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| vol. 24, no. 21 | April 23, 1999 |
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| vol. 24, no. 21 | April 23, 1999 |
BY SUZANNE TRIMEL
The library at Deutsches Haus has reopened after a $100,000 renovation that includes physical improvements, computer links to German research sources, an updated periodicals reading room and a satellite connection to German television news.
Renamed the Max Kade Library in recognition of the Max Kade Foundation's financial support for the improvements, the library was formally dedicated on April 12 at a reception for 100 guests, including Kurt Masur, music director of the New York Philharmonic, who gave a talk on the interplay between literature and music. The library was dedicated in memory of Erich H. Markel, president of the Max Kade Foundation, who died this year and had been instrumental in providing the gift to Deutsches Haus.
Guests included German and German-American representatives of business, government, academia and philanthropic organizations.
Deutsches Haus, located on West 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive, was opened in 1911 as the first foreign language house at an American university. The library underwent its first renovation in 25 years, according to Deutsches Haus Director Bettina Brandt. In addition to new wiring and other physical improvements, the 6,000-volume library has been updated to include a new periodicals reading room with major German newspapers and magazines and computer room with multi-media resources and a satellite connection to German television.
David Cohen, vice president for Arts and Sciences, announced that Deutsches Haus had just received a $25,000-per-year grant from the German Academic Exchange Service to support programing over three years.
Professor Andreas Huyssen, the Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature, noted that in 1932 writer Gerhart Hauptmann had spoken at Deutsches Haus on the 100th anniversary of Goethe's death: "Despite the dark years that followed, Deutsches Haus had remained over time a beacon of the best of German culture in the United States." Huyssen added that this fall Deutsches Haus planned a major symposium on the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth.
He also said that student interest in Germany and in Europe was on the upswing. "The Department's commitment to excellence in language teaching is paying off in increased enrollment in language classes," Huyssen said, citing the creation of the Berlin Consortium for study abroad and new interdisciplinary initiatives, including team teaching between faculty of the Department of German Languages and Literature and other departments, such as art, architecture, music and law, and a trans-Atlantic studies program focusing on Berlin and New York.
During the reception, Columbia President George Rupp said that Deutsches Haus has initiated a $1 million fundraising campaign to thoroughly modernize "this wonderful old building" and enhance its programming.
Rupp, who noted his own background as the son of German immigrants, introduced Masur as "one of the world's great musicians and conductors" who also "earned deep respect as a humanist and moral leader" during German reunification. Rupp mentioned that Masur holds a faculty appointment at the Music College of Leipzig and noted his status "as the father of Ken David Masur, Columbia College Class of 2001."
"It is not only Kurt Masur's deep devotion to German culture, but also his dedication to his family that brings him here this evening," said Rupp, to laughter from the audience.
Masur, who toured the new library, reminded fellow Germans in the audience of their vital responsibility: "Whatever we do, we as Germans cannot forget our past. We are not allowed to and we shouldn't. It always means that we have to try to convince the people of the world that we may be better than our reputation."