In 1937, Menno ter Braak wrote one of the most insightful and vehement indictments against National Socialism. This essay, through which he expressed his anxiety about Hitler's growing appeal, was published by the Dutch Committee for the Vigilance of Anti-Nazi Intellectuals.

He, drawing on Nietzsche and focusing precisely on the concept of resentment, argues that during the democratization process, where the ideal of equality clashes with reality, people increasingly experience inequality as injustice, resulting in envy and hatred.

Rather than simply choosing one ideology over another, ter Braak approaches National Socialism as both a culmination and distortion of democracy and socialism, and thus a pure embodiment of the resentment that is inherent in both, as well as in our culture in general.

A text that is highly relevant, an old warning in a new period of rising authoritarian populism.

“Menno ter Braak, a leading figure in Dutch literature in the twentieth century, is among the most prominent and outspoken critics of authoritarianism. He defended European humanitarian values even in times of severe political danger.” Humanistische Canon.nl

“The rise of Hitler changed everything for ter Braak, who until then was in a process of endless apprenticing. After 1933, he evolved into a political figure without a party who studied and rejected the great ideologies.” Historisch Nieuwsblad