Better Together – 70 Jahre d.a.i.!

Lectures, concerts, movies, theater, language courses, books, celebration, travel, youth camps, school projects – all programs of the d.a.i. Tuebingen focuses on the U.S. and the transatlantic relationship between our two countries. The former “Amerika-Haus” celebrates its 70th anniversary in June 2022 and presents a manifold program from May until July.

Better Together! Our anniversary-motto not only refers to the decade-long friendship between the U.S. and Germany but also reinforces the European idea, which is very beneficial for Germans at the moment. It also relates to the multifaceted collaboration between the different partners and sponsors both on state and federal level as well as regionally and locally.

The d.a.i. has a long, rich history and has been a culturally important staple in Tuebingen’s cultural life for decades now. In the beginning it was still known as the “Amerika-Haus” and was funded by the U.S. At the time of its opening on June 20, 1952, our institute was only a small reading room at the museum. However, the excitement and admissions among Tuebingen’s residents were big enough that new, more central rooms had to be rented, right at the Neckarbrücke. Now the d.a.i. not only had an event hall capable of hosting 100 people but also the first library in Tuebingen that had free-hand lending with German and English books as well as records in their repertoire. This was an important element that, combined with free cultural and educational offers, helped build the bridge towards an open, free and democratic society.

Staring in 1946, in the course of the large-scale program aimed to re-democratize the German population after World War II, the U.S. occupying forces built and funded over 40 “Amerika-Häuser” – first in the American zone (Heidelberg and Munich) and later all throughout Germany. There Germans, who knew very little about the U.S. and the Western World due to Nazi propaganda, were able to inform themselves freely and independently of ideology about American culture, politics and lifestyle.

The population of the university town Tuebingen accepted this offer gratefully and flocked in large numbers to the events The many cooperations in the provinces, e.g. with adult education centers, were also extremely successful. The Amerika-Haus' rolling book and film mobiles regularly supplied the rural areas as far as the Bodensee. As a result, documents of the then U.S.-director recorded an impressive figure of 1,3 million visitors to 2.150 events, 20.000 movie screenings and 1.1 million media loans after ten years. The Amerika-Haus played the strongest role in Tuebingen’s cultural life until the mid-60s – especially the young people were extremely grateful for encounters with with the easygoing Americans and the free-spirited, relaxed atmosphere on site. The American Way of Life was an integral part of the German post-war-era.

After this enormous investment, which also led to Germany being on the right side during the Cold War, there were many step-by-step changes over the following decades both regarding the organization – a non-profit sponsoring association called Deutsch-Amerikanische Gesellschaft Tübingen e.V. was created – and the financing. The Americans withdrew more and more from the responsibility for the houses, and in the 1980s it was "mission accomplished": The Germans know and love the U.S. Since then the German-American-Institutes (or Centers) have been run by German directors and depend on German funding money as well as self-generated income, for example from language courses. Only 11 institutes have survived this change, four of which are located in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The 12th house was recently founded in Leipzig – the first one in the East of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The German attitude towards the U.S. and their institutes also changed over time – enthusiasm turned into skepticism and now and then there were protests in Tuebingen, for example against the Vietnam War. In 1981 the rooms at the Karlstraße were even occupied for two nights and a (small) bomb is said to have been detonated in the backyard. However, after the attacks on  9/11 plenty of flowers were laid in front of the building and on election night 2008 many residents shed tears of joy over Barack Obama’s victory. the role and reputation of the d.a.i. Tübingen in the university-dominated urban society is still in flux.

Together with all its friends, sponsors and interested parties the d.a.i. Tuebingen with its over 1300 members looks back on seven decades of transatlantic friendship and cordially invites everyone to celebrate and revive this sustainable relationship within the framework of the anniversary events.