The Friends of the German Historical Institute are pleased to announce the competition for the best doctoral dissertations in German history, German-American relations, or the history of Germans in North America. The two joint winners of the newly named Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize will be given the opportunity to present their research at the Annual Symposium of the Friends on November 10, 2000, at the GHI. They will each receive an award of $2,000 and reimbursement for their travel to Washington, D.C.
Application is through nomination by dissertation supervisor. Candidates must have completed their doctoral dissertation during the 1998/99 academic year. The prize committee, composed of Peter Fritzsche (University of Illinois), Mary Lindeman (Carnegie-Mellon University), and Dagmar Herzog (Michigan State University), will announce the prizewinners at the end of the summer.
The Institute cannot conceive of a more qualified and inspiring role model for younger scholars focusing on German-American issues than Professor Stern. Stern will personally award the prize whenever possible, and the public will be invited to attend the symposium. The GHI is grateful to the Friends for the initiation of the Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize, which will strengthen German-American scholarship and reward younger scholars for excellence.
Efforts to endow the Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize are under way. The Friends have received their very first individual pledge and have proposals pending. Anyone wishing to make a contribution may send a check payable to the Friends of the German Historical Institute and designated to go toward the Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize.
The GHI is pleased to announce the names of the participants in the Summer Seminar in Paleography and Archival Studies, co-organized by the German Department of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The participants will first attend classes in handwriting and archival studies and then visit a number of archives and libraries. This year the program will again begin in Koblenz, travel to Bonn, Cologne, and then conclude in Gotha. Daniel S. Mattern from the GHI will lead the program. A complete summary of the program will appear in the Fall 2000 issue of the Bulletin.
Laurie M. Bowman, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dissertation topic: "The Linguistic Consequences of Contact Between Speakers of Middle Franconian and Limburgic Dialects During the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods." Adviser: Robert B. Howell.
Kathleen M. Hallihan, Ohio State University. Dissertation topic: "(Re)Vision: Heroic Imagery in Bettina von Armin's Dies Buch gehört dem König and Her Correspondence with Kronprinz Karl von Württemberg, 18401843." Adviser: Barbara Becker-Cantarino.
Tait S. Keller, Georgetown University. Dissertation topic: "Mountain Mentality and Mental Geography: A History of the German Alpenverein." Adviser: Roger Chickering.
Stephanie Leitch, University of Chicago. Dissertation topic: "'Better than the Prodigies': Burgkmair and Breu's Prints and the Marvels of the New World." Adviser: Linda Seidel.
Brian McCook, University of California at Berkeley. Dissertation topic: "Conflict and Concord: Ethnicity and Class in the Coal Mining Communities of the Ruhr and Northeastern Pennsylvania, 18801914." Advisers: Gerald D. Feldman and John Connelly.
Gregory McDonald, West Virginia University. Dissertation topic: "Mining the Self: Regionalism and Worker Identities in German and American Coalfields." Advisers: Katherine B. Aaslestad and Ronald L. Lewis.
Kristen Reifsnyder, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dissertation topic: "The Effects of Urbanization and Literacy on the Development of German: Augsburg as a Paradigm in the Early Modern Period (15001700)." Adviser: Robert B. Howell.
Marcel Rotter, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dissertation topic: "Compelling Continuity: Propagandistic Motifs in Political Poetry and Cartoons from the Second Empire Through the Cold War." Adviser: Hans Adler.
M. Beth Schlemper, University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dissertation topic: "Holyland, Wisconsin: Understanding Differences from 1860 to 2000." Adviser: Robert C. Ostergren.
The Sixth Annual Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar for Ph.D. candidates in German history will take place at the Humboldt University of Berlin from April 26 to 29, 2000. The topic is "Germany in the Imperial Age, 18501914." The following doctoral students have been invited to participate in the seminar (a detailed report will follow in the Fall 2000 Bulletin):
David Ciarlo, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Michael Dorrmann, Humboldt University of Berlin
Elizabeth Drummond, Georgetown University
Ina vom Feld, Max-Planck-Institut für Rechtsgeschichte, Frankfurt am Main
Elun Gabriel, University of California at Davis
Uffa Jensen, Technical University of Berlin
Martin Kohlrausch, European University Institute, Florence
Angela Kurtz, University of Maryland at College Park
Martin Majewski, University of Munich
Sabine Marx, Carnegie Mellon University
Douglas McGetchin, University of California at San Diego
Maren Möhring, University of Munich
Helen Müller, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt an der Oder
Wendy Norris, University of Chicago
Lisa Swartout, University of California at Berkeley
Olaf Zachau, University of Bonn
Moderators at this year's seminar will be:
Prof. Celia Applegate, University of Rochester
Prof. Rüdiger vom Bruch, Humboldt University of Berlin
Prof. Roger Chickering, Georgetown University
Dr. Andreas Daum, GHI
Prof. Wolfgang Hardtwig, Humboldt University of Berlin
Prof. Nancy Reagin, Pace University
Svenja Blanke, "Civic Foreign Policy: U.S. Religious Interest Groups and Central American Migration, 19801992." Adviser: Knud Krakau, Free University of Berlin.
Astrid Eckert, "Der Kampf um die Akten: Die Rückgabeverhand-lungen um die beschlagnahmten deutschen Archive, 19591960." Adviser: Knud Krakau, Free University of Berlin.
Andreas Elter, "US-Medien im Krieg: Pressefreiheit und nationale Sicherheit in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts." Adviser: Jürgen Heideking, University of Cologne.
Marc Frey, "Die USA und die Auflösung der europäischen Kolonialreiche in Südostasien." Habilitation adviser: Jürgen Heideking, University of Cologne.
Christian Gerlach, "Die Welternährungskrise 19721975 und die internationale Politik." Habilitation adviser: Peter Steinbach, Free University of Berlin.
Cora Goldstein, "Images for Democracy: American Visual Policies in Germany, 19451949." Adviser: Michael Geyer, University of Chicago.
Claudia Haake, "Widerstand ist zwecklos? Yaquis und Delawaren und ihr Umgang mit der Staatsbildung in Mexico und den USA Ende des 19. und Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts." Adviser: Barbara Potthast, University of Bielefeld.
Patricia Heberer, "'Exitus' Today in Hadamar: The History of a National Socialist 'Euthanasia' Facility." Adviser: James F. Harris, University of Maryland at College Park.
Christian B. Keller, "German-Americans in Civil War-Era Pennsylvania: The Relationship Between Ethnicity and Wartime Character." Adviser: Gary W. Gallagher, Pennsylvania State University.
Barbara Lorenzkowski, "National Identity and the Cultural Difference in the Borderlands: German Schooling and Festivity in New York State and Ontario, 18501914." Adviser: Chad Gaffield, University of Ottawa.
Michael J. Marcsisin, "Robert Murphy and the Art of Diplomacy." Adviser: Gerald D. Feldman, University of California at Berkeley.
Kirsten Okun, "Ästhetik der Grenzüberschreitung als Subversion dualistischer Denkmuster - Die 'Amerikanisierung' der deutschen Literatur durch die Beat-Generation." Adviser: Albert Meier, University of Kiel.
Charles E. Robinson, topic: The political and cultural history of racial representation of Africans and African Americans in Germany, 19001933. Adviser: Rudolph Binion, Brandeis University.
Anja Schäfers, "American Forces Network (AFN) in Deutschland in den 1950er and 1960er Jahren." Adviser: Axel Schildt, University of Hamburg.
Timothy L. Schroer, "Rethinking Race: African Americans and the Occupation of Germany, 194549." Adviser: Alon Confino, University of Virginia.
