Adorno legally renamed himself during his Californian exile in 1943

Evidence

In addition to his work on cultural matters, Adorno maintained his theoretical interests leading to Dialectic of the Enlightenment and his book of aphorisms, Minima Moralia; he also spent time trying to employ American empirical techniques in his work on The Authoritarian Personality and in a study of an American demagogue. Adorno returned to Germany with Horkheimer in 1949, but his work in California had not yet ended. In the winter of 1952-1953 he came back for a few months, primarily to retain his American citizenship. Through connections made while working on The Authoritarian Personality, he secured a position as director of the scientific branch of the Hacker Foundation in Beverly Hills. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 592 (#expands, via linked claim)

When I told him of my dissertation project, he contemptuously responded that Adomo and Horkheimer were craven sell-outs, who had betrayed the revolutionary cause; Adorno’s very change of name from the Jewish-sounding Wiesengrund, Rudd snarled, betokened his cowardice. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 5 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Adorno returned to California in 1952-53 chiefly to retain American citizenship — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 592; Sixties radicals viewed Adorno’s name change as cowardly betrayal — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 5

Broader Connections

• Adorno returned to California in 1952-53 chiefly to retain American citizenship #expands (0.78) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 592
• Sixties radicals viewed Adorno’s name change as cowardly betrayal #responds-to (0.74) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 5