GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE,WASHINGTON,DC BULLETIN ISSUE 33 FALL 2003 CONTENTS PREFACE 7 FEATURES People on the Move: The Challenges of Migration in Transatlantic Perspective Third Gerd Bucerius Lecture, 2003 9 Rita Su¨ssmuth Exceptionalism in European Environmental History 23 Joachim Radkau Theses on Radkau 45 John R. McNeill Transitional Justice After 1989: Is Germany so Different? 53 A. James McAdams GHI RESEARCH Authority in the “Blackboard Jungle”: Parents and Teachers, Experts and the State, and the Modernization of West Germany in the 1950s 65 Dirk Schumann REPORTS ON CONFERENCES,SYMPOSIA,SEMINARS The German Discovery of America: A Review of the Controversy over Didrik Pining’s Voyage of Exploration in 1473 in the North Atlantic 79 Thomas L. Hughes From Manhattan to Mainhattan: Architecture and Style as Transatlantic Dialogue, 1920–1970 82 David Lazar Perceptions of Security in Germany and the United States from 1945 to the Present 87 Georg Schild Honoring Willy Brandt 90 Dirk Schumann Historical Justice in International Perspective: How Societies Are Trying to Right the Wrongs of the Past 92 Bernd Scha¨fer German History in the Early Modern Era, 1490–1790 Ninth Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar in German History, 2003 99 Richard F. Wetzell “Vom Alten Vaterland zum Neuen”: German-Americans, Letters from the “Old Homeland,” and the Great War Mid-Atlantic German History Seminar 105 Marion Deshmukh Culture in American History: Transatlantic Perspectives Young Scholars Forum 2003 107 Christine von Oertzen The June 17, 1953 Uprising—50 Years Later 111 Jeffrey Luppes American Studies in Twentieth-Century Germany 114 Philipp Gassert Summer Seminar in Germany 2003 118 Daniel S. Mattern and Astrid M. Eckert GHI Fellows Seminars 122 Dirk Schumann ANNOUNCEMENTS:SEMINARS,FELLOWSHIPS,INTERNSHIPS Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar 2004 125 Summer Seminar 2004 126 Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships 127 Kade-Heideking Fellowship 128 Thyssen-Heideking Fellowship 128 Internships 129 NEWS New Advisory Board 131 New Fellowship Application Deadlines 131 German Studies Directory 131 German History in Documents and Images 132 Former German President Richard von Weizsa¨cker Visits GHI 133 Library Report 133 New Publications 134 Recipients of Fellowships 135 Recipients of Internships 136 Staff Changes 137 UPCOMING EVENTS Fall 2003 Lecture Series 139 GHI Events 2003–05 140 GHI PUBLICATIONS 145 PREFACE The GHI is a scholarly institution dedicated to historical research, but its programs are not limited to scholars and are not without bearing on present-day concerns. The three feature articles in this issue of the Bulletin grew out of talks that were open to the public, and each touches upon an issue of profound contemporary resonance. It would be hard to think of a political leader more qualified to comment on the sensitive—and press- ing—issue of international migration than Professor Rita Su¨ ssmuth, who chaired the independent commission that drafted a series of proposals to reform Germany’s immigration policies. Thanks to the generous support of the ZEIT Foundation, the GHI was able to invite Professor Su¨ ssmuth to Washington to deliver the third Gerd Bucerius Lecture. In her lecture, “People on the Move: The Challenges of Migration in Transatlantic Per- spective,” Professor Su¨ ssmuth calls attention to some of the differences in how the United States and the countries of Western Europe have handled immigration. Noting that there are many positive things that Germany and its neighbors could learn from the American experience, Professor Su¨ ssmuth also voices concern that recent discussions of immigration in the United States have taken an unfortunate turn as a result of the height- ened attention to domestic security since the September 11 terror attacks. Another area where divergences between European and U.S. policies have provoked much discussion is the environment. Whether those di- vergences are rooted in historical experience was the subject of a public program at the GHI in late 2002. Joachim Radkau, one of Germany’s leading environmental historians, makes the case for a distinctive Euro- pean approach to interacting with nature in his paper “Exceptionalism in European Environmental History.” In his “Theses on Radkau,” John Mc- Neill, whose work is as formidably wide-ranging as Radkau’s, weighs the evidence Radkau presents and offers evidence of his own in affirming some aspects of Radkau’s argument and challenging others. A. James McAdams’s essay “Transitional Justice After 1989: Is Ger- many So Different?” was originally presented as the public keynote lec- ture of a groundbreaking conference held at the GHI this past spring. “Historical Justice in International Perspective: How Societies are Trying to Right the Wrongs of the Past” brought together twenty-five scholars from nearly a dozen countries. The diversity of the academic disciplines represented by the participants—which included philosophy, sociology, and literary studies as well as history, political science, and anthropol- ogy—was matched by the diversity of the individual