Walther Rathenau: Weimar's Fallen Statesman (Jewish Lives) by Shulamit Volkov

Author:Shulamit Volkov [Volkov, Shulamit]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: amazon
Published: 2020-04-29T21:08:08.359448+00:00

through which their usage was controlled by massive state intervention whenever and wherever necessary. By mid-September Rathenau mentioned “two dozen men” working in his new office, most of them on a voluntary basis. Early in 1915 the number had grown to a hundred, with many more indirectly employed outside the War Ministry, and finally by March, before leaving his post, he reported two hundred men plus “five times as many” working away from the central unit, mainly in the numerous so-called war companies established during his eight months in office. 11 By then it had become apparent that hopes for a short war were futile and that economic affairs would be as important in deciding it as military action. The significance of Rathenau’s project could not be doubted. Still, his own subjective reaction to the situation remained mixed. Being called to fulfill such an important role in the heart of the Prussian bureaucratic establishment and having carried out this complex mission so quickly and efficiently could be considered a huge success. But even this success, once achieved, did not seem to lift his anxiety regarding Germany’s fate, nor did it relieve his lingering personal gloom.

Rathenau was, in fact, deeply troubled throughout these months. In letters to family and friends he tells of long hours of work, sleepless nights, and the complete abandonment of all other activities. Though he must have felt a great deal of satisfaction, this hardly shows in his pronouncements at that time. He did allow himself occasional moments of exaltation, such as in a letter of August 24: “How inwardly necessary this war has been! How the old unbearable [existence] has turned into hope!”

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