Christoph Strupp, "Wissenschaft und Krieg: Die USA und das Deutsche Reich im Ersten Weltkrieg." Habilitation adviser: Volker Sellin, University of Heidelberg.
We are very happy to inform our readers that in the past months we have expanded our already wide collection of periodicals. The following journal and yearbook titles are new to the library of the GHI:
Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte; holdings: 1998
Environmental History; holdings: 1999
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung; holdings: 1 (1992)
Mittelweg 36; holdings: 1992
Westfälische Forschungen; holdings: 40 (1990)
Thanks to the generous donations of several of our readers we have also been able to add collections of books that date back to the 1940s through the 1970s into the holdings of our library. They cover a wide range of topics, from World War II documents to the history of art. These titles as well as the complete collection of the library can, as always, be researched on our regularly updated Internet catalog at our Web site at www.ghi-dc.org.
We have recently begun publishing on our Web site papers from conferences that were hosted here at the Institute. The first "volume" is The American Impact on Western Europe: Americanization and Westernization in Transatlantic Perspective, a conference held at the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., March 2527, 1999, available here.
Although we will continue to publish conference volumes with Cambridge University Press, we believe that Web publishing offers an additional and exciting new opportunity for scholarly exchange between authors and readers. Authors find a quicker way of sharing preliminary results of their research with a wider audience without forgoing the possibility of publishing a final product in journals or books. Readers get easier and faster access to the latest scholarly developments.
Unresolved copyright issues play a major role in hampering publication on the Web. However, after consulting with our authors, internet specialists, academic presses, and spokespeople from scholarly associations we believe that we have reached a workable solution:
This is an experiment and we would greatly appreciate it if
readers could send us their comments on this project to the email
address provided on the Web page.
Scholarship Guide and other Reference Guides
If you haven't visited our Web site yet you may not realize that our most recent reference guides are accessable through the World Wide Web. In contrast to the printed versions, the web format allows searches and linking to other Web sites.
A fine example is our new updated issue of Research and Funding: A German-American Guide for Historian and Social Scientists. With one click you can go directly to the home page of the sponsors listed. By clicking on their address you can send them a message without having to copy or type their email accounts. Applying for scholarships doesn't get any easier than this! Go to www.ghi-dc.org/reference.html.
In Search of Peace and Prosperity: New German Settlements in Eighteenth-Century Europe and America. Edited by Hartmut Lehmann, Hermann Wellenreuther, and Renate Wilson, in cooperation with John B. Frantz and Carola Wessel. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. $60.00 hardcover, $21.50 paperback.
The Institute is delighted to bring to readers' attention the publication of an essay collection edited by Hartmut Lehmann et al. Lehmann is a former director of the GHI in Washington (198793). This book began as a conference organized by the GHI and hosted by Pennsylvania State University in October 1992. The collection brings together leading students of the history of emigration from Germany to America in the eighteenth century. Contributors are Rosalind J. Beiler, Jon Butler, Andreas Gestrich, Mark Häberlein, Thomas Kleinebiel, Hartmut Lehmann, Thomas Müller-Bahlke, A. Gregg Roeber, Mack Walker, Hermann Wellenreuther, Carola Wessel, Renate Wilson, and Marianne S. Wokeck.
Malve S. Burns, Research Fellow, joined the staff of the Institute in January. Burns earned an M.A. from Cornell University in 1967; a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1971. Specialty: early modern German literature and culture. Dissertation: Analysis of the sonnets of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg. Taught at Cornell, University of California at Irvine, the University of Southern California, and Marymount University. Main research interest: The generation after World War II in Germany.
