CHRONICLE

BY L. A. WILLOUGHBY AND W. I. LUCAS

Salve atquc vale! Words, as the poet and the philologist know so well, are often ‘anibiguow.,

and with double sense deluding’. And so they proved of our ‘Salute to R. A. Williams’. For it was one of the ironies of life that Gcniiari L+ arid Lctters should have been published on the very day, January 27tl1, when Williams died. It was thus both greeting and firewell, hail and adieu.

Atque in perpetuuni, frater, ave atque vale !

‘Blest Retirertient’ Our good wishes go out to France and Switzerland to two of the grand

old men of German scholarship: Edmond Verineil of the Sorboniic and Fritz Strich of Bernc, both of whom retire this year. The former first came into prominence as a social historian of Germany soon after the first world war. Coining as he did from the great school of Andler and Liclitcnberger (those two Alsatians who were the first of the gerinanisants franqais to inediatc between France and Germany after the disaster of 1870), it was fitting that he should have been sent to hold the dificult frontier post of Strassburg with Fernand Baldensperger as a faithful ally. And then, on the death of Lichtenberger, he was translatcd to the Sorbonnc whcrc he did his best to present the Germans to the French in the best light hc was able. Tlic war and the occupation brought trials and miseries. Onc of his bitterest ineinorics was the betrayal of a former Lcktor who led thc Gestapo straight to the master’s study to sequester the notes and papers of a lifetime! Therc was the transfer to Clermont-Fcrrand and the escape from Vichy Francc to active participation in General de Gaulle’s resistance inovernent in London. But he maintained his cquaniniity in all these vicissitudes and his faith in the values of European humanism. His L’ Allernugtic (1945) is a model of clarity of thought arid precision of judgment. It is a book which should be read and pondered by every student of German anxious to explore the mentality of this gifted peoplc with its mixture of disciplined technique and dynamic romanticiwi.

The horrors of the concentration camp and the gas chamber perpetrated iii the name of racial superiority, have brought Fritz Strich, the supreme exponent of Gcrinan Romanticism, to burn the gods lie l i d adored: ‘Die Romantik rniiss iiberwunden werden !’ For though, unlike its French neigh- bow, Switzerland remained free froin the Gernian invaders, they werc a

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C I3 R 0 N I C L E 229

constant menace just over the border, and it would have gone hard with the Jew and Liberal had Hider’s blackshirts marched into Bern. But fortu- nately for Germanistik, fate was kind and Stricli lived to lecture to us here in London, not once, but several times in post-war years. And he lived to write what was perhaps tlic chief of the many contributions to the Goethe Year, his Goethe arzd World Litmture (London, 1949) with its testimony both to the universality of Goethe’s genius and to the wide sympathies and urbane scholarslip of its author, with its eloquent plea for classical ‘Vollendung’ as opposed to romantic ‘Unendlichkeit’. Readers of Gerrrinrr L$ a d Letters will be familiar with the brilliant essay on Romanticisin in the January number of 1949, as also with that other recent collection of essays Der Dickter und die Zcit (1947). They will look forward with plcasurable anticipation to thc Festschrift whch is being prepared for each of these two great scholars.

Hms Crinrrrr a d tlw Avclzbishop

In October 1937 Gerniniz Liji atid Letters published an article by the author of the once so famous Volk ohnc Ram in which he set forth the cultural superiority of the Nordic race (amongst which hc politely iiicluded the British) and pleaded for the abandonment of English obstruction to the fulfilment of Germany’s historic mission. In the following October Dr. Grimm lectured in London and elsewhcre 011 ‘Wie ich den EnglBnder sehe’, and the lecture was reported at length in this journal. Again he stressed thc ‘Hochwertigkeit’ of the Nordic race (which by this tinic apparently com- prised the Japanese!) and the dangcrs of ‘Verniassung’, i.e. the reduction to niass mentality which he foresaw as the inevitable consequence of communist expansion. I n 1946, writing from his beautifid honie at Lippoldsberg on the Weser he rcverted to this theme: ‘The great and almost daily more sinister question with us is whether Europcan civilization will be able to subsist, or whether Bolshevism will eat it up conipletely. And I am afraid this battle of subsistence will have to be won or lost in passive Germany by- England.’ In the name of continuity we thought it right to print an article by Dr. Richter, of the I h o i s Institute of Technology, Chicago, on Hans Grimni’s recent expostulation with His Grace of Canterbury. And we have done so de- liberately - at the risk ofjeopardizing a longstanding acquaintance - because of the weight which his words still carry with certain sections of the German public, and because this polemic, so typical of German muddled-headed and misinfornied patriotic zeal, has met with scarcely an echo in the British press. It does seem as if Talleyrand’s famous mot concerning the Bourbons is sul l applicable to the diehards the world over: ‘11s n’ont rien appris ni rien oublit’ !

