Amerika Haus Berlin
The Amerika Haus Berlin is an institution that was developed following the end of the World War II, to provide an opportunity for German citizens to learn more about American culture and politics, and engage in discussion and debate on the transatlantic relationship.
The locations became officially known as "Amerika Häuser" and started receiving financial support through the US military and the newly created US Information Agency (USIA).
The libraries grew into much larger establishments that included auditoriums, classrooms, and other exhibition spaces for film screenings, concerts, book readings, and panel discussions.
German citizens, both young and old, were able to visit the institutions freely to learn more about American culture and politics and explore opportunities for academic, and other exchange programs with the US.
The original goal of the "Amerika Häuser" were not to serve as platforms for propaganda, but to provide access to American culture, in particular through literature, and help to combat anti-American sentiment that had been encouraged by certain political elements since the early 1930s.
During the Cold War the "Amerika Häuser" gained an increasingly important symbolic role, representing American freedom and democracy abroad.
In addition to the cultural and political dialogue that took place within the buildings during this time they became locations for protests against American foreign policy (during the Vietnam War, for example) and for displays of solidarity (following September 11).
According to several accounts, one day in late 1945 a group of American military personnel returning home visited the office to donate some books, which were then displayed in the waiting room.
Given that much reading material, particularly from American authors, had been destroyed either by the National Socialist regime or during the war itself, the books quickly became popular with German visitors.
Signed into Law by President Harry Truman on January 27, the act demonstrated a commitment the dissemination of information about America's politics and culture abroad.
Other events that were held at the new location included English language classes, a jazz club, academic lectures, music concerts, and discussion groups.
A further important development that took place at this time was the establishment of additional, external reading rooms which were opened across the city as offshoots of the Amerika Haus.
To increase the availability of literature the institution also organized "bookmobiles" that brought books to the more remote parts of the city, including refugee camps.
During the blockade of West Berlin by the Soviet Union (June 1948 – May 1949) the institution and its reading rooms became increasingly valuable as a source of Western newspapers and magazines, and the film screenings attracted up to 10,000 visitors from the East every month.
The building's role as a distribution centre for literature associated with capitalism gave it an increasing importance that remained over the coming decades and led to frequent political discussions on the symbolism of the institution, which was financed exclusively by the American government.
In addition to prestigious scientists, many other famous personalities visited the building, including politicians Ernst Lemme and Willy Brandt, journalists Thilo Koch and Peter von Zahn, composers Darius Milhaud and Alexander Tcherepnin, the actor Sidney Poitier, and the writer Thornton Wilder.
Works from Lyonel Feininger (1962), Frank Lloyd Wright (1964), Robert Rauschenberg (1965), and a group of Native American artists (1964 and 1966) were displayed in addition to the exhibitions on the history and tradition of the US Army (1964) and the lunar photos taken by one of the space probes (1965).
A number of citizens claimed that the material available in the building did not accurately reflect the situation in Vietnam and that the institution was simply a centre for American propaganda.
The Student Council at Technische Universität Berlin also sympathized with the United States and called for the creation of a scholarship that would be granted to a member of the American Peace Corps.
Two days after the demonstration the CDU, the Young Union, and the Circle of Christian-Democratic Students organized a counter-demonstration that took place in front of the Amerika Haus.
Some hecklers were removed during the course of this half-hour gathering and were forcibly taken to the nearby train station Zoologischer Garten, where they were told they could get a ticket and go to the East if they were so strongly against American politics.
The fragmentation of the student movement in the late 1960s led to a new phase in protests against the Amerika Haus that included further demonstrations carried out by militant and anarchist groups.
The most violent conflict happened a few days later in reaction to the continuing war in Cambodia and the Kent State Shootings in Ohio that had left four students dead.
Following the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 many commentators questioned the role the institution could play in a united Germany and a post-Cold War Europe.
