MEMORANDUM

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in Berlin. He was very much on his own (“I had practically no social life”). 71 He ran across Russians in Berlin, of course, but did not develop personal relations with very few of them. One was a banker of Russian origin named Mitnitsky who assisted Emil Lederer with the editing of Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik. Mitnisky had a son about five years younger than Leontief. At Mitnisky Sr.‘s request Leontief gave the son his first lessons in economics. 72 Leontief’s life in Berlin was simple and materially poor, in particular to begin with. Leontief’s father had hardly been able to supply his son with much support in terms of financial resources when he left Russia. Leontief Sr. was still professor at Petrograd University but his income hardly sufficed for much beyond necessities after the confiscation of the assets of the family business. Leontief succeeded, however, in finding a way to earn some money in Berlin. From 1925 to 1927 he wrote for the largest Russian commercial weekly review general coal and iron market reports for all leading countries. The review was published (in Russian) in Berlin and Leontief had got the review assignment through the Russian commercial mission. 73 In addition to the pecuniary benefit the experience may even have been helpful when he made iron and other raw material markets and prices an object for study in Kiel a few years later. By his own words Leontief was “very poor” in Berlin. He lived two years or so in Berlin under miserly conditions. He sublet a room, first in one flat and then in another. He remembered it as “living in a small cold-water flat” without a hot plate. His diet was correspondingly simple: “I didn’t have coffee, but I had milk. I made sour milk out of it” and digested it with potato pancakes which could be had very cheap, or bought a frankfurter which came with as much bread as one wanted. 74 He recalled an early purchase: “I still have in the country the first jacket I purchased myself in Germany, kind of a synthetic jacket, which looks very much kind of a Nazi green.” 75 An odd piece of memorabilia to keep! The first task in Berlin was, naturally, to inquire about enrolment at the Berlin University. 76 Leontief soon found out that his Soviet gymnasium degree was not 71 Alpers (1989, p.23). 72 Mitnisky’s son studied economics in Heidelberg before he emigrated in the late 1930s to USA where he became Mark J. Millard, and made a career on Wall Street. Leontief retained contact with him until Millard died in 1985: “He still called me Wassiliok, the only man who to the very end called me Wassiliok.” Alpers (1989, pp.23-24). 73 Fields (1986, p.70)¸ Alpers (1989, p.25). In the early post-WWI years more Russian-language books were printed in Berlin than in either Petrograd or Moscow! 74 Alpers (1989, p.23). 75 Alpers (1989, p.19). 76 Berlin University was then Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin; it changed name to Humboldt University in 1949. 24
ecognized as equivalent to the Abitur required for entry at German universities. There was only one way of addressing this obstacle, namely by sitting for the required supplementary entry exam (Ergänzungsprüfung). The university allowed those without Ergänzungsprüfung to be auditors (Gasthörer). Leontief was registered as Gasthörer on 27 April 1925 and retained the same status for three semesters. As Gasthörer Leontief could attend lectures but was not admitted to seminars. Soon after arrival Leontief went to see Professor Werner Sombart to introduce himself and deliver the letter from Kulisher. Sombart welcomed him and made Leontief his research assistant. Leontief liked him despite their differences in scholarly interests. Leontief passed eventually the Ergänzungsprüfung in October 1926 and was permitted to enroll as a matriculated student (mit grosser Matrikel) in the philosophical faculty. 77 Sombart entrusted Leontief with being the manager of his seminars, a responsibility which also comprised admitting new participants. The seminar comprised fifteen to twenty people. Leontief recalled having admitted a number of students to Sombart’s seminar and also the many interesting discussions having taken place there. The discussions were often more on sociology than economics and Marxism was frequently brought up. 78 In retrospect Leontief remembered and summed up Sombart in the seminar as “tall, elegant… obviously originally influenced by Marx, but wrote a more or less Nazi book under the Nazis…quite eloquent and very interesting.” 