Sündenfall der Intellektuellen

Ulrike Ackermann's book recounts an episode in our recent history that threatens to slip from our collective memory. The "Congress for Cultural Freedom", founded in 1950, whose history and impact is reconstructed using contemporary sources, brought together European intellectuals who were united in their rejection of the totalitarianisms of fascism, National Socialism and communism. For the majority of the French left-wing intelligentsia of the time, it was clear that the Soviet Union and its "achievements" had to be defended at all costs. However, events such as those in Budapest (1956) and Prague (1968) and the "gulag shock" of the 1970s opened their eyes. French intellectuals began an intensive exchange with the dissident movements of Eastern Europe and supported them. Their West German colleagues were different: Their "fall from grace" consisted of relying on a politically blind anti-fascism after 1968, which prevented them from adequately confronting the reality of communist totalitarianism. Therefore, there could be no question of active solidarity with the persecuted Eastern European dissidents.