Erich Cassirer’s thesis was titled: ‘Die allgemeinen Voraussetzungen des Berkeleyschen Systems.’ (the general preconditions of Berkeley’s system. (This refers to George Berkeley, 1685-1753.) Theses at the university of Marburg 1913, abriged version printed by the Hof-Buchdruckerei in Weimar, 85 pages. Full version in ‘Philosophische Arbeiten’, ed. by Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) and Paul Nartorp (1854-1924), 8 (1914) 2. The exam (’Rigorosum’) was on March 5, 1913, with Cohen and Natorp as ‘Referenten’. The documents show that Erich was born Jan. 27 1881 in Berlin, in 1913 living in Berlin, of Prussian nationality. He was at the Gymnasium in Berlin-Steglitz, and took the examination in 1902. He studied 2 semesters (2 terms equal 1 year) in Munich and 8 semesters in Marburg. [*Expat 7 Oct 2004]

			Werner Falk notes that Erich was first a philosopher, and then ran an art dealership in Berlin and that he used to visit Erich when Werner was 14 years old (ie in 1920) and it was from him that Werner got his love of ancient art.  Later Erich spent time in Oxford and then established an art gallery in London either late in the war, or after the war.   Reinhard Rürup in his article below notes that Erich was a “leading expert” in ancient Chinese art.  However, it is also known that he had considerable expertise in ancient Egyptian art.

			To read the PDF file below, double click on it.

			Reference.  Rurup, Reinhard “A Success Story and Its Limits: European Jewish Social History in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries” Jewish Social Studies - Volume 11, Number 1, Fall 2004 (New Series), pp. 3-15 Indiana University Press. http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/jewish_social_studies/v011/11.1rurup.html