Abstract:
The article tells the story of Edgar Jaffé and Else von Richthofen and their social and intellectual circles, of which participated, among others, Max and Marianne Weber. The report is based on the mail exchange between the couple Jaffé/ von Richthofen during the years 1902 and 1918, discovered by the author in New York with their grandson Christopher Jeffrey, who donated over a thousand letters to the Leo Baeck Institute in 2009. The narrative allows the reader to understand the drama of a strand of German intellectuals, to reveal their intimacy, marriages, friendships, eroticism, career choices and political loyalties, before and after the First World War. In the history of sociology, Edgar Jaffé is known as one of the editors of the Archiv für Sozialpolitik und Sozialwissenschaft, along with Werner Sombart and Max Weber; Else von Richthofen, as a muse of intellectuals and beloved student of Max Weber - with whom he maintained the bond of love late in life. In the article, however, entering the couple's intense letter-writing, the author intends that Edgar Jaffé and Else von Richthofen speak for themselves.
Keywords:
Edgar Jaffé and Else von Richthofen; Max and Marianne Weber; German intellectual circles; Ways of life; First World War