‘Nothing in France’, de Rougemont wrote, ‘can give any idea of the demagogic violence of these articles … their offensiveness, the determination to chase the opposition and beat them down to the very last resort, even to their deepest inner life. They are no longer content with even an exemplary submission. Anyone who does not demonstrate a joyful ardour in the service of the Party is denounced.’ To make his point, he quoted a Nazi litany published in Frankfurt University’s party newspaper: I have followed my course with zeal, I have shone in the seminar, I have given half a sou to the
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