4 ms·

German culture was going strong until the purges under Fascism began - in philosophy, art, mathematics, physics & other sciences. One of the shocking aspects o

by dkural 9y ago

German culture was going strong until the purges under Fascism began - in philosophy, art, mathematics, physics & other sciences. One of the shocking aspects of the rising of Fascism was that it happened in an intellectually fertile environment with many reasonable people. It is tempting to try to spot a gradual decline in German culture, but that was not the case. It was on the rise until Hitler physically liquidated the intelligentsia.

kbart 9y ago
There were too few intelligent people to make a difference and standing out would only mean personal sacrifice without much overall impact. Smart people usually know when it's better to stay silent.. Dangerous parallels can be drawn to today's situation in many leading countries.
differonzi 9y ago
It isn't entirely shocking. Intellectually fertile doesn't equal morally or ethically predictable. Well, maybe there are studies which link politics and IQ, but political leanings aren't always great predictors of ethics/morals in action. Edit: And perhaps I'm misconstruing your statement, which seems to have more to do with the decline in German culture after the purges rather than what led to the purges.
G2kyd7 9y ago
I wouldn't call it a decline at all, I only highlighted this area because it was particular strong in terms of significance and cultural output. You could argue that a golden age was followed by a silver age until 1933, as you mentioned. Quite a few people argued since then that the rise of fascism was surprising because of the intellectual environment, but that it was a actually a pre-requisite for it to happen that way. If that is accurate or not, is a different matter but one could make a point that the "German question" combined with the propensity for total, systemic philosophical systems in German culture contributed to the uniqueness of what happened during 1933-45.
davidreiss 9y ago
> It was on the rise until Hitler physically liquidated the intelligentsia. That's not true. Hitler didn't liquidate the intelligentsia. The first programmable computer ( by konrad zuse ) was created during that time. The first rockets were developed during that time. Hitler didn't wipe out all the nobel prize winners in germany. Germany was still a major intellectual center before, during and AFTER ww2. Germany is still the 3rd largest producer of nobel prize winners with 106. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Nobel_laureates_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Nobel_lau... Germany didn't go anywhere. Hitler isn't germany. Hitler is just a blip in german history.
- dgut 9y ago
  Why the downvotes? He is right. The reason Germany, England, and France (Spain didn't catch up because they had no reason to as a negative consequence of their enormous wealth at the time) excelled to such extent that this particular period appears like a very special and wonderful intellectual age, is that the rest of the world was for the most part severely under-developed. Germany didn't become less "wise". Today the contrast is much smaller, but Germany continues to be a scientific powerhouse even if it isn't as evident.
- herbst 9y ago
  No idea how you are reading this but Germany is on 11 for me. However thanks for linking, didn't know Switzerland is 2 Edit:// just realized you were going by numbers and not by capita

by dkural 9y ago

kbart 9y ago

There were too few intelligent people to make a difference and standing out would only mean personal sacrifice without much overall impact. Smart people usually know when it's better to stay silent.. Dangerous parallels can be drawn to today's situation in many leading countries.

differonzi 9y ago

It isn't entirely shocking. Intellectually fertile doesn't equal morally or ethically predictable. Well, maybe there are studies which link politics and IQ, but political leanings aren't always great predictors of ethics/morals in action. Edit: And perhaps I'm misconstruing your statement, which seems to have more to do with the decline in German culture after the purges rather than what led to the purges.

G2kyd7 9y ago

I wouldn't call it a decline at all, I only highlighted this area because it was particular strong in terms of significance and cultural output. You could argue that a golden age was followed by a silver age until 1933, as you mentioned. Quite a few people argued since then that the rise of fascism was surprising because of the intellectual environment, but that it was a actually a pre-requisite for it to happen that way. If that is accurate or not, is a different matter but one could make a point that the "German question" combined with the propensity for total, systemic philosophical systems in German culture contributed to the uniqueness of what happened during 1933-45.

davidreiss 9y ago

> It was on the rise until Hitler physically liquidated the intelligentsia. That's not true. Hitler didn't liquidate the intelligentsia. The first programmable computer ( by konrad zuse ) was created during that time. The first rockets were developed during that time. Hitler didn't wipe out all the nobel prize winners in germany. Germany was still a major intellectual center before, during and AFTER ww2. Germany is still the 3rd largest producer of nobel prize winners with 106. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Nobel_laureates_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Nobel_lau... Germany didn't go anywhere. Hitler isn't germany. Hitler is just a blip in german history.

dgut 9y ago
Why the downvotes? He is right. The reason Germany, England, and France (Spain didn't catch up because they had no reason to as a negative consequence of their enormous wealth at the time) excelled to such extent that this particular period appears like a very special and wonderful intellectual age, is that the rest of the world was for the most part severely under-developed. Germany didn't become less "wise". Today the contrast is much smaller, but Germany continues to be a scientific powerhouse even if it isn't as evident.
herbst 9y ago
No idea how you are reading this but Germany is on 11 for me. However thanks for linking, didn't know Switzerland is 2 Edit:// just realized you were going by numbers and not by capita