America primer for adult Germans
The America Primer for Adult Germans by Margret Boveri is a non-fiction book about the Americans that was published in Germany in 1946 .
The book was published by two publishers in Berlin (British zone) and in Freiburg im Breisgau (French zone), and in 1947 in Switzerland under the title “Amerikafibel” .
The book reached a circulation of 40,000 copies in the 1940s, despite the shortage of paper. There is no evidence of the ban in the American zone claimed by Boveri.
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Boveri dedicated the book to her American mother Marcella Boveri .
Preface
Boveri explains why she wrote this book. She declares - with a slight reservation against the term - the Americans to be a race of their own, which the Germans do not understand. She takes the risk for a two-state citizen like herself, namely to choose one of the two nations and to be unfair to the other (see also the analysis by Heike B. Görtemaker further below in this article) .
I. The emigrant people in the land of freedom
According to Boveri, America's history begins with European immigrants. They are the only emigrant people who differ from all other emigration movements. The settlers did not have to fight for their rights from an existing government; there was only one class. In America the individual stood before society and society before the state. America is the "center of a spiritual world mission". In contrast to Europe, the country feels that it has no history. Only the post office, but not railways, electricity, gas, telephone, aviation, radio, schools or universities, is a state enterprise in America. In the eyes of the Americans, it is the Germans' fault not to have emigrated in the face of the Nazi regime, and the proof that massive emigration was not even possible is "in vain with the Americans."
II. Conform or starve. Or: re-education to the new type of person
Boveri takes two immigrant carpenters as an example of adapting to America. One of them is quite capable in his field, finds his livelihood, but cannot accommodate the desire for a German stool. The other has not adapted, is an excellent craftsman, but gnaws at the starvation cloth . The rule, however, is the success of the process of melting into American society. The only exceptions to this process are the wealthy, such as scientists and artists, who are hired precisely because of their differences. Despite the rejection of history, America has its traditions that go back to Puritanism. "The minority must submit to the majority's decision." Boveri cites prohibition and the rejection of Darwinism as examples .
The American love of the country arises from the conviction that America is the "best, greatest, most beautiful and freest of all countries". The conviction that the immigrant belongs there is so strong that the newly immigrant is called in for military service. German immigrants who come to Germany with the American military are no longer Germans, but convinced Americans. For Boveri, the difference between Germans and Americans is reflected in the difference between strong German bread and American white bread. Boveri closes the chapter by saying that it is wrong to be angry about the difference in America.
III. Hollerith machines. Or: the way to the questionnaire
Boveri notes that skills are lost in the process of civilization. She cites a technician as an example: “If he does ever find out how much seven times twelve is, he takes a slide rule out of his pocket. ... the young, the car generation have forgotten how to walk. "The Americans are much more advanced in this behavioral change process. In America, only 14 patterns are woven on 800 looms, while in France it is 81 on 200. But the Americans have not only mechanized manual work, brain work is also automated by calculating machines. Just as parts are standardized in industrial production, people are divided into overlookable individual factors.
The Hollerith machine is important in this project. It is also used in German factories, but has a much greater impact in America. Another possible use of the Hollerith machine is the "American questionnaire" that people in the American sector of Germany had to fill out. He is given as an example that a trip abroad after 1933 can have very different motivations, which is not recorded by the questionnaire. But the totality of all questions results in an assessment of the burden on the individual. The questionnaire is not an ordeal invented by the Americans for the vanquished, but an everyday object in America.
Boveri goes into detail about multiple choice tests, which are used in America in all walks of life, and then moves on to opinion polls, which are also very important. With their help, the advertising companies steered and standardized buyers' tastes so that they did not get the idea of needing “four-legged wooden stools”.
Publicity managers told their clients which restaurants to avoid and when to donate blood. Talents like writing can be learned. In author communities, the individual aspects of writing are distributed among several people. "One is working on the fable, the second is a scheduling specialist, the third is the brilliant dialogue writer". The same procedure is used for magazines, whereby the employees even remain anonymous.
Boveri advises her readers not to put more than one thought into one sentence when dealing with Americans. She closes the chapter with a warning not to reject the questionnaires, even if they did not suit German conditions.
