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Kohn Joins U.S. Group for Ten Days At History Conference in Germany

In an effort to change the tenor of German textbooks on U.S. history, Hans Kohn, professor of History, joined a delegation that began a ten day conference with representatives of over eight European nations at Brunswick, Germany, yesterday.

The group plans to examine the textbook treatment of history in an attempt to correct distortion growing out of national points of view. Britain, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Greece, and Norway also sent men to the meeting. German and United States books will be examined and criticized.

U.S. officials here have deplored most in German treatment of our history the attitude in many books implying that, while the United States is a great country in a materialistic way, people here lack cultural attributes.

On the other hand, Germans have complained that their basic democratic inclinations have been ignored.

Scholars of the two countries have been studying their, and each other's books for the past two years and will report in their findings.

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Before it left for the conference, the American delegation said it hoped the meeting will produce a greater understanding between the points of view of the two peoples. It expects to publish a monograph on the ten day affair when it returns, explaining the influences that have German thinking on history.

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