Kmflett's Blog

Walter Benjamin d 26^th Sept 1940: flashing up at a moment of danger

The critical theorist and philosopher Walter Benjamin committed suicide 84 years ago on 26^th  September 1940. He had been detained at the French/Spanish border and feared being handed over to the Nazis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin#Exile_and_death

Benjamin’s writings were wide ranging and complex although he was associated with the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory and influenced by Adorno and Brecht amongst others.

Many of his writings still speak to our times perhaps particularly.

His brief piece on the Concept of History (1940) for example grapples with how historical memory is understood in the present day is an important example:

To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize “how it really was.” It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/benjamin/1940/history.htm

Like numbers of important left-wing thinkers from the past Benjamin was much discussed in the period after 1968. While his writings continue to be collected- particularly the Arcades Project- one fears he had become less well-known again now.

Perhaps the anniversary of  Walter Benjamin’s death will spark some renewed interest in and discussion of his work. Indeed he was the answer to a question on University Challenge on 22nd September 2025 which was correctly answered.