man, all too human" flattery. Husser!
smiled-he should not have done so,
and his eyes were grave when, many
years afterwards, he heard of Heideg–
ger's rectorial address to the full meet–
ing of the University staff in 1933.
Von Mollendorff, the famous anato–
mist, was Rector when Hitler came into
power; he courageously resigned when
he saw that all his protests and efforts
to protect the freedom of learning were
of no avail. The acting Rector, Pro–
fessor Sauer, Dean of the Catholic
Faculty, disgustedly refused to carry
on-none of the other chairholders
was prepared to lend his hand to the
destruction of the idea and ideals of
learning and teaching for which our
Alma Mater then still stood. Christ's
words
"Die Wahrheit wird Euch frei
machen"
were engraved in golden let–
ters over the main portal of our Uni–
versity building.-
And Judas came-"short and stocky,
his hair thick and jet black."
Professor Heidegger came and ac–
cepted from the Nazi-Gauleiter
W~ner the Rectorship of The University
of Freiburg. And then he assembled
all of us; and in his inaugural ad–
dress he did not "disappear behind
his words"-he strutted well in front
of them ; he was not "afraid of them"
-with a bodyguard of uniformed
Nazis there was no need to be afraid;
his voice was not "subdued and quiet,"
not a "continuous whisper"-it was
loud and arrogant, and, when it whisp–
ered, (I can still hear it) it was vi–
cious and full of hatred. How he, the
disciple of a Jew, how he hated them
-how Judas must have hated Christ!
And he did not read "closely from his
typescript," and none of us was aware
or felt that Heidegger was conscious of
this "last leap and its consequences."
WE
LIVE IN CONSTANT
FEAR OF DISCOVERY ...
,
e
giving voice to the new-
1260