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From the Ritssiarz Zorie With the buoyancy of new birth we announced the foundation of our

London Iiistitutc of Germanic Languages to similar academic bodies in America and the Continent of Europe. And we naturally included the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena among the recipients of our glad news : ‘Seid umschlungen, Millionen !/Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt !’ bum, bum, bum! to the time of the great Choral Symphony. I t was then with pain and sorrow that we received a communication from the Leiter des deutschen Seminars expressing his hope that German studies in England would at last be placed ‘auf wissenschaftliche Grundlage’ and his fervent trust that we were training the English Nachwuchs in the cause of peace !

Holiday Cozrrses irr Gcrrrrarzy nrrd Switreularzd

information of German holiday courses.

FHEIBURG I. BR.

We are indebted to Dr. W. I. Lucas of Southampton for tliis advance

Theme: German Languagc and Institutions. Date: 1st-zsth August. Final date for applications: June 1st. Cost: D M 60, for course. Address: Akademische Auslandsstelle an der Universitat, Frciburg i . Dr.,

Belfortstr.1 I , Germany.

G~TTINGEN Two courses betwecn August I and mid-Septernbcr. Details not yet availablc. Cost: approx. DM 5 per day. Address: Fridtjof Nansen Haus, Gottingeii, Mcrkelstr. 4, Germany.

HEIDELBERG Theme: Gernian Languagc, Literature, Art and Contemporary Afhirs. Date: July 28th to August 24th. Final datc for applications: JLW 1st. Cost: DM 80 for course. Address: Auslandsamt dcr Universitat, Heidelbcrg, Gcrmaay.

KIEL I. Theme: Discussions on present-day problcms Date: August 1st to 16th. Cost: D M 95 (including board and lodging). 11. Theme: German History, Philosophy, Literature, Art and Music. Date: July 10th to August 11th. Cost: Approxiniately DM 165 (including board and logding).

C H R O N I C L E 23 1

Final date for applications for both courses: May 31st. Address: Auslandssekretariat beini Rektor der Universitat, Fcrieilkursbh-o,

Kid, Germany.

TUBINGEM Theme: German Language and Literature (for advanced students, tcachers

Datc: August 18th to September 16th. Cost: DM 220 (including fees, board and insurance). Final date for applications: June 1st. Address: Internationaler Hochscliulkurs fur Germanistcn, Universitat, Tiibin-

and lecturers).

gen, Akadeniisches Auslandsaint, Germany.

URERLINGEN-BODENSEE Theme: German Language and Literature, with classes for beginners, advanced

Dates: (i) July 1st-23r-d; (ii) July zsth to August 31st; (iii) September 1st-23rd. Cost: (i) DM 90; (ii) DM 130; (iii) DM. 90. F i d date for applications: first day of course. Address: Ferienkurse fur AuslHiider, Uberlingai-Bodensee, Germany.

students, and special course for foreign teachers of German.

ZDRICH Theme: (i) Political and Social Scitnces ( in English); (ii) German Language

and Literature (in German). Date: July 2nd to August 3rd. Final date for applications: June 15th. Cost: (i) Sw. frs. 250; (ii) Sw. frs. ZOO. Address: Summer School of European Studies, Miinsterhof 20, Ziirich,

Switzerland.

Contacts with Grrmariy

Readers niay also be interested to know that the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, w h c h performed such a useful service during the pre- National Socialist epoch, has resumed its activities under the direction of Professor Klauser (Bonn, Naffestrasse I I) . Until contact between Great Britain and Germany is once morc normal, all organizations which help to overcome the existing obstacles arc to be commended, and mention should be made in this connection of the Gesekha f t fur kulturellen Austausch mit England, which has its headquarters in ,Dusseldorf. It was founded in 1949 by private initiative and is independent o f all German and British official bodies. Its aim is to promote cultural exchange between individuals in the two countries and to give continuity to the contacts made by Germans who have enjoyed hospitality in Great Britain during the last few years. It

232 C H R O N I C L E

invites British guests to stay with members of the socicty in Germany and facilitates the visit of Germans to Great Britain. During 1950 it organized a variety of functions designed to further understanding between the two countries and, in addition, arranged a successful meeting of social scientists and social workers, attended by twenty British representatives, in thc Ruhr area. The socicty is particularly interested in promoting exchanges between English and German teachers and students. Those intercsted should apply to: Frau Lilo Milchsack, Gesellschaft fur kulturellen Austausch init England in Nordrhein-Wcstfalen, Dusseldorf-Wittlaer.