Herbert Franz Schurmann was an American sociologist and historian who was best known for his research and writings about Communist China during the Cold War period.
15 Facts About Franz Schurmann
1.
2.
Franz Schurmann served a term as the head of the Center for Chinese Studies.
3.
Franz Schurmann was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, and was the first American professor to visit Hanoi during the bombing raids there.
4.
Franz Schurmann co-founded the Pacific News Service in 1970 together with author Orville Schell, serving as editor and commentator, and wrote the weekly "Predictions" column.
5.
Franz Schurmann was born on June 21,1926, in Astoria, Queens, New York, and grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
6.
Franz Schurmann developed fluency in as many as 12 languages, acquiring them from his Slovenian father who spoke five languages himself, his mother who was an immigrant from Germany, and from the dialects spoken in the melting pot community where he was raised.
7.
Franz Schurmann briefly attended Trinity College in nearby Hartford, Connecticut.
8.
Franz Schurmann was drafted by the United States Army during World War II and was assigned to learn Japanese, serving as a newspaper censor during the American occupation of Japan.
9.
Franz Schurmann befriended Stefan Brecht during his Army service and met Thomas Mann and other German emigres at the California home of Stefan's father Bertolt Brecht.
10.
Franz Schurmann was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, founding the Berkeley Faculty Peace Committee in 1965 and visiting North Vietnam with author and political activist Mary McCarthy in 1968.
11.
In 1967, Franz Schurmann signed a letter declaring his intention to refuse to pay taxes in protest against the US war against Vietnam, and urging other people to take this stand.
12.
Franz Schurmann edited the three-volume series The China Reader with Orville Schell, a student of his who became an author and China expert in his own right.
13.
Franz Schurmann wrote hundreds of columns for Pacific News Service about the development and goals of militant Islam.
14.
Franz Schurmann was able to read written Arabic and would refer to Arabic-language press in his reporting.
15.
Franz Schurmann died at age 84 on August 20,2010, at his home in San Francisco due to complications of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.