scholarly journals Heidegger’s metapolitics

2016 ◽  
pp. 229-244
Author(s):  
Rastko Jovanov
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Modern Politics ◽  
German People

This paper examines Heidegger?s political engagement on the basis of the concept of meta-politics, which Heidegger for the first and only time introduced in his so-called ?Black Notebooks?, written during his 1933/34 Rectorship at the Freiburg University. Through the concept of ?metapolitics?, Heidegger attempts to deconstruct the modern politics by demanding that the theoretical reflections after Hitler's takeover of power in national socialist Germany give priority to the (spiritual) action. Philosophical concepts thereby operate as a ?weapon? in the struggle against modern democracy and are put into service of the German people, understood as ?true community?, which is the only one capable to ask the question of the Being from the horizon of the ?metaphysics as metapolitics?. Heidegger labelled his political engagement as a ?spiritual National Socialism? and tried to implement it through the reshaping of the German educational institutions. Thus, one part of the paper will also examine his understanding of the education as a means of his political engagement. In conclusion, this paper strives to show the ambivalence, agonism and the messianism of Heidegger's philosophical conception of the politics, but also the unavoidable Antisemitism of his theoretical and political engagement.

Barth, Bonhoeffer, and Modern Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Modern Politics ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

Recent political events around the world have raised the specter of an impending collapse of democratic institutions. Contemporary worries about the decline of liberal democracy harken back to the tumult of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in Germany during the rise of National Socialism, and each reflected on what the rise of totalitarianism meant for the aspirations of modern politics. Engaging the realities of totalitarian terror, they avoided despairing rejections of modern society. Beginning with Barth in the wake of the First World War, following Bonhoeffer through the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany, and concluding with Barth’s postwar reflections in the 1950s, this study explores how these figures reflected on modern society during this turbulent time and how their work is relevant to the current crisis of modern democracy

scholarly journals Effects of German Romanticism on National Socialist Education Policies: “Steely Romanticism”

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Murad Karasoy
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
German Romanticism ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Press ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Foundations ◽  
The 19Th Century

National socialist education policies put into practice between 1933–1945 in Germany, has been under the influence of romanticism, which is one of the important currents in the history of German thought that began in the middle of the 19th century. Such “being under the influence” does not refer to a passive situation, but it rather means intentional “exposure” by Nazi ideologues. The meeting of Romanticism with National Socialism led to the most dramatic scenes of the history. Educational institutions, where the victims of war were trained, bipartitely fulfilled the task assigned to them regarding to ideological instrumentalism: to destroy and to be destroyed. Putting an end to both their lives own and the lives of others due to this romantic exposure, primary, secondary and higher education students have been the objects of the great catastrophe in the first half of the twentieth century. It will be possible to see the effects of German romanticism, through getting to the bottom of the intellectual foundations of the period’s tragic actions, such as burning books, redesigning the curriculum on the line of National Socialism, and preventing the dissemination of dissenting opinions by monopolizing the press. This historical research, which is conducted by examining sources like Arendt (1973), Fest (1973), Giles (1985), Bartoletti (2005), Herf (1998), Heidegger (2002), Hitler (1938), Huch (2005), Hühnerfeld (1961), Schirach (1967), Pöggeler (2002), Thomese (1923), Zimmerman (1990) aims to reveal in a scientific way that it is necessary to be careful against the extreme romantic elements in the practices of education.

Fichte and National Socialism

1942 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. Kaufmann
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
German Nation ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
Humanitarian Values ◽  
German People ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right ◽  
External Form

Next to Hegel and Nietzsche, Fichte is the German philosopher most frequently blamed as one of the principal inspirers of the National Socialist ideologies of state despotism and the superiority of the German people. Indeed, it is not difficult to find in Fichte's work any number of passages which might be interpreted in such a way as to corroborate these views. In the writings of his middle period, around 1800, Fichte arrives at a despotism of reason which in its practical application might be even more consistently restraining than the rule of our modern dictators. In his programmatic speeches for the restoration of the German nation, he ascribes to his people a divine mission which has shocked many of his interpreters. Therefore we cannot be surprised that historians who, in accordance with the demands of their profession, lay more stress on the effects of thoughts and actions than on the intentions which motivate them, attribute to Fichte a good share of responsibility for the ideology of the National Socialist party and its hold on the German people. Yet these historians are right only with regard to the external form, while the intended aims of the two systems of thought are diametrically opposed to one another.On the whole, Fichte is a moral idealist whose principal concerns are the political and inner freedom of the individual, the right and duty of the individual to contribute his best to the welfare and the cultural progress of his nation, the independence of all nationalities, social security, and an acceptable standard of living for every human being. These demands are based on a genuine respect for the dignity of man and the desire to contribute to the rule of humanitarian values in all human relations. The National Socialist, on the contrary, is fundamentally an egotistic materialist, a ruthless Herrenmensch, with a deep-rooted contempt for freedom, equality, and all humanitarian values.

