Republication of: On the Newtonian limit of Einstein’s theory of gravitation

This paper has been selected by the Editors of General Relativity and Gravitation for re-publication in the Golden Oldies series because it introduced Frame Theory–a theoretical framework enabling a unified treatment of General Relativity and classical Newtonian gravitation. This in particular has applications whenever a Newtonian model is used to study a gravitating system, for example in cosmology. The accompanying editorial note by Thomas Buchert and Thomas Madler discusses Frame Theory’s value and its impact on later developments. The original is in German and not in a readily available journal: it is presented here in English. This is the fifth Golden Oldie of which Jurgen Ehlers was a co-author or author (not to mention the several for which he contributed an editorial note): it appears in what would have been his 90th year.