Why did Karl Jaspers call for the de-Nazification of German university teaching staffs?

After the capitulation of Germany in 1945, Karl Jaspers dedicated his efforts to the moral and political rebirth of the German people and the rebuilding of the university system. He advocated for a complete de-Nazification of university teaching staffs because he believed that an acknowledgment of national guilt was a necessary condition for Germany's moral regeneration.1

Jaspers viewed the influence of those who had supported or compromised with the Nazi regime as a fundamental obstacle to restoring the university as a place of free, responsible inquiry. He was particularly critical of thinkers like Martin Heidegger, whose "dictatorial" and "unfree" manner of thinking he believed would have disastrous pedagogical effects on students.12

Ultimately, Jaspers' goal was to return the university to its pre-Nazi, autonomous state. However, he found this task difficult to achieve in practice, as the number of professors who had remained untainted by the Nazi regime was too small to fully replace the compromised teaching staff.1