Martin Heidegger

As well as being influential both in Europe and America in terms of his philosophical thinking, Heidegger is a figure whose political sympathies have attracted much attention and speculation. His most famous book "Being and Time" was published in 1927. Heidegger was a private supporter of Nazism from its inception, and in the 1930s made public his personal belief, pronouncing his belief in Hitler. In 1933 he was made "Rektor" of Freiburg University, a position which he hoped would enable him to put into practice his political and social views. He became one of the main instigators of the Nazification of German universities, encouraging students to salute him. This biography also looks at his philosophical ideas, his love of Hannah Arendt and his work as a Gestapo informer.