Walther Rathenau, Schriften der Wilhelminischen Zeit

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Sabrow
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 266172285

The first volume of the complete "Rathenau"-edition consists of six parts. The first and longest part includes the compositions, essays, memoranda, speeches and diaries of the industrial and political person and author. The second part consists of the huge amount of aphorisms written by Rathenau. The short third and fourth part include answers of Rathenau to surveys that were published in newspapers and magazines and plays. The fifth part is very special because there are different documents together that are called "miscellaneous". Mostly they highlight the commitment of the young Rathenau in the "Deutschen Elektrochemischen Gesellschaft". Furthermore it describes his own development and research work. The sixth and last part documents the actions of Rathenau to place the economical interests of the Mannesmann brothers in Morocco in 1910.The parts are arranged chronologically. This chronology can be interrupted by unpublished documents of official or business affairs by the industrial and political person of Rathenau. Because of the same topic those documents are arranged in this way. In conclusion there is a mixture of chronology and factual connection.The history of origins of Rathenau's texts and the arrangement of the sources within the context of contemporary history will be presented by short introductions just before each text. Furthermore, the typical connection between the political, economical, social and cultural commitment of the person of Rathenau and the analysis of this work as author is shown by detailed comments as part of the historical-critical method. An index of different versions of the texts enclosed to the single texts allows a deep insight into the work of Rathenau as author by the reconstruction of different versions of the texts. So this edition presents for the first time Rathenau's authorial work of the Wilhemian era being one of the most popular authors of his time for the human arts.The volume begins with a short table of content and an introductory text of the editor. It ends with a scientific apparatus: an editorial epilogue, bibliography, index of literary remains, register of persons with short biographies and a detailed table of content.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants