A reader: “Mr. Derbyshire—I can offer one more mathematician with Nazi

sympathies: Gerhard Gentzen, who worked with Hilbert towards the end of

Hilbert’s career. Gentzen isn’t on the same level as Hilbert, but he

certainly ranks as one of the better mathematicians of his generation.

Among other things, he invented cut-elimination, one of the main techniques

of proof theory. As for his Nazi connections, it’s my understanding that he

was a true believer. I had been told (and the information here

seems to confirm) that he was in the SA.”