Stifter, Spender und Mäzene: USA und Deutschland im historischen Vergleich (review)

This volume provides pathbreaking perspectives on a theme that has long been of great interest to historians of both England and the United States—one that, however, has only recently begun to attract the attention of historians of Germany. In line with Alexis de Tocqueville’s influential emphasis on the centrality in America of “good works” (as well as other functions) performed by voluntary associations, there has been a great deal of interest in American philanthropy. In contrast, German historiography has been marked by much greater emphasis on the central roles played by bureaucratic states, both as sponsors of cultural activities and as guarantors of the welfare of their citizens. The authors of the eleven thoroughly researched essays that appear here (written by the editors, as well as Kathleen McCarthy, Peter Dobkin Hall, Rupert Graf Strachwitz, Francie Ostrower, Michael Werner, Kevin V. Mulcahy, Stephen Pielhoff, Corinna R. Unger, Annett Heinl, and Gregory R. Witkowski) seek convincingly to rectify what they regard as an unfortunate imbalance.

The book is clearly and effectively organized. It proceeds both transnationally and comparatively, offering coverage of both the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries and illuminating diverse sorts of philanthropic activity. These have ranged from charitable support for people in need to the establishment of foundations designed to support intellectual and artistic pursuits. The first two essays, which concentrate on the nineteenth century, deal with “transatlantic exchange processes.” Their authors follow partially in the footsteps of Daniel Rodgers (Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age [Cambridge, Mass., 1998]), and Axel Schäfer (American Progressives and German Social Reform, 1875–1920 [Stuttgart, 2000]). Although they focus on the voluntary sector, they similarly emphasize the influence of European examples on American thinking and practice. Their criticisms of the notion of American exceptionalism set the stage for the essays that follow, all but one of which focus entirely on the twentieth century (six of them look at developments since World War II). Each deals either with America or with Germany. None is explicitly comparative, but the way in which the essays are combined in the book’s subsections—with first America and then Germany being discussed respectively—invites the reader to make his or her own comparisons.

The volume points up both differences and similarities. Museums, theaters, orchestras, and universities have been less dependent on private support in Germany than in the United States, and for this reason, among others, the nonprofit sector overall has been more highly developed on this side than on the far side of the Atlantic. The deductibility of charitable contributions from taxable income in America has doubtless also had a stimulative effect (although there is some disagreement in the U.S. over how great that effect has been). One is left, however, with an impression of shared rather than contrasting characteristics. German shortcomings—particularly noticeable under the impact of economic hard times during the 1920s and early 1930s and then dictatorship between 1933 and 1945—were, it seems, in large measure rectified in later years. Indeed, foreign aid (Entwicklungshilfe) for inhabitants of countries located in the so-called third world, which was strongly supported both by the Protestant and the Catholic churches, became increasingly widespread in East Germany as well as in West Germany starting in the 1960s.

In line with Thomas Adam’s earlier emphasis on the ways in which charitable giving benefited givers as well as recipients (Buying Respectability: Philanthropy and Urban Society in Transnational Perspective, 1840s to 1930s [Bloomington, Ind., 2009]), there is recurrent attention throughout the volume to philanthropy as a strategy that reflected both generosity and self-interest. Particularly in the area of support for cultural institutions, philanthropy has functioned in both countries as a means of strengthening the solidarity and enhancing the prestige of the social and economic elite. Charitable assistance for people living overseas has also supplemented governmental assistance in ways that have worked to...