Hermann-Anders Korte (1937-2025)

* March 28, 1937
† October 14, 2025

It is with the greatest regret that the Norbert Elias Foundation announces the passing of Professor Dr Hermann-Anders Korte, bearer of the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande. With him, the foundation loses its last living founding member. Korte’s contributions to the reception of Norbert Elias and the establishment of the Norbert Elias Foundation are immeasurable. We are unspeakably sad to have lost a wise man, a guide, a comrade-in-arms, a friend.

There is hardly anybody who has rendered greater service to Norbert Elias and the foundation than Korte. Both the reception of Elias and the establishment of the Norbert Elias Foundation would not have been possible to the same extent without him. We look back on this life with the greatest gratitude. What needs to be said will be summarised in four main topics:

1. Commitment to Norbert Elias

In 1965, Elias returned to Germany. He had worked at the University of Frankfurt until 1933, but was then forced into exile. After a brief stay in Paris (1933-35), he had to laboriously rebuild his scientific career in Great Britain, which he ultimately succeeded in doing. He was able to continue his career at the London School of Economics and the University of Leicester (1954-62). From 1962 to 1964, he worked as a professor in Ghana. He then accepted a visiting professorship in Münster for the winter semester of 1965/66. To pick Elias up from the train station, Dieter Claessens hired a 28-year-old assistant scientist, Hermann-Anders Korte. He told him to take good care of the older man. And that’s what Korte did.

Sixty years have passed since then, and Korte looked after Norbert Elias and his legacy until the very end. The acquaintance with the much older Jewish scholar turned into a close professional relationship and a life’s work. Korte went on excursions with Elias, later took him on vacation, held discussions with him and introduced Elias to young people who distanced themselves from the anti-Semitism of the Nazi period. Elias, who had lost many relatives in the Holocaust – his mother and uncle died in concentration camps – opened up. Although he had been cheated out of a scientific career by the Nazis, he found a way to reconciliation through Korte. With his support, he began to build on his German scientific work. He finished the book that he had had to leave behind in 1933. It appeared in 1969 under the title “The Court Society” and marked the beginning of numerous further German-language publications. From 1971 to 1973, Elias held a visiting professorship in Konstanz, from 1976 to 1978, visiting professorships in Bochum and Frankfurt and from 1979 to 1984 at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefeld. All these stays were made possible through support by Korte. Over the years, Korte has assisted Elias with a variety of organisational tasks, including providing information on German tax law, introducing him to publishing houses, arranging assistants, driving him around, and simply billing the apartment’s additional costs. Korte drove Elias to lectures and conferences, integrated him into his network and enabled him to focus on his scientific work.

The successes that resulted from this cooperation helped Elias to reconcile with his homeland. In addition to his own research, Korte introduced Elias, who was somewhat distant from life, to the right contacts and provided him with support that enabled scientific work despite his increasing blindness. Korte had particular merits in the medical care: he encouraged Elias to consult doctors regularly, ensured that he took his medication, arranged for his sister-in-law, an ophthalmologist, to examine his cataract, and facilitated an operation to restore part of Elias’s eyesight. In 1983, he saved Elias’s life in a sensational action when he became critically ill in Greece. Korte was the first to recognise the severity of the situation, first organising an ambulance and later an emergency medical plane, which saved his life.

Over the 25 years from 1965 to 1990, Korte’s dedication to Norbert Elias was immense. He invested a significant amount of time, especially in the early years, to support the older scholar. As his own scientific career flourished, he remained in close contact with Elias. To our knowledge, Elias never paid him for this, except in the first semester as a student assistant; Korte did all of this voluntarily. Despite benefiting from the exchange for his personal career, Korte’s essential career steps were achieved through research in his other areas of interest, urban sociology and migration sociology. Even after he had fully established himself as a professor, he maintained contact with Elias and was selflessly available for him, especially in the last years of his life. Korte’s personal sacrifices and dedication to Elias’s work are a testament to his commitment and selflessness.

2. Commitment to the Norbert Elias Foundation

Korte’s concern for Elias’ life led to the question of what should happen in the event of his death. The important scientist had devoted himself entirely to his work and had no natural heirs. This led to the idea that a foundation should continue his work. Korte managed to draft a founding document with friends and lawyers that corresponded to Elias’ goals. With the death of Elias on August 1, 1990, all this preparatory work came into force by making the Norbert Elias Foundation the sole heir of Elias. Korte ensured that the editors completed the books Elias had started writing. He organised meetings and conferences and often introduced researchers whose topics were compatible with one another. He also ensured that Norbert Elias’ estate was inventoried and made available to posterity in the German Literature Archive in Marbach.

Korte’s exemplary management of the foundation’s finances is a testament to his competence and responsibility. He took charge of collecting Elias’s possessions, optimising book contracts, negotiating with literary agents, and registering rights to royalties. He was investing the foundation’s capital in dividend-paying shares. When he handed over this responsibility after 26 years, the new board found everything in exemplary order, a testament to Korte’s dedication and financial acumen. Ever since he was available as a wise advisor.

Korte was instrumental in creating the “Gesammelte Schriften” from Elias’s extensive body of publications. He organised a working group for younger scientists to collaborate, established contacts with publishers, and secured funding through the foundation. He himself has presented Elias’ research in numerous books and articles, whether in the “Klassiker der Soziologie” series, reference works, or general daily newspapers. He took on the responsibility of protecting Elias’s name from false claims and misappropriations.

