Collection of documents about the history of the Goethehaus in Weimar in the 20th century

• Applicant: Dr. Paul Kahl
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: from 2008 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 86504995

The planned volume, which will contain source documents concerning the history of the Weimar "Goethehaus", is going to complete the scientific project "Cultural history of writers' houses", which, after several years of study, is about to be accomplished. The historical study "Das Goethe-Nationalmuseum in Weimar. Eine Kulturgeschichte" by Paul Kahl and the document collection "Das Weimarer Goethehaus im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Dokumente", ed. by Paul Kahl and Hendrik Kalvelage, are completed and will soon be printed, the publication of both volumes is due Spring 2015. The new volume, which was not originally planned to be included in the project, could be published in 2016 as volume three of the series. Let alone reasons concerning the quantity of sources, dividing the documents into two volumes perfectly matches thematic matters. The first document volume shows the long history of founding the Weimar Goethe-Nationalmuseum and its exceptional significance in terms of cultural history, being one of the earliest cultural projects in which the member states of the German Federation acted as one nation. Contrary, the second document volume will cover the interdependencies between the museum (and, generally speaking, the whole Weimar bourgeosie) and the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. The Goethe-Nationalmuseum was neither a place of classical "humanity" nor of "internal emigration" but it was well integrated both into the national socialist dictatorship and into the GDR regime in terms of political propaganda as well as being a grateful profiteer under each regime. This observation may be tragic, but regarding the vast amount of sources, it cannot be denied.The document collection presents for the first time the relevant sources of the 20th century in an extensive and scientifically adequate manner, the "Europäische Kulturstadtjahr" 1999 forming the end point. The history of the 1935 extension building, being the first new construction of a museum in national socialist Germany, and the integration of the museum into the East German "heritage" conception after 1945 form major themes in the collection.A scientific apparatus und a detailed index of people will be added to the collection.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants