Title: Robert S. Hartman Papers

Date/Date Range :    1910-1973

Extent: 54.0 linear feet

Abstract:

This is the finding aid for the Robert S. Hartman Collection, which is housed at the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library. Dr. Robert S. (Schirokauer) Hartman was born in Berlin, Germany in 1910 and is well known for his work in Philosophy and Axiology. The collection contains, among other things, correspondence in several languages and photographs from World War II and the Holocaust.

Call number: MS-2031

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Collection was donated by Rita Hartman in 1984.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Robert S. Hartman Papers, MS-2031. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of three series of correspondence:

1. Series I: General Correspondence
2. Series II: Correspondence - Single files in Alphabetical Order
3. Series III: Axiology Correspondence

Dr. Hartman was born in Berlin, Germany on January 27, 1910. As a young man he taught administrative law and the philosophy of law at the University of Berlin. He also served as Assistant Judge of the District Court, Berlin-Charlottenburg. Robert Hartman was vehemently opposed to the Nazi regime and he spoke and wrote against it constantly. His opposition was well known and when the Nazis came to power he was forced to hide in an insane asylum until friends could secure his passage out of Germany in 1932. Dr. Hartman changed his name from Robert Schirokauer to the name on his fake passport (Hartman) to Robert S. (for Schirokauer) Hartman. Dr. Hartman started working for Walt Disney Productions as a copyright representative in Britain and later opened offices for Disney in Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden where he met and married his wife. The Hartmans moved to Mexico City, where he represented Disney Productions in Central America and the Antilles. Dr. Hartman longed to return to the study of Philosophy so he moved his family to the United States in 1941 and they became citizens in 1947.

Because of his extensive knowledge of foreign languages (he spoke fluent German, French, Swedish, Spanish, and English, plus read seven additional languages), Dr. Hartman was made chairman of the Department of Spanish at the Lake Forest Academy where he also taught Philosophy. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and then began teaching Philosophy at the College of Wooster. This is where Dr. Hartman became interested in helping a young Polish woman named Wanda Nekrasz. Wanda had recently been rescued from Auschwitz where she had suffered unbelievable hardships for two years. Dr. Hartman met Wanda in a rehabilitation camp in Sweden, then led students and faculty at the College of Wooster to join him in his efforts to help her. They agreed to provide $60 per month to help support Wanda, and in 1947 negotiations began to bring Wanda to the United States to attend college. This collection contains correspondence between the Hartmans and Wanda Nekrasz from 1946-1954. From her letters, one can get a first-hand account of some of the horrors brought on by Hitler and his regime. Of further interest, Dr. Hartman saved over 200 photos from WWII and the Holocaust, which are included in this collection. Caution: some photos are extremely graphic!

Dr. Hartman later taught at Ohio State University (1948-1956), was a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1955-1956), and at Yale (1966). He held more than fifty lectureships in the United States, Canada, Latin American, and Europe. Dr. Hartman devoted his life to answer the question, "What is Good?" Having seen evil so efficiently organized, Dr. Hartman proposed to organize the forces of good. He believed he found his answer in the axiom upon which he based his science of axiology. According to Hartman, "A thing is good when it fulfills its definition."

This collection mainly consists of Dr. Hartman's early work, which is as fascinating as his later work. There is some material pertaining to Axiology and Profit Sharing, but the bulk of it can be found in MS-1015 and MS-1129. The collection has been kept in its original order whenever possible, but due to the fact that it was held by customs for years much of it was disorganized. The collection has been re-organized and requires 54 feet of shelf space.

• Concentration camps.
• Holocaust survivors.
• Profit sharing.
• World War, 1939-1945.