ABSTRACT
Max Weber has with justice been called “the towering figure of modern sociology.” When read in the light of the Holocaust, Weber’s reflections on the organization, methods, and personnel of bureaucracy have a chilling aura of prophecy about them. W. I. Thomas’ theorem is as relevant to the status of pre-Holocaust German Jews as it is to Polish Jews. Rubenstein’s disclaimers seem to exclude this third usage in that he insists he does not charge Weber with any blame for the anticipations of the Holocaust attributed to his writings. Weber translated into the terminology of political sociology the insight of his mentor Friedrich Nietzsche that, if God no longer exists, at least the great man must become a god. He affirmed the political enfranchisement of all citizens, including the working class, which suffered political discrimination in Imperial Germany. Neitzsche’s superman was for Weber a typical product of the mind of a German philistine.
