[This page – a summary and explanation of Kant’s estate – is very much in progress.]
Kant left a gross estate of 21,539 rthl. 33 gl. 12 6/11 pf., including his house and garden but excluding his books. The figure comes from the official inventory and division of his estate [pdf], drawn up by Justiz-Commissarius Radtke [bio] and dated Königsberg, 17 September 1804.
The copy printed in 1901 is a Neben-Exemplar, one of nine executed copies. The Haupt-Exemplar (master copy) went to Wasianski [bio] as executor, with the remaining eight distributed among the eight principal heirs. The present copy surfaced among the papers of Kant’s grand-niece Emma Kant, who died in Mitau on 10 November 1898. She was the daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm Kant, one of the eight heirs named below. Under her will it passed to the Kurland Provincial Museum. Baron Alexander von Rahden made a transcription and presented it at the society’s December 1900 meeting. It was printed as Beilage VI, pp. 81–108, with the society’s summary on pp. 36–37 [Radtke 1901].
Kant’s last will and testament, along with the emendations listed below, are published with Kant’s correspondence [AA 12: 382-92, 552-71] [PDF].
| Date | Instrument | Provisions |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Feb 1798 | Will, deposited with the Academic Senate Kant was a member of the university, so his “court” was the Academic Senate, which had jurisdiction over its members. Kant deposited his will with the Senate, which later opened it. on 28 Feb. 1798 and opened 15 Feb. 1804 | Eight heirs in equal shares: eight of Kant’s nephews and nieces, four living in Königsberg and four living in Courland (see below). Prof. Gensichen is named executor, with a legacy of 500 rthl. in cash plus Kant’s books in natura. |
| 14 Dec 1801 | First codicil | Wasianski replaces Gensichen [bio] as executor and curator funeris. Legacies of 2,000 Thaler to Wasianski and 2,000 Gulden to the cook Louise Nitsch. Kant forbids a court seal on the estate. A court seal here means an obsignation (gerichtliche Versiegelung) of a dead person’s estate. When someone died, officials of the competent court would come to the house and put wax seals on the doors of rooms, cupboards, desks, and chests. Nothing could be removed or disturbed until the court had made an inventory and the heirs and creditors had been identified. The point was to protect the estate from theft or the hiding of assets, but this could also cause problems, such as delays, court fees – and Wasianski would have needed immediate access to cash to cover funeral and related expenses. Title III (p. 85) shows Radtke sealing Kant’s bureau in his bedroom (on Feb. 14), where he kept his valuables, but this was at Wasianski’s request and in his presence, and after he had taken the cash (191 rthl. 10 gl.) for expenses. |
| 22 Feb 1802 | Second codicil | The servant Lampe’s “considerable” pension is reduced to 40 rthl. a year. Kant’s sister Barbara Theuer, living in the St. Georg Hospital, receives 100 rthl. a year instead of 100 Gulden (a three-fold increase). A capital of 3,500 rthl. at the Landschaft The Landschaft was an East Prussian provincial credit institution; it paid 4% on the pension capital. The Banque, the Berlin royal bank’s branch, paid 2%. funds both pensions. When both pensioners have died, half goes to the sister’s (Maria Elisabeth’s) children and half to the brother's. |
| 3 May 1802 | Private written dispositions | 100 rthl. to the new servant Johann Kaufmann. |
| 7 Feb 1803 | Private written dispositions | An additional 50 rthl. to the new servant Johann Kaufmann, for each year of service since 1 Jan. 1802, and “counting the beginning of the year as a full year”. |
| 29 May 1803 | Paper marked “Nach meinem Tode zu erbrechen” | Wasianski is to take a twentieth of the whole estate “for his trouble,” before anything else is paid out. |
The last three papers were not deposited with the court (i.e., Academic Senate), but they were formally published to the heirs.