Not to be forgotten is his integration and support of Elias within German sociology. From the more than one hundred publications that characterise Korte’s broad academic work (a selected bibliography can be found further back in this issue), two were particularly relevant for the reception of Elias: Korte’s “Einführung in die Geschichte der Soziologie” (Introduction to the History of Sociology) has gone through a remarkable ten editions. In it, he places Elias in the context of Comte, Marx, and Weber, recognising him as the significant sociologist he was. Even more specific is his biography of Norbert Elias, the first ever, “Über Norbert Elias. Das Werden eines Menschenwissenschaftlers” (On Norbert Elias – Becoming a Human Scientist), which reached three editions. These are works with a high impact that have been and will continue to be repeatedly revisited to ensure Elias’s appropriate place in sociology.

3. Commitment to young scientists

From 1974 to 2000, Korte held professorships during which he taught introductory and advanced courses in sociology. Many thousands of aspiring sociologists listened to his lectures and thus became aware of Elias. Korte has supported numerous young scientists, providing them with research assistance selflessly. This applies, for example, to professors such as Nina Baur (Berlin), Stefanie Ernst (Münster), Gabriele Klein (Hamburg), Annette Treibel-Illian (Karlsruhe) and Paula-Irene Villa Braslavsky (München), who worked directly in his environment. He was renowned for his generosity and liberality in providing support. Younger researchers were invited to dinner or even to his famous multi-day research exchanges, which could take them to Spain, Greece, or Austria. Korte organised and sponsored these gatherings, where young professionals could interact with one another. He has supported numerous younger researchers through the Elias Foundation. Through the establishment of the Norbert Elias scholarship, several researchers received direct financial support each year.

Through his intervention, others received subsidies for printing costs, doctoral positions, or travel. He had an exceptional talent for recognising potential in people who hadn’t even realised it themselves. When he saw something, he would approach younger people on his own initiative and encourage them to pursue a career in that field of science. However, even if they pursued a different idea than the one he suggested, he didn’t hold it against them; instead, he remained constructive and supportive in his approach. What was particularly special —and certainly not a given —was that he was available to answer questions. Anyone who wrote him an e-mail or letter did not go unanswered, and anyone familiar with him could count on his call. If a contribution was not to his liking at conferences, he shied away from scathing criticism in the plenary session. Still, he would sometimes take the speaker aside afterwards and point out opportunities for improvement. It would happen that, unsuspecting, one would open the mailbox and find a book or a newspaper clipping with valuable information that Korte had noticed. He never pushed himself to the fore in this support, but rather discreetly provided information, shared addresses and had an open ear for all kinds of scientific problems. This level of mentoring is exemplary.

4. Internationalisation of Norbert Elias

When Elias died in 1990, he was not yet as globally recognised as he is today. Korte played a significant role in his growing reputation. He strengthened the ties to the existing Elias Circles through countless visits to the Netherlands and Great Britain.

In Italy, Korte participated in the awards ceremonies of the “Premio Europeo Amalfi per la Sociologia e le Scienze Sociali” of the Italian Sociological Association from 1987 to 2010. His colleagues from Florence hold him in the highest esteem. In Latin America, Korte is recognised from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. Regular sociological conferences, such as the congresses of the “Simpósio Internacional Processos Civilizadores“, focus on his work. With the Goethe-Institut in Accra, Ghana, Korte endeavoured to establish a “Norbert Elias Memorial Award”, which he successfully established from 2004 to 2006. Korte contributed to the worldwide recognition of Elias’s writings. The works have now been translated into more than thirty languages. Elias’s major works are available in Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, and many other languages. Book contracts from every continent and in every world language bear Korte’s signature.

Character and the Better Half

Korte was a highly educated, astute thinker who held clear positions and did not shy away from conflict. Yet he was not a debater for the sake of debate, but rather someone with a clear orientation on the issue. Sometimes uncompromising when convinced he was right, he was nevertheless willing to be persuaded by another opinion if the arguments convinced him. Despite the need to make decisions, not everyone agreed with him at all times, but it must be unequivocally acknowledged that Korte had a profound moral decency that prevented him from gaining an advantage through unlawful means or from tolerating the rule-breaking of others. His behaviour was characterised by an underlying deep humanism and a broad understanding of culture, which characterised his commitment to fellow human beings. Despite this clear focus and firmness in his approach, he maintained a democratic working style based on mutual respect, treating those subordinate to him with decency and appreciation. His guiding principle was always service to the cause and the general advancement and progress of all humanity. Korte had clear, binding values, from which he would not be deterred by personal sympathy or advantage. As a professor in the 1970s, he championed gender equality, allowing young female sociologists to take their exams and become assistants, something still largely uncommon at the time. He tirelessly championed German-Jewish reconciliation and promoted African researchers, culminating in the establishment of the “Norbert Elias Fellowship” at the Bielefeld Center for Interdisciplinary Research. Korte has achieved a great deal on this path to greater integration and equality among people.

Those who knew Hermann-Anders Korte know the outstanding importance of Elke Korte, without whom he would have been unthinkable. Elke, a distinguished sociologist in her own right, with a doctorate, joined him in their various efforts by his side for half a century. She was his equal partner in everything, participating actively in the colossal life’s work they achieved. Our deepest gratitude, therefore, also goes to her.

Adrian Jitschin