Projektvorstellung: Nachwuchsgruppe „Eigentums- und Besitzrechte von Frauen in der Rechtspraxis des Alten Reiches (1648-1806)“ an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

Social Work, Social Politics and Justice

"The disaster does not primarily lie in people and in the way that they perceive the circumstances, rather in the circumstances that doom people to powerlessness and apathy - circumstances which they could, however, change" (Adorno, 1966, p. 189). When Karl Marx writes to Friedrich Sorge in his letter of the 19.10.1877, regarding his critique of the opinion of his opponents Dühring & Co., that one must deal with "a whole crowd of immature students and pompous doctors who claim to give socialism a 'higher, ideal' turn, that is to say, to replace the materialistic basis (that demands serious, objective study if one wants to operate on it)… with modern mythology by means of their goddesses of justice, freedom, equality and fraternité" (Marx, 1973, p. 303; cf. Schiller, 1993, p. 199 onwards), this thus refers to fundamental problems with the concept of "justice" up until today. As the debate shows, it concerns the contextualization of the term "justice", its meaning in historically concrete as well as socio-political circumstances, and therefore a social analysis that is both representation and critique. Essentially it also concerns the question of the relationship between ideas and reality and the development of standards of historical systematic 'nature' out of social frameworks (see Frey, 1978; Theunissen, 1989).

Sulle tracce del primo Neoclassicismo. Il viaggio del principe ereditario Friedrich Christian di Sassonia in Italia (1738-1740)

Vom 13. Mai 1738 bis zum 7. September 1740 befindet sich der sächsische Kurprinz Friedrich Christian (1722-1764) auf seiner Italienreise. Sein eigenhändig geschriebenes Reisejournal, sowie die Berichte seines Tutors geben einen tiefen Einblick über das aktuelle Kunstgeschehen in Rom. Friedrich Christian wird durch die Fürsorge der Kardinäle Alessandro und Annibale Albani mit der intellektuellen Elite und mit den namhaftesten in Rom wirkenden Künstlern sowie mit der Kunst Raphaels und der bolognesisch-römischen Barock-Klassizisten bekannt beziehungsweise vertraut gemacht. In der römischen Akademie der Arkadier und in der Académie de France kommt er mit dem Ideal der Simplizität und der 'Nachahmung' der Antike in Berührung. Auf seinem Rückweg von Rom nach Venedig ist hierfür der Aufenthalt bei Scipione Maffei in Verona bezeichnend. In Venedig schließlich kann im besonderen Friedrich Christians Kenntnis von der Inventarisation des dortigen 'Statuario Pubblico', der ehemaligen Antikensammlung in der Antisala der Bibliothek von San Marco verzeichnet werden. Friedrich Christian kehrte mit diesen neuen Eindrücken nach Dresden zurück, wo Anton Raphael Mengs seine Karriere als Künstler begann und ein paar Jahre später sich Johann Joachim Winckelmann aufhielt. Unter der Obhut des Kardinals Alessandro Albani sollten Mengs und Winckelmann dann in Rom die malerische und theoretische Grundlage für den Klassizismus schaffen.

Walter Friedländer (1891-1984) – Between Social Democracy and Social Darwinism

If the profession of social work is to have a future we must know where it came from, and the series of portraits of our pioneers is one of the paths into the origins of that profession. I feel grateful to the publishers for this online-journal and also honoured to be asked to continue the series on pioneers in social work. I gladly comply because, in connection with my research on Alice Salomon and other social workers who were expelled from Germany and other Nazi-occupied territories (Wieler1989 and 1995) I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting and interviewing Walter Friedländer shortly before he passed away. It is years ago that I visited him in his home among stacks of books and piles of papers. My memories are vivid. I still see his sparkling eyes and hear his soft voice with a very heavy German accent. I was most impressed by his memory of historical events and people which, it seemed, only a large hard-drive could retain these days. Now, I wish I had asked more questions but instead, we will have to rely largely on primary and secondary literature and box upon box of archival materials. I draw heavily on the comprehensive German and Jewish Intellectual Emigré Collection (http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger003.htm) which consists of nearly 50 cubic feet and another collection of the German Central Institute („Deutsches Zentralinstitut für Soziale Fragen-DZI“) in Berlin (www.dzi.de). Some of the more current archival materials were lost in a flood, and much of Friedländer’s early memorabilia up to 1933 was lost in Germany. There are also internet resources with widely differing information. I hope that I will not have overlooked too much in order to do justice to this remarkable pioneer and colleague. In order to appreciate and pay tribute to Walter Friedländer and his contributions we will have to reconsider the historical and international context of more than the 93 years of his life span: the German Monarchy, the Weimar Republic, Nazi-Fascism, Swiss, French and American exile and numerous visits to other countries.