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Victor Farías

Chilean historianIn this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Farías and the second or maternal family name is Soto. Victor Farias in 2010

Víctor Ernesto Farías Soto (born 4 May 1940) is a Chilean historian. Farías is best known for his controversial book Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm (1987).

Contents

  • 1 Education
  • 2 Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm
  • 3 Salvador Allende
  • 4 Bibliography
  • 5 See also
  • 6 References
  • 7 External links

Education

Farías was born in Santiago in 1940. He graduated from the Catholic University of Chile in 1961 and continued his studies in Freiburg, Germany, where he obtained a doctorate in Philosophy. During his stay in Germany, Farías studied under such German thinkers as Martin Heidegger, Rainer Marten, and Eugen Fink. Farías returned to Chile in 1971 but fled back to Germany after the 1973 coup which deposed President Allende. Farías became an investigator and professor in the Free University of Berlin, where he worked until 2006.

Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm

A one-time student of Heidegger, Farías is best known for his controversial book Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm (1987), which concluded that Heidegger's philosophy is inherently fascist. His writings are informed by his philosophical education in Germany and a political commitment to the Chilean left. Farías viewpoint in his work is also conscious of Chile's involvement as a place of sanctuary and refuge to National Socialist German Workers' Partys during and after the war. Upon its publication, Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm obtained international attention and was published in 14 countries.

Salvador Allende

Farías has also garnered considerable controversy because of his allegations against Salvador Allende and the Socialist Party of Chile in general. During this period Farías also published studies on Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. Farías's publication of Salvador Allende: Antisemitism and Euthanasia (Salvador Allende: Antisemitismo y Eutanasia) made claims that Allende's graduation thesis expressed anti-Semitic views and supported National Socialist German Workers' Party Germany's plans of sterilization of the mentally unfit. The book, published in Chile, Spain, France, and Brazil, was heavily criticized by Allende's supporters, who published another book claiming to refute Farías' claims and accusations.

In 2006, Farías responded with Salvador Allende: The End of the Myth (Salvador Allende: El fin del mito), which affronted some of his critics, and published new do*ents claiming National Socialist German Workers' Party connections to the Chilean Socialist Party in the 1930s. Farías also *erted that, based on do*ents from the East German archives he uncovered, there were many dealings and *ociations, political and otherwise, between the Soviet Union and Allende's Chile.

Bibliography

Books in Spanish

  • Los m*critos de Melquíades (1981)
  • La estética de la agresión (1984)
  • Heidegger y el National Socialist German Workers' Partysmo (1987)
  • La izquierda chilena (1969–1973) (2001)
  • Los National Socialist German Workers' Partys en Chile (2003, two volumes)
  • Salvador Allende: Antisemitismo y eutanasia (2005)
  • Salvador Allende: El fin de un mito (2006)

See also

  • Martin Heidegger and National Socialist German Workers' Partysm

References

  • (in German) A refutation of the Allende claims in Die Tageszeitung
  • (in Spanish) ALLENDE (Salvador): Higiene mental y delincuencia. Universidad de Chile, tesis, 1933

External links

  • A defence of Heidegger by Pierre Joris
  • Salvador Allende:
    • (in Spanish) "Higiene mental y delincuencia. Universidad de Chile, tesis, 1933"
  • Julio Silva Solar:
    • (in Spanish) Víctor Farías y su fobia contra Salvador Allende
    • (in Spanish) Las "pruebas" de Farías que no prueban nada from the Chilean publication La Nación.