The Hamburg Scientific Foundation (german: Hamburgische Wissenschaftliche Stiftung) was founded in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1907 to support academic research and its dissemination in that city.

Werner von Melle Werner von Melle (18 October 1853 – 18 February 1937) was a mayor and senator of Hamburg, as well as a jurist. Melle, who held multiple doctorates, also served on the first board of trustees for the Hamburg Scientific Foundation. __TOC__ Fam ...

promoted the project from early 1907, raising 3.8 million marks by its foundation on 12 April 1907. One of its first appointments was

Erich Marcks Erich Marcks (6 June 1891 – 12 June 1944) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He authored the first draft of the operational plan, ''Operation Draft East'', for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, ad ...

, the historian. William Stern and

Karl Rathgen Karl Rathgen (December 6, 1856, Weimar - November 4, 1921, Hamburg) was a German economist. He was the first Chancellor of the University of Hamburg. After studying in Strasbourg, Halle, Leipzig and Berlin, he passed the first state examination ...

were attracted to Hamburg by the funds the foundation made available to them. Between 1908 and 1910 it funded significant research into ethnographic research in the Bismarck Archipelago and the

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the ce ...

, located in

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

. Also by financing the publication of academic journals the foundation contributed to the founding of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

in 1919. However assets previously calculated at 7M Marks were almost entirely written off in 1923 during the

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923, primarily in 1923. It caused considerable internal political instability in the country, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium, ...

References

{{Authority control Organisations based in Hamburg Scientific organisations based in Germany 1907 establishments in Germany