79 As a matriculated student Leontief worked mainly in the seminars of professors Sombart, Bortkiewicz, and Breysig. There are no records from these seminars. The three professors were rather different in scholarly terms but seem to have shared the view that Leontief was an extraordinarily gifted candidate. Werner Sombart (b.1863) had studied law and economics in Italy. His doctoral degree from Berlin University had been supervised by Gustav Schmoller and Adolph Wagner, the foremost members of the Younger Historical School. Sombart himself was denoted leader of the Youngest Historical School. Sombart was an economist and sociologist, knew Marxism well, had a radical image as a social reformer, and was very influential in social sciences in the first quarter of the twentieth century with a reputation far beyond Germany. 80 He was professor at Berlin University from 1917 to 1931 when he retired from his chair but continued to teach. Sombart was productive and wrote many books; very 77 Kaliadina and Pavlova (2006, p.340n18). The Ergänzungsprüfung comprised Latin. Leontief had picked up some Latin in Petrograd and didn’t seem to have much trouble passing the exams. 78 Among those Leontief admitted was Hungarian born Thomas Balogh who became a British economist and politician, and eventually member of the House of Lords. 79 Alpers (1989, pp.20-21). 80 A well-known statement about him is Friedrich Engels’ assertion that Sombart was the only German professor who understood Das Kapital. He denoted himself as Marxist but had no qualms about embracing National Socialism in 1934. 25
Page 1 and 2: MEMORANDUM No 18/2016 Wassily Leont
Page 3 and 4: Rev-1, November 13, 2016 Wassily Le
Page 5 and 6: Others have touched upon the questi
Page 7 and 8: in 1925, or, for that matter, Germa
Page 9 and 10: the Leontief family within the trad
Page 11 and 12: From the beginning of 1905 Wassily
Page 13 and 14: passport issued just before he left
Page 15 and 16: finances. 26 Before he got the posi
Page 17 and 18: mostly civilians. 33 Needless to em
Page 19 and 20: Boisguilbert”. He stated further
Page 21 and 22: student had conveyed a very positiv
Page 23 and 24: “In his work, Leontief revealed e
Page 25: extended studies in Berlin, he has
Page 29 and 30: Kurt Breysig (b.1866) was historian
Page 31 and 32: years, we denote them by the key wo
Page 33 and 34: assertions there were further artic
Page 35 and 36: letter was returned after two days
Page 37 and 38: laws. In other words the candidate
Page 39 and 40: As the candidate remarks, this impo
Page 41 and 42: process was delayed. In September 1
Page 43 and 44: framework for applied demand and su
Page 45 and 46: observations would be sufficiently
Page 47 and 48: As soon as the July 1929 issue of W
Page 49 and 50: Leontief returned from Shanghai alo
Page 51 and 52: express myself clearer than that.
Page 53 and 54: on 9 September for Harvard and rema
Page 55 and 56: Economist with the Federal Farm Boa
Page 57 and 58: Leontief. He wrote to Irving Fisher
Page 59 and 60: e advisable to submit copies of all
Page 61 and 62: with interesting colleagues, die Ki
Page 63 and 64: times and received suggestions for
Page 65 and 66: very soon, before the end of April.
Page 67 and 68: progress. He then had a meeting wit
Page 69 and 70: Another emphasis in the article on
Page 71 and 72: current basis and expressed his wil
Page 73 and 74: Just as Leontief arrived NBER plung
Page 75 and 76: Leontief enjoyed New York. At Leont
Page 77 and 78:
offer from Harvard may well have di
Page 79 and 80:
Wassily Leontief is carrying out ce
Page 81 and 82:
Enchanted at Harvard Leontief’s p
Page 83 and 84:
European man.” A vote was taken o
Page 85 and 86:
Leontief had not yet published a si
Page 87 and 88:
Leontief spoke to an audience at Ha
Page 89 and 90:
Another Schumpeter initiative soon
Page 91 and 92:
The outline was as follows: “The
Page 93 and 94:
* * * One year later, in February 1
Page 95 and 96:
I have just read the manuscript of
Page 97 and 98:
Frisch to Leontief, 8 February 1934
Page 99 and 100:
Schumpeter responded: “Dear Frisc
Page 101 and 102:
Project a) was about the completion
Page 103 and 104:
* * * Wassily and Estelle went on a
Page 105 and 106:
several topics is very similar to t
Page 107 and 108:
considered to illuminate the calcul
Page 109 and 110:
The Structure of American Economy F
Page 111 and 112:
term in Berkeley and the second in
Page 113 and 114:
A part of the original Leontief man
Page 115 and 116:
Bureaus post defense studies. 240 I
Page 117 and 118:
Leontief Harvard period lasted unti
Page 119 and 120:
Frisch, Ragnar. 1936. Annual survey
Page 121 and 122:
Leontief, W. 1932. Studien über di
Page 123 and 124:
Rutherford, Malcolm. 2004. Institut
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MEMORANDUM

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