Abstract
After the rise to power of the German National Socialist Party (January 30, 1933), German academia soon realized that a requirement for “muddling through” was to avoid the stigma of being regarded as “politically unreliable,” thus to appear aligned and loyal to the state policies. The focus is here on the physics community. A rhetoric of alignment developed with the objective to justify collaboration as a rational and morally justified strategy. In the early post-war years, the rhetoric was reoriented to deny any involvement (other than as resistance) systematically using a conceptual framework foreshadowing the principles of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction (CDR) and the related framework of Rhetorical (Informal) Fallacies. This affinity is here studied with reference to statements from the period.
Highlights
The rise of National Socialism (NS) to power was widely met with enthusiasm in Germany, including the scientific community
For those not directly targeted as enemies to the regime, it was tempting to rationalize the situation as a brief phase of transition to stability and ideas of a patriotic duty to participate in the resurrection of the role of the Vaterland
Very soon it became evident that to pursue a career in NS Germany, one must at any cost avoid being regarded as “politically unreliable.”
Summary
The rise of National Socialism (NS) to power was widely met with enthusiasm in Germany, including the scientific community. Keywords physics in Nazi Germany, alignment, Persilschein, bygonism, Werner Heisenberg, Otto Hahn, Max Planck, Max von Laue, cognitive dissonance reduction, rhetorical fallacy
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