Assenheim Research Center
The Assenheim Research Center was a meeting place for scientists from the social sciences and intellectuals in Assenheim Castle in Niddatal , which existed from 1924 to 1932 and was maintained by Max Graf zu Solms as a patron .
It was a lively attempt to develop a "new way of life" for the intellectual circles that had emerged after the First World War . The Assenheim Research Center was thus one of the first scholars' colleges in Germany. Solms, who belonged to an old aristocratic family , recognized the signs of his time, when the old class structure fell into disrepair and the affluent bourgeoisie strived for power. Refusing a confrontation, he viewed his inherited possessions as an obligation, which he tried to put at the service of science in order to make the old fruitful for the new. In order to make this position, represented in his written appeal to Brücken (December 1922), a reality, Solms made his birthplace in Assenheim available especially for this purpose.
After Solms, who was very interested in the social sciences of his time, inherited the inheritance of his father, who died on February 9, 1923, he made his first contact with Ferdinand Tönnies as President of the German Society for Sociology (DGS) in 1923. on. He agreed to the invitation to hold a DGS conference in Assenheim. At this conference, which took place on September 28 and 29, 1923, Solms developed the idea of expanding Assenheim Castle into a permanent meeting place for intellectuals. At Tönnies, this idea was immediately met with approval, as he had toyed with the idea of a similar project in his younger years without being able to realize it. The first committee also emerged from this conference . This committee was responsible for the selection of suitable participants for the research home.
The research home was opened in April 1924. It was the point of contact of intellectual currents, as people came here, in the spirit of Solms, with the most varied of worldviews and from political milieus, in order to communicate with one another in a peaceful exchange. For those staying there, it was supposed to be a place to rest and relax, to offer space for work and discussion, but also space for evening discussions and presentations. In 1924 there were eight places available. For the first year Solms financed the home from his own financial means. Later the home, once established, was to be borne by foreign investors. The home was initially under the control of the Baltic Baroness Sophie von Buxhoeveden . Later it was administered by Hans Lorenz Stoltenberg . He was followed by others ( Wilhelm Karl von Isenburg , Nils von Ungarn-Sternberg , Franz Müller, Heinrich Striefler , Helene Turnau ). The research home was well received. First of all, librarians and archivists, as well as sociologists, were among the visitors.
1932, the height of the global economic crisis , was the last year of the Assenheim Research Center. Personal, economic and general time-related disabilities make his continuation impossible , writes his widow Freda Solms later.
Personalities who were guests in the research home
- Carl Brinkmann
- Eduard Georg Jacoby
- Editha Klipstein
- Andreas Predöhl
- Charlotte von Reichenau
- Alexander von Schelting
- Herman Schmalenbach
- Hans Lorenz Stoltenberg
- Ferdinand Tönnies
Individual evidence
literature
- Freda Gräfin zu Solms (Ed.): Max Graf zu Solms. A life course. Letters, testimonials, reports. Elwert, Marburg 1982.
- Rolf Fechner, Herbert Claas (ed.): Buried sociology. For example: Max Graf zu Solms. ( Series of publications by the Ferdinand Tönnies Society . Volume 8.) Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996.
Coordinates: 50 ° 17 ′ 54.4 ″ N , 8 ° 49 ′ 0.5 ″ E