Benjamin joined the Institute’s staff after his Passagen-Werk gained financial support

Evidence

Horkheimer, who had met Benjamin again in Paris during his visit to Europe in September 1937, wrote to Adorno afterwards: `The best part was a few hours with Benjamin. Of all of them, he is the one who is by far the closest to us.’ In the late autumn of 1937, Benjamin became a regular member of staff at the Institute. By 1935 his Passagen-Werk had been adopted as one of the research projects financially supported by the Institute, and the regular payment of an increased salary to Benjamin had been agreed during Horkheimer’s visit to Paris in February 1936. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 661

Categorization

• XREF: The institutional financing of Benjamin’s Passagen-Werk (Arcades Project) is a key fact for reference-level intellectual history of the Frankfurt School.