Born in Posen (now Poznan, Poland) on May 5, 1895, Kantorowicz was a historian, who specialized in the Middle Ages. After serving in World War I, he fought with the Freikorps against the Poles in Posen, and against the Spartacist uprising in 1919. He received his doctorate at Heidelberg in 1921, and began teaching at Frankfurt am Main in 1930, receiving a chair in 1932. He was a member of the Stefan George Kreis, and is best known for his biography of Emperor Frederick II. He took a leave of absence to protest the antisemitic regulations instituted after the Nazis came to power, and was dismissed in 1934. He emigrated to Great Britain in 1938 and to the United States in 1939, where he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. He left as a result of the loyalty-oath controversy in 1951, and then served as professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton until his death on September 9, 1963.
Correspondence on various topics, including emigration to the United States and Cuba; relocation in academic jobs; denazification and conditions in Germany after the war; and Kantorowicz's scholarship. In addition to family members, correspondents include Ernst Curtius, Ludwig Edelstein, Bernhard Flexner, Felix Frankfurter, Sidney Hook, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Ernst Kitzinger, Theodor Ernst Mommsen, John Ulric Nef, Kurt Riezler, Hans Rothfels, Fritz Saxl, Percy Ernst Schramm, Edward Sproul, Gerd Tellenbach, Paul Tillich, Edward Tolman, Helen Waddell, Earl Warren, and Stanley Weigert.
Unpublished manuscripts, and offprints of articles and reviews by Kantorowicz, largely on medieval cultural history; a brief biography of him by Ralph Giesey.
Manuscripts, correspondence, legal briefs, clippings, and other material on the loyalty-oath controversy; material on Kantorowicz's tenure at the University of Frankfurt, and on his dismissal.
Manuscripts, correspondence, and other papers of family members; an art history essay by Gertrude Kantorowicz and a pamphlet of poetry from Theresienstadt; genealogies; and a manuscript on Simon Kaliphari of Posen; manuscript by Kaete Ledermann, A Memorial of Angi ("Esther") Kantorowicz, c. 1904-1944, 1954, including transcript compiled by Guenther Roth.
Photos of Kantorowicz and of family members.
Papers of Richard Kandt (1867-1918), an African explorer and, from 1908-1914, administrator of Ruanda: poems, letters, maps, and obituaries.
Addenda: Original lectures by Kantorowicz. Photocopies for reader service.
The following individuals and families are mentioned in this collection: Curtius, Ernst R.; Edelstein, Ludwig; Flexner, Bernhard; Frankfurter, Felix; Giesey, Ralph; Hook, Sidney; Hutchins, Robert Maynard; Kaliphari family; Kaliphari, Simon; Kandt, Richard; Kandt, Richard; Kantorowicz, Angela (Angi, Esther); Kantorowicz, Gertrude; Kitzinger, Ernst; Ledermann, Kaete; Lieeschuetz, Hans; Mommsen, Theodor; Nef, John Ulric; Riezler, Kurt; Rothfels, Hans; Saxl, Fritz; Schramm, Percy Ernst; Sproul, Edward; Tellenbach, Gerd; Tillich, Paul; Tolman, Edward; Waddell, Helen; Warren, Earl; Weigert, Stanley.
This collection is arranged in 6 boxes.
Collection is available on 9 reels of microfilm (MF 561).
Photographs have been removed to the LBI Photograph Collection.
Open to researchers.
Collection is microfilmed; use MF 561.
Readers may access the collection by visiting the
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011
email:
Copyright is with Ariane Phillips.
Lectures are not to be published, but can be quoted.
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Ernst Kantorowicz Collection; AR 7216 / MF 561; box number; folder number; Leo Baeck Institute.
Chronological