Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977) was born in Florence. He converted to Catholicism in 1914. He taught philosophy at the University of Munich. Soon after the end of World War I, Dietrich denounced Nazism in articles and speeches throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. He left Germany for Austria and then fled Austria, just as it fell to the Nazis, when Hitler gave orders for his assassination. During this time he wrote Transformation in Christ. At last Dietrich arrived safe but penniless in New York, where he was hired as professor of philosophy at Fordham University. He died in 1977 in New Rochelle, New York.