papers (38 boxes, 20,000 items) and transported them to Moscow. Now, more than 50 years later, the papers were discovered by 2 researchers in a secret Moscow archive.

At a time when Socialism was the rage in Europe (1920s), Mises was its most vehement critic. In his much talked about book, Socialism, Mises exposed socialism as a utopian scheme that is illogical, uneconomic, and unworkable at its core. Because of his views, he was feared by European leaders and was consequently denied an academic post at a major university. In 1940, he sought refuge in the U.S. where he continued to write and teach until his death at age 88 in 1973.

Mises, the most famous economist of the Austrian School, was passionately committed to freedom and to capitalism. He never stopped his fight against socialism, or any sort of government intervention, which he concluded was unproductive, unstable and would only lead to more government intervention.


"Ludwig von Mises did more to spread the fundamental ideas of free markets than any other individual." -- Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate

A champion of freedom, private property and free markets, Ludwig von Mises is author to 25 books and over 250 articles, including his masterpieces: Human Action, Socialism, Planned Chaos and The Theory of Money and Credit.