Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I: Introduction
- 1 German and American Historiography in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- 2 German Historiography during the Weimar Republic and the Émigré Historians
- 3 The Historical Seminar of the University of Berlin in the Twenties
- PART II: Introduction
- 4 Refugee Historians in America: Preemigration Germany to 1939
- 5 “Uphill Work”: The German Refugee Historians and American Institutions of Higher Learning
- 6 Everyday Life and Emigration: The Role of Women
- 7 The Special Case of Austrian Refugee Historians
- 8 Schicksalsgeschichte: Refugee Historians in the United States
- 9 German Historians in the Office of Strategic Services
- 10 The Refugee Scholar as Intellectual Educator: A Student's Recollections
- PART III: Introduction
- 11 German Émigré Historians in America: The Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies
- 12 The Americanization of Hajo Holborn
- 13 Explaining History: Hans Rosenberg
- 14 Ernst Kantorowicz and Theodor E. Mommsen
- 15 Refugee Historians and the German Historical Profession between 1950 and 1970
- Conclusion
- Index
PART III: Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2013
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I: Introduction
- 1 German and American Historiography in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- 2 German Historiography during the Weimar Republic and the Émigré Historians
- 3 The Historical Seminar of the University of Berlin in the Twenties
- PART II: Introduction
- 4 Refugee Historians in America: Preemigration Germany to 1939
- 5 “Uphill Work”: The German Refugee Historians and American Institutions of Higher Learning
- 6 Everyday Life and Emigration: The Role of Women
- 7 The Special Case of Austrian Refugee Historians
- 8 Schicksalsgeschichte: Refugee Historians in the United States
- 9 German Historians in the Office of Strategic Services
- 10 The Refugee Scholar as Intellectual Educator: A Student's Recollections
- PART III: Introduction
- 11 German Émigré Historians in America: The Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies
- 12 The Americanization of Hajo Holborn
- 13 Explaining History: Hans Rosenberg
- 14 Ernst Kantorowicz and Theodor E. Mommsen
- 15 Refugee Historians and the German Historical Profession between 1950 and 1970
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
In this part of the volume we return to what Catherine Epstein calls Beitragsgeschichte, the history of academic contributions and their influence. Kenneth D. Barkin (Chapter 11) begins with a general statement on the role of the refugees in the American historical profession after 1950. Then Otto Pflanze, Hanna Schissler, and Robert Lerner (Chapters 12-14) provide case studies of four important scholars: the modern historians Hajo Holborn and Hans Rosenberg, and the medievalists Ernst Kantorowicz and Theodor E. Mommsen. The result is a record of scholarly accomplishment and deep personal inspiration that continue to shape the way many Americans write and think about European history.
Amid this celebration of achievement, Barkin sounds a cautionary note that is worth underscoring: In comparison to the refugees' impact on subjects such as physics or art history, their influence on history was limited. While among the historians there were many fine scholars and inspiring teachers, one looks in vain for figures comparable to Einstein or Panofsky, whose work redefined their disciplines. The refugee historians' influence was deep but narrow; it transformed the way Americans studied the German past, but - with a few notable exceptions - it had relatively little impact on the American profession as a whole.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- An Interrupted PastGerman-Speaking Refugee Historians in the United States after 1933, pp. 147 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991