The eight heirs: In Königsberg, four children of Kant’s younger sister, Maria Elisabeth Kröhnert: Maria Elisabeth (1727-1796) was married to the shoemaker Christian Kröhnert (1752; divorced in 1768). They had seven children, with five living to adulthood and two sons dying in infancy (1753, 1763). Those living to adulthood were (1) Louise Charlotte (1754–1807) unmarried; (2) Johann Christian (1757–1831), a shoemaker; (3) Katharina Barbara Stehr (1760–1807), left unnamed in Kant’s will, along with her three living daughters: Louise (1791–1843), Dorothea (d. 1870), and Julianne (d. 1807); (4) Maria Dorothea Geelhaar (1765–1826), the wife of a ship’s captain, and with two sons who remained unmarried; and (5) Samuel Friedrich (1769–1805), also a shoemaker, and married to Charlotta Geelhaar, although with no children. The parents (Maria Elisabeth and Christian) had divorced before their last child, Samuel Friedrich, was born. Johann Christian Kroenert and Samuel Gottlieb Kroenert (both master shoemakers), Maria Dorothea Geelhaar née Kroenert (wife of a ship’s captain), and the unmarried Louise Charlotte Kroenert. In Courland, the four children of Kant’s younger brother Johann Heinrich Kant: Amalia Charlotte Rickmann Written ‘Amalie Charlotte Rieckmann’ in the inventory. (married to Secretary Carl Wilhelm Rickmann), Minna Charlotte Schoen (married to Pastor Carl Christoph Schoen), Friedrich Wilhelm Kant (a Mitau merchant, married to Amalie Charlotte Steinart, the mayor’s daughter), and Henrietta Stuart (married to Customs Inspector Friedrich Stuart). Kant had other living relatives apart from these eight nephews and nieces. As mentioned in the previous note, Maria Elisabeth Kröhnert’s third child (Katherina Barbara Stehr), along with Katherina’s own three daughters, were not included in the will (with no explanation of which I am aware). Kant’s older sister (Regina Dorothea) had already died (without children) as had a younger sister (Anna Louise, married but childless, dying when she was 37), but Kant’s youngest sister, Catharina Barbara (known as Barbara) would live until 1807 (she had been married only a year when she was widowed, and had no children). Kant had already been supporting Barbara, which continued until her death. Kant’s sister-in-law, Maria Kant neé Havemann had been widowed since 1800, and Kant had given her some financial support – although apparently only after she had written for help (she wrote three letters to Kant in 1800 following her husband’s death (February 24, May 16, and July 19; the text of the latter two letters is available at AA 12: 306-7, 318).
| Title | Item | rthl. gl. pf. |
|---|---|---|
| I | House and garden on the Prinzessinplatz. Court appraisal of 10 March 1804: 5,589 fl. 15 gl., or 1,863 rthl. 15 gl. Sold at the fourth auction round to the merchant Johann Christoph Richter for 10,110 fl. (decree of 27 April 1804). | 3,370 rthl. |
| II | Loans outstanding, with interest to the day of death: bill of exchange on Green, Motherby & De Drusinna at 6% (7,166 rthl. 60 gl.); mortgage held on the noble estate of Garbenincken, owed by Major v. Bronsart, at 5% (6,000 rthl.); two notes of the Königsberg sugar refinery at 5% (2,000 rthl. each); academic emoluments still owed, including the Getreide-Geld and payments from the Groeben and Fischer endowments. | 17,471 rthl. 23 gl. 6 6/11 pf. |
| III | Cash found in the desk in Kant’s bedroom: 550 fl. in an envelope, plus 23 fl. 10 gl. in small coin. | 191 rthl. 10 gl. |
| IV–V | Watch, snuffboxes, burning glass, spectacles, gold cufflinks, silver spoons. These were appraised individually but sold at the auction, so they are counted in Title VI. | – |
| VI | Auction of household goods (12 March 1804 and following days), books excluded. | 507 rthl. 12 pf. |
| VII | Books appraised by the antiquarian Kindler at 500 fl. (166 rthl. 60 gl.) and handed to Gensichen in natura. Recorded “for information only” and not added in. | – |
| Total | 21,539 rth. 33 gl. 12 6/11 pf. |
Title VII also mentions an unfinished manuscript, i.e., the Opus postumum, which was taken by the executor pending the heirs’ instructions.
