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Surviving through networks. Rescuing policies for the German science in the Weimar Republic.
| The end of the First World War left Germany excluded from the international community and deprived from both of its “magnitude pillars”: the military forces and science. Because the first one was almost impossible to be regained, the young Weimar Republic focused on the other, which she also identified with the German culture. In order German science to avoid “provincialism and backwardness”, as scientists feared, the Republic’s political and economic circles decided to create a rescue network establishing new institutions that would support scientific research and consequently the country’s economy. The paper will focus not only on the emergency institution of the “Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaften” that was created exactly for this purpose, but also on a number of others institutions, like the German Academy and the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, which in one way or another were affiliated to the Notgemeinschaft, creating a support network for the German science and culture. The paper will also bring to light the nodes and the dynamics of this network that helped Germany to overcome the isolation imposed by the Versailles Treaty and to establish international scientific relations, giving the country back its place in the sun.
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