--- aliases: - Hans Simons - Simons, Hans - Hans Simons (1893-1972) category: Scientists & Researchers created: 2026-10-09 relations: - end: 1961 fn: 17 role: president start: 1950 type: head_of with: '[[New School for Social Research]]' - end: 1930 fn: 4 role: managing director, then director and professor of law start: 1920 type: employed_by with: '[[Deutsche Hochschule für Politik]]' - end: 1924 fn: 4 role: Regierungsrat, then Oberregierungsrat start: 1922 type: employed_by with: '[[Reich Ministry of the Interior]]' - end: 1930 fn: 4 role: managing director start: 1928 type: employed_by with: '[[Abraham Lincoln-Stiftung]]' - end: 1932 fn: 4 role: Regierungspräsident start: 1931 type: head_of with: '[[Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz]]' - end: 1949 fn: 3 role: civilian employee start: 1947 type: employed_by with: '[[Office of Military Government, United States]]' - fn: 1 role: consultant and director start: 1960 type: employed_by with: '[[Ford Foundation]]' - fn: 2 role: father type: relative_of with: '[[Walter Simons]]' summary: German jurist and Weimar civil servant who directed the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik, emigrated in 1935, and served as the third president of the New School for Social Research from 1950. tags: - Person - HansSimons - NewSchoolForSocialResearch - UniversityInExile - DeutscheHochschuleFuerPolitik - WeimarRepublic - OfficeOfMilitaryGovernment - BasicLaw - FordFoundation - MKUltra - WalterSimons updated: 2026-10-09 --- Hans Simons (July 1, 1893 to March 28, 1972) was a German jurist and Weimar civil servant who directed the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in [Berlin](/places/berlin/) and held a Prussian provincial presidency. He was dismissed in 1933, emigrated to New York, served as dean of the [New School for Social Research](/organizations/new-school-for-social-research/) Graduate Faculty, and became the school's third president.[^1] ### Father and family Simons was born in Velbert in the Rhine Province, the son of Walter Simons, a jurist who became president of the Reichsgericht and foreign minister.[^2][^3] Walter Simons served as foreign minister from June 25, 1920 to May 10, 1921 in the cabinet of Konstantin Fehrenbach and represented the Reich at the conferences at Spa and [London](/places/london/). In 1919 he was undersecretary and commissioner-general of the German delegation at the Versailles negotiations under Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau. In 1918 he had advised Max von Baden on international law.[^2] In 1922 he founded the "SeSiSo-Kreis," a salon that met at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin with Hans von Seeckt and Wilhelm Solf. Harry Graf von Kessler was among its members.[^2] In the 1920s he chaired the board of trustees of the Moltke family foundation, which held the Kreisau estate.[^2] Hans Simons was one of the three sons of Walter Simons and his wife Erna, née Rühle.[^2] He married twice and had three children.[^4] The son of his first marriage later assembled the family papers on which the 2018 biography of Simons drew, since no personal estate survives.[^5] ### Schooling, the dissertation and the League of Nations Simons studied law and political science in Berlin, Munich, Tübingen and Bonn between 1912 and 1914. He served in the First World War until 1917 as an Oberleutnant and was gravely wounded, in the head according to the New School's history.[^5] He then worked as an administrator in the eastern territories occupied by the German Empire.[^1][^4] He resumed his studies at the University of Königsberg in 1920 and completed a dissertation in 1921 titled "Die Präambel zur Pariser Völkerbundssatzung und das Völkerrecht" (the preamble to the Paris Covenant of the League of Nations and international law).[^1][^4] ### Hochschule für Politik and the Reich Interior Ministry Simons was managing director of the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik from 1920 to 1922.[^4] The Hochschule drew on American money, notably from the [Rockefeller Foundation](/organizations/rockefeller-foundation/) and the Carnegie Corporation. Its American associations built bridges between Hochschule faculty, foundation administrators and American academics.[^6] From 1922 to 1924 Simons was a Regierungsrat and then an Oberregierungsrat in the Reich Ministry of the Interior in Berlin.[^4][^7] From 1925 to 1930 he was director of the Hochschule and professor of law. His essay "Lehre und Lehrer" in the Hochschule's 1931 volume Politik als Wissenschaft covers the institution's structure, which combined permanently associated politicians with lecturers hired case by case.[^8] In 1935 and 1936 he published two articles in Social Research on European international law and collective security.[^9] From 1928 to 1930 he was managing director of the Abraham Lincoln-Stiftung in Berlin.[^4] ### Prussian provincial posts and the 1933 dismissal Simons was acting Regierungspräsident in Stettin in 1930 and 1931, and Regierungspräsident of the Regierungsbezirk Liegnitz in Silesia from 1931 to 1932.[^2][^4] He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[^2] He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the parliament as a Social Democrat.[^1] He was dismissed in 1933 and emigrated with his second wife and her two daughters.[^5] The Nazi Party blacklisted him in 1933.[^1] From 1933 to 1934 he worked as a self-employed sales agent (Handelsvertreter).