The Shadow Side of the Semi-Civilized Man in the Archive of the Dutch Philosopher of History Johan Huizinga

Asya Sokratova-Kyaycheva
South-West University „Neofit Rilski“ Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

https://doi.org/10.53656/his2024-5-3-joh

Abstract. The article is intended to highlight little-known aspects of the activities of the Dutch philosopher of history Johan Huizinga, who, in the period before and during the Second World War, as rector of Leiden University was subject to anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi pressure. The study is centered on his correspondence and articles, including his speeches at the conferences of the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations organized at the time when Hitler came to power. A focus is then placed on Huizinga‘s last book, written while he was a prisoner of the Nazis and published posthumously. With it, the famous intellectual academic brings attention to the emergence of the „semi-civilized man“. Why and to what extent this new phenomenon is the main challenge for the future of Europe is one of the questions this article tries to answer..
Keywords: Huizinga, cultural history, Nazism, intellectual solidarity, „semi-civilized man“, European spirit

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