German Wine in Canadian Bottles: The Celebration and Commemoration of German
Unification in Berlin, Ontario, 1871-1914
Mario Nathan Coschi, PhD Candidate
McMaster University
On May 2, 1871, as many as 12,000 people gathered in the small, largely German town
of Berlin, Ontario for a “Peace Festival” to celebrate the end of the Franco-Prussian War and
the unification of Germany.1 The Anglo-Canadian media who witnessed this curious event
responded with overwhelming and unanimous praise for the celebration and its participants.2
Forty years later, on January 26, 1911, when a group of Germans met to celebrate the birthday
of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the response was similar.3 There was no objection to the feting of a foreign monarch on Canadian soil.
The unification of Germany and its celebration and subsequent commemoration were
instrumental in creating and shaping the identity of the German community in Berlin, Ontario in
the nineteenth century. The response of the Anglo-Canadian observers reflects the fact that although they copied nationalist celebrations in Germany, the celebrants themselves were not
1 L. J. Breithaupt Diaries, (University of Waterloo Doris Lewis Rare Book Room, Breithaupt Hewetson Clark Collection, GA24, Section 2.5.3), 2 May 1871. 2 “The German Peace Festival,” Globe (Toronto), 3 May 1871, 4; “The Press on the Festival,” (Kitchener Public Library Grace Schmidt Room, W.H.E. Schmalz Collection, MC.15.1a). 3 “The Emperor’s Birthday,” News Record (Berlin), 27 January 1911. German nationalists; it was not their intention to create a German colony on Canadian soil. I
argue that the claim to be loyal Canadians was central to how Berlin’s Germans defined
themselves. Celebrations of the German Empire were an invented tradition of Berlin’s ethnic
elite who employed them in a Canadian context, and used them to define and secure their own
place in Canada. Through these celebrations, they expressed a localized version of Canadian nationalism, one which tried to harmonize their ethnic identity with a broader Canadian national identity. In their response, the Anglo-Canadian population demonstrated that the
definition of a “proper” Canadian could be sufficiently flexible to allow these Germans a place.
Therefore, while people in both Berlin, Germany and Berlin, Ontario annually observed the
Kaiser’s birthday, proudly sang “Die Wacht am Rhein,” and planted ceremonial oak trees, it was
towards two different ends.
Peter Goheen contends that public spectacles, such as these celebrations, were invested
with symbolic significance because they served as a break from everyday routine.4 Historians studying public spectacles in the nineteenth century, argue that they were a mode of communication whereby a group expressed its identity and values to other citizens. Michael
Cottrell, for example, argues that St. Patrick’s Day parades in Toronto were used by Irish
Catholics to “publicize their distinctiveness.” They were halted in 1871 when the Irish Catholics
sought to assimilate into Canada and the parades proved to be a barrier to that.5 I argue,
4 Peter G. Goheen, “Symbols in the Streets: Parades in Victorian Urban Canada,” Urban History Review 18, no. 3 (1990): 237. 5 Susan G. Davis, Parades and Power: Street Theatre in Nineteenth Century Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986), 3; Craig Heron and Steve Penfold, “The Craftmen’s Spectacle: Labour Day Parades in Canada, The Early Years,” Histoire Sociale/Social History 58 (1996): 363; Michael Cottrell, “St. Patrick’s Day Parades in Nineteenth-Century Toronto: A Study of Immigrant Adjustment and Elite Control,” Histoire Sociale/Social History 49 (1992): 59,72-73 . 1
however, that by celebrating the German Empire, the ethnic elite were not attempting to build
walls around their community and separate themselves from the rest of Canada. Instead, these
public celebrations were what Royden Loewen and Gerald Friesen refer to as a “boundary
zone.” These were forums such as politics, the workplace, or schools where immigrants and
established Canadians encountered one another and negotiated their respective identities and
their relationship to one another.6 In the boundary zone of public spectacles, the German
community and the rest of Canada negotiated a national identity which was capable of crossing
the lines of ethnicity. By allowing, supporting, and even participating in these celebrations, the
Anglo-Canadian population showed their approval of this invented tradition and the meaning it
conveyed.
Eric Hobsbawm argues that the invention of traditions has occurred most frequently
during periods of great change or upheaval, citing 1870 to 1914 in Europe as a time when
traditions were invented “with particular assiduity.”7 In Germany, this period saw the
proliferation of traditions which aimed to assert the legitimacy of the Kleindeutsch unification,
which was dominated by Prussia and excluded Austria.8 In response to the immense
transformations occurring in Berlin, Ontario in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, in
which Berlin went from being a rural ethnic enclave to a thriving industrial town in the heart of
6 Royden Loewen and Gerald Friesen, Immigrants in Prairie Cities: Ethnic Diversity in Twentieth-Century Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 4-5. 7 Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” in The Invention of Tradition eds. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 4-5; Eric Hobsbawm, “Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870-1914,” in The Invention of Tradition eds. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 263. 8 Hobsbawm, “Mass-Producing Traditions,” 273; Abigail Green, Fatherlands: State-Building and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 313. 2
Ontario, the German community’s ethnic elite borrowed from these newly created traditions
but ascribed to them a different meaning.
