Walther Rathenau

The German industrialist and statesman Walther Rathenau (1867-1922) pioneered the public management of raw materials in his country during World War I. As postwar foreign minister, he inaugurated a new policy of reconciliation with Germany's former enemies.

Walther Rathenau, born in Berlin on Sept. 29, 1867, was the son of the famed German-Jewish entrepreneur Emil Rathenau (1838-1915), founder (1883) and president of AEG, the mammoth German General Electric Company. Trained as an electrochemist, he earned a doctorate in 1889. He served an apprenticeship as a researcher and manager from 1890 to 1900 before joining his father's company initially as a director, then in 1915 becoming successor to the older Rathenau as AEG president.

Vigorous and innovative as an entrepreneur associated with almost a hundred businesses, Rathenau wrote over a dozen books and many articles on philosophy, politics, and economics, in which the mechanization and suppression of modern man are overriding preoccupations. He saw the tyranny of technology and capital as fundamentally an irrational, chaotic one which he hoped would be replaced by an economy organized for the common social good without excessive politico-economic centralization (for which he believed inheritance in particular responsible) and the suppression of the working poor.

Concerned with Germany's insufficient economic preparation, Rathenau offered his services to the government at the outset of World War I and from September 1914 to March 1915 organized the German War Raw Materials Department, which was to become a crucial part of the German war effort. At the same time his inclinations and his intimate knowledge of Germany's potential made him a persistent advocate of an early, negotiated peace and a severe critic of the dominant military caste.

After the war Rathenau was brought into the government by Finance Minister Joseph Wirth in March 1920 as a member of the Socialization Committee and subsequently attended the Spa Conference on Disarmament as a technical assistant (July 1920). When Wirth became chancellor in May 1921, he appointed Rathenau to the Ministry of Reconstruction. Here Rathenau organized an extensive program of rationalization for German industry and launched his new "foreign policy of fulfillment," that is, reconciliation with the victorious powers by negotiating on the basis of the established peace treaty (Wiesbaden, October 1921; Cannes, January 1922). He became foreign minister in January 1922. The most memorable event of his brief tenure of office was a pact of peace with the Soviets, the Treaty of Rapallo, signed unexpectedly under the strain of failing reparations talks at the Genoa Conference in April 1922. The hope for international reconciliation was shattered, however, by the virulent attacks of a chauvinistic, anti-Semitic, and antirepublican right, which climaxed in the assassination of Rathenau by two young nationalists in Berlin on June 24, 1922.

Further Reading

Of Rathenau's own numerous writings, In Days to Come was translated by Eden and Cedar Paul (1921) and The New Society by Arthur Windham (1921). Several important volumes of personal writings remain untranslated. The best biographical studies of Rathenau in English are Count Harry Kessler, Walther Rathenau: His Life and Work, translated by W. D. Robson-Scott (1928) and by Lawrence Hyde (1930), a sensitive portrayal by a close friend; and the chapter on Rathenau in James Joll, Three Intellectuals in Politics (1961). An authoritative specialized study is David Felix, Walther Rathenau and the Weimar Republic: The Politics of Reparations (1971).

Additional Sources

Kessler, Harry, Graf, Walther Rathenau: his life and work, New York: AMS Press, 1975.

Loewenberg, Peter, Walther Rathenau and Henry Kissinger: the Jew as a modern statesman in two political cultures, New York: Leo Baeck Institute, 1980. □

Walther Rathenau , 1867–1922, German industrialist, social theorist, and statesman. Son of Emil Rathenau (1838–1915), founder of the German public utilities company Allgemeine Elektrizitätsgesellschaft (A.E.G.), Rathenau succeeded to the presidency of this corporation on his father's death. He directed the distribution of raw materials in World War I and became minister of reconstruction (1921) and later foreign minister (1922). He represented Germany at the Cannes and Genoa reparations conferences and negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo (see Rapallo, Treaty of ) with Russia. A Jew, he was assassinated by nationalist and anti-Semitic fanatics, who opposed his attempts to fulfill reparations obligations. A strong nationalist who played an important role in Germany's war efforts, Rathenau was also a strong proponent of international cooperation and his diplomatic initiatives played a key role in breaking Germany's postwar diplomatic isolation. In his writings, Rathenau contended that the days of unfettered capitalism were over and argued that technological change and industrialization were pushing civilization toward a stage of extreme mechanization, in which the human soul would be lost. In an attempt to find an alternative to laissez-faire capitalism that did not involve state socialism and Marxism, Rathenau proposed a decentralized, democratic social order, in which the workers would have more control over production and the state would exert more control over the economy. His translated works include In Days to Come (1921) and The New Society (1921).

Bibliography: See studies by H. K. U. Kessler (1928, tr. 1930, repr. 1969), D. Felix (1971), and H. Pogge von Strandmann (1985).

Rathenau, Walther (b. 29 Sept. 1867, d. 24 June 1922). German Foreign Secretary 1922 In 1899 he joined the board of the electrical conglomerate AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft), and became its chairman in 1915. He joined the left-liberal DDP (Deutsche Demokratische Partei), which was one of the supporters of the Weimar Republic, in 1918, becoming a financial adviser to the government which he represented, for example, in the negotiations for the Versailles Treaty. He was Minister for Reconstruction in 1921, after which he became increasingly involved in foreign policy. As Foreign Secretary from 1 February 1922 he concluded the Rapallo Treaty with Soviet Russia on 16 April 1922, whereby the two countries would resume diplomatic relations and renounce any claims for reparations arising from World War I. The treaty was heavily criticized by Britain and France, but for Germany and Russia it was a first step out of diplomatic isolation. Owing to his Jewish origins, Rathenau was murdered by members of the same far-right Consul Organization which had previously killed M. Erzberger.

Rathenau, Walther (1867–1922) German industrialist and statesman. He was responsible for directing Germany's war economy (1916–18) and later became Minister of Reconstruction (1921) and Foreign Minister (1922) in the WEIMAR REPUBLIC. He believed that Germany must fulfil its obligations under the VERSAILLES PEACE SETTLEMENT, including payment of REPARATIONS. Convinced of Germany's ability to gain ascendancy in Europe he negotiated the Second Treaty of RAPALLO (1922) with Russia, establishing military and trade links. He was assassinated by ANTI-SEMITIC nationalists in 1922.