scholarly journals Weimar Culture and the Rise of National Socialism: The Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur

1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan E. Steinweis
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
German Economy ◽  
German Society ◽  
Organizational Strategies ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Socialist Movement ◽  
German People ◽  
Weimar Culture ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
To Receive

Between 1928 and 1932, the National Socialist movement transformed itself from an insurgent fringe party into Germany's most potent political force. The most important factor in this dramatic turnabout in political fortunes was the rapid deterioration of the German economy beginning in 1929. It does not, however, logically follow that the German people simply fell into the lap of the party and its charismatic leader. To the contrary, the party aggressively employed sophisticated propagandistic and organizational strategies for attracting and mobilizing diverse segments of German society. With the onset of the economic crisis, and the consequent social and political turmoil, the party stood ready to receive, organize, and mobilize Germans from all social strata.

The Language of Ideology: Lingual Manipulation of Readers in German Literature of the Third Reich

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Michael Press
Keyword(s):  
German Literature ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
Historical Argument ◽  
Underlying Basis ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
German People

In recognizing more than just hyperbole in their critical studies of National Socialist language, post-war philologists Viktor Klemperer (1946) and Eugen Seidel (1961) credit persuasive words and syntax with the expansion of Hitler's ideology among the German people. This popular explanation is being revisited by contemporary philologists, however, as new historical argument holds the functioning of the Third Reich to be anything but monolithic. An emerging scholarly consensus on the presence of more chaos than coherence in Nazi discourse suggests a new imperative for research. After reviewing the foundational works of Mein Kampf (1925) and Myth of the Twentieth Century (1930), the author confirms Klemperer and Seidel’s claim for linguistic manipulation in the rise of the National Socialist Party. Most importantly, this article provides a detailed explanation of how party leaders employed rhetorical language to promote fascist ideology without an underlying basis of logical argumentation.

Hitler, for Example: Registers of National Socialist Exemplarity in Contemporary Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Nitzan Shoshan
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Far Right ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Third Reich

Abstract This article examines whether and how the figure of Adolf Hitler in particular, and National Socialism more generally, operate as moral exemplars in today’s Germany. In conversation with similar studies about Mosely in England, Franco in Spain, and Mussolini in Italy, it seeks to advance our comparative understanding of neofascism in Europe and beyond. In Germany, legal and discursive constraints limit what can be said about the Third Reich period, while even far-right nationalists often condemn Hitler, for either the Holocaust or his military failure. Here I revise the concept of moral exemplarity as elaborated by Caroline Humphry to argue that Hitler and National Socialism do nevertheless work as contemporary exemplars, in at least three fashions: negativity, substitution, and extension. First, they stand as the most extreme markers of negative exemplarity for broad publics that understand them as illustrations of absolute moral depravity. Second, while Hitler himself is widely unpopular, Führer-substitutes such as Rudolf Hess provide alternative figures that German nationalists admire and seek to emulate. Finally, by extension to the realm of the ordinary, National Socialism introduces a cast of exemplars in the figures of loving grandfathers or anonymous fallen soldiers. The moral values for which they stand, I show, appear to be particularly significant for young nationalists. An extended, more open-ended notion of exemplarity, I conclude, can offer important insights about the lingering afterlife of fascist figures in the moral life of European nationalists today.

‘We Mature into a Resilient People’ Publishing House De Amsterdamsche Keurkamer

Quaerendo ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 284-304
Author(s):  
Gerard Groeneveld
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Dutch Translation

AbstractDe Amsterdamsche Keurkamer, founded in 1932, was the first National Socialist publishing house in the Netherlands. Under the management of author and poet George Kettmann the firm grew to become one of the major cultural mainstays of National Socialism in Holland. Kettmann earned himself some sort of reputation in the late thirties when he brought out a Dutch translation of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In the years of the occupation his company succeeded in defining the position and character of the ‘official’ literature ‐ ‘official’ meaning in line with National Socialist ideology.

