Portrait of the Academy

The Heidelberg Academy responded to the challenge posed by Nazi ideology and its implementation by the state in much the same way as virtually all academic institutions in Germany. The guiding principle behind its actions was organizational survival—the preservation of the institution. To achieve this goal, virtually any Prize was Prize , above all the abandonment of legal rights, collegiality, and solidarity with persecuted members, as well as the surrender of academic standards in new elections. The opportunistic tactic of adapting as much as possible and often preemptively conforming to save a reputation that had become questionable led to culpable failure. Although the Academy did not conduct research projects typical of the Nazis, five National Socialists were elected in the 1934/35 elections, three of them to vacant seats in disciplines traditionally under the Academy’s purview (astronomy, geology, physiology). The “Nazi faction,” though a small minority among the 37 full members, immediately set about expelling the Jewish members from the Academy under the leadership of the physiologist Johann Daniel Achelis. Since those affected were initially unwilling to yield to the pressure and resign, the Mathematical and Natural Sciences Class came to a complete standstill between the summer semester of 1936 and the end of 1937—meetings were no longer held, and the 1937 annual session was also canceled. Within the “Cartel of German Academies of Sciences,” Heidelberg became a pioneer in pushing for a uniform Reich-wide solution regarding the expulsion of “non-Aryan” members, while the Reich Ministry of Education, Science, and Public Enlightenment (REM) reserved the right to make the decision in 1936. In February 1937, Otto Heinrich Erdmannsdörfer, secretary of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class, noted that in a survey, a minority of class members still advocated “for the retention of non-Aryans under all circumstances,” even though just a few months earlier the “Kampfblatt” of the Heidelberg group of the NSDStB, “Der Heidelberger Student,” had sharply attacked the Academy for its outdated understanding of science and demanded the “complete purge” of “Jews and friends of Jews.” In silent protest against the treatment of Jewish members, the botanist Ludwig Jost left the Heidelberg Academy in 1937. The Philosophy and History Section stayed completely out of these disputes and merely pointed to the necessity of achieving a uniform regulation across the Reich.

On November 15, 1938, a "quick letter" from the REM demanded that the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 (Reich citizens are "citizens of German or related blood") be applied to regular and corresponding members. Those affected were to be encouraged to resign; if they refused, the ministry would revoke their membership. The order was repeated on February 1, 1939, and then also enforced in Heidelberg for "Jews, Mischlinge, and gentlemen married to Jewish women or Mischlinge of the first degree," albeit not without exceptions.

The result of the forced resignations or deletions from the membership list was as follows: Of 37 full members (as of April 1, 1933), seven were expelled from the Academy (four in the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class, three in the Philosophy and History Class); of 38 corresponding/associate members, five were expelled (one in the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class, four in the Philosophy and History Class).

In the elections held in the following years until the end of the war, supporters of the regime, critics of the regime, and those with little ideological exposure were elected. The statutes of 1939, which also introduced the Führer principle and made additional elections dependent on confirmation by the ministry, expanded the catchment area for full members beyond Heidelberg to southwestern Germany and now also included the universities and colleges of Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Darmstadt, and Frankfurt; after the conquest of Alsace, Strasbourg was added. Heads of research institutes and industrialists could also be elected.

The financial situation of the Heidelberg Academy remained precarious, so that only two new major projects could be launched in the Department of Philosophy and History: the edition of the works of Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) (1925–2015) and “Die Deutschen Inschriften” covering the period from approximately 500 to 1650 (ongoing since 1935, with preliminary work beginning in 1930)—a project Academy of Sciences and Humanities by nearly all German academies as well as the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Humanities .

For the new beginning after May 8, 1945, two questions arose in particular: How would the Academy treat those members who had been forced out of the Academy as "non-Aryans" during the years of the Third Reich? And how would the Academy treat those members who could be accused of serious misconduct during the twelve years of Nazi rule, in particular active participation in the "purge" of the Academy? The first question was easy to answer. Members who had been expelled or had resigned were invited to rejoin the Academy as corresponding members. Most accepted this invitation, but not all. Apparently, not everyone felt that the Academy had struck the right tone in this delicate re-establishment of ties.

