Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
The Journal of Holocaust Research
Angaben zur Quelle:
33,1 (2019) 83-97
Keywords:
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, Political and social views
;
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, Influence
;
Genocide Moral and ethical aspects
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Nietzsche was widely regarded as a thinker who instigated the selective breeding and the eugenic policies of National Socialism, indeed even its genocidal violence. In the subsequent years and decades, however, Nietzsche was largely cleared of such charges. His many defenders claimed that he was a firm protector of Judaism, his writings offering a rich and nuanced anthropological vision. This common, virtuous portrayal of Nietzsche eschews his resonant call to exterminate masses of ‘failed' people. This jarring, portentous call, found both in his published and unpublished work, cannot be discounted and ought not to be relativized. The present essay underscores the significance of Nietzsche's transgression of ethical limits and explores the possible consequences of the view that the state has the right to dispose of masses of its own population. It contends that in that transgression was contained, even, the possibility of the Shoah.
DOI:
10.1080/25785648.2019.1564210
URL:
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