Protokollbuch der Philosophischen Fakultät der Albertus-Universität zu Königsberg i. Pr. 1916−1944

The minutes book is a unique record of academic and cultural life at the Albertina in Königsberg during the final three decades of its existence. It covers not only the Faculty of Philosophy as we understand it today, but also the subjects of economics (until 1921) and the natural and agricultural sciences (until 1936), which were still part of it at that time. Of particular importance to East Prussia were, for example, the Institutes of Agricultural Chemistry, Animal Breeding, Dairy Science and Fisheries, but also – alongside the usual departments and institutes for German Studies, History, Art History, etc. – the Department of Prehistory and Early History, the Institute for Local History and the Department of Musicology. These institutes were home to eminent scholars such as the geologist Karl Andrée, the Indo-Europeanists Adalbert Bezzenberger and Georg Gerullis, the Slavist Alfred Rammelmeyer, the behavioural biologist Konrad Lorenz, the folklorist Heinrich Harmjanz, the philosophers Heinz Heimsoeth, Gunther Ipsen and Arnold Gehlen, the historians Friedrich Baethgen, Albert Brackmann, Werner Conze, Herbert Grundmann, Hans Rothfels, Theodor Schieder and many others. They often worked outside Königsberg as well and, in some cases, played a significant role in academia after the Second World War. Their publications set the standard for many fields of study. The minutes book is an important source for the history of science and the university, the likes of which has not been found at any other German university to date, and the finest record of the Albertina in the 20th century. The editor has provided the work with a detailed introduction and enriched it with a comprehensive biographical appendix of all the professors.