This article is the text of a speech given within the framework of a commemorative event of the historical seminar of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg im Breisgau for Hans Rosenberg on 19 January 1989, and published in the Historische Zeitschrift. Translated from the German by Ursula Marcum.

1. On Rosenberg's origins and career see the biography in Rosenberg, Hans, “Die Jugendgeschichte Rudolf Hayms” (Ph.D. diss., Berlin, Borna-Leipzig, 1928), 47;Google ScholarMeinecke, Friedrich, Ausgewählter Briefwechsel, ed. and intro. Dehio, Ludwig and Classen, Peter, vol. 6 of Works (Stuttgart, 1962), 158, Editors' note.Google Scholar See also the biographical sketches by Ritter, Gerhard A., “Vorwort,” in Ritter, Gerhard A., ed., Entstehung und Wandlung der modernen Gesellschaft: Festschrift für Hans Rosenberg zum 65. Geburtstag (Berlin, 1970), v–xGoogle Scholar, and Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, “Vorwort,” in Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, ed., Sozialgeschichte Heute: Festschrift für Hans Rosenberg zum 70. Geburtstag (Göttingen, 1974), 9–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin-Dahlem, Rep. 92, Meinecke, 39 (Letters Rosenberg to Meinecke dated 23 April 1924 and 2 September 1925). For permission to examine the correspondence between Rosenberg and Meinecke I am indebted to Mr. Stefan Meineke, who is working on an intellectual biography of Friedrich Meinecke.

3. Rosenberg, “Jugendgeschichte,” 3.

4. For the foregoing, the “Introduction,” by Rosenberg, Hans, in Rosenberg, Hans, Politische Denkströmungen im deutschen Vormärz (Göttingen, 1972), 7–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Here, as in the following, I also rely on personal conversations with Hans Rosenberg. For Kehr, see also Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, “Eckart Kehr,” in Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, ed., Deutsche Historiker, vol. 1 (Göttingen, 1971), 100–13.Google Scholar On the controversial Cologne habilitation, see Dann, Otto, “Hans Rosenberg und die Universität zu Köln,” Kölner Universitäts Journal 18, book 4 (1988).Google Scholar

5. Rosenberg, Hans, Rudolf Haym und die Anfänge des klassischen Liberalismus (Munich, 1933), 5, 129, 153f.Google Scholar

6. Rosenberg, Hans, Die Weltwirtschaftskrise 1857–1859 (reprint of the article “Die Weltwirtschaftskrisis von 1857–1859,” first published in 1934 as Supplement 30 to Vierteljahrsschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte) (Göttingen, 1974): 9.Google Scholar To the intentionally actualizing title, compare the remarks in the preliminary report to the second edition, xvii, as well as Rosenberg, Denkströmungen, 13.

7. Rosenberg, Weltwirtschaftskrise, xvi; Meinecke, Briefwechsel, 140f., 158f. (Letters to Walter Goetz dated 15 October 1933 and 14 August 1935); Wehler, “Vorwort,” 12f.; Franz, Günther, “Walter Goetz and the Historische Kommission,” Volk im Werden 3 (1935): 320–22.Google Scholar The sequel to Rosenberg's edition is Faber, Karl-Georg, Die nationalpolitische Publizistik Deutschlands von 1866 bis 1871, 2 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1963).Google Scholar On the attack by G. Franz, see Heiber, Helmut, Walter Frank und sein Reichsinstitut für die Geschichte des neuen Deutschland (Stuttgart, 1966), 152f.Google Scholar

8. Wehler, “Vorwort,” 14f. On the time in Jacksonville and at Brooklyn College, compare especially the autobiographical sketch in Rosenberg's speech “Rückblick auf ein Historikerleben zwischen zwei Kulturen,” on the occasion of being awarded the honorary doctorate of the University of Bielefeld on 2 November 1977, in the volume of essays by Rosenberg, Hans, Machteliten und Wirtschaftskonjunkturen: Skizzen zur neueren Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (Göttingen, 1978), 11–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On Arthur Rosenberg, see also Berding, Helmut, “Arthur Rosenberg,” in Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, ed., vol. 4, Deutsche Historiker (Göttingen, 1972), 81–96.Google Scholar

9. Rosenberg, Hans, “Political and Social Consequences of the Great Depression of 1873–1896 in Central Europe,” Economic History Review 13 (1943): 58–73 (also in Rosenberg, Machteliten, 161–72)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rosenberg, Hans, “The Rise of the Junkers in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1410–1618,” in Rosenberg, , Machteliten, 24–82.Google Scholar

10. Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Meinecke (cf. n. 2).

