Franz Rosenzweig

Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929), born in Kassel, is one of the most important philosophers of religion in the German language.

In 2006, with public and private support, the university was able to acquire a valuable partial estate from the possession of his daughter-in-law Ursula. It consists of several thousand objects (letters, copies of letters, photographs and other documents) from the period 1906 to 1929, which were previously unknown to Rosenzweig research, or only known in part.

In particular, the numerous letters often contain new information on the life and work of Franz Rosenzweig.

Since the acquired letter material begins shortly after Rosenzweig's departure from Kassel and many of his pen pals were Kassel citizens, the partial estate is also of great importance for the local history of the city. It reflects local historical events and private matters from the perspective of Kassel's upper middle class at the beginning of the 20th century.

In 2016, Barbara Dierichs published an updated short index to the partial estate, which is kept under the call number: Kassel University Library, Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel, 2° Ms. philos. 39 is kept. This provides a complete and detailed overview of the letter collection, which can be further processed electronically.

The further more thorough indexing and research of the partial estate must be carried out by proven Rosenzweig specialists and would be extremely desirable.

All letters from the partial estate, which are owned by the UB/LMB Kassel, are available digitally (license: public domain mark).
The dedication copy of the 'Stern der Erlösung' for Rudolf Ehrenberg is also online.

Further thorough cataloging and research of the partial estate must be carried out by proven Rosenzweig specialists and would be highly desirable.

Every summer semester since 1987, the University of Kassel has awarded the endowed Franz Rosenzweig Visiting Professorship with academics from various fields of research.