Kurt Albert Gerlach (22 August 1886,

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

– 19 October 1922,

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

) was a German professor and sociologist.

Life

Gerlach was the son of the chemist and later director of the

Continental AG Continental AG, commonly known as Continental and colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company. Headquartered in Hanover, Lower Saxony, it is the world's third- largest automotive supplier and the fo ...

Albert Gerlach and his wife Martha Friedmann. He had studied at the university of

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

under

Ferdinand Tönnies Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 8 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...

and received his doctorate in 1911 with a work on the role of Denmark in global economy. He then studied at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. In 1911 and 1912 he went to England and studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE) and became a member of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

. In 1913 he

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

in Leipzig with a treaty on protective measures for female factory workers in England. The lecture was on

syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

. He joined the institute for world economy and sea-trade in Kiel, directed by Bernhard Harms. From 1919 on, Gerlach taught economy at the

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

Polytechnic. In 1922, Gerlach was accepted as the future director of the Frankfurt

Institute for Social Research Institute for Social Research may refer to: * Norwegian Institute for Social Research, a private research institute in Oslo, Norway * University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, a research institute in Frankfurt, Germany * University of ...

(Institut für Sozialforschung) in Frankfurt by the Prussian ministry of education and he taught economy and sociology at

Frankfurt University Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

. He had already designed the agenda of the institute, but because of his untimely death from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

in 1922,

Carl Grünberg Carl Grünberg (; 10 February 1861 – 2 February 1940) was an Austrian Marxist economist, economic historian and sociologist. He is considered the father of Austromarxism and was the founding director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Res ...

became the founding director in his stead, followed by

Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer ( ; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist best known for his role in developing critical theory as director of the Institute for Social Research, commonly associated with the Frankfurt Schoo ...

in 1930. Gerlach had been close to adherents of a moderate socialism from above, coupled with social reforms (Kathedersozialisten), but became a member of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

in November 1914 and changed to the more radical

USPD The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of anti-war members of t ...

in the autumn of 1919. Later on, he sympathised with

Anarcho-Syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...

and became a Marxist. He divorced his wife Christine Gerlach so that she could marry in May 1921 her dashing lover and former pupil of Kurt Albert Gerlach,

Richard Sorge Richard Gustavovich Sorge (; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Russian journalist and GRU (Soviet Union), Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during World War II and worked undercover as a German journa ...

. Her marriage to Sorge only lasted a few years.

Works

* Dänemarks Stellung in der Weltwirtschaft. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Handelsbezichung en zu Deutschland, Englannnd und Skandinavien. Schriften des Instituts für Seeverkehr und Weltwirtschaft an der Universität Kiel 3 (Jena 1911). * Die Bedeutung des Arbeiterinnenschutzes. Habilitationsschrift. Leipzig Theorie und Praxis des Syndikalismus (München/Leipzig 1913). * Syndikalismus in England. Der Staatsbürger, 4, 1, 1913. * Die Frau und das Genossenschaftswesen (Jena 1918). * Allgemeine Gutachten IV. In:

Ignaz Jastrow Ignaz Jastrow (13 September 1856 in Nakel – 2 May 1937 in Berlin) was a German economist and historian. Biography He was educated at the universities of Breslau, Berlin, and Göttingen. He became a university docent at Berlin in 1885 and was ...

(ed.), Die Reform der staatswissenschaftlichen Studien. Fünfzig Gutachten. (München/Leipzig, Verein für Sozialpolitik 1920), 75-95.

References

* Rolf Wiggershaus, ''The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance'' (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought) (MIT Press 1995), . * Walter Selke and Christian Heppner, ''Der Continental-Direktor und Kautschuk-Pionier Albert Gerlach'' (Wehrhahn (Hannover) 76, p. 141 ff, 2022) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerlach, Kurt Albert 1886 births 1922 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics German Marxists German sociologists German Marxist writers Leipzig University alumni German male writers