KEHR, ECKART

KEHR, ECKART (1902–1933), historian; deemed the enfant terrible of the German historical community. Born in Brandenburg to a respected family of academics, he matured into a democrat with strong socialist leanings. While studying at Berlin,* he served as Assistent to Friedrich Meinecke.* Kehr was unique at challenging the academy's political history by giving it a systematic socioeconomic basis. Taking inspiration from Max Weber,* he assailed the ‘‘primacy of foreign politics,'' the Rankean paradigm, through his use of sociological models. His doctoral thesis, Schlachtflottenbau und Parteipolitik, 1894–1901 (Battleship building and party politics), written for Meinecke in 1927 and published in 1930, infuriated naval enthusiasts by exposing the political and economic motivations underlying Alfred von Tirpitz's* naval program. Hans Rothfels of Ko¨nigsberg, embittered by the thesis, refused to accept Kehr's Habilitation. When Kehr offered the work in competition for the 1931 Stein Prize, Germany's historical commission also rebuffed it. He then chose to pursue his career in the United States. He received a Rockefeller grant in 1932 and arrived in America in January 1933. Chronically ill, he died in May of a heart defect. His challenge to the traditional representation of foreign policy was forgotten until, with mixed reaction, his writings were reintroduced in the mid-1960s by Hans-Ulrich Wehler.