Metadata: Research documentation Marcel Ott
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- FD Marcel Ott
- Title:
- Research documentation Marcel Ott
- Title (official language):
- Forschungsdokumentation Marcel Ott
- Creator/accumulator:
- Ott, Marcel
- Date(s):
- 1994/1998
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 0.1 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains tape interviews with Hermann Levin Goldschmidt, recorded between 1994 and 1998. Goldschmidt often commented on current topics and events (such as referendums, terrorist attacks, etc.), giving the recordings a highly personal touch. The idea behind this was to make Goldschmidt and his philosophy better known. While people were enthusiastic about his lectures and personal encounters with him, his works were difficult to understand and could not be communicated to a wider audience. However, a planned project for a low-threshold access to Goldschmidt's philosophy (e.g. by means of a newspaper or leaflets on philosophy and art) was never realised. In 2005, all the tapes were severely damaged and soiled during a flood. A specialist was able to save 67 of 150 to 170 interviews. The very first recordings from 1994 and several more from later in the interview period could not be saved. The metadata (date, content), which had also been destroyed, were reconstructed by an audit of all surviving tapes.
- Archival history:
- The collection was transferred to the AfZ in 2016.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Marcel Ott was born in Zurich on 17 September 1946, the son of Heinrich Ott and Berta, née Jaun. In 1986, he married Lily Linder. He completed a commercial apprenticeship and then worked as a commercial employee (controller) for Swissair and, from 1971, for ESSO. After his retirement, he worked for the Petroleum Association, the SBB and the Alcohol Board. From 1994 to 2014, Ott was president of SAPPRO Geneva (Marseille-Geneva oil pipeline). From 1980 onwards, Ott was a regular attendee at the lectures of Hermann Levin Goldschmidt at the Volkshochschule Zurich and conducted numerous taped interviews with Goldschmidt from autumn 1994 until shortly before his death in March 1998.
- Access points: locations:
- Zurich
- Access, restrictions:
- No open access. Subject to application.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2020