[^4] ### Exile and the Graduate Faculty Simons reached [New York](/places/new-york-city/) in 1935 on a fellowship of the [University in Exile](/organizations/new-school-for-social-research/) at the New School.[^1][^2] Alvin Johnson's report to the trustees of February 1935 lists him among the members added to the Graduate Faculty in 1934.[^10] He taught political science and international relations in the Graduate Faculty and gave public lectures on democracy and totalitarianism at the school and at other universities.[^1] The Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars filed him among its "Non-Grantees" in Series I.B of its records at the New York Public Library.[^11] He became an American citizen in 1940.[^1][^2] In 1942 he studied Germany's position in European postwar reconstruction with Adolph Lowe, Arnold Brecht and Hans Staudinger, in the Research Division of the Graduate Faculty and the [Institute of World Affairs](/organizations/institute-of-world-affairs/).[^12] He was dean of the Graduate Faculty from 1943 to June 1950.[^1][^4] ### Wartime lists In May 1943 [Goodwin Watson](/people/goodwin-watson/) sent Robert D. Leigh of the [Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service](/organizations/foreign-broadcast-intelligence-service/) a list of recruits for the Analysis Division. Nearly all of the names were German exiles. Simons appears on the list with Sigmund Neumann and Arnold Wolfers.[^13] ### President of the New School In June 1950 Simons was selected as the third president of the New School, succeeding Bryn Hovde, who had led the school for five years.[^1] He inherited a school with serious financial problems. Enrollment rose from about 5,000 to about 8,000 students during his tenure, and construction began on the buildings that became the Eugene Lang College complex.[^1] He defended the right of faculty to take part in political activity, however unpopular that was with other members of the school.[^1] A file in the New School central administration records holds Simons's "Future of the New School," dated September 18, 1958. Its scope note relates it to a Publicity Office record in which Simons responds to the "McGrath Report."[^14] The New School Associates records hold a presidential talk on "Hans Simon's report on India," dated January 28, 1960.[^15] His resignation is dated to 1960. Correspondence in his Adult Division file is "mainly after 1960, when Hans Simons resigned as president of The New School."[^16] He retired from the presidency in 1960.[^1] The scope note of the [John R. Everett](/people/john-r-everett/) records lists his presidency as 1950 to 1961.[^17] Press releases in the school's records announce the appointment of Henry David as president between January 18 and March 19, 1961, and record his inauguration on October 23, 1961.[^18][^19] David resigned on March 22, 1963.[^20] ### Project MKUltra memoranda, 1961 Two [Project MKUltra](/programs/project-mkultra/) subproject files released by the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) carry 1961 memoranda from the period of Simons's presidency. A draft memorandum for the record dated May 29, 1961 on Subproject 134 states that the subproject supports the research studies of a person whose name is redacted, and the CIA's September 1977 release to the New School reinserted "New School for Social Research" by hand in red at that point. The draft describes the relevance of the study as "its potential contribution to clandestine indirect assessment, i. e., without the subject's awareness," names "relationships between body type and temperament (personality characteristics)" as the earlier work on which the investigator would build, sets the cost at $22,000 for one year, and states that the investigator "is neither cleared nor witting of true Sponsor."[^21] A June 9, 1961 memorandum headed "Recommendation for Funding" in the same file recommends funding "despite the superficiality of the proposal" and says "This work fits into our indirect assessment requirement." The project summary gives actual work as expected to commence in September 1961, with the contractor field blank.[^22] A memorandum for the record dated August 24, 1961 on Subproject 137 supports the work of a "Dr." whose name is redacted, "of the" a redacted institution, and the CIA's 1977 release again inserted "New School for Social Research, New York City" in red. The memorandum describes completing "a psycholexicon on handwriting," states that she "has an international reputation for her work in graphology and speech," that she is "advanced in years" and her health "failing," and that her manuscript is "eighty percent complete."[^23] The grant was $2,000. A February 1963 accounting memorandum in the file states that the recipient "died in 1962 and did not send in an accounting," and an obligation-file certification records that a manuscript had been published.[^24] A 1977 CIA folder in the John R. Everett records of the New School describes "a report of two projects conducted at the New School in 1962 that received funding through MKUltra," and says that the first "attempted to discern relationships between body type and personality characteristics."[^25] The investigators' names remain redacted in both subproject files. The graphology teacher [Klara G. Roman](/people/klara-g-roman/) taught at the New School from 1948 until shortly before her death in 1962.[^26] ### India and the Ford Foundation In 1960 Simons retired from the presidency to work as a consultant and director for the [Ford Foundation](/organizations/ford-foundation/).[^1] He was an adviser and interlocutor for the Ford Foundation and other organizations.