Heidegger embraced Nazism out of conviction, not convenience or coercion.

Evidence

But as it turned out, Arendt was right to assume the worst of him. In April 1933, all doubts about Heidegger were blown away when he accepted the post of rector of Freiburg University, a job that required him to enforce the new Nazi laws. It also required him to join the party. He did so, and then he delivered rousing pro-Nazi speeches to the students and faculty. He was reportedly seen attending the Freiburg book burning on 10 May, trooping through a drizzly evening by torchlight towards the bonfire in the square just outside the university library — almost on the steps of his own philosophy department. In private, meanwhile, he filled notebooks with philosophical thoughts alternating with Nazi-flavoured anti-Semitic remarks. When these ‘Black Notebooks’ were published in 2014, they provided yet more confirmation of something already known: Heidegger was a Nazi, at least for a while, and not out of convenience but by conviction. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 269

Categorization

• XREF: Connects with Hannah Arendt’s complex personal-political relationship with Heidegger, and with the recently published Black Notebooks debates about the link between his philosophy and his politics. — connects to: Heidegger refused to disavow Nazism because he saw easy repudiations as loathsome — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 604; Heidegger’s core concepts could as easily justify anti-Nazi resistance as submission — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 294; Heidegger denied Nazi sympathies to Arendt in early 1933 — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 267 (+6 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: which specific themes in Being and Time did philosophers later argue enabled or anticipated Heidegger’s Nazism?

Broader Connections

• Heidegger refused to disavow Nazism because he saw easy repudiations as loathsome #expands (0.90) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 604
• Heidegger denied Nazi sympathies to Arendt in early 1933 #contradicts (0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 267
• Heidegger retained Nazi sympathies well after his rectorate resignation #corroborates (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 298
• Heidegger appeared to lack character rather than possess bad character #complicates (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 307
• Fromm explained Nazism as sadistic-masochistic personality sickness. #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 892
• Heidegger’s core concepts could as easily justify anti-Nazi resistance as submission #qualifies (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 294