Who was Walther Rathenau?
An exotic, complex, and tragic figure, his life and work encompassed powerful opposites, as exemplified in the huge and impressive exhibition two years ago at the German Historical Museum in Berlin.(5) He was a direct descendant of the German and Jewish Enlightenment which valued reason and science but also the arts, music, and literature. An industrialist, social philosopher, and statesman, he attained the highest government office ever reached by a German Jew. As foreign minister, he steered the wobbly Weimar Republic in two directions — towards reconciliation with the Entente and rapprochement with Soviet Russia. As a marked victim of political and racial assassins and now the subject of several biographies, he is a challenging figure of contemporary history.(6) Born in 1867, Walther Rathenau was a true child of imperial Germany and its emancipated Jews. His father, Emil Rathenau, founded the huge centralized conglomerate, AEG, the German General Electric Company. Following his dut
