Hitler's PhilosophersYale University Press, 2013 M05 1 - 336 pages A gripping account of the philosophers who supported Hitler's rise to power and those whose lives were wrecked by his regimeHitler had a dream to rule the world, not only with the gun but also with his mind. He saw himself as a "philosopher-leader" and astonishingly gained the support of many intellectuals of his time. In this compelling book, Yvonne Sherratt explores Hitler's relationship with philosophers and uncovers cruelty, ambition, violence, and betrayal where least expected—at the heart of Germany's ivory tower.Sherratt investigates international archives, discovering evidence back to the 1920s of Hitler's vulgarization of noble thinkers of the past, including Kant, Nietzsche, and Darwin. She reveals how philosophers of the 1930s eagerly collaborated to lend the Nazi regime a cloak of respectability: Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, and a host of others. And while these eminent men sanctioned slaughter, Semitic thinkers like Walter Benjamin and opponents like Kurt Huber were hunted down or murdered. Many others, such as Theodor Adorno and Hannah Arendt, were forced to flee as refugees. The book portrays their fates, to be dispersed across the world as the historic edifice of Jewish-German culture was destroyed by Hitler.Sherratt not only confronts the past; she also tracks down chilling evidence of continuing Nazi sympathy in Western Universities today. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
academic Adolf Alfred Alfred Rosenberg anti-Semitism Archive Baumler became become began Berlin Brecht Broderson 1996 career Carl Schmitt century childhood claimed collaboration concentration camps culture dark Darwin death Ernst Europe exile Farias father film France Frankfurt School Freiburg Friedrich Fuhrer German German philosophers Germany's Haeckel Hanfstaengl 2005 Hannah Arendt Hegel Heidegger's Heidelberg Heinrich Hitler Horkheimer human Husserl ideas Institute intellectual internment Jaspers Jewish philosopher Jewish-German Jews Kampf Kant Karl Konigsberg Krieck Kurt Huber Landsberg Landsberg prison later lectures letter lived Martin Heidegger Mein Kampf Messkirch Miiller-Doohm 2005 Munich National Socialism National Socialist Nazi Party Nazism Nietzsche Nietzsche's Nuremberg Nuremberg trials political prison professor of philosophy published Q Ibid race racial Rosenberg Scholem Schopenhauer Social Darwinism soon Sophie speech Theodor Adorno thinkers Third Reich University Wagner Walter Benjamin Weimar Weinreich 1999 White Rose wife writing wrote