Did Plato's The Republic influence any of the 20th century's despotic regimes?

Question

Did Plato's The Republic and the ideas presented in it have any practical influence on any of the 20th century's despotic regimes? The idea of despotism of the wisest, those that know better than the rest of the society, would probably be very appealing to ruling parties. Karl Popper called the Plato the enemy of the open society. The idée fixe of Pol Pot was to create the ideal society based on the ideals invented by himself. The idea of separating children from parents have arisen again in works of 19th century precursors of communism. So, were some of the modern dictators fascinated by Plato's idea and wanted to turn them into life, or is The Republic just based on the ideas that are existing in the human soul? Are there any studies or articles in that area?

Answer 1

There are 2 completely opposite takes on Plato

Karl Popper and John Wild, with the latter being (to me) right. His book is Plato's Modern Enemies and the Theory of Natural Law.