Editing Martin Heidegger (section)

===The rectorate===
[[File:Universität Freiburg Kollegiengebäude I (Altbau).jpg|thumb|left|The [[University of Freiburg]], where Heidegger was Rector from 21 April 1933 to 23 April 1934]]
[[Adolf Hitler]] was sworn in as [[Chancellor of Germany (German Reich)|Chancellor of Germany]] on 30 January 1933. Heidegger was elected [[Rector (academia)|rector]] of the [[University of Freiburg]] on 21 April 1933, and assumed the position the following day. On 1 May, he joined the [[Nazi Party]].

On 27 May 1933, Heidegger delivered his inaugural address, the ''Rektoratsrede'' (titled "The Self-assertion of the German University"), in a hall decorated with swastikas, with members of the [[Sturmabteilung]] (SA) and prominent Nazi Party officials present.{{sfn|Sharpe|2018}}

That summer he delivered a lecture on a fragment of [[Heraclitus]] (usually translated in English: "War is the father of all"). His notes on this lecture appear under the heading "Struggle as the essence of Beings."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Heidegger |first=Martin |title=Being & Truth |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1933 |isbn=978-0253355119 |publication-date=2010 |pages=124 |chapter=The Saying of Hearaclitus: Struggle as the essence of Beings}}</ref> In this lecture he suggests that if an enemy cannot be found for the people then one must be invented, and once conceptualized and identified, then the 'beings' who have discovered or invented this enemy must strive for the total annihilation of the enemy.<ref name=":0" />

His tenure as rector was fraught with difficulties from the outset. Some [[Nazi]] education officials viewed him as a rival, while others saw his efforts as comical. Some of Heidegger's fellow Nazis also ridiculed his philosophical writings as gibberish. He finally offered his resignation as rector on 23 April 1934, and it was accepted on 27 April. Heidegger remained a member of both the academic faculty and of the Nazi Party until the end of the war.{{sfn|Sheehan|1988}}

Philosophical historian [[Hans Sluga]] wrote, "Though as rector he prevented students from displaying an [[anti-Semitic]] poster at the entrance to the university and from holding a book burning, he kept in close contact with the Nazi student leaders and clearly signaled to them his sympathy with their activism."{{sfn|Sluga|2013|page=149}}

In 1945, Heidegger wrote of his term as rector, giving the writing to his son Hermann; it was published in 1983:

<blockquote>The rectorate was an attempt to see something in the movement that had come to power, beyond all its failings and crudeness, that was much more far-reaching and that could perhaps one day bring a concentration on the Germans' Western historical essence. It will in no way be denied that at the time I believed in such possibilities and for that reason renounced the actual vocation of thinking in favor of being effective in an official capacity. In no way will what was caused by my own inadequacy in office be played down. But these points of view do not capture what is essential and what moved me to accept the rectorate.{{sfn|Neske|Kettering|1990|page=29}}</blockquote>