Even a prestigious Frankfurt chair left Adorno feeling stigmatized and dependent

Evidence

Adorno’s happiness was therefore not unqualified when he was appointed full professor on 1 July 1957, with a chair in philosophy and sociology. He had never had an offer of a chair from any other university, which would have strengthened his position at Frankfurt. Nor did he ever receive such an offer later on. Once again, Adorno suffered the old Jewish experience of being simultaneously privileged and nevertheless stigmatized and vulnerable. (He was privileged in comparison with countless other émigrés and victims of Nazi persecution who had to wait for restitution and compensation for longer than he did, or had to undergo humiliating formalities before finally receiving insultingly small sums, or nothing at all.) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2000

Categorization

• XREF: Extends the running theme of Adorno and Horkheimer’s precarious position within restored West German academia; connects to the broader ‘aussen-seiter’ émigré experience in the book. — connects to: Adorno’s first Frankfurt professorship was created explicitly as restitution for Nazi injustice — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1996; Adorno felt shame at surviving while others suffered and pursued an ethic of unobtrusiveness — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1693

Broader Connections

• Adorno felt shame at surviving while others suffered and pursued an ethic of unobtrusiveness #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1693