IV. Morality is not self-evident
Boveri wants to work out the differences in morality between Germans and Americans; she doesn't dare to decide whether the Germans are less moral. Cheating and copying in exams is completely normal in Germany, but outlawed in America because it is perceived as unfair to fellow students and examiners. On the other hand, in America it is completely normal that students from the corps commit theft for their connection, while in Germany students only commit acts of vandalism without appropriating anything.
In the new world a rigorous morality was necessary, since there were no laws and the wide space left room for abuse. The proclamation of the highest principles does not prevent the Americans from pursuing private interests with the utmost ruthlessness.
Boveri comes to the following conclusion: “For the English as well as the American, justice comes first, for Germans order. The Anglo-Saxon is ready, for the sake of justice, to create ruins, disorder, even chaos; the German is ready, for the sake of order, to allow evildoers to go out without punishment and injustice without immediate atonement. "
V. Shake hands. Or: The human-to-human relationship in the new world
Boveri emphasizes the courtesy of Americans who hide real feelings. The Americans have the ability to make contacts with great ease, but these are mostly non-binding. They live “without a fence with the doors open” and therefore have different border posts: personal questions are annoying curiosity. It is customary to smile at all times.
VI. »Push« and »Drive«. Or: the relationship between Americans and things
While the Germans pick up everything, in America it goes without saying that even moderately worn items should be thrown away. This is done in the certainty that everything can be replaced and that supplies are always safe. Even the farmer - who is not a farmer - exploits the soil and then moves on.
Americans did not pursue a profession out of love for it, but only to earn a living and changed it frequently. They are always looking for something new.
Boveri describes the reaction of American women to the shortage of silk stockings due to the war: "The average American, however, preferred to forego the darning of the silk and to deal with the many patterned» novelties «made of cotton, rayon and nylon (spun glass)."
In the following, Boveri goes into American word creations that come and go with fashion, and then move on to the joy of litigation of the Americans when it comes to insults (English libel ).
At the end of the book, Boveri quotes Rainer Maria Rilke and Oswald Spengler .
New edition of the book
In 2006 a new edition of the book was published by Landt Verlag . This also contains a review by Theodor Heuss from 1946 and an analysis of the book by Heike B. Görtemaker. Included are 18 photographs with descriptions that Boveri took in America in 1941. The person index of the original edition has also been expanded.
criticism
Review by Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss, who later became Federal President, wrote a thoroughly positive review of the America Primer. He agrees with Boveri's argument that mass emigration would have been impossible, and he also addresses the questionnaires.
American reactions
In Today's magazine, published by the American military government . An illustrated magazine appeared on May 1, 1947, a review of the America Primer. The tenor was positive, the primer made the peculiarities of the Americans understandable.
MA Fitzsimons, however, wrote that the primer was a contribution to mutual misunderstanding. Boveri is remarkably blind, portraying the Americans as lacking in tradition, and not mentioning that America is a democracy.
The primer, and not Boveri's work during the Nazi era , resulted in her not receiving an American visa to visit her dying mother.
Analysis by Heike B. Görtemaker
Heike B. Görtemaker sees the primer as a continuity to Boveri's work during the Third Reich . Boveri was deeply disappointed in America. "[She] found it unheard of that her [in America], as an officially accredited correspondent and thus as a representative of the» Third Reich «, met with hidden or open rejection." On the other hand, she refused to publish the books in the Frankfurter Societäts Verlag bring out that "standing in line with them is not a tempting thought."
Görtemaker writes about the America primer published after the war:
“In a provocative manner, Boveri turned the tables on it: It wasn't about the Germans and their crimes during the Nazi dictatorship, but about the behavior of the American occupation forces. ... Not a word about the reasons that led to the collapse and occupation of Germany, not a line about the question of why millions of Germans voted for Hitler and willingly followed his war and race ideology - Hitler and the Second World War did not appear in your book in front."
Görtemaker finds Boveri's claims about the superiority of European philosophy and history in the face of the war as presumptuous. Overall, the primer is characterized by anti-Americanism .
literature
- America primer for adult Germans: an attempt to explain what is not understood, Margret Boveri, Berlin, Minerva-Verlag, 1946, 112 pp.
- America primer for adult Germans, Margret Boveri, Berlin 1946 (new: commented by Theodor Heuss and introduced by Heike B. Görtemaker), Berlin, Landt Verlag 2006, 268 pages, 18 photos, ISBN 3-938844-03-5