Hoelderlin--1942

[Steven E. Callihan]

>>Cf. also e.g. GA53:98 where Heidegger talks about the "historical
>>uniqueness" of
>>National Socialism and keep in mind that 1942 was the year Heidegger delivered
>>this lecture.
>>Michael
>
>This reminder about the concrete political situation strikes me as very
>important.  Wasn't 1942 the year Amercian entered the war (which might help
>to contexualize Heidegger's rants against unhistorical Americanism)?   What
>else was happening?  At this point Germany still thought they would 'win,'
>right?  The political performaticity of this lecture is complex, but
>perhaps it would help (pace Heidegger) to gather up more of the factical
>historiographical context in order to at least situate (if not decode)
>Heidegger's unheimlich/unheimisch 'intervention.'  Any history buffs out
>there?
>Thanks,
>Iain

Not really a buff, but checked the Encyclopedia Brittanica. The Russian
counter-offensive and encirclement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad ran from
Nov. 19 through Nov. 23. This was certainly the turning point of the Russian
campaign. The initial German offensive had already been enmired the previous
winter, so, even if Heiddeger's lectures were pre-Stalingrad, German
optimism had certainly long since suffered serious and repeated blows.

It's interesting that the theme of Americanism and Bolshevism representing
twin Nihilistic evils was a mainstay of Goebbels' propaganda machine once
the Americans had entered the war, until the emphasis switched to trying to
recruit the Western Powers over to the German side to brook the Russian
tide. Of course, Heidegger puts his own twist on it.

Steve Callihan
callihan at callihan.com



     --- from list heidegger at lists.village.virginia.edu ---