Johann Chapoutot

Johann Chapoutot (born 30 July 1978) is a French historian, specializing in contemporary history, Germany, and Nazism.

Early life

Johann Chapoutot was born in Martigues (France). In 1995, his eleventh grade history teacher enrolled him in the Concours Général in the history category, where the topic was "Was it one or several fascisms in interwar period Europe?". Chapoutot ranked first at the competition.

He got his PhD in History in 2006 thanks to his thesis "National-Socialism and Antiquity"

Career

He was successively docent at Pierre Mendès-France University (2008–2014), at Sorbonne Nouvelle University (2014–2016) and at Sorbonne University (2016–).

In 2015, he criticized the choice to republish ''Mein Kampf'' as it would foster an outdated "Hitlero-centric" interpretation of Nazism.

Analyses

Johann Chapoutot theorizes that Nazism comes from a coherent and deeply-thought worldview where humanistic and universalistic values are rejected. The nazi ideology sees the Germanic man as deeply corrupted by modern society and pulled away from its natural state. The German people must enact a "cultural revolution" in order to come back to their natural state, way of living and relationships with others. Nazism follows an organicistic interpration of society ('): the individual only exists as a member of an ethnical group. That "cultural revolution" is rooted in a racialist interpration of History where "race wars" shape cultures and politics, as such there is a need for "racial preservation" for the Aryan people, threatened biologically, morally and intellectually by other races. The Germanic race, lest it should disappear, must therefore distance itself from Christianity, The Enlightenment, and materialism. That revolution has to take place on both a collective and an individual spectrum.

In 2014, Chapoutot published ''The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi'', which was translated into English by Miranda Richmond Mouillot in 2018. According to this book, Nazi Germany was deeply rooted in European culture and history. As such Nazism merely an historical accident and must therefore be taken seriously for what it is. He argues that the Nazi ideology directly follows romanticism, particularly its appeal to a return to "the origin" and its disgust for the French Revolution.

Political Engagement

Since the publication of his book ''Libres d’obéir. Le management, du nazisme à aujourd’hui (2020)'', Johann Chapoutot has become, according to Marianne, an "intellectual reference for a part of the French left". He has grown closer to La France Insoumise and its ideas, participating in the party’s summer university in August 2024. While he denies being an activist and receives some support for his approach, he also faces criticism, including from academics. According to his detractors, he uses unjustified analogies and has shifted from academic research to the realm of pamphleteering.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapoutot, Johann
French historians
1978 births
History of Germany
Living people