“We Europeans par Excellence”
The David Koigen Family in Russian-Jewish Berlin
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
After the October Revolution, Russian-Jewish refugees gathered in Berlin. They formed a social-cultural milieu all their own. The intellectuals among them were active in public life and as intermediaries between east and west. The painful experiences of the revolution and the difficulties of life in exile made them the pre-conceptualisers of a united Europe. One of them was the social philosopher David Koigen. However, he and his family experienced the flipside of his European self-understanding. He was not at home in the Russian, Jewish, or German world. That Koigen, who was one of Germany’s most famous scholars, has fallen into oblivion has just as much to do with his place between cultures as with the Nazis’ persecution and annihilation of the Jews.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2008, pp. 211–232)