I have been informed by my British friends about what is going on in Bristol regarding German Studies there. I am especially concerned because I had a long cooperation with Bristol’s German Department from 1992 on, when working together with Professor Frank Shaw on a Medieval project which drew substantial funds from the DAAD, the Humboldt Foundation, the British Council and the Leverhulme Trust. We held workshops in Bristol and Trier, always engaging our research students, thus providing them with international experience, which furthered their linguistic ability and benefited their subsequent careers considerably.
With the threatened dismissal of Dr Anne Simon the University is going to drop the study of the history of the German language and literature from teaching, and therefore also from research, because – as the argument reads – it would not be in the long-term interest of the German Department. I doubt whether the implications of this argument are clear to all the members of your faculty, especially those who need historical German in the study of their sources.
Another point is the international relations among medievalists. It is well-known that the British colleagues teaching the history and literature of German are internationally respected among the leading scholars in the field of Digital Humanities, and also have strong links with their German and European colleagues. One of the most prestigious international colloquia, the Anglo-German Colloquium, takes place alternately in GB and Germany. The 1993 Colloquium took place in Bristol and was organised by Frank Shaw and myself. The next Colloquium is again planned for Bristol. I fear this may not now be possible, given the uncertain status of medieval German studies in Bristol. Which German funding organisation will provide the money, if the British side has no interest?
If the economic usefulness of earlier stages of the language and even of languages altogether is the main reason for dropping them from teaching and research at British universities, then it is obvious that not only the classical literature of the medieval vernaculars, but also Latin and Greek will disappear from academia in Britain. One day, Vergil and Catullus will have gone together with Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walther von der Vogelweide, and finally all of our cultural heritage which the EU is so proud of furthering. It is to be hoped that Bristol will not be one of those in favour of dropping Oldspeak.