| Item | rthl. gl. pf. |
|---|---|
| Gross estate | 21,539 rth. 33 gl. 12 6/11 pf. |
| Less Wasianski’s twentieth | 1,076 rth. 87 gl. 3 6/11 pf. |
| Less legacies (Gensichen 500 rthl.; Wasianski 2,000 rthl.; Nitsch 666 rthl. 60 gl. = 2,000 fl.; Kaufmann 250 rthl.; pension capital 3,500 rthl.) | 6,916 rthl. 60 gl. |
| Less costs: notary and house sale (about 91 rthl.), funeral (about 310 rthl.), household debts and wages, the Senate’s fees for publishing the will | 641 rthl. 66 gl. 9 pf. |
| To be divided among the eight heirs | 12,904 rthl. |
| Each heir's share | 1,613 rthl. |
Interest that accrued after the death was gathered into a separate pool. On pp. 98–102 it is reckoned in Gulden: 1,338 fl. remained, or 167 fl. 7 gl. 9 pf. per heir (about 55¾ rthl.). Each heir would also eventually receive one-eighth of the 3,500 rthl. pension capital, 437½ rthl., after Theuer and Lampe died. In all, each heir received about 2,100 rthl.
We have records for how much a thaler could buy in the 18th century, as well as how much a US$ can buy in the 21st century, but it would appear that a single exchange rate for thalers and dollars is not available, since it depends entirely on what you are wanting to buy, with each commodity bringing its own exchange value. For instance, if you are buying butter, then one thaler is worth $16 – since one thaler was able to buy four pounds of butter in the 18th century and in 2025 that same amount of butter costs around $16 (NB: as every shopper knows, these prices fluctuate over time and location, so the exchange values given here are simply approximations based on a sample or two). If you are needing to hire a cook, then one thaler will be worth $725 today (and will buy you about six days of their cooking). When we compare thalers and dollars with respect to butter and cooks, we find that there is a 45-fold spread in the exchange rate.
This spread reflects a real feature of the world. In 1804, goods (especially manufactured and imported goods) were dear relative to labor, and labor was cheap. Since then, productivity has made goods far cheaper relative to wages. Therefore, conversion based on prices – especially the prices of locally-sourced goods – makes Kant’s estate look like a reasonable but small pot ($344,629), while one based on wages makes his estate look well beyond the dreams of most retired professors ($15,615,993). Even within wages the range is wide. In Kant’s world, a professor earned roughly ten times a household servant; today the ratio is closer to four.
The following table of examples is somewhat random and put together with the help of AI (Claude).
| Metric | 1804 cost | 2025 cost | 1 rthl. = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butter | Danzig ship's provisions: 100 lb for 100 Danzig fl. (25 rthl.) [Oddy 1807, 1: 255] | $3.93/lb | $16 |
| Silver | 16.704 g of fine silver per Thaler (Graumann standard, 14 Thaler to the Cologne mark) | about $52/troy oz | $28 |
| Bread | 100 lb of ship’s bread for 24 Danzig fl. [Oddy 1807, 1: 255]; 25 lb per Taler (Weimar, end of 18th c.) | $1.82/lb | $30-47 |
| Cheese | 100 lb for 30 Danzig fl. [Oddy 1807, 1: 255] | $5.69/lb | $76 |
| Coffee | One cup in a Königsberg coffeehouse (1770s) = 3 Groschen [Baczko, 1824, 1: 230], i.e. 30 cups per Thaler | $3.50 | about $100 |
| Gold | Friedrich d’or (about 6 g fine gold) circulating at 5⅓–5¾ rthl. [Oddy 1807, 1: 237] | about $4,100/troy oz | about $4,100/troy oz |
| Wages (full professor) | Kant's final salary (not incl. benefits) of 584 rthl. a year | US full professor average $163,836 (AAUP 2025–26) | $220 |
| Wages (servant) | Kaufmann: 10 rthl. 30 gl. a month (124 rthl. a year), which matches sailors' pay of 8–12 rthl. a month [Oddy 1807, 1: 255] | US median full-time earnings, $1,232/week | about $520 |
| Wages (cook) | Nitsch: 24 rthl. cash plus 60 gl. a week board money (about 59 rthl. a year) | US median for workers without a high-school diploma, $819/week | about $725 |
It is probably more informative to consider the ratios within a single period. For instance, Kant’s estate equals about:
Kant’s funeral cost over half of his final year’s salary. The legacy Kant left his long-time cook, Louise Nitsch was almost 28 years salary.
Footnotes: