If he were a formal logician or an analytical philosopher, I would be far less concerned (though even in those cases I suppose it is conceivable that one might find some connection between his philosophical ideas and his moral sentiments, remote and contrived though it may appear.) Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
If, for Heidegger, Nazism is a nihilistic and dehumanizing ideology based in the metaphysics of subjectivity, a modern ideology with which his thought cannot be identified, how should we then understand his most controversial statement from the Introduction to Metaphysics, about the "inner truth and greatness" of National Socialism? (52) First, this statement, made during a lecture delivered in 1935, can be regarded as ironic and as an expression of Heidegger's growing disappointment with actual National Socialism. To assess it properly, we have to consider the context in which it was made. In the context of a totalitarian state, where attitudes of loyalty to the ideology and hostility to its opponents are imposed in a particularly intensive fashion, even a slight criticism of the regime can be subjected to severe punishment. On the other hand, in such a context, any critical allusion or covert criticism becomes transparent to those who keep their ears open. It would then be immediately clear to the attentive audience of Heidegger's lecture that the "inner truth and greatness" of National Socialism did not imply its outward truth and real greatness. They would regard this statement not as a support of the actual Nazi movement but rather as a criticism of it. ... What follows from these statements is that Heidegger initially associated National Socialism with a movement that would bring Germany back to its "age-old traditions," renew its spiritual strength, and take it away from the heritage of modernity that has been developing since the seventeenth century. (59) Bringing Germany back to its ancient traditions constituted for him the "inner truth and greatness" of this movement. (60) He saw in it an antidote against modernism. However, he was soon disillusioned. Although the Nazis indeed tried to revive German traditions and regarded modernism as a disease, they at the same time engaged in building a totalitarian state and developed an ideology that was philosophically unacceptable to Heidegger. (61) The actual National Socialism, run by people who "were much too limited in their thinking," and with its political violence and book burning, totalitarian control of the vital resources of the state and the racial composition of the people, and politicization of society and mass rallies, was precisely the ideology which he covertly criticized in his writings, along with Americanism and Communism. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3545/is_2_61/ai_n29399025/pg_7?tag=artBody;col1
... What follows from these statements is that Heidegger initially associated National Socialism with a movement that would bring Germany back to its "age-old traditions," renew its spiritual strength, and take it away from the heritage of modernity that has been developing since the seventeenth century. (59) Bringing Germany back to its ancient traditions constituted for him the "inner truth and greatness" of this movement. (60) He saw in it an antidote against modernism. However, he was soon disillusioned. Although the Nazis indeed tried to revive German traditions and regarded modernism as a disease, they at the same time engaged in building a totalitarian state and developed an ideology that was philosophically unacceptable to Heidegger. (61) The actual National Socialism, run by people who "were much too limited in their thinking," and with its political violence and book burning, totalitarian control of the vital resources of the state and the racial composition of the people, and politicization of society and mass rallies, was precisely the ideology which he covertly criticized in his writings, along with Americanism and Communism.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3545/is_2_61/ai_n29399025/pg_7?tag=artBody;col1
The article goes on to suggest it was even more complex than that. It starts by saying:
MARTIN HEIDEGGER IS WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED to be one of the most original and important philosophers of the twentieth century, while remaining one of the most controversial. His thinking has contributed to such diverse fields as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, aesthetics, literary criticism, and theology. His critique of traditional metaphysics and his opposition to positivism and technological world domination have been embraced by leading theorists of post-modernity. He influenced such prominent thinkers as Gadamer, Arendt, Habermas, Derrida, Foucault, and Lyotard.
