Archives are rarely dull; all that is needed is enough perception to see the drama of the whole human condition, the romance even, lying hidden in the documents. And nowadays, with many IISH archives digitized and accessible online, any interested observer can experience this from the comfort of their favourite armchair.
For instance, anyone can find the love poem that emerged from the pen of the German Sophie von Hatzfeldt, the “Red Countess” of the early socialist movement, who wrote passionate lines after the sudden death on 31 August 1864 of Ferdinand Lassalle, the partner who had been the love of her life.
Ferdinand Lassalle was a German socialist who had decided to go by a French name. He had not died a natural death. He died at the age of 39 when a rival killed him in a duel over a woman whom both wished to marry – and the woman was not Sophie von Hatzfeldt, as one might have expected, but a Romanian beauty!
Soon after the killing, von Hatzfeldt, sans rancune, wrote the following: “Im Denken, Fühlen, Streben war ich Eins/Mit dir, ich hab die Wurzeln meines Seins/So innig mit dem Deinigen verschlungen/Dass selbst dem Tod die Trennung nicht gelungen.”*
But the next stanza is full of bitterness: “Ex ossibus ultor. Dein Werk es soll nicht untergehen/Es soll ein Rächer Dir erstehen/Er soll erstehen aus diesen Gebeinen/So schwuren, so schworen Dir die Deinen.”**
The full poem can be found in the archive of Johann Philip Becker (inventory number B16).
Other archives recently digitized and made available online as part of the 'Centrale' Digitization Project are: Emil Baumgärtel - Georg Beyer - Victor Dave - Johann Heinrich Dietz - Raphael Friedeberg - SPD Parteiarchiv - SPD Reichstagsfraktion - Otto Leichter - Alfred Marsh - Josef Peukert - Joseph Presburg - Sojuz Russkich Socialdemokratov Zagranicej
* In thoughts, in feelings, in ambition, I was at one with you/my life’s roots knotted with yours so close/that even death itself can never untie them.
** Ex ossibus ultor. Never shall your work pass away/you must be avenged/may the avenger arise from your bones/Your loved ones took and take this oath before you.
Ferdinand Lassalle's death mask is also in the collection of the IISH (BG K21/154-A).