Between its foundation in 1925 and its dissolution in 1945, the DAAD experienced an eventful period characterised by the horrors of National Socialism.
From the first steps in international exchange to its active ideological alignment with the NS regime and destruction caused by the war, the history of the DAAD shows how closely academic exchange was linked to political developments.
The Beginning of Academic Exchange: From the Idea to the Founding of the AAD
On 13 January 1925, the ‘Akademischer Austauschdienst e. V.’ (AAD) is founded in Heidelberg.
The founding is driven by a private initiative and highlights how significant international academic exchange was for individuals and society even back then. The first impulse was an invitation from a small American student group in the early 1920s: students from various European countries should be able to travel to the USA. Carl Joachim Friedrich, a Heidelberg student of social and political sciences, has the opportunity to travel around the USA in 1922/23. His encounters on the ground show him how valuable academic exchange can be in promoting international understanding and co-operation.
Germany, at this time so shortly after the First World War, was internationally isolated on all levels. Friedrich wants to change this, at least at an academic level. He succeedes in obtaining a commitment from the New York Institute of International Education to provide 13 scholarships for the autumn of 1924 - laying the foundations for future academic exchange. As early as 1923, the ‘Staatswissenschaftliche Austauschstelle beim Institut für Sozial- und Staatswissenschaften der Universitäten Heidelberg’ (‘Political Science Exchange Centre at the Institute for Social and Political Sciences at Heidelberg University’) is set up in Heidelberg to select future scholarship holders and offer counter-scholarships for foreign students. The Institute is headed by Alfred Weber, Professor of National Economy and one of the most important founders of a historically orientated cultural sociology.
Initially, a fellow student of Friedrich's, Arnold Bergsträsser, Weber's assistant, runs the organisation on a part-time basis. In 1924, Werner Picht, also a student of Weber's and a consultant in the Prussian Ministry of Science, Art and National Education, takes over the full-time management of the exchange centre.
In these early years, scholarships are initially limited to the social and political sciences. Nevertheless, the idea of exchange had now develops to such an extent that the initial organisational form does not seem appropriate. The founding of the AAD as an association in January 1925 was the next step in responding to the growing interest. Last but not least, important state institutions also enter the scene: the Foreign Office and the Ministry of the Interior are now also represented on the AAD Board of Trustees. And when the AAD moves to Berlin later in 1925, the student and academic exchange programme finally expands to include all subjects.
First Steps to Britain and France
However, the exchange is also extended to other countries. In spring 1926, Managing Director Picht travels to Great Britain and makes important contacts there. As early as the summer, an English partner organisation of the AAD, the Anglo-German Academic Board, is founded. The first British scholarship holders arrive in Germany in the winter semester of 1926/27. Shortly afterwards, on 1 June 1927, the AAD, now under the leadership of Adolf Morsbach, who was also the First Managing Director of the General Administration of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, sets up its first branch office in London. Contacts with France are also intensified from 1928, and a branch office is set up in Paris in 1930.
On 1 January 1931, the Academic Exchange Service is merged with the German Academic Exchange Point of of the Association of German Universities and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and is given the final name ‘Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst e. V.’.
In this first phase of academic exchange, the DAAD is committed to building academic bridges and consolidating international contacts. As early as the late 1920s, the exchange contributes to improving Germany's international reputation and lays the foundation for the organisation's later expansion into a central institution for international exchange.
