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PARTISAN REVIEW
murder. The conservatives also have played up the heroic battle of
the German soldiers against communist Russia. But this, too,
should not obscure the true nature of the government for which they
fought. For the fact that fascism is also anticommunist cannot
mitigate any of its crimes.
It would seem obvious that there should be room for some mid–
dle ground: one that recognizes not only the lessons of the Holo–
caust, but also the need for a rebirth of the national ego.
If
Germany
is to become a nation again capable of acting in its own interest and
playing its assigned role in the defense of Western Europe, it can
neither forget its past nor be paralyzed by it. But such a return to a
normal political life by the German people can be accomplished only,
it seems to me, by extricating themselves from the extremes of the
left and the right. I am aware of a considerable body of opinion, m–
side and outside of Germany, that opposes not only a restoration of
nationalism but also the unification of Germany, on the ground that
a strong Germany would once again threaten the peace of the world.
One can only speculate about such possibilities, but, in the light of
the general revulsion against the Hitler era, it seems highly unlikely.
And it is also of some interest to note that a weak and floundering
Germany would suit the political purposes of the Soviet Union .
*
* *
The recent flurry of writing and publicity about Sartre - and to
a lesser extent about Simone de Beauvoir-would seem to indicate a
Sartre revival. There have been several biographies, a number of
studies , and a lengthy portrait of Sartre on public television. But
despite a lingering interest in Sartre by his admirers, I do not think
there is any widespread nostalgia for Sartre's ideas or his role in
postwar France. Certainly, the intellectual mood of France today is
quite antithetical to the things both celebrated writers stood for. Sar–
tre's resurrection seems to be to some extent a publishing event and a
product of the constant search of the media to discover a new face or
to rediscover an old one.
If
there is an intellectual meaning to the
Sartre-de Beauvoir return, it might be because deconstruction,
the philosophy that succeeded Sartre , was too esoteric to take hold of
the popular interest, and in any event is on the way out, and because
the feminist movement has given new life to Simone de Beauvoir. It
could also be that anyone with a generalizing mind and a larger
scope would have a special appeal, if only temporarily, at a time of
specialization and a shortening of intellectual horizons.