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Submitted by: Charles E. McClelland
cemcc@UNM.EDU
Dear Colleagues,
There is a great deal of feather-smoothing and institutional
scrambling going on about the meeting of the Max-Planck-Gesellsschaft on
22 November. Such as, American professional scholarly associations
will protest. The MPI Goettingen does not wish an outpouring of letters
from American scholars. Might be counterproductive.
Many of my colleagues at the University of New Mexico are not only
outraged by this demarche but willing to communicate with members of the
Bundestag they have met here to express it. They are not so sure that the
people who run their professional organizations, from antrhopology through
medieval studies to language science to history, will act correctly in
their name, or in time. It is doubtful, for example, if one of my
distinguished colleagues in Asian studies will be able to persuade his
organization in time to understand what the MPI has done for that field.
The point we will all make is that, yes, Germany IS a special
country, and it is resisting the siren song of shutting down fundamental
research in the interest of carrying the whole world through a period of
mindless commercialism. German taxpayers ARE being asked to carry a
special burden to help "the East." But, just as Germany is the motor of
European integration and a special role in world history, this is NOT the
time to abandon the fairly inexpensive tradition of solid scholarly
center.
The German people, I am convinced, will go on making sacrifices
if their serious role since 1949 is merely recognized. The argument that
world scholarship can do without their support is not only specious but
self-serving to some politicians. The simple fact that the German people
have taken on the role of leading the world in non-military research and
development, have taken on again the role of leader in promotion of
scholarship among all countries of the world, should please them. We
Americans should let them and their leaders know that.
I was personally very proud and happy to hear today that I will
be the Humboldt mentor of a Teodor-von-Lynen Scholar, a
histroico-anthropologist. The vast majority of Lynen prizes go to natural
scientists. All the scholarships go to scholars willing to work with
Humboldt Fellows around the world. Alexander von Humboldt's legacy from
the 19th century was financially wiped out by the Great Inflation of
1923, but the Federal Republic re-endowed it. Will that also now be eroded?
The arguments against the continued existence of the MPI
institutes, not only of history, but of the three science institutes, is
that "everybody else can do that now." Perhaps it is time for American
colleagues to remind the German Bundestag that the amount spent on
military bands by the Pentagon greatly exceeds the budget of the National
Endowment for the Arts. And we have no MPIs, nor does most of the rest of
the world.
To lose a national treasure must be faced to the people.
Apparently, this loss is not even being discussed among the
representatives of the people. It appears a fait accompli, quite
reminiscent of 1933.
Charles E. McClelland
Chair, European Studies Program
1104 Mesa Vista Hall
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1181 USA
tel: (505) 268-5047 (h) 277-2451 (receptionist) 277-6023 (fax)
E-mail: cemcc@unm.edu
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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