Harden, Maximilian

born Maximilian Felix Ernst Witkowsky (1861-1927)

   journalist and publisher; among Germany's important political commen-tators. Born in Berlin* to a Jewish silk merchant, he left school early, converted to Christianity, and traveled for ten years with a stage group, assuming the name Maximilian Harden. Turning to journalism in 1888, he wrote initially for the Deutsche Montagsblatt and Gegenwart. A friend and supporter of Bismarck, he was the pronounced opponent of his successors. In 1892 he founded Die Zukunft (Future); he published, edited, and substantially authored the journal for thirty years.

   Harden was a combative spirit. Hugo von Hofmannsthal claimed that he was "hard to define and easy to abuse," and a biographer called him "the caricature of the crusading polemicist." He used Zukunft for fierce and often-effective attacks on Germany's political and social life, not refraining from harassing the Kaiser himself (the latter having snubbed Harden's proffer of support); he ini-tiated an assault on the Kaiser's friend Philipp Eulenburg, including accusations of homosexuality, which served to discredit the Kaiser and his entourage while creating one of the famous scandals of the century's first decade. Such attacks led to several prison sentences. When he accused Walther Rathenau,* an erst-while friend, of plagiarism, Rathenau challenged him to a duel (Harden refused to fight). Although Harden was an early devotee of Alfred von Tirpitz* and an aggressive world policy, he became a determined foe of annexationism during World War I and by 1916 was campaigning for a peace of understanding.

   As someone "who followed only his conscience," Harden is difficult to clas-sify. With a vast intellect and extensive knowledge, he was a brilliant conver-sationalist and a good listener. Kurt Tucholsky,* also a journalistic force, said that he was among the few German journalists who symbolized power." But he remained quarrelsome, inclined to be at odds with almost all of his acquain-tances. By 1918 many deemed him a republican, a socialist, and a pacifist; yet he was also an elitist who spurned the Republic's bourgeois aspects. While he hailed the November Revolution,* he was soon disillusioned. A lonely admirer of the Versailles Treaty*—he called it a "work of art"—he rejected the only Party capable of applying it. Indeed, his reproach of the SPD clashed with his advocacy of workers' rights. In the pages of Zukunft he was equally as prone to champion powerful industrialists such as Hugo Stinnes* as to find generous words for Soviet Russia. On 3 July 1922, shortly after Rathenau's assassination,* a would-be assassin pummeled Harden with an iron rod. Severely injured, Harden relocated to Swit-zerland. Although he lived five more years, he never recovered from the assault.

   REFERENCES:Benz and Graml, Biographisches Lexikon;Deak, Weimar Germany's Left-Wing Intellectuals; Young, Maximilian Harden.