The twenty-five letters in this volume span a century. The first is from 1783, the last from 1883. The order is chronological. Thus, Benjamin opens his book "Deutsche Menschen," published in Switzerland in 1936 under the pseudonym Detlef Holz, with a laconic remark, "a series of letters," which he had already published individually with his comments in the Frankfurter Zeitung in 1930/31. However, it was not anthological interests that motivated Benjamin to carry out his plan for a collection of letters, which he had conceived while still in Germany. Rather, he was driven by the currently no less relevant thought that there are certain positions to defend in Europe. The era covered by the 25 letters, roughly from the French Revolution to the founding period, was the time "when the bourgeoisie had its distinct and significant voice.".