Nietzsche’s estate in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register
In April 2025, UNESCO added the estate of philosopher, poet and composer Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) to its Memory of the World Register. This register was created in 1995 and lists documents, manuscripts, image, sound and film documents, book and archive holdings and other documents that meet the selection criteria of international interest and universal value.
This distinction recognises the outstanding importance of Nietzsche’s literary work for international cultural and intellectual history. Friedrich Nietzsche also left a significant mark on Switzerland, both in Basel and in Sils (Upper Engadine). Parts of his literary and biographical estate are held in the University Library of Basel, the State Archives of Basel-Stadt and the Nietzsche House in Sils Maria.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s Original Manuscripts and Letters at the Nietzsche House in Sils (Rosenthal-Levy collection)
The “Nietzsche-Haus in Sils Maria” Foundation owes this collection to the German-British antiquarian Albi Rosenthal (1914-2004) and his wife Maud Rosenthal-Levy (1909-2007). Over decades, the couple assembled one of the world’s most important collections of Nietzsche’s manuscripts, music, photographs, first editions, and signed copies in Oxford. In 1994, they donated this collection to the Sils Foundation.
1. Friedrich Nietzsche to Wilhelm Pinder, Pforta, Naumburg, 28.11.1858
2. Friedrich Nietzsche to Gustav Krug, Wilhelm Pinder, Pforta, Naumburg, 14.1.1861
3. Friedrich Nietzsche to Otto Kohl, Naumburg, Leipzig, 25.4.1867
4. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Basel, Leipzig, 18.11.1871
5. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Basel, Leipzig, 16.1.1872
6. Friedrich Nietzsche to Wilhelm Fritzsch, Basel, Leipzig, 27.5.1872
7. Monodie à deux (In Praise of Mercy)
8. Friedrich Nietzsche, Basel, Basel, 26.5.1875
9. Friedrich Nietzsche to Paul Widemann, Basel, Basel, 15.2.1876
10. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Basel, Paris, 30/8/1876
11. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Basel, Paris, 22.9.1876
12. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Sorrent, Paris, 16.12.1876
13. Friedrich Nietzsche to Hermann Siebeck, Ragatz, Basel, 8.6.1877
14. Friedrich Nietzsche to Reinhart von Seydlitz, Rosenlauibad, Kreuznach, 24.7.1877
15. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Rosenlauibad, Paris, 29.8.1877
16. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Basel, Paris, 23.11.1877
17. Friedrich Nietzsche to Reinhart von Seydlitz, Basel, Salzburg, 13.5.1878
18. Friedrich Nietzsche to Reinhart von Seydlitz, Basel, Salzburg, 11.6.1878
19. Friedrich Nietzsche to Joseph Meyer, Basel, Basel, 10.3.1879
20. Friedrich Nietzsche to Paul Widemann, Basel, Chemnitz, 6.5.1879
21. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ferdinand Laban, Sils-Maria, Pressburg, 19.7.1881
22. Friedrich Nietzsche to Paul Widemann, Naumburg, Dresden, 24.5.1882
23. Friedrich Nietzsche to Jenny Rée, Leipzig, Stibbe, 16.9.1882
24. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Leipzig, Paris, 7.11.1882
25. Friedrich Nietzsche to Hermann Levi, Leipzig, München, 10.11.1882
26. Friedrich Nietzsche to Louise Ott, Leipzig, Paris, 15.11.1882
27. Friedrich Nietzsche to Gustav Dannreuther, Leipzig, Boston, 15.11.1882
28. Friedrich Nietzsche, Nizza, Nizza, 6.2.1884
29. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ferdinand Laban, Nizza, Berlin, 1.3.1884
30. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Nizza, Genua, 31.3.1884
31. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Venedig, Zürich, 1.5.1884
32. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Sils-Maria, Zürich, 25.7.1884
33. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Mentone, Paris, 30.11.1884
34. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Nizza, Paris, 11.3.1885
35. Friedrich Nietzsche to Elisabeth Nietzsche, Nizza, Naumburg, 30.1.1885
36. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Sils-Maria, Paris, 15.6.1885
37. Friedrich Nietzsche to Paul Widemann, Sils-Maria, Dresden, 31.7.1885
38. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Sils-Maria, Leipzig, 16.8.1886
39. Friedrich Nietzsche to Reinhart von Seydlitz, Sils-Maria, München, 17.8.1886
40. Friedrich Nietzsche to General Simon, Sils-Maria, Celerina, 8.9.1886
41. Friedrich Nietzsche to Reinhart von Seydlitz, Nizza, München, 24.2.1887
42. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Sils-Maria, Leipzig, 2.7.1887
43. Friedrich Nietzsche to Theodor Fritsch, Venedig, Leipzig, 8.8.1887
44. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ferdinand Avenarius, Sils-Maria, Dresden, 10.9.1887
45. Friedrich Nietzsche to Josef Viktor Widmann, Sils-Maria, Bern, 11.9.1887
46. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ferdinand Avenarius, Nizza, Dresden, 14.1.1888
47. Friedrich Nietzsche to Josef Viktor Widmann, Nizza, Bern, 4.2.1888
48. Friedrich Nietzsche to Resa von Schirnhofer, Turin, Zürich, 14.4.1888
49. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Turin, Leipzig, 3.5.1888
50. Friedrich Nietzsche to Carl Fuchs, Sils-Maria, Danzig, 30.6.1888
51. Friedrich Nietzsche to Carl Fuchs, Sils-Maria, Danzig, 30.6.1888
52. Friedrich Nietzsche to Carl Fuchs, Sils, Danzig, 26.8.1888
53. Friedrich Nietzsche to Carl Fuchs, Sils, Danzig, 9.9.1888
54. Friedrich Nietzsche to Elisabeth Nietzsche, Sils, Paraguay, 14.9.1888
55. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Turin, Leipzig, 18.11.1888
56. Friedrich Nietzsche to Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch, Turin, Leipzig, 30.11.1888
57. Friedrich Nietzsche to Helen Zimmer, Turin, Florenz, 17.12.1888
58. Testament
Nietzsche’s Original Letters to Louise Röder-Wiederhold
The German couple Annemarie and Siegfried Acker donated this collection of letters to the Nietzsche-Haus in Sils in 2011. The documents shed new light on the philosopher’s relationship to Louise Röder-Wiederhold, who visited him in Sils from June 8 to July 6, 1885, and to whom he dictated “my thoughts on the dear Europeans of today and – tomorrow”, “for a few hours every day”. Some of this dictation later became part of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. In May, 1885, Heinrich Köselitz had introduced Nietzsche to Röder-Wiederhold. The newly discovered letters now prove that the friendly bond between the philosopher and Louise lasted long after their shared time in Sils.
2.1. Friedrich Nietzsche to Luise Röder-Wiederhold, Venedig, Zürich-Fluntern, 28.5.1885
2.2. Friedrich Nietzsche to Luise Röder-Wiederhold, Sils-Maria, Konstanz, 12.7.1885
2.3. Friedrich Nietzsche to Luise Röder-Wiederhold, Sils-Maria, Überlingen, 27.7.1885
2.4. Friedrich Nietzsche to Luise Röder-Wiederhold, Nizza, Karlsruhe, 10.1.1886
2.5. Friedrich Nietzsche to Luise Röder-Wiederhold, Sils-Maria, 3.8.1887
