Hans Eysenck and the Jewish question: Genealogical investigations

Article history: Received 11 January 2016 Accepted 1 April 2016 We present evidence establishing that Hans Eysenck was half Jewish. He went out of his way to conceal this fact and to disavow his Jewish ancestry until the publication of his full-length autobiography in 1990, long after he retired, when he revealed that one of his grandparents was Jewish. Using specialized genealogical techniques and resources, we trace his Jewish maternal grandmother, who died in Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944, and his Jewishmaternal grandfather, who practisedmedicine in Königshütte and later in Berlin.Wediscuss Eysenck's possible motives for disavowing his Jewish heritage for most of his life. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.