Nietzsche Archive

The Nietzsche Archive

The Nietzsche-Archiv, also known as the Nietzsche Archive, was the first organization that dedicated itself to archive and document the life and work of the philosopher Frederich Nietzsche.

The Nietzsche Archive was founded in 1894 in Naumburg, Germany, and found a permanent location at Weimar. Its history links to the middle of the 20th century with its foundress and chief for many years, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, who was the philosopher's sister. Although from the beginning it has been exposed to partially violent critiscism, the archives, to the end of the Second World War, could hold themselves as a central place of the Nietzsche Reception in Germany. In the GDR it was affiliated with the Nationale Forschungs- und Gedenkstätten der klassischen deutschen literatur in Weimar (national research and memorial place of the classical German literature in Weimar), and formally dissolved in 1956. Its holdings were made accessible for western researchers, most notably Mazzino Montinari, who replaced the dubious old Archiv's Nietzsche editions with new ones. In the GDR, however, Nietzsche was still a forbidden author, with all of his works being banned.

Since German reunification, the archive's holdings are in possession of the Stiftung Weimarer Klassik, now called Klassik Stiftung Weimar. The archive's domicile, the Villa Silberblick, is now a museum.