Köpfe und Ideen 2021

At the beginning of this academic year we were very pleased that – despite the pandemic, which had preoccupied the world for half a year – almost all the Fellows slated for 2020/2021 had indeed come to Berlin. We proceeded in all caution – keeping our distance, wearing masks, continuous ventilation, air purifiers, limits to the number of people per room – while being cautiously optimistic that after a tightening of safety measures, at latest in the spring, the much-vaunted and frequently promised relaxations would also revive the Kolleg’s social and scholarly life. This confidence was still shared by Fellows and staff alike even when gigantic two-person luncheon tables were no longer allowed. The institute that was supposed to be a place of “unanticipated encounters” (see

Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte, no. XXXX) necessarily became a place to avoid encounters. Around lunchtime one could see individual Fellows, with their “take-out food” from our restaurant, heading back to their offices where they would fortify themselves for the next videoconference or simply the solitary continuation of their work.