The Academy had a much harder time dealing with members who had been implicated in Nazi activities. It initially resorted to introducing a dormant membership, which could, but did not necessarily have to, lead to reactivation depending on the denazification proceedings and the decisions of the university. In 1950, the Academy decided to decide on the revocation of dormant memberships in accordance with the rules for new elections. In fact, the Mathematics and Natural Sciences Class rejected the re-election of incriminated members in some cases. On the other hand, however, heavily incriminated members were also re-elected. The Academy did not have the courage to make a clear break, or indeed to make a clear decision at all. In his history of the Heidelberg Academy, published in 1994, which contains an extensive analysis of this topic, historian Wennemuth described the Academy's handling of its past as "hesitant, half-hearted."

However, the past remained present for the Academy well beyond the immediate post-war years, namely in the form of the question of whether it should or even must examine the behavior of candidates of the relevant age during the years of the Third Reich when electing them. As far as can be ascertained, there has never been a fundamental debate on this issue within the Academy. Even in the case of individual admissions, the question of whether a candidate was directly or indirectly involved in the injustices of the Nazi dictatorship was apparently not raised. Even if one acknowledges that there were reasons for the Academy not to link the elections to a kind of second, belated denazification process, one must nevertheless make the critical observation that the Academy apparently saw no reason to fundamentally reflect on its own behavior in this matter and to state the reasons why it behaved as it did.

From the 1950s onwards, the legal and financial status of the academy gradually consolidated. In 1958, it became the Baden-Württemberg State Academy, in 1966 a public corporation, and since 1971 its basic budget has been included in the state budget. Accordingly, the academy recruits scholars who are based in Baden-Württemberg. At the same time, the academy's research activities expanded.

This development received a decisive boost when the federal and state governments established the so-called Academies Program in the 1970s. The program was and is intended to promote long-term scientific projects, which had previously been the responsibility of the DFG. Both classes were now able to set up research positions for limited-term long-term research projects, which were financed by the Academies Program. Following a vote by the Science Council, purely scientific research projects were no longer included in the Academies Program from 2004 onwards. Since then, the Academies Program has focused on long-term projects in the humanities. In a second statement in 2009, the Science Council clarified its position and encouraged interdisciplinary cooperation between the humanities and natural sciences in Academies Program projects.

The Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities plays a decisive role in the distribution of program funds among the academies. It has existed under this name since 1996 as an association of the eight state-funded academies of sciences. The state academies had previously organized their cooperation in a working group dating back to the 1950s, which was restructured into the Conference of Academies in the 1970s and eventually led to the founding of the Union as a registered association. The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities involved in these associations from the very beginning.

Since 2002, its activities have also included the promotion of young scholars through a special program in line with the Academy’s mission (WIN Program). The awards that the Academy presents in increasing numbers—beginning with the Academy Prize, established in 1984 by the Friends of the Academy—are also intended for young scholars. In 2009, the Academy celebrated its 100th anniversary with a ceremony attended by Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Günther Öttinger and numerous other events.

• Udo Wennemuth,* : Wissenschaftsorganisation und Wissenschaftsförderung in Baden* (PDF). *The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities *. Heidelberg, 1994.
• Udo Wennemuth,“The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Third Reich” (PDF), in: Acta historica Leopoldina No. 22 (1995), pp. 113–132.
• Volker Sellin (ed.),Das Europa der Akademien(The Europe of Academies) (PDF). Heidelberg 2010.
• Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities ed.),Members of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Who Were Deprived of Their Rights and Expelled During the Third Reich(PDF). Biographical Portraits. Heidelberg 2009.
• Volker Sellin and Sebastian Zwies (eds.), The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Reflected in Its Inaugural Addresses, 1944–2008(PDF). With a list of its full members, 1909–2008. Heidelberg, 2009.
• Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast, and Sebastian Zwies (eds.),Research Projects of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities(PDF). Heidelberg 2009.
• Ditte Bandini/Ulrich Kronauer (eds.),Früchte vom Baum des Wissens(PDF). A commemorative publication by the research assistants. Heidelberg 2009.
• Jörg Kreutz/Wilhelm Kreutz/Hermann Wiegand (eds.), In omnibus veritas: 250 Years Academy of Sciences and Humanities Electoral Palatinate Academy of Sciences and Humanities Mannheim (1763–1806), including: Herbert von Bose, The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, pp. 221–231

• Uta Hüttig and Hans-Georg Kräusslich (eds.), The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Reflected in Its Inaugural Addresses, 2009–2023. With a list of its full members, 2009–2023. Heidelberg, 2024.

   

• The Medals of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities by Matthias Ohm (Athene 2-2024, pp. 35–37).
• Further reading: Matthias Ohm, “academia in nummis. Medals of the Mannheim and Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities,” in: Numismatisches Nachrichtenblatt, Issue 11/2024, pp. 413–420.
• Athena as the emblem of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities by Tonio Hölscher (Athena 1-2021, pp. 6–9).

profile

The Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1909 as Academy of Sciences and Humanities Baden Academy of Sciences and Humanities , following in the tradition of the Electoral Palatinate Academy founded in 1763 by Elector Carl Theodor. The Heidelberg Academy has remained true to its founding principle of bringing together the state’s outstanding scholars for interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative basic research. Like all eight state-funded Academies of Sciences(external link), the Baden-Württemberg State Academy is both a scholarly society and a non-university research institution. It sponsors research projects, organizes scientific conferences and public lecture series, and supports early-career researchers.

The current focus of the Academy’s sustainability-oriented activities lies in the field of basic research in cultural and intellectual history. In these fast-paced times, scholarship seeks knowledge and insights that transcend current trends and offer long-term perspectives on the present. In this way, scholarship creates enduring values that preserve and renew the foundations of intellectual life, experiences, and ideas far beyond the here and now. The Academy of Sciences and Humanities a space where long-term, continuous observations and surveys are possible, and where data collections for editions of extensive text corpora and lexicons are compiled and made available to the general public. In this way, the Academy contributes to the preservation and accessibility of cultural heritage for the present and future, and provides foundational knowledge that can be utilized by other scholars in research and teaching, as well as by the general public.

The Academy's research projects(internal link) cover a wide range of topics. Scientific responsibility for the individual projects lies with commissions composed of Academy members and external experts.

As a state academy, the Heidelberg Academy is primarily funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg. However, it also receives funding for numerous research projects from the"Academies Program"(external link), which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments; according to the rules of the program, the federal government and the state in which a research center is located each bear half of the project costs. In addition, the research centers raise third-party funds from priority programs of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the German Research Foundation, and foundations.

Since the founding of the first German Academy of Sciences and Humanities more than 300 years Academy of Sciences and Humanities , the role of academies within the scientific community has been constantly evolving. As it takes on new responsibilities, the Academy of the State of Baden-Württemberg is facing new challenges.

• The Heidelberg Academy intensifies its dialogue with the public by selecting specific sessions and organizing lectures followed by discussions.
• The Academy is increasingly contributing its research potential and the scientific expertise of its members to the public debate on social issues.
• Since 2002, the WIN-Kolleg(internal link) has been promoting interdisciplinary research on current topics, which is designed and carried out by teams of young scientists. The total funding amounts to approximately one million euros per year.
• With the "WIN Conferences" (formerly Academy Conferences)(internal link), the Academy gives young researchers the opportunity to organize an interdisciplinary conference on their own responsibility. While the Academy finances the conference and provides the infrastructure, the young researchers are free to choose the conference topic and plan the scientific program.