Franzosen in Berlin

For a long time, national historiography failed to recognize how significant the intellectual presence of French Protestants was, who had fled to Prussia in large numbers. The contributions in this volume evaluate the monumental correspondence estate of the Berlin academy secretary Samuel Formey. In doing so, they lay the foundation for a new view of the efficacy of these "Frenchmen in Berlin", developed from the sources, and shed light on the contradictory mediating position of the réfugiés and their descendants in eighteenth-century Prussia. Formey, representing the second generation of Huguenots in Prussia, was dedicated to the propagation of German philosophy, especially Christian Wolff. His critical attitude toward the French Enlightenment was thus predetermined. Formey's arguments with Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau are consequences of this position and, although he wrote them in French, are integral to the Enlightenment in Prussia.