11. Rosenberg, Hans, Bureaucracy, Aristocracy, and Autocracy: The Prussian Experience, 1660–1815 (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), viii, 22, 229, 231–35Google Scholar. On the failed attempt at a German translation, see Wehler, “Vorwort,” 17. For a view critical of Rosenberg's all too negative Judgment of “bureaucratic absolutism” in the Prussia of the early nineteenth centruy, see Dipper, Christof, Die Bauernbefreiung in Deutschland 1790–1850 (Stuttgart, 1980), 109.Google Scholar

12. Meinecke, Briefwechsel, 300f. (to Pinson), 544 (to Kaehler). On Rosenberg's consideration of a return to Germany, compare the passage in the letter to Meinecke dated 6 May 1949 (see n. 9): “As dreadful as the situation is over there, I would, if the occasion arises, be willing to return to a German university, although I have tenure as professor for life here in New York since 1941.” The philosophical faculty of the University of Cologne, in the decision about the successor to Johannes Ziekursch in July 1947, had placed Rosenberg second behind Theodor Schieder, but had then nevertheless approached Rosenberg first as to whether he would be ready to take over the chair, and, in case of his positive answer, had promised him the appointment. Compare Dann, “Rosenberg,” 13–15, as well as Schulze, Winfried, Deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft nach 1945 (Munich, 1989), 137–41Google Scholar. A documentation of the Cologne efforts to induce Rosenberg to return to Germany will soon be presented by Frank Golczewki. On the German guest professorships see Wehler, “Vorwort,” 16, and Ritter, “Vorwort,” viif. The work which most strongly bears the stamp of Berlin, Rosenberg's seminars is Otto Büsch, Militärsystem und Sozialleben im alten Preussen, 1713–1807: Die Anfänge der Militarisierung der preussich-deutschen Gesellschsft (Berlin, 1962).Google Scholar Compare also, on the subject of Rosenberg's Berlin seminars, Büsch, Otto, “In Memoriam Hans Rosenberg 1904–1988,” Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel-und Ostdeutschlands 37 (1988): 523–28.Google Scholar

13. Rosenberg, Hans, Grosse Depression und Bismarckzeit: Wirtschaftsablauf, Gesellschaft, und Politik in Mitteleuropa (Frankfurt, 1976), 16f., 21, 29.Google Scholar

14. On the more recent discussion about “long waves” of the economy see also Spree, Reinhard, “Was kommt nach den ‘langen Wellen’ der Konjunktur?” in Schröder, Wilhelm H. and Spree, Reinhard, eds., Historische Konjunkturforschung (Stuttgart, 1980), 304–15;Google ScholarPetzina, Dietmar and van Roon, Ger, Konjunktur, Krise, und Gesellschaft: Wirtschaftliche Wechsellagen und soziale Entwicklung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1981)Google Scholar (especially the editor's introduction, as well as the contributions by Alan S. Milward, Alfred Kleinknecht, and Rainer Metz/Reinhard Spree); Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, 2 vols. (Munich, 1987), vol. 2, Von der Reformära bis zur industriellen und politischen ‘Deutschen Doppelrevolution’ 1815–1849/49, 602f.Google Scholar On Grosse Depression compare, in addition to the critical review of Hans Rosenberg's book by Gerschenkron, Alexander in The Journal of Economic History 28 (1968), 154–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar, also Saul, S. B., The Myth of the Great Depression 1873–1896 (London, 1969);CrossRefGoogle ScholarBorchardt, Knut, “Wirtschaftliches Wachstum und Wechsellagen 1800–1914” in Aubin, Hermann and Zorn, Wolfgang, eds., Handbuch der deutschen Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, vol. 2 (Stuttgart, 1976), 198–275, esp. 266ff.;Google ScholarBorn, Karl Erich, Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des deutschen Kaiserreichs (1867/71–1914) (Stuttgart, 1985), 107–19Google Scholar. For Rosenberg's answer to some critical voices, compare the introductory remarks to the new 1975 edition of Grosse Depression, xiv.

15. Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, Bismarck und der Imperialismus (Cologne, 1969)Google Scholar. For Rosenberg's influence, compare the foreword, 12.

16. Rosenberg, Hans, “Die Pseudodemokratisierung der Rittergutsbesitzerklasse” in Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, ed., Moderne deutsche Sozialgeschichte, 1st ed. (Cologne, 1966), 289–308Google Scholar (revised draft of the article “Die Demokratisierung der Rittergutsbesitzerklasse” in Zur Geschichte und Problematik der Demokratie: Festschrift für Hans Herzfeld [Berlin, 1958], 459–86Google Scholar, reprinted in Rosenberg, Hans, Probleme der deutschen Sozialgeschichte [Frankfurt, 1969], 7–49);Google Scholar Hans Rosenberg, “Zur sozialen Funktion der Agrarpolitik im zweiten Reich,” ibid., 51–80. To the German works, which follow Hans Rosenberg in stressing preindustrial traditions and influences on German society and politics, belong: Puhle, Hans-Jürgen, Agrarische Interessenpolitik und Preussischer Konservatismus (1893–1914): Ein Beitrag zur Analyse des Nationalismus in Deutschland am Beispiel des Bundes der Landwirte und der Deutsch-Konservativen Partei (Hanover, 1966);Google ScholarKocka, Jürgen, Untemehmungsverwaltung und Angestelltenschaft am Beispiel Siemens 1847–1914: Zum Verhältnis von Kapitalismus und Bürokratie in der deutschen Industrialisierung (Stuttgart, 1969);Google ScholarWinkler, Heinrich August, Mittelstand, Demokratie, und Nationalsozialismus: Die politische Entwicklung von Handwerk und Kleinhandel in der Weimarer Republik (Cologne, 1972).Google Scholar To the “inneren Reichsgründung” compare Winkler, Heinrich August, “Vom linken zum rechten Nationalismus: Der deutsche Liberalismus in der Krise von 1878–79,” Geschichte und Gesellschaft 4 (1978): 5–28.Google Scholar From the younger German generation of historians: Schissler, Hanna, Preussische Agrargesellschaft im Wandel: Wirtschaftliche, gesellschaftliche, und politische Transformprozesse von 1763 bis 1847 (Göttingen, 1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar From Hans Rosenberg's student circle in Berkeley, see also Volkov, Shulamit, The Rise of Popular Antimodernism in Germany: The Urban Master Artisans, 1873–1896 (Princeton, 1978).Google Scholar

17. On the critique of the “Sonderweg thesis,” see also Blackbourn, David and Eley, Geoff, Mythen deutscher Geschichtsschreibung (Berlin, 1980)Google Scholar. Compare to the above my review article “Der deutsche Sonderweg: Eine Nachlese,” Merkur 35, 8, no. 399, (1981): 793–804Google Scholar, as well as, more recently, Kocka, Jürgen, “German History before Hitler: The Debate about the German Sonderweg,” Journal of Contemporary History 23 (1988): 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

18. Rosenberg, Grosse Depression, ix. On the thesis, developed by Rosenberg in the Freiburg address, that the Peasant Wars should be viewed as “conflict within the social system,” or “intra-system conflict,” see Blickle, Peter, Die Revolution von 1525 (Munich, 1981), 13–15Google Scholar (with detailed citations from the lecture manuscript). The Freiburg lecture of 11 November 1978 agreed basically with the material that Rosenberg wanted to use in the closing lecture at the Braunschweig historians' day in 1974, which was cancelled due to illness.

19. Rosenberg, Weltwirtschaftskrise, xxv. Rosenberg took the term “Wiedertäufer der Wohlstandsgesellschaft” (Anabaptist of the affluent society) from the title of the book by Scheuch, Erwin K., ed., Die Wiedertäufer der Wohlstandsgesellschaft: Eine kritische Untersuchung der “Neuen Linken” und ihrer Dogmen (Cologne, 1968).Google Scholar

20. Rosenberg, “Rückblick,” 23.