When Georg Simmel received an appointment as an extraordinary professor of philosophy at the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms-University - now Humboldt University - in 1900, it was met with fierce resistance from the academic establishment and anti-Semitic circles in politics. The Berlin University was Simmel's alma mater: he had studied, earned his doctorate, and habilitated there; he would spend many years teaching and researching without a salary until he moved to Strasbourg, where he finally became a full professor of philosophy just a few years before his death. Nevertheless, Simmel's years in Berlin were his most productive, during which he not only created his major sociological works but also became a star of the university through his sensational lectures. Few could present topics such as logic, ethics, and aesthetics as captivatingly as he did, leaving his colleagues in awe.