Le ambiguità dell’umanesimo nel ‘Sofocle’ di Heinrich Weinstock (1880-1960) tra nazismo e secondo dopoguerra

Heinrich Weinstock (1880-1960) held important positions in the Ministry of Education before and during Nazism and ended his career as a professor of Philosophy and Pedagogy in Frankfurt after World War II. Weinstock's pedagogical writings, published between the 1930s and 1950s, despite the different historical contexts, show undeniable continuity in the conception of society, the educational system, and the prominent role given to the so-called 'humanistic' gymnasium for the formation of the ruling class. This contribution will examine how Weinstock's social and pedagogical concepts, which in the 1930s showed clear consonance with Nazi ideological propaganda, were also applied to his interpretation of Sophocles' tragedies. His book on Sophocles, the first comprehensive German monograph on the Greek tragic poet, first published in 1931, was reprinted without substantial changes in 1948, demonstrating the adaptability and continuity of some concepts underpinning Weinstock's humanism and an entire conservative movement.