Johannes Dillinger is affiliated with the GHI and Georgetown University (CGES) as a visiting researcher (Emmy Noether-Programm), 20001. After studying history, Catholic theology, and educational theory at the universities of Tübingen and Norwich, he joined the dissertation fellowship "Westeuropa in vergleichender historischer Perspektive" at the University of Trier. Dillinger's Ph.D. thesis, "'Böse Leute.' Hexenverfolgungen in Schwäbisch-Österreich und Kurtrier im Vergleich" was published in 1999. After teaching early modern history at the Unversity of Trier, Dillinger took up work on a research project titled "Communities and Territorial States: Conditions and Aims of Local Representation in Early Modern Europe and New England," which he is still pursuing. His main areas of interest are comparative and anthropological historiography, state building in the early modern period, the history of criminal justice, and folk beliefs.
Eckhardt Fuchs, Research Fellow, left the Institute on December 31, 1999, to return to Berlin, Germany, where he took up a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. He will continue his research on scientific internationalism from 1850 to 1920.
Winfried Haubold, Deputy Administrative Director, retired from the Institute in February after eleven years of service. Before taking up his administrative duties at the GHI, Haubold worked as Head of Disbursement Section, German Military Representative, in Washington, D.C. His retirement will take him, along with his wife Irmgard, to Spain, where they intend to settle. After over fifty years of toil, Haubold plans to enjoy his retirement to the utmost.
Simone Herrmann, Intern, left the Institute in February 2000 to continue her studies at the University of Braunschweig.
Kathrin Klein, Copy Editor, Cold War History Project, born in Siegen, Germany. M.A. in Political Science, University of Munich, 1996; M.A. in International Relations, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, 1999; Recipient of the ERP-scholarship of the Deutsche Studienstiftung. Klein's M.A. thesis dealt with the United States' approach toward global warming. Her main research interests are international environmental and energy-related issues.
Vera Lind, Research Fellow, was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1967. She studied history, politics, and art history at the universities of Bielefeld and Kiel. From 1989 to 1990 she was a graduate fellow at Queen's University in Belfast. She received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Kiel in 1997, and wrote her dissertation on the history of suicide in early modern Germany. This study has been published as Selbstmord in der Frühen Neuzeit: Diskurs, Lebenswelt und kultureller Wandel am Beispiel der Herzogtümer Schleswig und Holstein (Göttingen, 1999). Lind received a research fellowship from the Max Planck Institute for History in Göttingen in 1997 and then took a position as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Saarland, 1997-9. She is currently working on her second book, tentatively titled "Africans in Early Modern German Society: Identity - Difference - Aesthetics - Anthropology." Her research interests include all aspects of early modern cultural history, gender history, and the history of ideas.
Lusi K. McKinley, Editorial Assistant, left the Institute at the end of December 1999 to move to Philadelphia, Pa., with her family.
Lindsay McClellan, Intern, left the Institute in January 2000 to continue her studies at University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.
Margit Moffit, Deputy Administrative Director, was born in Bönnigheim and grew up in Asperg, Baden-Württemberg. In Germany, Moffitt worked for the Fachhochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung and the Landesamt für Flurbereinigung. She moved to the United States in 1991 and has lived in the Washington, D.C., area since 1994. Before joining the Institute in January, she worked for DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.
Edmund Spevack, Research Fellow, left the Institute on December 31, 1999, to return to his home Münster, Germany. When he has recovered from his current illness, he will see his book, Allied Control and German Freedom: American Political Influences on the Framing of the West German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) through the press.
Ulbricht, Susan, M.A. "Income Mixes - Changes of the Structure of Income Sources." University of Leipzig.
Beckert, Jens, Ph.D. "Negotiated Modernity: Inheritance in Germany, France, and the United States Since 1800." Free University of Berlin.
Helmke, Cornelia, M.A. "U.S.-American Retailers in Germany - A Study on the Internationalization of Retail Business." University of Lüneburg.
Hönicke, Michaela, Ph.D. "Know Your Enemy: American Interpretations of National Socialism, 1933-1945," and also untitled new project in context with a new position at the Forschungsinstitut of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politikanalysis of U.S. foreign policy. Research Institute of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik.
Braml, Josef M., M.A. "U.S. and German Think Tanks and Their Different Ways and Means of Coping with and Impacting Their Marketplaces." The Brookings Institution.
