Ossip K. Flechtheim

Ossip Kurt Flechtheim (March 5, 1909 – March 4, 1998) was a German jurist, political scientist, author, futurist, and a humanist. He is credited with coining of the term "Futurology".

Early life Flechtheim was born in Nikolaev (then Russian Empire, now Mykolaiv, Ukraine), into a Jewish family, the son of bookseller Herrmann Flechtheim (1880–1960) and his wife Olga, née Farber (1884–1964). In 1910 the family moved back into the father's hometown of Westphalian Münster, where his relatives had a grain trade business, and later to Düsseldorf.

Emigration and academic career in United States After Nazi takeover of power in 1933, Flechtheim was dismissed from civil service as being Jewish and a member of Neu Beginnen. In 1935 he was jailed for a total of 22 days. He emigrated to Belgium and then to Switzerland, where he was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies (HEI) affiliated with the University of Geneva, where he graduated in 1939 (University of Cologne stripped him of his degree in 1938).

In 1939 he established contacts with Institute for Social Research in Geneva, and then emigrated to the United States, having accepted the fellowship offered by Max Horkheimer, the director of the Institute, when it was relocated to Columbia University in New York City. There he met Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, and also became acquainted with Isaac Asimov. In December 1942, he married Lili Therese Factor, the daughter of Emil Faktor, the former chief editor of the Berliner Börsen-Courier, their daughter Marion Ruth was born on September 26, 1946. Flechtheim taught at Atlanta University, a Historically Black College, in Atlanta, Georgia, until 1943, and afterwards accepted a position an assistant professor at the Bates College.

Selected works Bolshevist and national socialist doctrines of international law, New York: Social Research, 1940 Teaching the Future, Journal for Higher Education, 16 (1945), 460-65, and in: Forum, 104 (1945), 307-11 Fundamentals of Political Science, New York: Ronald Press, 1952 History and Futurology, Meisenheim am Glan: Anton Hain, 1966 Discussion on Future Research, in: Robert Jungk and Johan Galtung (Eds.), Mankind 2000, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, and London: Allen & Unwin, 1969 The German Left Since 1945 (with William D. Graf), Oleander Press, 1976, Futurologie. Der Kampf um die Zukunft, Köln: Wiss. u. Pol., 1982,