Hitler's Philosophers

331 Pages·2013·12.76 MB·English

by  Yvonne Sherratt

HITLER’S PHILOSOPHERS
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 1 08/12/12 2:10 PM
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 2 08/12/12 2:10 PM
HITLER’S
PHILOSOPHERS

yvonne sherratt
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 3 08/12/12 2:10 PM
Copyright © 2013 Yvonne Sherratt
The right of Yvonne Sherratt to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of
the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press)
without written permission from the publishers.
For information about this and other Yale University Press
publications, please contact:
U.S. office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com
Europe Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk
Set in Arno pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- publication Data
Sherratt, Yvonne, 1966–
Hitler’s philosophers / Yvonne Sherratt.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-300-15193-0 (cl : alk. paper)
1. Philosophers—Germany—History—20th century. 2. Philosophy, German—20th century.
3. Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945. I. Title.
B3181.S54 2012
193—dc23
2012026930
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 4 10/01/13 12:52 PM
This book is dedicated to my grandparents
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 5 08/12/12 2:10 PM
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 6 08/12/12 2:10 PM
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xi
Dramatis Personae xii
Prologue xv
Introduction xvii
Part 1
1 Hitler: The ‘bartender of genius’ 3
2 Poisoned Chalice 35
3 Collaborators 62
4 Hitler’s Lawmaker: Carl Schmitt 92
5 Hitler’s Superman: Martin Heidegger 104
Part 2
Hitler’s Opponents
6 Tragedy: Walter Benjamin 129
7 Exile: Theodor Adorno 160
8 The Jewess: Hannah Arendt 189
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 7 08/12/12 2:10 PM
viii CONTENTS
9 The Martyr: Kurt Huber 207
10 The Nuremberg Trials and Beyond 229
Epilogue 264
Notes 266
Bibliography 286
Index 295
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 8 08/12/12 2:10 PM
Illustrations
1. Adolf Hitler’s room in Landsberg, 1923. Getty Images, photograph 24.08.1923.
2. Hitler reading, Munich, 1931. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich/Fotoarchiv
Hoffmann.
3. Leni Riefenstahl’s inscription to Hitler in the first edition of Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s
Sämmtliche Werke, 1848. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
4. Hitler viewing the bust of Friedrich Nietzsche, 12 April 1931. Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich/Fotoarchiv Hoffmann.
5. Hitler meets Elizabeth Nietzsche at the Nietzsche Archive, Weimar, 1935.
© bpk, Berlin.
6. Carl Schmitt, 1930. Ullstein Bild.
7. Book burning, Berlin, 10 May 1933. © bpk, Berlin/Bayerische Staatsbibliothek/
Heinrich Hoffmann.
8. Heidegger at a public demonstration of support for Nazism by German professors,
11 November 1933. Ullstein Bild.
9. Walter Benjamin in the Bibliothèque Nationale, photograph by Gisèle Freund,
1937. © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, dist. RMN/Gisèle Freund/Guy Carrard.
10. Adorno at his desk in Yale Street, Santa Monica, CA, 1949. T.W. Adorno Archiv,
Frankfurt am Main/photographer: Franz Roehn.
11. Hannah Arendt, c. 1930. Granger Collection/TopFoto.
12. Kurt Huber, c. 1941. © Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand.
13. Roland Freisler. Bundesarchiv, Bild 151-39-23/photograph: o.Ang.
14. Interior of the Nuremberg courtroom, 30 September 1946. Bundesarchiv, Bild
183-H27798/photograph: o.Ang.
3935_01_Fm-Ch09.indd 9 08/12/12 2:10 PM