[^5] ### Occupation Germany and the Basic Law Simons served as an American liaison officer in [Frankfurt](/places/frankfurt/) am Main from 1947 to 1949.[^4] He took part in the making of the Basic Law as an American liaison officer to the Parlamentarischer Rat in 1947 and 1949.[^2] He was a civilian employee of the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS).[^3] He was called into the deliberations on the Basic Law.[^5] He received the Großes Verdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic in 1959.[^4] A high order from Theodor Heuss was conferred on him together with Arnold Brecht and Hans Staudinger.[^5] ### Death After a long illness, Simons died on March 28, 1972 at his home in Yonkers, New York.[^1][^3][^4][^27] [^1]: New School Histories, "Hans Simons," The New School Archives and Special Collections, https://histories.newschool.edu/node/347 (posted June 1, 2018; birth July 1, 1893 in Velbert; dean of the Graduate Faculty 1943 to June 1950; third president from June 1950; retirement in 1960 and consultancy and directorship for the Ford Foundation; death March 28, 1972 at his home in Yonkers). [^2]: Martin Otto, "Simons, Walter," Neue Deutsche Biographie 24 (2010), p. 441, https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz74819.html (genealogy: three sons, including Hans Simons (1893-1972), Dr. iur., Regierungsrat in the Reich Interior Ministry (SPD), Regierungspräsident in Liegnitz 1931 to 1932, emigrated 1935 to the United States, political science at the New School for Social Research, American citizen 1940, American liaison officer to the Parliamentary Council 1947/49 involved in the making of the Basic Law; Walter Simons as foreign minister 25 June 1920 to 10 May 1921 under Fehrenbach, Versailles delegation under Brockdorff-Rantzau, 1918 adviser to Max von Baden, SeSiSo circle with Seeckt and Solf, Kessler a member, Moltke family foundation trusteeship with Kreisau). [^3]: Deutsche Biographie, index entry "Simons, Hans," GND 117397911, https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd117397911.html (lifespan 1893-1972; birthplace Velbert; death place Yonkers, NY; occupations listed as Regierungspräsident in Liegnitz, President of the New School for Social Research, Zivilangestellter der OMGUS, Politologe, Jurist, Beamter). [^4]: Kieler Gelehrtenverzeichnis, "Hans Simons," https://cau.gelehrtenverzeichnis.de/person/1a828139-7fdf-65ae-69c4-4faa69597c49 (dissertation 1921 at Königsberg; 1920 to 1922 managing director of the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik; 1922 to 1923 Regierungsrat and 1923 to 1924 Oberregierungsrat in the Reich Interior Ministry; 1925 to 1930 director and professor of law at the Hochschule; 1928 to 1930 managing director of the Abraham Lincoln-Stiftung; 1930 to 1931 acting Regierungspräsident in Stettin; 1931 to 1932 Regierungspräsident in Liegnitz; 1933 to 1934 self-employed Handelsvertreter; 1943 to 1950 dean; 1947 to 1949 American liaison officer in Frankfurt am Main; 1959 Großes Verdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland; married twice; three children; died 1972 in Yonkers). [^5]: Thomas Meyer, review of Philipp Heß, "Ein deutscher Amerikaner: Der kosmopolitische Demokrat Hans Simons 1893-1972" (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2018), Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 59 (2019), https://library.fes.de/pdf-files//afs/81895.pdf (dismissal in 1933 and emigration with his second wife and her two daughters; Basic Law deliberations; Ford Foundation adviser and interlocutor; Heuss order with Brecht and Staudinger; death described as ill and tired; family papers assembled by the son of the first marriage, no Nachlass). [^6]: Daniel Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD dissertation, Duke University, 2013), p. 58 (the Hochschule's association with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation and the effect of those associations on contacts between Hochschule faculty, foundation administrators and American academics). [^7]: GEPRIS Historisch, "Simons, Hans," Personen-ID 5111597, https://gepris-historisch.dfg.de/person/5111597 (born July 1, 1893 in Velbert; died March 28, 1972 in Yonkers; work location Reichsministerium des Innern; 1928 application for a printing subsidy for the series "Das Werdende Zeitalter" refused). [^8]: Hans Simons, "Lehre und Lehrer," in Politik als Wissenschaft: Zehn Jahre Deutsche Hochschule für Politik, ed. Ernst Jäckh (Berlin: Hermann Reckendorf, 1931), pp. 203-210, as cited in Bessner, "The Night Watchman," footnote 71 (structure of the Hochschule: permanently associated politicians and lecturers hired on a case-by-case basis). [^9]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," footnote 33 (Hans Simons, "Some European Aspects of International Law," Social Research 2, no. 4 (November 1935): 469-470; Hans Simons, "Collective Security," Social Research 3, no. 4 (November 1936): 388). [^10]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," footnote 21 (Alvin Johnson, "Report to the Trustees of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science in the New School for Social Research, February 1935," Johnson Papers, Nebraska). [^11]: New York Public Library, Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars records, MssCol 922, Series I.B, "Non-Grantees," box 117, folder 3 (Simons, 1933-1943), https://archives.nypl.org/mss/922 (folder dates as given in the New School for Social Research page citation of the same finding aid). [^12]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Arnold