Abstract

The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – Daad) is today one of the world’s leading players in international academic exchanges, and works to promote the free circulation of knowledge and quality research, enriched through the relations an collaboration between scholars and institutions from different countries. Originally, however, the Daad was principally a tool for promoting the image of Germany and its culture abroad, first during the Weimar Republic and then under the Third Reich, which used it for propaganda purposes aimed at bolstering the ideology of National Socialism. The essay traces the stages in the history of the Daad from its foundation to 1945 and offers a first-hand analysis of its magazine «Hochschule und Ausland» / «Geist der Zeit».