Stoltzfus, Nathan, Ph.D. "East(ern) Germany and the Tradition of German Protest." Florida State University.
Tate, John Jay, Ph.D., Two untitled projects, analysis of recent changes at the German Vocational Institute (BiBB) and assessment of the impact of BiBB and related German institutions on efforts to establish European-level vocational training standards and institutions. University of California at Berkeley.
Monod, David, Ph.D. Untitled study of postwar music-politics in Germany's American Zone (exploration of cultural relations between Americans and Germans from 1945 to 1953). University of Toronto.
Deller, Kerstin, M.A. "The Role of Business Organizations in Climate Change Negotiations." Humboldt University of Berlin.
Lang, Markus, M.A. "The Political Theory of Karl Löwenstein." Technical University of Chemnitz.
Hitz, Torsten, M.A. "Jacques Derrida's Political Philosophy." School of Design, Karlsruhe.
Nickel, Christiane, M.A. "The Consequences of the European Monetary Union for the Exchange Rate Policy in Central and Eastern Europe." Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management.
Strohm, Natalie, M.A. "Ethics in Public Office." University of Bamberg.
Gerlach, Günter, M.A. "Internet Policy in the United States: Technical Standards, Their Contribution to Regulation and the Achievement of Public Policy Interests." University of Giessen.
Trumbull, Gunnar, Ph.D. "Product Market Regulation France/Germany/USA (in Particular FDA." Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Brechtken, Magnus, Ph.D. "Sea-Change: The Influence of Sea-Power on Foreign Policy and its Perception by Policymaking Elites in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, 1890-1914." University of Munich.
Oertzen, Christine von, Ph.D. "German-American Comparison on the History of Part-Time Work." Technical University of Berlin.
Hertkorn, Michaela, M.A., "Conflict Transformation and Peace-building." Free University of Berlin.
Neff, Anette, M.A., "Die Amerikaner auf dem Dorf 1947 bis 1952: Die Reaktion der ländlichen deutschen Bevölkerung auf die amerikanische Demokratisierungspolitik." University of Trier.
On Thursday, September 16, 1999, the Institute said good-bye to its director, Detlef Junker. The event took place in the GHI's public rooms. The day was filled with meteorological drama as Hurricane Floyd made its way up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, wreaking havoc on travel plans and preventing many from attending this farewell celebration.
The occasion began with a short speech by Christof Mauch, GHI deputy director, who also served as the evening's host. The German ambassador to the United States, Jürgen Chrobog, was unable to speak personally. In his stead, Minister Volker Schlegel of the Germany Embassy conveyed the thoughts of official Germany and congratulated Professor Junker on his productive tenure as director. Christoph Eitner, the chair of the Institute's Board of Trustees, flew in from Germany for the occasion and delivered a speech outlining Junker's contributions to the Institute and to German-American academic relations. Klaus J. Hildebrand, the chair of the Institute's Academic Advisory Council, followed with more accolades, thanking Professor Junker for fulfilling his tasks expertly and energetically. Marion Deshmukh of George Mason University spoke on behalf of the Friends of the German Historical Institute; she praised the work of the Institute and wished the GHI well in its search for a suitable successor. The president of the Friends, Geoffrey J. Giles of the University of Florida, was unable to attend due to the inclement weather. Professor Junker was then presented with an etching of Old Heidelberg that now hangs in the director's office as a memento of his directorship. Fritz Stern of Columbia University also was prevented from coming to Washington but sent along a letter that was read to those who could be present.
Professor Junker then took to the podium to deliver a short farewell address. In it he talked about the challenges and rewards of serving in this post for the past five years, discussed what he had learned, and thanked those who had aided him in fulfilling his obligations and responsibilities during his stay in Washington. He also related three sets of experiences that helped shape and inform his life as a professional historian and a keen observer of the United States. A buffet reception concluded the evening.