Brecht lecture notes (NS-02-13-01), biographical note, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/232 (Brecht in the Research Division of the Graduate Faculty and the Institute of World Affairs, studying Germany's position in European postwar reconstruction (1942) with colleagues Adolph Lowe, Hans Simons and Hans Staudinger). [^13]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," footnote 74 (Goodwin Watson to Robert D. Leigh, May 12, 1943, RG 262, Entry 75, Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, Records of the Analysis Division, Records Relating to Personnel). The list also names Kurt Mattusch, Eric Dale, Hans W. Weigert and John H. Herz, and its only non-exile is Bernadotte E. Schmitt. [^14]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School central administration collection (NS-01-01-05), Series 1, "Simons, Hans. 'Future of the New School,' 1958 September 18," Box 1, Folder 42, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/14272 (scope note on the related Publicity Office record and the "McGrath Report"). [^15]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School Associates records (NS-03-02-01), Series 3, "President's talk: Hans Simon's report on India (1960 Jan 28), 1960," Box 7, Folder 2, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/19576 [^16]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School Adult Division Office of the Dean records (NS-02-01-01), Series 2, "Simons, Hans, 1947-1972," Box 2, Folder 25, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/18606 (scope note: "Correspondence mainly after 1960, when Hans Simons resigned as president of The New School"; transcript dated October 9, 1957 of his General Seminar lecture "Higher Adult Education: Its Place and Function"). [^17]: New School Archives and Special Collections, John R. Everett records (NS-01-01-02), scope note, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/289 ("Robert MacIver (1963-1964), Henry David (1961-1963), and Hans Simons (1950-1961)"). [^18]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School press release collection (NS-03-01-07), Box 1, Folder 17, "Announcements for appointment of Henry David as president, 1961 January 18-March 19," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/38467 [^19]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School Development and Public Relations Office records (NS-03-02-02), Series 2, "Inauguration of Dr. Henry David, 1961 Oct 23," Box 5, Folder 5, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/21027 (see also Box 1, Folder 19, "Henry David to be inaugurated as New School president Oct 23., 1961 September 29," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/38571) [^20]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School press release collection (NS-03-01-07), Box 1, Folder 27, "Henry David resigns as New School president, 1963 March 22," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/38760 [^21]: Central Intelligence Agency, MKUltra Subproject 134, draft memorandum for the record, "MKULTRA, Subproject 134," May 29, 1961 (red handwritten insertion "New School for Social Research" in paragraph 1), in the CIA's September 1977 release to the New School, John R. Everett records, New School Archives and Special Collections, digital object NS010102_000027, PDF p. 27 (103 pages), https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/34220 (investigator and consultant names blacked out). [^22]: Central Intelligence Agency, MKUltra Subproject 134 file, CIA reading room document 00017393, OCR text in Internet Archive item DOC_0000017393, https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017393 (memorandum of June 9, 1961, "Recommendation for Funding," $22,000; "its funding is recommended, despite the superficiality of the proposal"; "This work fits into our indirect assessment requirement"; initiated July 1961; work expected to commence September 1961; contractor field blank). [^23]: Central Intelligence Agency, MKUltra Subproject 137, memorandum for the record, August 24, 1961 (red handwritten insertion "New School for Social Research, New York City"), in the New School digital object NS010102_000027, PDF p. 78. [^24]: Central Intelligence Agency, MKUltra Subproject 137 file, CIA reading room document 00017396, https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396 (proposal "TO COMPLETE THE MANUSCRIPT OF A PSYCHOLEXICON ON WRITING AND THE WRITTEN WORD"; certification that the recipient of $2,000 died in 1962 without rendering an accounting and that a manuscript had been published); accounting memorandum of February 1963, New School digital object NS010102_000027, PDF p. 76. [^25]: New School Archives and Special Collections, John R. Everett records (NS-01-01-02), Series 3, "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1977-1978," File, Box 7, Folder 29, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/34220 (scope note quoted in the body). [^26]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Maurice Edwards papers (NA-0010-01), biographical note on Klara G. Roman (1881-1962), https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/284 (Roman taught at the New School from 1948 until shortly before her death). [^27]: Deutsche Biographie, index entry "Simons, Hans," GND 117397911, https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd117397911.html, and GEPRIS Historisch, https://gepris-historisch.dfg.de/person/5111597 (death March 28, 1972, Yonkers). --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*