Christian Konrad Wilhelm Dohm (1751-1820) and Heinrich Friedrich von Diez (1751-1817) were two German diplomats, philosophers of Enlightenment who held high political positions in the Prussian service. Dohm was secret State Secretary in the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, later diplomat in Holland, and Diez was ambassador in Constantinople. Both politicians were also important philosophers of the Enlightenment. Dohm is best known as the author of the groundbreaking treatise ‘On the Civil Improvement of the Jews’, which gave Jews equal state rights, and as the teacher of the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt.

The correspondence between Diez and Dohm includes about 200 pages and, in addition to political topics relating to Prussian foreign policy and diplomatic matters, also deals with philosophical issues. A large part of the correspondence is written in a special cipher, which I was able to decipher comprehensively for the first time. During my research in Germany, I studied and transcribed the bundle of all letters from Diez to Dohm, which is archived in the Regensburg Library. I have also written a commentary and an essay on the content and context of the letters. In January 2023, I will present the results of my research in a public lecture at the University of Halle.