专业描述

The following text was composed in February 1980 by Frank X. Braun, Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Michigan and former Faculty Associate of the Max Kade German House. It describes primarily the establishment of the Max Kade German House in Oxford Housing, where it was located until its move to Baits Housing in the Fall of 2000. Some more recent information has been added towards the end, but if anyone nostalgically surfing these pages has any information that could fill some of the gaps in this text since 1980, please contact us at german.dept@umich.edu: we would love to be able to make this a complete account! It is fitting to begin this historical account of the "Max Kade German House" with a brief biography of the man whose name the language house bears. Max Kade was born in Schwäbisch-Hall, Germany, in 1882. After absolving the Gymnasium, he spent some years as an apprentice in his father's machinery and bridge building business. He came to the United States at the age of 22, established his own business in 1911, manufacturing on the basis of a German formula a patented cough medicine, the immensely popular "Pertussin." Subsequently, he developed a flourishing pharmaceutical company (Seeck and Kade, Inc.). At the age of 75, still youthful and energetic, he retired, donated his company to the Max Kade Foundation Inc., and turned his attention from business to philanthropy. Max Kade combined in his person the quality of a keen American businessman and a cultured individual with a profound love of learning and an urge to promote the exchange of knowledge across national boundaries. Over the 35 years of its existence, the Max Kade Foundation has contributed generously to American and European universities, particularly in the areas of postdoctoral fellowships in the sciences, in the founding of Max Kade Distinguished Professorships, and in student housing. The Foundation's program of supporting language houses resulted in establishing Max Kade German Houses at Colorado College, Oberlin College, the universities at Freiburg i.B. and München and other American and European universities and colleges. The University of Michigan is one of the recipients of the Foundation's generous grants. Mr. Kade was awarded a number of honorary degrees, among them Dr. h.c. from the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart, an honorary Professorship from his home state Baden-Württemberg and the title "Honorary Senator" from the universities of Tübingen, München, Heidelberg, and Innsbruck. Max Kade led a simple life. His chief extravagance was his profound love of art. After his retirement, he devoted much of his time to collecting paintings, drawings, and prints by the Old Masters such as Montagna, Schongauer, Dürer, and Rembrandt. Max Kade died on July 15, 1967. The Max Kade German House at the University of Michigan is but one of the monuments to the memory of a great and generous man. Michigan's Max Kade German House The seeds out of which grew the Max Kade House on this campus were planted by the Edgar Schwaibold, then President of the Star Watch Case Co., on the occasion of a hunting trip in Ludington, Michigan in the Fall of 1964. Students, 29 girls and 23 boys, in the form of a petition, enthusiastically supported the project in 1965 and Dr. Braun, backed up by the encouragement of Edgar Schwaibold, the advice of John Feldkamp, Director of University Housing, Frank Shiell, Manager of Services, Leonard Schaadt, Associate Director of Housing, and Robert M. Chance, U. of M. chief architect, decided to pursue further the idea of a German language house. In August, September and 0ctober 1966 he had a series of meetings with the architects, discussing specific plans of building an addition to Geddes House in the Oxford complex. Rough estimates of the total cost of the project, from foundation work to the interior decor of an "all purpose room" and a library, including air-conditioning, were arrived at. John Feldkamp was sufficiently impressed by the project to assume the financial risk of ordering detailed architectural plans and water color renderings to be submitted to the Max Kade Foundation together with an application for funds. The application was to be composed by Dr. Braun and was to present an overall rationale for the proposed language house in terms of academic, financial, organizational, social and all other pertinent aspects. This document, subsequently to be known as the "Constitution of the Max Kade House," was approved by the Housing Office and accompanied the architectural plans and renderings sent to the Max Kade Foundation on November 6, 1966. The month of December 1966 was a fateful month for the prospective language house. Events, all of them happy ones, crowded each other as is evident from the compilation below.