Colleagues, Friends, and Enemies

Abstract

By 1909, when the Eulenburg trials had ended, Harden had become a world figure known to people who did not read the Zukunft or understand his position in the intellectual life of Germany. His literary reputation was established, however, almost as soon as he began writing. Already at the age of thirty, before the Zukunft had appeared, he was serving as a model for his juniors. When the youthful Theodor Lessing resolved to leave home to make a career in literature, he fled to Berlin to seek out Harden. He was astonished to find his model only seven [sic] years older than himself, “but far, far superior in bearing, experience, and self-discipline.”¹