Kurt Albert Gerlach

Kurt Albert Gerlach ( * August 22, 1886, † October 19, 1922 ) was a German sociologist.

The son of a factory owner received his doctorate at the University of Kiel in Ferdinand Tönnies and then studied at the University of Leipzig and at the London School of Economics. In 1913 he qualified as a professor of Economics in Leipzig. He worked from 1913 as a lecturer at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. From 1914 he was editor of The Citizen.

During the November Revolution Gerlach was a member of the SPD. A short time later joined the USPD to finally join the anarcho-syndicalism. He has written articles for the magazine Der Syndicalist.

In 1919 he was appointed professor at the Technical University of Aachen, 1922, he was appointed professor at the University of Frankfurt.

In 1922, he died shortly before the appointment as the first Director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research at the diabetes. Gerlach had already brought a more detailed research program on paper. So Carl Grünberg was appointed founding director.

His divorced wife Christiane Gerlach married in 1921 Richard Sorge. This in turn was Gerlach's assistant at the Kiel Institute was and followed him to Frankfurt.

Writings (selection )

• Denmark's position in the world economy. With special consideration of trade relations with Germany, England and Scandinavia, Jena 1911
• The importance of workers' protection ( habilitation thesis ), Munich / Leipzig 1913
• The woman and the cooperative movement, Jena 1918