Heidegger, a peasant at heart, successfully maneuvered a path through class-rigid German society. And for this, as much as for his philosophical insights, he will be remembered.

In its time, the Nazi Party offered similar opportunities to millions of other young people without work and dispossessed by the terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty. Among other punishments for losing World War I, Germany was forced to pay 269 billion gold marks to international bankers – one of the most monstrous fines in all history. In 1933, Hitler refused further payments – the real reason for Britain starting World War 2 six years later. Germany’s sovereign debt was finally paid on Sunday 3 October 2010 – a completion date unnoticed by most of the world’s media.

If a just appraisal is to be made of Heidegger and his society, the biased perspective of ethnicity so painfully over-emphasized in this documentary must be abandoned. Economics and social psychology offer a broader and more salubrious platform.

Nazis are members of a political party. Nazis tried to take over the world – as well as eliminate all jews, homosexuals, gypsies, blacks, political oppositions and communists. (sorry for most people that have to read this incredibly patronising comment – but some things need to be said – and said quite clearly)

I’m not trying to say that there are no evil jews in this world , because there are evil people from all religions, races etc.. – and i’m not trying to justify everything in palestine/israel. However I think you need to reconsider what a ‘nazi’ actually is – because one thing i’m pretty sure on, is that a nazi is NOT a jew… i think thats one of the more obvious lessons of WW2 – you absolute moron.

and i quote you “nobody says anything” – hmm are you sure about? Every corner i turn these days theres someone trying to push their political beliefs regarding palestine/israel.

Do us all a favour, next time you want to promote hatred, or to start a completely irrelevant discussion about palestine/israel – please find the nearest bridge and feel free to jump off.

Kind regards,

For those of you that have never read Heidegger, I highly recommend it – it may seem like utter nonsense, but you simply need to give it time, I’ve been studying Heidegger for almost 4 years now, and I still need to re-read paragraphs a few times.

Once you can gain understanding of the main german/latin/greek terms – and grasp the main logical points then it gets a lot easier – and believe me, it’s worth it.

I think it’s easy to criticise this documentary about its lack of focus on his actual ideas, but you need to remember that it’s really difficult to explain Heidegger in 50 minutes. His philosophy is very, VERY, advanced, its not as easy as saying ‘A + B = C’ – you honestly need to give it time and some dedication if you want to get as much as you can from his writings.
Yes you can argue ‘they could have explained the basics’ – but even the basics require lengthy historical research into language, philosophy and also debate, discussion and time to reflect.

Of course, T. S. Elliot, Yates, Ezra Pound, Céline and others were also all great thinkers – pity they all got it wrong in thier politics! Or did they?