Daz

The DAZ was founded in 1995, as a successor organization to the Amerikahaus in Stuttgart. The history of these two organizations does not just describe the development of two local cultural institutions, but rather, along with the history of the other Amerikahäuser in Germany, it is a reflection of official German-American relations over the course of decades. Here in Stuttgart, Zaren Wang, a civil employee of the US military government, opened one of the first - if not the first - American library for Germans, in Germany in 1946. At a time when the official occupation policy of the United States defined de-nazification primarily in terms of punishment, the library promoted democratic values through books and education. In the beginning, the American military government did not pay much attention to the reading rooms located at Neckarstraße 44, and provided only limited funds. Therefore, Ms. Wang sought and received donations from various German and Swiss institutions for the purchase of books and magazines. In those early years, the four reading rooms provided enough space for 20-30 library patrons at a time. Zaren Wang's idea led to the development of institutions that would be established throughout what later became Western Germany. Starting in 1947, libraries in Germany were officially funded and promoted by the American government. With this support, the libraries flourished, and evolved to become large-scale cultural institutions offering events open to the public, in addition to reading materials. These institutions - the Amerikahäuser - were embraced by the German public. Today, we can only imagine the meaning that the Amerikahäuser held for the German population right after the war. Many Germans remember them as spaces to not only warm the body, but also nourish the mind. Germans were also impressed by the idea of public-access libraries - with uncensored and unrestricted access to bookshelves and publications - a concept that they had not encountered up until then. At the same time, they appreciated the fact that the services provided by the Amerikahäuser were free of charge. This gift of the American people promoted a positive attitude over the long term toward the USA as an occupying power. By the end of 1947, the Neckarstraße location in Stuttgart had become too small, and the library was relocated to a larger space in a building on Stafflenbergstraße. According to sources at the time, with the move to the new quarters, the number of library patrons kept growing until it had quadrupled. By 1947, users were making about 7,500 withdrawals a month. The library began holding public events, and added a vinyl record collection. By 1950, the library had been renamed, to offically become an Amerikahaus. In 1950, the new Amerikahaus moved again, to the so-called Lorenz Building at Charlottenstraße 9. According to a newspaper article, the Amerikahaus hit a new monthly record for visitors there in February, when 62,000 people passed through its doors. With that number of visitors, the Stuttgart location became the second most heavily frequented of all Amerikahäuser in Germany, after the one in Berlin. The high volume of visitors also led to personnel changes, and by 1950, the staff had grown to encompass 40 permanent employees. The services provided by the Amerikahaus were also very much in demand outside of Stuttgart. In the 1950s, bookmobiles were making regular stops in 13 locations in Baden-Württemberg - from Künzelsau to Mössingen, and Neuenbürg to Geislingen an der Steige - to provide avid users with new reading material every three weeks. The library vehicles could each hold about 1,500 books, in addition to several racks of magazines. These mobile library services were especially popular with younger readers; half of the patrons were teenagers and young adults. In some towns, the demand was so high that permanent libraries were established. Despite a constant and growing stream of visitors, the Stuttgart Amerikahaus ran into trouble in 1958, when the U.S. Department of State announced that it could no longer pay the rent for the Lorenz building. After exploring several ideas, the State Department and the City of Stuttgart agreed to join forces in financing the construction in 1961 of a new building on Friedrichstraße that would be occupied only by the Amerikahaus. In attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony were former Federal President Prof. Theodor Heuss, Prime Minister Kurt Georg Kiesinger, and U.S.