Armin Mohler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1920-04-12)12 April 1920 Basel, Switzerland |
| Died | 4 July 2003(2003-07-04) (aged 83) Munich, Germany |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Basel |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Neue Rechte (European New Right) |
| Notable ideas | Conservative Revolution |
Armin Mohler (12 April 1920 – 4 July 2003) was a Swiss political philosopher and journalist, known for his works on theConservative Revolution. He is widely seen as the father of theNeue Rechte (New Right), the German branch of theEuropean New Right.[1]
Armin Mohler was born inBasel, Switzerland, on 12 April 1920, the second child of a Swiss railway official. After passing his Abitur in 1938, he studied art history, German studies and philosophy at theUniversity of Basel. As a student, he wrote articles on art history and film criticism for theBaseler Nationalzeitung.[2] At that time, he espoused left radical and pacifist views,[3] but the reading of authors likeOswald Spengler,Friedrich Nietzsche,Thomas Mann, andErnst Jünger, as well as his military service in the Swiss army, increasingly eroded his ideological certainties.Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941–42 led to a political "awakening experience".[4] Enlisted during World War II, he deserted in February 1942 and crossed the border with Germany in order to join theWaffen-SS and fight against communism. He underwent training, but his application was later turned down.[4][5]
At the end of 1942 he returned to Basel and was sentenced to a year in prison for illegal border crossing and dereliction of duty.[6] After his release and recovery from tuberculosis, Mohler devoted himself to his dissertation.[7] In 1950, he publishedDie Konservative Revolution in Deutschland 1918-1932 (The Conservative Revolution in Germany, 1918-1932), the product of his doctoral thesis under the supervision of German-Swiss philosopherKarl Jaspers. The work helped spread the popularity of the concept of "Conservative Revolution" to a wider audience.[8]
From 1949 to 1953, Mohler served asErnst Jünger's private secretary. Between 1953 and 1961, he worked as a foreign correspondent inParis, mainly for the newspapersDie Tat,Die Zeit,Die Furche andChrist und Welt. There, he became enamored ofGaullism.[9] Under the pseudonym "Michael Hintermwald", he also published inGerhard Frey's far-right newspaperDeutschen National-Zeitung.[8][9] Mohler moved toMunich in 1961 to work for theCarl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation. He then served as its managing director from 1964 until its retirement in 1985.[10] Mohler identifiedFranz Josef Strauss, a Bavarian Christian social union politician, as hopeful right-wing candidate within the European tradition ofGaullism. Mohler's hope was, that Strauss would lead a right-wing national-revolutionary mass movement. During theSpiegel affair, Strauss did acknowledge, that he had read Mohler, and that his Gaullist stance informed the continuous confrontation with the political left in Bavaria.[11]
In 1967, Mohler received theKonrad Adenauer Prize for his work in journalism.[3][12]
In the 1980s Mohler actively promoted FrenchNouvelle Droite philosopherAlain de Benoist.[8] He wrote the introduction to de Benoist'sKulturrevolution von rechts (Cultural Revolution from the Right) when it appeared in West Germany in 1985.[13] Mohler had been introduced to French far-right ideas during his time in France.[14]
Mohler remained an unrepentant admirer of Italian and Spanish fascism until the end of his life.[8][3] Mohler died on 4 July 2003 in Munich. His eulogy was given by the then 32-year-oldGötz Kubitschek, who soon became one of the most importantGerman New Right figures.[15]
In 2025, the historianMaik Tändler published a book about Mohler and his influence,Armin Mohler und die intellektuelle Rechte in der Bonner Republik (lit. 'Armin Mohler and the Intellectual Right in the Bonn Republic').[16]
Mohler's seminal work is his bookDie Konservative Revolution in Deutschland 1918-1932 ("The Conservative Revolution in Germany, 1918-1932"), which initially was his doctoral thesis. There, he tried to unearthWeimar Republic right-wing thought and tradition apart from and alternative toNational Socialism. The most crucial thinkers of theConservative Revolution to him wereErnst Jünger,Oswald Spengler,Carl Schmitt,Ernst Niekisch,Hans Blüher, andThomas Mann (before his turn to liberalism).
In the words of historianRoger Woods, "Armin Mohler’s long-term project after 1945 was to portray the Conservative Revolution as a distinctive intellectual movement which was distorted by the Nazis and which, in its pure form, had a role to play as a model for Germany’s future. Mohler presents the Conservative Revolution as theory, and National Socialism as practice, and he asks to what extent a theory can be made responsible for a practice which varied from it."[17]
According to Michael Minkenberg, Mohler's ideas owed more to the Nouvelle Droite associated withGRECE than theOstpolitik-derived ideas of a strong German state associated with contemporaries likeRobert Spaemann andGerd-Klaus Kaltenbrunner.[18]
One of his favourite targets was the so-called "Vergangenheitsbewältigung", which he criticized in several books. That argument involved the claim that postwar Germany should 'step out ofHitler's shadow'. It was thus claimed that Mohler was a forerunner ofErnst Nolte and associated thinkers, who were involved in theHistorikerstreit.[19]
Aneopagan, Mohler viewed conservatism and Christianity as mutually exclusive and argued that Christians by necessity must embrace left-wing politics. This position met considerable opposition.[20]
Mohler's notion of Conservative Revolution has been described by some scholars likeRoger Griffin as a form offascism.[21] According to Woods, Mohler "illustrates the New Right tendency to separate what it regards as a pure version of fascism from the various attempts to put it into practice. He uncouples what he calls 'fascist style' from historical fascism, and on the basis of this distinction declares: 'I am a fascist'".[22]
Mohler supported conservative politicianFranz Josef Strauß and theChristian Social Union of Bavaria after his stint with the Siemens Foundation. He also backedThe Republicans for a brief time, serving as an adviser to its leaderFranz Schönhuber,[23] but saw no future for them. In 1983, he founded theDeutschlandrat (Council for Germany) with the support of a number of conservative university professors, but it never became a viable institution.[3]
Vor allem die These des Autors, der einem völkischen Neuheidentum anhängt, dass Christentum und Konservatismus sich ausschlössen, weil ein Christ notwendig zu einem Linken werden müsse, stößt auf Widerstand.
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