Continuing the changes we made to the Fall 1999 Bulletin, this issue features substantive scholarly contributions. With the new GHI Bulletin we aim not only to report on the Institute's activities, such as conferences, workshops, lectures, and scholarship programs, but also to provide a forum for the publication of papers and talks delivered at a variety of GHI events. We hope that these changes will make this publication more attractive to our readers.
The Spring 2000 issue highlights the 1999 Annual Lecture delivered by Mary Fulbrook, London, with a comment by Konrad H. Jarausch, Chapel Hill and Potsdam. Professor Fulbrook lectured on methodological questions and issues in postwar German historiography. She argued the case for a middle ground between postmodernist and more traditional views in the writing of history, whereas Professor Jarausch presented a critique of Fulbrook's ideas, from a modified postmodern perspective.
The second major feature is an article on the Abraham Lincoln Stiftung by Malcolm Richardson, a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the White House Millennium Council. First delivered as a paper at a GHI workshop, this essay presents original research on a German organization funded with Rockefeller Foundation money in the late 1920s and 1930s. The Lincoln Stiftung was created to promote democratic ideas among a younger generation of German educators. The comments of Eckhardt Fuchs (GHI) situate Richardson's groundbreaking work within a broader historical framework.
Third, we are pleased to include in this issue an interview with Hans-Ulrich Wehler on the occasion of his honorary membership in the American Historical Association (AHA) in January 2000.
Also included is a report on the farewell event held for Detlef Junker, who left Washington in September 1999 after five successful years as director of the Institute. During his tenure Professor Junker established the German-American Center for Visiting Scholars (GACVS) on the fourth floor of the GHI building, which has attracted dozens of historians and social scientists from Germany and North America. The Center supports advanced research and networking in a variety of fields, fosters the development of German-American academic cooperation, and aids scholars in their pursuit of doctoral and postdoctoral studies. Next to his contribution to the founding of the GACVS, Dr. Junker was the driving force behind the Cold War History Project, which has gathered together the views of over one hundred and thirty scholars to reflect on political, social, cultural, and economic aspects of the German-American relationship between 1945 and 1990. This project will come to fruition in the publication of two two-volume editions, one in German, one in English, that are expected to appear in 20001. Professor Junker returned to Heidelberg University to assume a prestigious endowed chair in North American history, leaving behind an excellent staff and working atmosphere that has enabled the Institute to continue its work during this period without a permanent director.
Washington, D.C. Christof Mauch
March 2000