Hans Robert Jauss (1921-1997), a professor at the University of Konstanz since 1966, is considered one of the most significant literary scholars in post-war Germany. With his inaugural lecture at Konstanz, "Literary History as a Provocation for Literary Studies," which was published in book form in 1967, he established reception aesthetics, which later expanded into social, cultural, and disciplinary history and became known as the "Konstanz School." Since literary scholar Earl Jeffrey Richards publicly pointed out Jauss's membership in the SS for the first time in 1995, a debate has erupted regarding the implications of this fact, which has not subsided. The French philologist Maurice Olender, who conducted the only major interview about Jauss's past for 'Le Monde' in September 1996, identified a significant "silence of a generation" in Jauss's statements. Comparisons with other discussed cases, such as those of Günter Grass or Martin Heidegger, are inevitable. Against this backdrop, Ottmar Ette's publication serves to discuss questions such as: How should Jauss's behavior be understood? What role does it play in the reconfiguration of the humanities in the Federal Republic? Should life and work be viewed separately? Or is there, similar to Heidegger's case, a connection between Jauss's life and his reception theory? What conclusions can be drawn from potential insights for the assessment of a scholarly work with international significance? And finally: Why has Hans Robert Jauss's life only recently become a topic of discussion in Germany, while it has long been debated in France and the USA?.