Gottfried Benn and the Sacrifice of Intellect

This chapter turns to Gottfried Benn. As a late convert to the Nazi movement, he has made a complete about-face from left to right and been attacked on that score by the émigré intellectuals. For the convert provides even more valuable service than the philosopher whose belligerence predated the breakthrough of the Hitler Idea. Benn's support carries weight as evidence of the seductive power of National Socialism, as an exemplary sacrifice of the intellect, documenting the mindless opportunism that epitomises the current situation. To the outside observer it also reveals the depths to which any literary hack can sink. It has long been recognised that such authors lay it on thick when they are of Aryan descent, but the chapter shows that Benn, despite his radical rejection of the intellectual lifestyle, does not disown the formal tools of his trade, carrying the complete set into his new home.