The unknown republic: American History at German universities

Amerikastudien

Volumn 50, Issue 1-2, 2005, Pages

  Doerries, Reinhard R ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 50849087968     PISSN: 03402827     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (84)

1. For the standing of Political Science in Germany concerned with the American political system, see Michael Dreyer, Markus Kaim, and Markus Lang, eds., Amerikaforschumg in Deutschland: Themen und Institutionen der Politikwissenschaft nach 1945 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004)
2. Cf. Günter Moltmann, Atlantische Blockpolitik im 19. Jahrhundert (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1973) 357: "Wer kannte in den Vereinigten Staaten - außer den Deutschamerikanern - wirklich Deutschland, und wer kannte in Deutschland - außer den Rückwanderern - wirklich Amerika?"
3. Reinhard R. Doerries, Imperial Challenge (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1989)
4. Thomas A. Bailey, Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace (New York: Macmillan, 1947) 8
5. Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis 1916-1918, vol. I (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1927) 225
6. Sigmund Skard, American Studies in Europe, vol. I (Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1958) 210-11
7. Moltmann, Atlantische Blockpolitik im 19. Jahrhundert ch. 4
8. Ernst Otto Hopp, Bundesstaat und Bundeskrieg in Nordamerika (Berlin: Grote'sche, 1886). Cf. Skard, American Studies in Europe vol. 1: 243
9. Wilhelm Oncken, "Der Kampf um den Bundesstaat in Nordamerika," Das Zeitalter der Revolution des Kaiserreiches und der Befreiungskriege (Berlin: Grote'sche, 1884) 743-68. Wilhelm Oncken was Professor of History at the University of Giessen
10. Eugen Kühnemann from the University of Breslau published a report about his work in the U.S. entitled Deutschland und Amerika (München: Beck, 1917)
11. For the other side of this war of words, see James D. Squires, British Propaganda at Home and in the United States from 1914 to 1917 (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1935)
12. Qtd. from Doerries, Imperial Challenge 48, 264
13. Regarding Friedrich Schönemann see Christian H. Freitag, "Die Entwicklung der Amerikastudien in Berlin bis 1945 unter Berücksichtigung der Amerikaarbeit staatlicher und privater Organisationen," diss., Free University of Berlin, 1977, 99-108
14. Willi P. Adams, Die Geschichte Nordamerikas und Berliner Historiker (Berlin: John F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien, 1988)
15. Cf. the informative though somewhat generous appraisal by Earl R. Beck, "Friedrich Schönemann, German Americanist Historian," The Historian 26.3 (1964): 381-404
16. Friedrich Schönemann, Amerikakunde - Eine zeitgemäße Forderung (Bremen: Angelsachsen-Verlag, 1921)
17. Thomas Cuming Hall was Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York when he came to Germany as an exchange professor in 1915. He decided to stay and died in Göttingen in 1936. As an example of his political views, see "The English Yellow Press," New York Sun 17 Jan. 1915: off-print, 8 unnumbered pp. Repr. as "Eine amerikanische Charakteristik der englischen Presse" in Eduard Meyer, Nordamerika und Deutschland (Berlin: Curtius, 1915) 71-88
18. Georg Ahrens and Carl Brinkmann, eds., Wilson: Das staatsmännische Werk des Präsidenten in seinen Reden (Berlin: Reimer, 1919). Brinckmann at this time was employed by the German Foreign Office and became a Professor of Economics in Heidelberg in 1923
19. See also his Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (Leipzig: Teubner, 1924)
20. Adolf Rein, Professor for "Colonial and Overseas History" since 1927 (in 1933 changed to "Overseas and Colonial History and the History of German Overseas Culture") had visited the U.S. and obtained his Habilitation in 1914 at the University of Strasbourg with a study of the origins of the American constitution. His activities in Hamburg during the Nazi years rather tar-nished his reputation
21. See Günter Moltmann, "Die 'Übersee- und Kolonialkunde' als besondere Aufgabe der Universiẗt," Hochschulalltag im 'Dritten Reich': Die Hamburger Universität 1933-1945, ed. Eckart Krause, Ludwig Huber, Holger Fischer (Berlin: Reimer, 1991) 149-78
22. Skard, American Studies in Europe vol. 1: 267
23. The handling of President Wilson by the German media appears, in retrospect, to be similar to the treatment of, for instance, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, George Bush or George W. Bush. Cf. also Friedrich Schönemann's appraisal of Woodrow Wilson in England gegen Amerika (Berlin: Junker und Dünnhaupt, 1940) ch. VII, VIII
24. Much of this information can be gathered from Skard, American Studies in Europe vol. 1
25. Such as Otto Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, Deutschland und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1933); Hermann Wätjen, Aus der Frühzeit des Nordatlantikverkehrs (Leipzig: Meiner, 1932)
26. Eduard Baumgarten, Benjamin Franklin, der Lehrmeister der amerikanischen Revolution (Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1936)
27. or the active National Socialist Heinz Kloss, Um die Einigung des Deutschamerikanertums (Berlin: Volk und Reich, 1937)
