An Ideological-Historical Analysis of Walter Benjamin’s Habilitation Case

In my study, I examine the rejected habilitation procedure of Walter Benjamin. My aim is to explore the reasons for this rejection through a study of the exact course of the procedure. In the first part of the paper, I will outline the functioning of the German academic system (concerning the procedure of habilitation) through some historical aspects (institutional history and biographical data), and I will also take stock of Benjamin’s life at the time and what a successful habilitation would have meant for him. I will then consider the arguments and explanations that could potentially arise in relation to the unsuccessful habilitation based on the typology I have constructed. I have created this typology to make the explanations clearer and easier to understand, which I believe, in addition to grouping the arguments, can also show how the arguments in question are interlinked. I will then analyse the correspondence surrounding the habilitation procedure and the opponent’s critique in the file, written by Hans Cornelius, because of the original archival documents (Promotionsakte W. Benjamin). I believe that together they provide a rather complex picture of Benjamin’s habilitation procedure. However, the conclusion of my thesis is that this biographical moment should be seen more as an indicator that can actively inform us both about Benjamin’s characteristics and thought (covering his entire life and oeuvre) and about the norms and controversies of the German academic system in the 1920s.