| Description | Written from the Foreign Office
'Thank you for your letter of the 4th August, sending me copies of the two letters you have received from German professors.
I have recently been going very carefully into the problem of the German universities, and have discussed it with Robert Birley, the Educational Adviser, and with Professor Dodds and other members of the Delegation of the Association of University Teachers who investigated the position in the German universities earlier in the year. There is no question but that the biggest problem with which we are confronted by the universities is that of the university professors. Not only are they for the most part highly conservative and, indeed reactionary, but they are also, through the peculiarities of the university constitutions very strongly entrenched and in a position to dominate the younger members of staff. Many of them are no doubt of the type which Professors Jost and Kallmann describe. As most of them are fairly old the influence of individuals will not last very long, but the constitution of the universities and the methods of appointment are such that they are in a very strong position to nominate successors with ideas like their own and these successors will in their turn be the dominant force in the universities, unless we can introduce reforms. I do not believe that an effective form of denazification is the answer. As Professor Jost recognises, it is appallingly difficult to get at the truth and, in any case, the men with the most harmful influence may well be those who have managed to keep a blameless record. What I believe we must concentrate on, and what Birley is engaged upon, is somehow to bring outside influences to bear on the universities, for them to liberalise their constitutions, to give the younger staff more independence and to get more forward-looking and democratically minded men appointed.
This is a big task and it is one which we are firmly convinced the Germans must perform themselves, not only because the German Land Ministries have now been made responsible for education, but also because reforms made by the Germans themselves are far more likely to be enduring than if they are put through by the British against what would be intense opposition. It will take a long time, but we are embarking now on the first step, which is to endeavour to have set up Commissions in each Land with the specific tasks of advising the land Ministers of Education on university matters and of initiating consideration of reforms. Our hope is that if suitable people can be found for these Commissions they will use them to create an informed public opinion on university matters and bring the necessary pressure to bear on the universities.
Meanwhile, we have sent copies of the letters which you sent me out to Birley, since they are useful contributions to the picture of the whole problem, but have impressed on him the importance of preventing them being published or coming into the hands of the German authorities. We have also suggested to Birley that the next time he is in Oxford he should take the opportunity of discussing this problem with you so that you may know how things are going.
Thank you very much for sending me the copies. ' |