28. Cf. Otto Vossler's views of the United States in Der Nationalgedanke von Rousseau bis Ranke (München: Oldenbourg, 1937) 13-15
29. Qtd. from Ulrich Littmann, Gute Partner - Schwierige Partner (Bonn: Deutscher Akademi-scher Austauschdienst, 1996) 76
30. Regarding Förster's dismissal in Munich cf. Christoph Bode, "Anglia 1933-45," Anglistentag 2001 Wien, ed. Dieter Kastovsky, Günther Kaltenböck, Susanne Reichl (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2002) 213
31. Philipp Gassert, "Betwewen Political Reconnaissance Work and Democratizing Science: American Studies in Germany, 1917-1953," Bulletin of the German Historical Insitute 32 (2003) 35-36
32. Cf. Thomas Finkenstaedt, Kleine Geschichte der Anglistik in Deutschland: Eine Einführung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983)
33. ch. Amerikanistik I. One might, however, be inclined to disagree with Finkenstaedt's 1983 appraisal of Friedrich Scḧnemann, Die Verei- ' nigten Staaten von Amerika, 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1932) as a "standard work" (149, my transi.). On Scḧnemann, cf. OSS file, National Achives; RG 226, E 161 A, Box 2, containing among other documents a stupidly written, bitterly anti-Semitic article showing the level to which Scḧnemann had descended as a Nazi
34. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, "50 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien," Amerikastudien I American Studies 48.2 (2003): 162
35. Egmont Zechlin who did his doctorate with Hermann Oncken at Heidelberg certainly was compromised due to his activities in the Nazi years. In contrast to the case of Friedrich Scḧnemann, circumstances in the case of Zechlin seem somewhat less obvious. Cf. Gassert, "Between Political Reconnaissance Work and Democratizing Science" 34-35. Grabbe, "50 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien" 165-66
36. See especially Günter Moltmann about his academic teacher "Der Historiker Egmont Zechlin," Gedenkreden auf Egmont Zechlin (1896-1992) (Hamburg: Pressestelle der Universiẗt Hamburg, 1993)
37. and "Zum 80. Geburtstag: Der Historiker Egmont Zechlin," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 29 June 1976
38. Günter Moltmann, "Julius John Oppenheimer und die Gründung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien: Nachruf und Dokumentation," typescript received from G. Moltmann, 28. Dec. 1983. Moltmann cites personal papers of Oppenheimer, deposited in the archive of the German Association for American Studies. Selke is likely to be George A. Selke, Chancellor of the University of Montana. Henry J. Kellermann, Cultural Relations as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1978) 125
39. Philipp Gassen, Amerika im Dritten Reich (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1997) 127-28. In 1946 Fischer changed to the University of Marburg
40. Cf. Philipp Gassert, "Vor der DGfA: Deutsche Amerikaforschung zwischen Erstem Weltkrieg und früher Bundesrepublik," Amerikaforschung in Deutschland 17. Hans-Joachim Lang, who later in the German Association for American Studies was to become an important mediator between historians and philologists, did his doctorate with Fischer
41. Cf. Hans-Joachim Lang, "Deutsche Anglistik im Dritten Reich: Meine Studienzeit 1939 / 46," Anglistentag 2001 Wien 233, 236
42. Moltmann, "Der Historiker Egmont Zechlin" 15-16
43. Meinecke had been in the U.S. as a prisoner-of-war and during his stay there completed a degree in American Civilization from Harvard University. Grabbe, "50 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien" 169
44. Several of them had held positions with or published under the auspices of the Deutsches Auslandswissenschaftliches Institut. Others had held positions in Nazi organizations or participated in the Nazi takeover of universities and other educational institutions. Some of them had published their anti-Semitic views. Regarding the institute and its political context, cf. also Ernst Haiger, "Politikwissenschaft und Auslandswissenschaft im 'Dritten Reich' - (Deutsche) Hochschule für Politik 1933-1939 und Auslandswissenschaftliche Fakulẗt der Berliner Universiẗt 1940-1945," Kontinuiẗten und Brüche in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft, ed. Gerhard G̈hler and Bodo Zeuner (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1991)
45. Arnold Bergstr̈sser [sic], "Amerikastudien als Problem der Forschung und Lehre," Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien 1 (1956): 8-14. Bergstraesser's last chair was at the University of Freiburg and was called Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftliche Politik
46. Krakau's chair in Berlin officially was called "New History with Special Emphasis on American History." That chair was held by Hans-Ulrich Wehler from 1971 to 1972. His predecessor, from 1964 to 1969, had been Gerald Stourzh, who left Berlin for Vienna. Adams, Die Geschichte Nordamerikas und Berliner Historiker 1
47. Adams, Die Geschichte Nordamerikas und Berliner Historiker 1. Adams was in Frankfurt from 1972 to 1977 and had several extended stays in the U.S