cases they dis- GHI BULLETIN NO.33(FALL 2003) 7 cussed—which ranged from the treatment of the Maori in New Zealand to the call for reparations for slavery in the United States. Several of those cases are mentioned in McAdams’s essay, which uses the experience of post-unification Germany to elucidate the complex series of issues asso- ciated with the notion of “transitional justice.” In the “GHI Research” section of this Bulletin, GHI deputy director Dirk Schumann reports on his ongoing research on “Authority in the ‘Blackboard Jungle’: Parents and Teachers, Experts and the State, and the Modernization of West Germany in the 1950s.” Schumann joined the GHI in the summer of 2002, following a three-year term as DAAD Visiting Professor of History at Emory University. Not least among his many responsibilities at the GHI is overseeing programs for graduate students and recent PhDs. Several of the GHI’s programs for younger scholars and the general public would not have been possible without outside support. The very successful 2003 session of the Young Scholars Forum, outlined in this issue of the Bulletin by GHI Research Fellow Christine von Oertzen, was funded by Allianz AG. The tribute to Willy Brandt described in this issue by Dirk Schumann would have been inconceivable without the assistance provided by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Willy Brandt Foundation. And, as noted above, the Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT Foundation has provided the means for the GHI to present distinguished public figures to a broad audience in Washington, DC. The GHI is very grateful to these generous organizations and to the Friends of the German Historical Institute. While the Bulletin regularly reports on the activities of many scholars associated with the GHI in different ways—including Research Fellows, guest speakers, conference participants, and grant recipients—there is one important group of scholars whose efforts on behalf of the GHI are rarely if ever mentioned in these pages. The German and American schol- ars who served on the GHI’s Academic Advisory Board for over a decade provided invaluable guidance in matters such as research staff appoint- ments and publications policies. With Professor Klaus Hildebrand as chair, the Academic Advisory Board was a reliable advocate of the GHI’s interests during the recent legal restructuring of the foundation of which the institute is a part. The long-serving Academic Advisory Board stepped down this summer, and its successor, chaired by Professor Friedrich Lenger of the University of Gießen, had its constituent meeting in August. The GHI is greatly indebted to the former board and looks forward to working with its successor. Christof Mauch Director 8 GHI BULLETIN NO.33(FALL 2003) FEATURES PEOPLE ON THE MOVE: THE CHALLENGES OF MIGRATION IN TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE Rita Su¨ssmuth On May 5, 2003, Professor Rita Su¨ssmuth (University of Go¨ttingen), former Speaker of the Bundestag (Bundestagspra¨sidentin) and Chair of the Independent Council of Experts on Migration and Integration (appointed by the German government), delivered the third Gerd Bucerius Lecture. The event was spon- sored by the ZEIT Foundation. Today I will be speaking to you about migration in transatlantic perspec- tive. When I use the term migrants, I will be referring to all people who cross international borders to live outside their country of citizenship, both temporarily and permanently; legally and illegally; voluntarily and as refugees. This is an important issue that is nowhere receiving the urgent political attention it requires. I am pleased to be speaking to you in the United States of America, a country with a long history of immi- gration, a country that knows first hand the challenges and enrichment that immigration can bring. Through my work as the chair of Germany’s Independent Commis- sion on Migration1 in 2000 and 2001 and through my current appoint- ment (May 2003) as chair of the newly established Independent German Council of Experts on Migration and Integration, I have spent much time analyzing migration issues in Germany and worldwide. I have examined diverse, international methods of steering migration and fostering inte- gration. I have studied demographic and migration trends to try to un- derstand how these issues will develop in the twenty-first century. I can only conclude that the international community and individual nations have much more to do in this policy area. At present, no national immi- gration policy is adequately facing the challenges of the future, and no society has reached the degree of ethnic and cultural openness necessary to deal with those challenges. Having said this, my first thesis today is: 1. The twentieth century was just the beginning! The twenty-first century already is, and will continue to be, the century of worldwide migration. Many countries, especially Germany, are in a state of denial about this fact. This has to change! GHI BULLETIN NO.33(FALL 2003) 9 Rita Süssmuth delivering the Bucerius Lecture 10 GHI BULLETIN NO.33(FALL 2003) The current causes of migration differ from those of the past.