528 Notes to pp. 185–189
Vienna and was in contact with Karl Popper. See Heinz Steinert, Adorno
in Wien, pp. 30 and 150ff.
51 Benjamin and Adorno, The Complete Correspondence 1928–1940, p. 37.
Chapter 12 From Philosophy Lecturer to
Advanced Student1 The materials in the Bodleian Library reveal that Oscar Wiesengrund
had established a wine-merchant’s business in London for which he was
looking for a partner in 1936. He had approached Walter Adams, who
had recommended Hermann Hirsch for the post (in a letter of 5 February
1936). MS SPSL, 322/2, No. 138.
2 Evelyn Wilcock has researched the British connections of Oscar
Wiesengrund and Adorno’s Oxford years with great meticulousness over
a number of years. Her publications based on the primary sources have
been a great help in reconstructing Adorno’s activities during this phase
of his life. See Evelyn Wilcock, ‘Adorno’s Uncle’ and ‘Adorno in Oxford’,
and Andreas Kramer and Evelyn Wilcock, ‘A Preserve for Professional
Philosophers’.
3 At the end of the First World War political constraints forced Robert
Wingfield to sell his shares in the business. The company manufactured
parts for ships’ screws without which the British navy would not have
been able to match the speed of German ships. Since the company products
were vital for the war effort, and because of the risk that property belong-
ing to native Germans might be confiscated owing to the prevailing
war hysteria, Wingfield finally gave in to the pressure and withdrew from
this branch of production. Henceforth his business activities were con-
fined to the Steam Fitting Company, specializing in measuring devices,
thermostats, etc.
4 See Gerhard Hirschfeld, ‘“The Defence of Learning and Science”: Der
Academic Assistance Council in Großbritannien und die wissenschaftliche
Emigration aus Nazi-Deutschland’, p. 28ff.
5 Adorno’s entire correspondence with the AAC is preserved in the Bodleian
Library in Oxford, where it can be inspected.
6 His younger brother, Peter Epstein, who had been born in 1901, was a
musicologist married to a pianist. He had died as early as 1932.
7 See John P. Fox, ‘Das nationalsozialistische Deutschland und die Emigra-
tion nach Großbritannien’, p. 14ff.
8 Bodleian Library, MS SPSL, 322/2, No. 51.
9 Adorno and Berg, Briefwechsel 1925–1935, p. 297; Evelyn Wilcock, ‘Alban
Berg’s Appeal to Edward Dent on behalf of Theodor Adorno’, p. 365ff.
10 Letter of 12 March 1934, Bodleian Library, MS SPSL, 322/2, No. 65.
11 This was precisely what Professor Macmurray had recommended in his
letter of 12 December 1933: ‘With regard to Dr. Wiesengrund-Adorno
I should judge from the papers you have sent me that his unusual combina-
tion of musical and philosophical ability should make him an acceptable
member of academic society, particularly in Oxford or Cambridge, where
philosophical specialization is possible. Since no financial obligation is
incurred, I should think it possible that he might find an opportunity to