48. Schwabe's most important early contribution in the field of American History was Deutsche Revolution and Wilson-Frieden (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1971), published in a revised and translated edition as Woodrow Wilson, Revolutionary Germany, and Peacemaking, 1918-1919 (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1985)
49. Imanuel Geiss was already engaged in the political conflicts at the University of Hamburg before becoming a Professor of New History there. Most of his publications concerned modern European history, but see Die Afro-Amerikaner (Frankfurt: Europ̈ische Verlagsanstalt, 1969)
50. Dietrich Gerhard, "From European to American History: A Comparative View"; letters from Dietrich Gerhard to the author; "Curriculum Vitae"; all typescripts from Dietrich Gerhard to the author. See also Reinhard. R. Doerries, Hans-Joachim Lang, Günter Moltmann, "In memoriam Dietrich Gerhard, 7. Juli 1896-31. Juli 1985," Amerikastudien / American Studies 32.1 (1987): 5-7. Laudation for Dietrich Gerhard by the author on the occasion of awarding him the Honorary Membership of the German Association for American Studies at its annual convention in Berlin in 1984, typescript
51. The University of G̈ttingen, in spite of its many American students in the nineteenth century and in spite of excellent library holdings in the field of American History, still had no chair for American History. Dietrich Gerhard's teaching in G̈ttingen helped to break the ground for later activities, very similar to his previous work in Cologne
52. Academic and personal data about German historians teaching or being interested in American History can be gleaned from Directory of European Historians of North America, ed. Willi P. Adams and Wolfgang J. Helbich, rev. ed. (Berlin: John F. Kennedy Institut für Nordamerikastudien, 1987) 35-63, and various editions of Wer ist wer?: Das deutsche Who's Who
53. Hajo Holborn completed his Habilitation at Heidelberg and taught both in Heidelberg and Berlin. After the Nazi takeover he left for the U.S. and became a member of the Department of History at Yale University. His activities included, as in most emigre cases, a period of service with the OSS. Though spending less time in postwar Germany than some of the other exiles, Holborn - was an important teacher and transatlantic mediator for a generation of historians. Cf. Leonard Krieger and Fritz Stern, eds., The Responsibility of Power: Historical Essays in Honor of Hajo Holborn (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969)
54. For several decades the United States Information Service / USIS (or United States Information Agency/USIA) through the U.S. Embassy, then in Bonn, assisted in the financing of conferences, speakers, travel expenses, and the like in all fields of American Studies. The American government thereby supported the Americanists in Germany and their scholarly activities. For organizational detail relating to the USIS / USIA, see Littmann, Gute Partner-Schwierige Partner 195-98
55. For a more detailed description of persons and organizations involved in the founding of the institute, see Adams, Die Geschichte Nordamerikas und Berliner Historiker 2-4
56. For more detail, see Wolfgang J. Helbich, "United States History in the Federal Republic of Germany: Teaching and Research," Guide to the Study of United States History Outside the U.S. 1945-1980, ed. Lewis Hanke, vol. II (White Plains, NY: Kraus International Publications, 1985) 39-121
57. Helbich, "United States History in the Federal Republic of Germany: Teaching and Research" 46
58. Helbich, "United States History in the Federal Republic of Germany: Teaching and Research" 47-48. The recent decision of the University of Munich to move the American Studies center from the social science environment of the Geschwister Scholl Institut to the philologists does not suggest improved conditions for the development of American History in Munich
59. Conversations with Dietrich Gerhard in St. Louis and G̈ttingen. Gerhard later disagreed with Wehler's critique of Otto Brunner, whom he regarded as "the most important and most penetrating German historian." Dietrich Gerhard, letter to the author, 25 June 1979
60. Helbich, "United States History in the Federal Republic of Germany: Teaching and Research" 48
61. For the papers of this conference, see Willi P. Adams, ed., Die deutschsprachige Auswanderung in die Vereinigten Staaten (Berlin: John F. Kennedy Institut für Nordamerikastudien, 1980)
62. Hartmut Keil, "Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Arbeiter in Chicago, 1850-1910," typescript (55 pp.), no date [probably 1978]. The proposal names Keil (as project leader), Heinz Ickstadt (Berlin), and Klaus Ensslen (Munich)
63. One of the products of these efforts is Hartmut Keil and John B. Jentz, eds., German Workers in Chicago (Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1988). The "Preface" allows an insight into the network of academic cooperation in and institutional support for the Munich project
64. "1840s-1970s" is the time span given on the inside cover of Dirk Hoerder, ed., Labor Newspaper Preservation Project Universiẗt Bremen: Glimpses of the German-American Radical Press (Bremen: Labor Newspaper Preservation Project, 1985). On p. 3 of that text the time span given is "1845 to 1976."
