GERMAN ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM AND THE DESTRUCTION OF EPISTEMIC AUTONOMY IN THE THIRD REICH

Abstract

This article analyzes German anti-intellectualism in the context of the Third Reich, understanding it as a structural phenomenon linked to the reorganization of the conditions of knowledge production and validation under the logic of political power. It is based on the hypothesis that National Socialism did not reject science, but rather captured and ideologically reconfigured it, subordinating it to state interests and the authority of the Führer. Methodologically, this is a qualitative, theoretical-bibliographic study grounded in a hermeneutic-critical approach, drawing on authors such as Evans, Kershaw, Proctor, Arendt, Bauman, and Koonz. The findings indicate that Nazi anti-intellectualism operated through three main axes: (i) the institutional destruction of academic autonomy, including the purge of intellectuals and the reorganization of universities under the logic of Gleichschaltung; (ii) the instrumentalization of science as a mechanism to legitimize racial and exclusionary policies; and (iii) the personalization of truth in the figure of Adolf Hitler, redefining the criteria of knowledge validity. The study concludes that the erosion of epistemic autonomy was a fundamental condition for the consolidation of the totalitarian regime, demonstrating that the control of knowledge is not merely an instrument of power, but a structural element of authoritarian domination.