Kirchhorst, 20 April 1948
An unpleasant reading. Now also in Germany they print books in which obscene words are written in plain language – I mean those which one used to be able to read only on the walls of poorly lit railway station exits.
Those abroad have led the way, coarse Americans and Parisian criminal cliques that introduced the argot to literature. One more sign of extinction, of loss. At the same time an ominous signal is raised. The Mattanza commences.
The vile style is not just restricted to that breach. One can't expect order in a city in which one ornaments fountains and markets with infamous monuments. Lichtenberg said that one would only have to draw a target on his door and someone would be found who would shoot at it. In case of Sade the obscenities are directly followed by acts of violence. They are the cue, the first breach of taboo brings everything else. They probably experienced something similar in our knacker’s huts. First comes the degradation by words, then by deeds. Where liberalism reaches its outer limits it opens the door to murderers . . .
— Ernst Jünger, Strahlungen (Radiations)
