At this point I would like to give an orienting overview of the younghegelian group context, in order to identify the persons whose actions in this work, and to present their place in the network of group discussions. drawings. Brief biographical information is given in the notes¹.

Around 1837, Young Hegelian groups - with the exception of Tübingen - were found in Berlin and in Halle. At the beginning of the 1940s, a number of people in Cologne and in Königsberg Group contexts have developed which can be named Young Hegelian.

In 1837 a circle of young private lecturers, professors and teacher around Arnold Ruge² develops the idea of a magazine, which is a counter-project to the Berlin Yearbooks (JWK)³ founded by Hegel. Important for the the constitution of the group is that Ruge undertakes a promotional trip, i.e. immediately aims at a supra-regional context, which he de facto organises in his role as the editor of the “Hallische Jahrbücher” (HJ)⁴. - In Berlin at this time a philosophical school context of Hegel pupils exists, from which a group, the famous “Doctors’ Club”, in which the young Marx moved, detached. Through change of residence and travel activity group contexts in the Rhineland (especially Cologne) and Königsberg are initiated or local approaches are promoted. These interrelationships in different places must be referred to as groups, because they have settled over a long period of time in organised regular meetings and discussions on common objectives. These regional sub-groups thus form a supraregional relation, as through travel, letters and personal friendships a communication is established, which ensures the continuous mutual reception of the publications of the group members. In view of the information contained in this work the regional and national group context is presented in this way:

A. Ruge’s circle in Halle is in connection and difference with the Hegelian university members, especially with the Old Hegelians Friedrich W. Hinrichs⁵. and Julius Schaller⁶; the young hegelian Robert Prutz and the Co-editor of the yearbooks Theodor Echtermeier have to be included in Ruge’s circle.

1841 Ruge moves to Dresden and becomes friends with Michail Bakunin, who had previously moved in Berlin’s Young Hegelian circles. Ruge seeks early contact with Feuerbach⁷, who avoids social connections, but is interwoven with the group through his writings and letters. There is also a connection between Ruge and Karl Theodor Bayrhoffer in Marburg. The contact to the Rhineland is made by Georg Jung, who initiated the newspaper’s project with Moses Heß, which Karl Heinzen joins.

In Berlin in 1837, the doctoral club is made up of Bruno Bauer⁸, Adolf Karl Friedrich Köppen⁹ and Marx, perhaps already Edgar Bauer and members who carry the journal “Athenäum” in 1841, among others: Karl Riedel, Eduard Meyen, Karl Nauwerck, Ludwig Buhl and Friedrich Engels. When Stirner¹⁰ joins this circle is unknown, with Engels he was connected by a friendship. From the older Berlin Hegel pupils, who had closer relations with the Young Hegelians, Eduard Gans¹¹ and Karl Ludwig Michelet¹² are name. - Between Berlin and the Rhineland close links exist no only by the change of residence of Bauer, Marx and Rutenberg, but also because the “Athenians” have become regular employees of the Rheinische Zeitung”. (RhZ).

In Königsberg the friend Ruges and old Hegelian Karl Rosenkranz¹³ teaches. Among the Königsberg Young Hegelians are Rudolf Gottschall, Wilhelm Jordan, August Witt, Karl Reinhold and Edward Flotwell, who has close contact to both Berlin and the Rhineland.

Important “centres” for group consolidation as well as for the handling of writings and ideas have been abroad: especially the places Zürich, Paris and Brussels. Herwegh and Venedey are among the emigrants, which gain importance for the Young Hegelians, before some of them have to make exile experiences themselves.

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