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Submitted by:Kees Gispen
hsgispen@SUNSET.BACKBONE.OLEMISS.EDU
A number of members of H-German are also members of the Conference
Group for Central European History, and some of the latter may remember
that at this year's Bierabend at the AHA convention in New York there was
an effort to gather signatures for a petition to the German Ambassador to
the United States, requesting the German government and the Max Planck
Gesellschaft to keep open the Max Planck Institute for History in
Goettingen.
The petition, which gathered a total of about 100 signatures was duly
submitted to the German Ambassador, a first copy and batch of signatures
going out in late January, and a second one in early February. Professor
Bill Hagen, the CGCEH's immediate past president, received an
acknowledgment from the German ambassador a few weeks ago. Today I
received a similar acknowledgment from him, and it occurred to me that the
readers of this listserv might like to read the text of the Ambassador's
letter. I have taken the liberty of reproducing it below.
Kees Gispen
Executive Secretary
Conference Group for Central European History
***
Washington, February 19, 1997
Der Botschafter der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany
Kees Gispen
Associate Professor of History
Executive Secretary, Conference Group for Central European History
Department of History
College of Liberal Arts
The University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
Dear Professor Gispen:
Thank you very much for your letter of February 5, 1997. Since the Max
Planck Society announced its plans to close four of its institutes, I have
received a number of similar letters expressing deep concern about the
possible closure of the Max Planck Institute for History in Goettingen and
have forwarded them to my government.
Professor Markl proposed closing the four Max Planck Institutes in
anticipation of pending budgetary cuts. The proposal is currently under
consideration by the respective advisory boards of the Max Planck Society,
and a decision is not expected until some time later this year. I am sure,
however, that your arguments will be duly taken into account by these
bodies.
The Max Planck Society is an independent research organization. It draws
its funds from the federal and state governments, but is fully autonomous
in its decision-making. The federal and state governments therefore are
not in a position to intervene in ths process.
Thank you for your interest.
With best regards,
Signature
Juergen Chrobog
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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