At the end of September 1999 Professor Junker returned to the University of Heidelberg where he assumed the Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History.
On December 10, 1999, Dr. Timothy Mulligan was honored during a festive occasion with the German-American Friendship Award.
Mulligan is well known among the friends of the German Historical Institute. For many years he has served as a specialist for German-language materials at the National Archives. Over the years he has aided the archival research of numerous scholars from Germany and the United States.
In addition, Dr. Mulligan has distinguished himself through his own scholarly studies. His doctoral dissertation on German occupation policy in the Eastern Europe in 1942-3 has become a standard work, owing to its broad source base and the central questions connecting political and military history. Last year, he published a book titled Neither Sharks nor Wolves: The Men of Nazi Germany's U-Boat Arm, 19391945 (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1999). In this study, Mulligan persuasively combined the methods of social history and the history of mentalities with those of classical military history - and yet at the same time transcended all of them.
In a speech that praised Mulligan's work and career Dr. Christof Mauch, Acting Director of the GHI, thanked Mulligan for his unceasing support of GHI scholarship recipients over the last twelve years. Finally, on behalf of Jürgen Chrobog, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Hans-Ulrich Seidt, head of the Cultural Affairs Department of the German Embassy, presented the award to Dr. Mulligan.
On Monday, February 21, 2000, the GHI and the Science Division of the Germany Embassy organized a forum on the history of the environment. In a lecture titled "Back to Nature and Forward to the Machine," Christof Mauch (GHI) introduced his current research project on the environmental history of North America, and in particular the relationship of Americans to nature. The paper was presented to a delegation of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globaler Umweltveränderungen), headed by delegation vice-chair Prof. Dr. Dr. Juliane Kokott. The members in attendance were leading German experts on global change, representing both the natural and social sciences (agronomy, biology, botany, economics, law, limnology, medicine, meteorology, physics, psychology, and sociology). A lively discussion followed on issues of environmentalism in global and historical perspectives.
The GHI is pleased to announce that Hans Mommsen, a professor of history at the University of Bochum and currently at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, will give the first lecture sponsored by the Friends of the GHI. The lecture will take place on Tuesday, April 4, 2000, in the Institute's Lecture Hall. The title of Professor Mommsen's lecture is "The Dissolution of the Third Reich: Crisis Management and Collapse, 19431945." Doris L. Bergen, a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, will comment.
Exhibiting the Other: Museums of Mankind and the Politics of Cultural Representation
An International Conference organized by the GHI and the Centre Allemand d'Histoire de l'Art/Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris, November 24, 2000.
"Writing World History, 18002000: Historiography, Ideology, and Politics." Workshop at the GHI London, March 30April 1, 2000. Convener: Eckhardt Fuchs (GHI) and Benedikt Stuchtey (GHI London).
"'Nature's Nation' Reconsidered: American Concepts of Nature from Wonder to Ecological Crisis." Conference at the European Association for American Studies (EAAS), Graz, Austria, April 1417, 2000. Convener: EAAS.
"German-Jewish Identities in America: From the Civil War to the Present." Conference at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, October 2629, 2000. Convener: Christof Mauch (GHI) and Joseph Salmons (University of Wisconsin at Madison).
"Exhibiting the Other: Museums of Mankind and the Politics of Cultural Representation." Conference at the Centre Allemand d'Histoire de l'Art/Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, November 24, 2000. Conveners: Cordula A. Grewe (GHI) and Thomas Gaehtgens (Centre Allemand d'Histoire de l'Art/Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte).
"GIs in Germany: The Social, Economic, Military, and Political History of the American Military Presence, 19451990." Conference at the GHI, November 911, 2000. Convener: Detlef Junker (University of Heidelberg).
"Coming to Terms with the Past in West Germany: The 1960s." Conference at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, April 1921, 2001. Conveners: Philipp Gassert (University of Heidelberg) and Alan E. Steinweis (University of Nebraska).