American Library Policy on Germany During Occupation Period : With the Emphasis on Establishment of "Amerika Haus"

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  • MIURA Taro
    Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo

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  • 占領期ドイツにおける米国の図書館政策 : アメリカ・ハウスの設立を中心に
  • センリョウキ ドイツ ニ オケル ベイコク ノ トショカン セイサク アメリカ ハウス ノ セツリツ オ チュウシン ニ

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Abstract

After WW2, with the intention of re-education and dissemination of democracy in Germany, the U.S.Information Centers were established in western area under the Allied occupation. A small reading room as the first Center was opened in July 1945 in the suburb of Frankfurt a.M. The Centers numbered 17 by 1947 and 47 by 1953. They were called "Amerika Haus" in German. At the beginning of the occupation period, the Military Government (OMGUS) was not much interested in the centers policy, but, in the Cold War years, during which the Smith-Mundt Act was enacted in 1948 and the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949, the AH got a definite position as a "window to the West" in the information program of State Department. They provided various cultural services, such as circulation of English and German books, public lectures, motion pictures and other programs, on the model of American community libraries. American library policy in Germany under the occupation had not so much reformative intention as in Japan, but laid strness on the introduction of American culture to German people.

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