Fritz: Nazi Propagandist

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Renwick Monroe
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Nazi Party ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Socialist Movement

This chapter showcases a Dutch collaborator named Fritz. Fritz shared many of Tony's prewar conservative opinions in favor of the monarchy and traditional Dutch values, although he was of working-class origins, unlike Tony and Beatrix, who were Dutch bourgeoisie. But unlike Beatrix or Tony, Fritz joined the Nazi Party, wrote propaganda for the Nazi cause, and married the daughter of a German Nazi. When he was interviewed in 1992, Fritz indicated he was appalled at what he later learned about Nazi treatment of Jews but that he still believed in many of the goals of the National Socialist movement and felt that Hitler had betrayed the movement. Fritz is thus classified as a disillusioned Nazi supporter who retains his faith in much of National Socialism, and this chapter is presented as illustrative of the psychology of those who once supported the Nazi regime but who were disillusioned after the war.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Joshua Mauldin
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

Recent political events around the world have raised the specter of an impending collapse of democratic institutions. Contemporary worries about the decline of liberal democracy harken back to the tumult of the 1930s and 1940s in Europe. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in Germany during the rise of National Socialism, and each reflected on what the rise of totalitarianism meant for the aspirations of modern politics. Engaging the realities of totalitarian terror, they avoided despairing rejections of modern society. Beginning with Barth in the wake of the First World War, following Bonhoeffer through the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany, and concluding with Barth’s postwar reflections in the 1950s, this study explores how these figures reflected on modern society during this turbulent time and how their work is relevant to the current crisis of modern democracy.

Der Tod und die Rente: Tuberkulosebekämpfung und Sozialversicherung im Nationalsozialismus

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-149
Author(s):  
Patrick Bernhard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Pension Insurance ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Tuberculosis Patients ◽  
State Pension

Zusammenfassung Historisch betrachtet ist die Rentenversicherung einer der wichtigsten institutionellen Akteure des deutschen Sozialsystems im Kampf gegen die Volkskrankheit Tuberkulose, die noch zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts die Statistik der Todesursachen anführte. Wie der Beitrag auf der Basis umfangreicher Archivrecherchen zeigt, blieb die Rentenversicherung auch nach der nationalsozialistischen Machteroberung strukturell in erheblichem Maß in die öffentliche Gesundheitspolitik eingebunden und arbeitete eng mit den für die Tuberkulosebekämpfung zuständigen Stellen von Staat und NSDAP zusammen. Das geschah jedoch nicht ausschließlich, weil die nationalsozialistische Diktatur Druck auf die Rentenversicherung ausübte, wie nach 1945 in apologetischer Absicht zu lesen war. Neben Zwang spielten noch andere Faktoren eine entscheidende Rolle: starke institutionelle Kontinuitäten und ein spezifisches Traditionsverständnis innerhalb der Rentenversicherung, ideologische Schnittmengen im Denken von NS-Gesundheitspolitikern und leitenden Mitarbeitern der Rentenversicherung sowie Eigeninteressen von Heilanstalten, die das nationalsozialistische Zwangssystem für Tuberkulosekranke nutzten, um sich unbequemer Tuberkulosepatienten zu entledigen. Im Extremfall bedeutete das die eigenständige Ermordung von Patienten durch Ärzte der Rentenversicherung. Abstract Death and Social Security: The German State Pension System and Anti-Tuberculosis Battles under National Socialism Seen in historical context, the state pension system was among the most important institutional actors in the German social system in the fight against the widespread public health crisis of tuberculosis, which remained a major statistical cause of death at the beginning of the 20th century. Based on extensive archive research, this paper demonstrates that to a significant extent, the pension system remained structurally embedded in public health policy after the National Socialist seizure of power, working hand in hand with the NSDAP and the government agencies responsible for combating tuberculosis. Their close cooperation was not merely the result of pressure exerted by the Nazi dictatorship on pension insurance, as one reads in post-1945 apologetic texts. Alongside coercion, other factors played a critical role, including major institutional continuities and a specific understanding of tradition within the pension insurance system, ideological overlap between the thinking of National Socialist health policy-makers and leading state pension officials, and the self-interest of sanatoria, which used the coercive National Socialist system for tuberculosis patients to rid themselves of undesirable tuberculosis patients. In extreme cases, this meant the deliberate murder of patients by pension system doctors.

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