65. Willi P. Adams to Reinhard R. Doerries and Günter Moltmann, copy of his report of 25 March 1985 to the Volkswagen Foundation
66. Wolfgang Helbich, Walter D. Kamphoefner, Ulrike Sommer, eds., Briefe aus Amerika: Deutsche Auswanderer schreiben aus der Neuen Welt 1830-1930 (München: Beck, 1988)
67. See also Wolfgang Helbich, ed., "Amerika ist ein freies Land. . . ": Auswanderer schreiben nach Deutschland (Darmstadt: Luchterhand, 1985)
68. and Wolfgang Helbich and Walter D. Kamphoefner, eds., Deutsche im amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg: Briefe von Front und Farm 1861-1865 (Paderborn: Scḧningh, 2002)
69. Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, Vor der großen Flut: Die europ̈ische Migration in die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika 1783-1820 (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2001)
70. Reinhard R. Doerries, Iren und Deutsche in der Neuen Welt: Akkulturationsprozesse in der amerikanischen Gesellschaft im sp̈ten neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1986)
71. Had Wehler come to the University of Bochum or stayed at the John F. Kennedy Institute in Berlin, he might have become a full-time historian of the United States. See his comment on an originally planned Habilitation topic in Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Der Aufstieg des amerikanischen Imperialismus (G̈ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974) 279
72. Cf. also Wehler's "Vorwort" in his Grundzüge der amerikanischen Außenpolitik 1750-1900 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1984)
73. See, for instance, Karl Obermann, Die Beziehungen des amerikanischen Imperialismus zum deutschen Imperialismus in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik (1918-1925) (Berlin: Rütten & Loen-ing, 1952)
74. or Fritz Klein, ed., Die USA und Europa 1917-1945 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1975)
75. and Darstellung der Lage der Arbeiter in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika seit 1898 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1966)
76. The "umstrittene Wahl von 1976" (controversial election of 1976) has been mentioned without names by Anke Hildebrandt-Mirtschink, "Politikwissenschaftler und das 'kooperative Experiment' Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (DGfA)," Amerikaforschung in Deutschland 41-51
77. See "Protokoll der Mitgliederversammlung am 9. Juni 1976" (minutes of the meeting) containing details of the event. For the later discussion of the problem of proportional representation, see "Protokoll der 51. Beiratssitzung [. . .] am [. . .] 17. November 1976 [. . .] Mainz" (minutes of the Advisory Council meeting). To prevent a repeat of the embarrassment at the Annual Meeting, other formal changes of the election procedure were proposed
78. For next steps, see "Protokoll der Mitgliederversammlung am 2. Juni 1977" and "Protokoll der 52. Beiratssitzung."
79. Ferdinand Protzman, "To Germans, U.S. Past Is Mostly Blank," International Herald Tribune 2 Feb. 1989: 6
80. See also Wanda Menke-Glückert, "12 Professors in West Germany Deplore Lack of Courses on U.S. History in Their Country," The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, D.C.) 22 March 1989: A 37-38
81. including comments from Wolfgang J. Helbich. Shortly thereafter Reinhard R. Doerries, "Amerika-Terra incognita," Die Zeit 19 May 1989:49
82. English version Reinhard R. Doerries, "America, the unknown continent," The German Tribune 28 May 1989: 5
83. Peter Demetz, "Geh ins Kino, deutscher Geist!" Die Zeit 9 Apr. 1976: 35
84. C. Vann Woodward, "The Test of Comparison," The Comparative Approach to American History, ed. C. Vann Woodward (New York: Basic Books, 1968) 350