Heidegger’s rudeness to Gertrud Jaspers broke his friendship with Jaspers

Evidence

Gertrud Jaspers had been dreading Heidegger’s visit, but she tried to welcome him for her husband’s sake. Before his arrival, she wrote to her parents: ‘Now I must say to myself: you are a lady from the Orient, they know how to cultivate hospitality! And I must simply be kind and keep quiet!’ She did just that, but Heidegger was rude to her on leaving: ‘he hardly said good-bye at all’, wrote Jaspers to Arendt later. For this, above all, Jaspers could not forgive him. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 283

Categorization

• SHARE: A vivid, humanizing detail about Heidegger’s boorishness toward a hostess — exactly the kind of anecdote a Heidegger specialist would appreciate.
• XREF: connects to: Heidegger appeared to lack character rather than possess bad character — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 307; Jaspers blamed his own politeness for failing to intervene with Heidegger — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 284; Heidegger signaled compliance with Nazism to his shocked friend Jaspers in 1933 — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 281 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Heidegger’s Nazi past and obscure late prose drove away former admirers #complicates (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 603