Big city documents

The Big City Documents were a series of publications brought out by the Berlin writer and cultural scientist Hans Ostwald between 1904 and 1908 in the publishing house Hermann Seemann Nachhaben GmbH (Berlin and Leipzig). The book series comprised a total of 51 volumes. The uniform cover design comes from Paul Haase .

The first ten parts dealt with Berlin, the second ten volumes were dedicated to Vienna. At the turn of the century, Berlin was seen as an unhistorical metropolis, Vienna, on the other hand, a tradition-conscious city of culture. One of the main subjects of the book series was therefore the parallel investigation of living conditions in Vienna and Berlin.

Among the authors of the publications were, in addition to Ostwald himself, Julius Bab , Magnus Hirschfeld , Albert Weidner , Wilhelm Hammer , Max Marcuse and Balder Olden . The authors of the ten volumes on Vienna included Felix Salten , Alfred Deutsch-German and the social reporter Max Winter , who inspected the communal infrastructure of Berlin and compared it with that of Vienna in his “Berlin courses”.

The topics covered included bohemian culture and the artistic development of various circles of young authors (Volume 2: “Die Berliner Bohème” by Bab), homosexuality (Volume 3: “Berlin's third gender” by Hirschfeld, as well as Volume 20, which was immediately forbidden: “The Tribadie Berlins "by Hammer, which was replaced by a volume on" Berlin Teachers "after the ban) and prostitution (Volume 5:" The pimps in Berlin "by Ostwald; Volume 23:" Ten CVs of Berlin control girls ", again by Hammer).

Volumes

Hans Ostwald : Berlin dance halls , metropolitan documents Volume 4

Albert Weidner : From the depths of the Berlin labor movement , Metropolitan Documents Volume 9

• Volume 1. Hans Ostwald: Dunkle Winkel in Berlin [1904], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5663043 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 2. Julius Bab: Die Berliner Bohème [1904], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5941052 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 3. Magnus Hirschfeld: Berlin's third gender [1904], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5932104 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 4. Hans Ostwald: Berliner Tanzlokale [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5933100 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 5. Hans Ostwald: Pimping in Berlin [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5578191 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 6. Eberhard Buchner: Sects and sectarians in Berlin [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6382382 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 7. Hans Ostwald: Berlin Coffee Houses [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-15358474 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 8. Georg Bernhard: Berliner Banken [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5939830 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 9. Albert Weidner: From the Depths of the Berlin Labor Movement [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5935917 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 10. Arno Arndt: Berliner Sport [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5934570 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 11. Max Winter: The Golden Heart of Vienna [1905]
• Volume 12. Otto Herschmann: Wiener Sport [1905]
• Volume 13. Max Winter: In underground Vienna [1905]
• Volume 14. Felix Salten: Viennese nobility [1905]
• Volume 15. Moritz Loeb: Berliner Konfektion [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6376715 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 16. Emil Bader: Viennese Criminals [1905]
• Volume 17. Alfred Deutsch-German: Wiener Mädel [1906]
• Volume 18. Adolf Goetz: Ballin, a royal merchant [1907]
• Volume 19. Victor Noack: What a Berlin musician experienced [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-15360581 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 20. Wilhelm Hammer: Die Tribadie Berlins * [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7705750 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 20. Johannes Tews: Berliner Lehrer [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5942385 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 21. Johannes Werthauer: Berliner Schwindel [1905]. urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6388232 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 22. Eberhard Buchner: Varieté and Tingeltangel in Berlin [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5937037 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 23. Wilhelm Hammer: Ten CVs of Berlin Control Girls [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6389955 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 24. Franz Hoeniger: Berlin Courts [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5938477 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 25. Spectator (Leopold Katscher): Berliner Klubs [1905], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5661972 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 26. Ella Mensch: Iconoclasts in the Berlin women's movement [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6383835 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 27. Max Marcuse: Illegitimate Mothers [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6385137 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 28. Hans Hyan: Schwere Jungs [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7013459 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 29. Walter Turszinsky: Berliner Theater [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5655648 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 30. Satyr (Richard Dietrich): Lebeweltnächte der Friedrichstadt [1906], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6379652 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 31. Johannes Werthauer: Moabitrium. Scenes from the urban criminal justice system [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-15360570 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 32. Viktor Günther: Pétersbourg s'amuse [1907]
• Volume 33. Ernst Schuchardt: Six Months Workhouse [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7014549 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 34. Assessor (pseudonym): Die Berliner Polizei [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5660707 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 35. Hans Ostwald: Berliner Spielertum [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5929727 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 36. Hans Freimark: Modern Spirit Summoners and Seekers of Truth [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7009742 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 37. M. Baer: The international girl trafficking [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5652222 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 38. Leo Benario: The Usurers and their Victims [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7012321 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 39. Triton (Adolf Goetz): The Hamburg "Young Man" [1907]
• Volume 40. Johannes Werthauer: Morality offenses in the big city [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-7011125 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 41. Magnus Hirschfeld: Die Gurgel Berlins [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6377996 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 42. Walter Bahn: My clients. Contributions to the modern Inquisition [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6386635 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 43. Clerk (pseudonym): Berliner Officials [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5657249 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 44. Martin Ebeling: Großstadt-Sozialismus [1907], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-15360557 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 45. Albert Südekum: Großstädtisches Wohnungselend [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5653477 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 46. Balder Olden: The Port of Hamburg [1907]
• Volume 47. Leo Colze: Berliner Warenhäuser [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5654473 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 48. Georg Buschan: Sex and Crimes [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5930944 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 49. Alfred Lasson: Endangered and neglected youth [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-5659177 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.
• Volume 50. Edmund Edel: Neu-Berlin [1908], urn: nbn: de: kobv: 109-1-6381081 , digitized by: Central and State Library Berlin, 2014.

* This volume was banned on January 9, 1907 by decision of the Regional Court I Berlin.

literature

• Peter Fritzsche: Vagabond in the Fugitive City: Hans Ostwald, Imperial Berlin and the Grossstadt-Documents. In: Journal of Contemporary History. Vol. 29, No. 3, 1994, pp. 385-402.
• Ralf Thies: ethnographer of dark Berlin. Hans Ostwald and the “Big City Documents” (1904–1908). Böhlau, Cologne 2006 ( review by Tobias Becker ).
• Dietmar Jazbinsek, Ralf Thies: “Big City Documents”. Metropolitan research in Berlin at the turn of the century. Berlin 1996 (PDF file; 364 kB).
• Dietmar Jazbinsek, Ralf Thies: The big city documents and their reception by the founding generation of the Chicago School of Sociology. Berlin 1998 (PDF file; 159 kB).
• Dietmar Jazbinsek, Bernward Joerges, Ralf Thies: The Berlin "Big City Documents": A Forgotten Precursor of the Chicago School of Sociology. Berlin 2001 (PDF file; 100 kB).

Individual proof

1. ↑ Part of the series of publications by the research group "Metropolis Research", Social Science Research Center Berlin (PDF; 1.2 MB)

Web links

Commons : Big City Documents  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Title list of the metropolitan documents ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )