Comparing the Holocaust to postwar German expulsions broke all possibility of dialogue

Evidence

Marcuse was not willing to accept such an elaborate justification, and in any case Heidegger did not try to win him over. He ended his last letter to Marcuse with what sounds like a deliberate provocation, comparing the Holocaust to the post-war expulsion of Germans from Soviet-dominated zones of Eastern Europe — a comparison made by many other Germans at the time, but also a dig at Marcuse’s Communist sympathies. Marcuse was so disgusted that he addressed his reply almost entirely to that point. If Heidegger was capable of presenting such an argument, did that not mean he must be considered ‘outside of the dimension in which a conversation between men is even possible’? If Heidegger could not speak or reason, Marcuse could not see a way of attempting to speak or reason with him. With that, another silence descended. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 606

Categorization

• SEED: A potential essay angle: how one false equivalence in an apology can destroy the ember of reconciliation entirely — moral comparability as the hard line in dialogue.
• XREF: connects to: The Holocaust’s moral categories grew more contested after consensus about the facts settled — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 657; Holocaust scholarship distorted past Jewish persecution by forcing a continuity narrative — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 493; The Holocaust question must keep its full weight and horror — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 4 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Over twelve million ethnic Germans were expelled from postwar Europe #expands (0.95) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1530
• The Holocaust question must keep its full weight and horror #complicates (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 4
• The Holocaust’s moral categories grew more contested after consensus about the facts settled #complicates (0.75) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 657
• Holocaust uniqueness claims position all other genocides as marginal by comparison #complicates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 272
• Holocaust scholarship distorted past Jewish persecution by forcing a continuity narrative #complicates (0.70) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 493