Jaspers' book "The Origins of History and Its Purpose" was published in 1949, just four years after the end of World War II. Like several other works by Jaspers published immediately after the war - "Voptros on Wine, "Nietzsche and Christianity," "Philosophical Faith" - this study is a response to the political and spiritual situation in post-war West Germany. It, although more indirectly than in The Question of Wine, touches on the themes of the guilt and tragedy of the German people, the origins of this guilt and the possibilities of its redemption, the possible revival of Germany and Europe in general, and, most importantly, the possibilities of mutual understanding of European and non-European cultures, or, as Jaspers says, new humanism.