German student life under U.S. occupation at the Philipps-University, Marburg/Hesse

.1. Офг- 96 1/6J г* Armin E. Mruck June 7, 2005 X>- £ > X Л ^ $ - 5Г ^ >■ V"* 'O { "5. s ^ <Цч 4 >4 i- * i 3 li t •I* .5 ..y ' v2> ? y- v . 7 '7 я ^ О GERMAN STUDENT LIFE UNDER U.S. OCCUPATION AT THE PHILIPPS-UNIVERSITY , MARBURG/HESSE "It was my close association with them (i.e. German students) that gave me some grounds for a feeling of optimism that the picture of Germany today is not entirely black , and that there is some hope for the peace of Europe and the world..." said Burr W. Philipps, Professor of Education and History at the University of Wisconsin, and one of the U.S. experts sent to occupied Germany to study education and its problems in that country, before a group of Rotarians during the spring of 1947.^ Eugene Bahn of the Education and Religious Affairs Branch of the Office of Military Government Hesse wrote on the occasion of the First International Summer School Marburg University in the late summer of 1946 that there existed an "almost ideal situation", that in some sessions as many as three- to four hundred students participated in discussions, that there "existed an equally unlimited enthusiasm on the part of the visiting lecturers to impart knowledge and to help the student. "2- -A negative picture was drawn by Frederick A. Praeger, well known publisher, who had this to say about Marburg students, "Having been subjected to the educational system of the Third Reich, these students lack the most elementary knowledge of classical and modern languages, of foreign and even German history, of religion, of art and literature, and of the world abroad. They more intelligent teachers realize that their teaching is .... £ largely wasted on students. ч, fj услг? ' 7 и He thought that the "student body