Anti-communism

A letter dated from 31 August 1948 from Bishop Hidal to Argentinian President Juan Perón asked for 5,000 visas for 3,000 German and 2,000 Austrian soldiers.

As if just to clarify, Hidal added that these men weren't Nazi criminals, but rather honest anti-Communist fighters who had saved Europe from Soviet domination and now deserved the chance to start a new life.

Of course, there are layers of what can only be called utter bullshit there.

There's no doubt that Hudal thought he was doing the right thing, but you need only briefly to read about the actions of Josef Mengler at Auschwitz to know that if anybody deserved to be on the front row at the Nuremberg trials, it was this sadistic monster.

Welcome back to New Books Network.

My name is Matthias Rüeggauer, and today I'm speaking with Julia Tatiana Bailey about her new book, Painting Paranoia: Cold War Art and Anticommunism, which was published in August by the University of Illinois Press.

Julia is the director of Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague, a leading public gallery for international contemporary art in Czech Republic.

She holds a PhD in the history of art from University College London, and has been a visiting lecturer to Kenyon College and to School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

It's really great to be here and speaking to you.

Of course.

Um, so Painting Paranoia: Cold War Art and Anticommunism came out just about a month ago.

And maybe let's start with the origin of this process.