Politics and Society

Lust and vice – there is no room for boring theory in the roles performed by Emil Jannings. As the eccentric professor Unrat, he plays the German academic who falls under the spell of eroticism in the film "The Blue Angel" as a caricature of himself. This film also sees Jannings take the step from silent movie to talking film. The topic he presents in 1939 at the invitation of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society at Harnack House could hardly be more contrasting: He talks about his film (Robert Koch – The Fighter against Death), which fully reflects the self-glorifying agenda of the Third Reich. more

Whether playing a snob, the devil or the King of Prussia alongside Henny Porten – Gründgens, the much-celebrated star of the stage, is the charismatic intellectual of German theatre. Gustaf Gründgens is regarded as a fascinating but equally dubious face of German art. Despite being homosexual, he enjoys a meteoric stage career in the Third Reich and the patronage of those in power. However, he also uses his position as the Nazis’ star performer to help persecuted colleagues. more

Carl Siemens follows in the footsteps of his ingenious father at the age of just 27. After the premature death of his elder brothers, he is the sole heir to the international company which Werner von Siemens founded with Georg Halske as a company specialised in communications and energy technology: future-oriented sectors that Carl was to expand worldwide. more

Harnack House was not just a meeting place for scientists but also an important venue for cultivating networks with politicians and industrialists as the club for Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG) members. The house’s guestbook impressively documents this networking activity with the state’s elites. As the topic has never been systematically researched, only a fragmentary insight can be provided into the role played by Harnack House as a meeting point for politicians and society. more