Hans F. Sennholz
"A Man of Principle"

“For more than a century, Grove City College has kept faith with its founders, who believed in liberty - civil, religious, political, and economic. For the past thirty-five years, the College has been immeasurably aided in fulfilling its mission by an internationally renowned advocate of free enterprise.

“Has Friedrich Sennholz, one of the great teacher scholars of our time, has taught a generation of Americans about freedom.

“Born February 3, 1922, in Brombauer, Westphalia, one of three sons of Friedrich and Karoline Sennholz, Dr. Hans Sennholz has lived a most remarkable life.

“He received his glider pilot rating at age 13 and his pilot's license at age 16 before he was drafted by the Third Reich at age 17. Flight Sergeant Sennholz flew for the Luftwaffe (an ME-109) in France, the Soviet Union, and North Africa; he was shot down and captured in North Africa in the spring of 1942 and spent several years as a prisoner of war in the United States. He returned to Germany in 1946, where he completed his education at the University of Marburg  (M,A.,1948) and the University of Koln (Dr. rer. pol.,1949) in law and political science.

“After practicing law for a year, Dr. Sennholz, still less than thirty years old and the only known surviving member of his immediate family, was sponsored by an aunt in America and came to the United States.

“Dr. Sennholz went to New York City and worked while attending classes at New York University. There he studied under the Austrian economist, Ludwug von Mises, receiving the first economics Ph.D. from Mises in America in 1955. While in New York, he became a citizen of the United States, an associate (and later trustee, chairman, and President) of the Foundation for Economic Education, and took Mary Homan as his wife.

“Dr. Sennholz began his teaching career at Iona College, a small college just north of New York City. He was there for one year only, 1954-1955, as Assistant Professor of Economics, but he received the Professor of the Year Award from his students. In 1956, on the recommendation of Mises, J. Howard Pew, Chairman of the Board of Grove City College for forty years, persuaded Dr. Sennholz to become Professor of Economics and Chairman of the Department of Economics at Grove City College, the post he has held for thirty -five years.

“In the course of his academic career, Dr. Sennholz has published many books and booklets, and more than five hundred essays and articles. Among the titles are: Moneda y Libertad, 1961; Gold is Money, 1975; Death and Taxes, 1976, 1981; Age of Inflation, 1979; Money and Freedom, 1985; The Politics of Unemployment, 1987; and Debts and Deficits, 1987.

“More recently, he has received two honorary degrees, the Doctor en Ciencias Sociales from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, and the Doctor of Laws from Culver-Stockton College in Missouri.” (Excerpted from the Introduction of A Man of Principle, Essays in Honor of Hans F. Sennholz, 1992.)

Since leaving Grove City College in 1992,  after 36 years,  Dr. Sennholz took over, at a difficult and critical time,  as President of The Foundation for Economic Education for five years, re-establishing the Foundation on a sound financial and academic footing.  His monthly Notes from FEE article in the Freeman magazine became a hallmark of the Journal, and continues to this day with the current president.

Other significant books of Dr. Sennholz include: The Great Depression: Will We Repeat it?, 1988; The Savings and Loan Bailout, 1989;  and Three Economic Commandments, 1990. Other important honors include: Founders Day Award, New York University, 1956; Honorary Citizen , Lubbock Texas, 1964; Honorary Citizen, Houston, Texas, 1978; Honorary Colonel,  New Mexico, 1979; and Outstanding Teacher Award, Pennsylvania Academy for the Profession of Teaching, Harrisburg, PA, 1990.

Over the years Dr. Sennholz has served on the boards of many firms and foundations, and  given 100s of public lectures and speeches. He “has forested the field of economics - planting seedlings that will mature for future generations. He can take great pride in his accomplishments, being confident that as one educator, he has done much to lay the foundation for the regeneration of a truly free society.”