Brochs „Menschenrecht und Irdisch-Absolutes“ in anthropologisch-politischer Perspektive

The essay starts from the hypothesis that a poem by Hermann Broch from 1948, “Der Schnitt im Irdischen”, can be considered preparatory for chapter IV of the Massenwahntheorie: “Rechtsprechung und neuer Menschentyp. Menschenrecht und Irdisch-Absolutes”. This poem is interpreted here in the light of Broch's future reflection, in the years of exile, on how man can fight human barbarism through a project that primarily defends the principle of dignity without having to follow a traditional Enlightenment model. Broch explains his program to Arendt on February 21, 1949, when he declares, using a word that is not frequent in his vocabulary, namely "Anthropology", what should be the cornerstones of the writing on the delirium of the masses. The relationship with Jacques Maritain, with whom Broch was in contact to plan a Völkerbundresolution, constitutes a specific paragraph of this essay and develops the aspect of the relationship between human rights and human dignity. Some final considerations concern the relationship between anthropology and politics in Broch, highlighting how the novel by Hermann Kasack, Die Stadt hinter dem Strom (1947), one of the exemplary texts of German literature after the Second World War, had impressed the Austrian writer very positively, proposing a convincing model of man's "pacification" after the horrors of war.