Victory came to extremist parties in a number of European countries in the wake of the chaos during and after the First World War. Italian Fascism and German National Socialism were counter-revolutionary movements. What Hitler thought of Russia and Communism at the time seemed unimportant, for he was far from being a leading figure even on the Munich scene, let alone in German affairs. In 1919-20 many Russian refugees reached Central Europe in the wake of the defeated White armies, but only a minority was politically minded, and even fewer were ‘ideologists’. Alfred Rosenberg, the chief ideologist of National Socialism, was also the leading party authority on things Russian. When Rosenberg arrived in Munich in January 1919, he turned for help to the Russian emigrés committee which provided a room and vouchers for food. Dietrich Eckart, who was also a poet of sorts, is now chiefly remembered for his translation into German of Peer Gynt.