The area that became Berlin was settled at the start of the nineteenth century by
German speaking Mennonites from Pennsylvania. They were followed, beginning in the 1820s,
by German immigrants from Europe. Early Berlin was not only isolated culturally and
linguistically from the rest of Anglo-Saxon Upper Canada, but geographically as well. At the
time, it was the farthest inland settlement in the province. Nearby Guelph was not founded
until 1826, more than two decades after the first Mennonites had arrived in Berlin. There were
few roads to connect Berlin to the major centres of the province, while those that did exist
were treacherous and, at times, impassable. It was even settled in advance of the government
survey, and for a long time afterwards, there remained little evidence of the authority of the
state in the village. 9
In 1852, Berlin politically outmanoeuvred the larger town of Galt to be named the seat
of the newly created Waterloo County.10 This brought with it a court house and the other
accoutrements that came with being the centre of local government, as well as a branch of the
Bank of Upper Canada and many English professionals. This brought Berlin into closer
communion with the rest of Upper Canada. Owing to this new prestige, the Grand Trunk
Railway also decided to extend its line from Toronto to Berlin.11
9 John English and Kenneth McLaughlin, Kitchener: An Illustrated History (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 1983), 20- 21; Herbert Karl Kalbfleisch, The History of the Pioneer German Language Press of Ontario, 1835-1918 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968), 24; Berlin was only given a post office and justice of the peace in 1838 after lobbying by Heinrich Wilhelm Peterson, the founder of Berlin’s first newspaper. 10 English and McLaughlin, 27-28. 11 English and McLaughlin, 32; 48. 3
This, more than anything else, helped to end Berlin’s isolation from the rest of the
province. Prior to the line’s completion, Berlin’s newspapers keenly discussed the benefits that
would accrue to the town from the opening of trade and communications with the rest of the
province.12 Once the line was opened, Berlin’s residents eagerly availed themselves of the
opportunity to visit and explore the rest of the province.13 This interest was reciprocated as newspapers such as the Toronto Globe began reporting on the satisfactory progress they witnessed in Berlin.14 Local newspapers were certain to reprint the glowing praise Berlin
received from outsiders and the Berlin Chronicle stated “whatever other advantages the railway may have conferred upon us, it has at least drawn public attention to the town, and induced strangers to come among us.”15
Facilitated by the new rail line as well as the arrival of steam power in 1846, Berlin was
also becoming a small but significant industrial centre. By the 1870s, Berlin’s 27 industrial firms
had roughly 700 employees.16 As Berlin became economically integrated with the rest of the province, its predominantly German businessmen forged connections with their largely Anglo-
Saxon counterparts in the surrounding towns and cities.17
By ending Berlin’s isolation, these transformations brought the town’s Germans into
increasing contact with the Anglo-Canadian world around them. As this German community
12 Telegraph (Berlin), 22 April 1853. 13 “Railroad Excursion,” Chronicle and Provincial Reformers’ Gazette (Berlin), 30 July 1856. 14 “Railway Excursion,” Globe (Toronto), 25 July 1856. 15 “Berlin,” Chronicle and Provincial Reformers’ Gazette (Berlin), 30 July 1856; Chronicle and Provincial Reformers’ Gazette (Berlin), 13 August 1856. 16 English and McLaughlin, 37-38. 17 In his diary, a young Louis Jacob Breithaupt, the son of a German-born tannery owner, frequently made note of his father’s business trips which took him all over Upper Canada/Ontario. Later, after the business had grown and he had taken over, Louis Jacob’s business trips would take him across Canada, the United States, and even to Europe; See, for example: L. J. Breithaupt Diaries, 23 May 1867; 23 August 1867; 2 May 1910. 4
moved from the geographic, economic, social, and administrative margins of Canada to its centre, they were forced to define their relationship to the rest of Canada. Their options were not limited to the poles of assimilation or resistance. Instead, in public celebrations, they employed two broad and often overlapping strategies to make their ethnic identity fit in with a hegemonic definition of “Canadian.” First, they tried to reconcile their “German” identity with
Canada’s own “British” identity. They did this, for example, by emphasizing the consanguinity of the British and German royal families, by depicting the Anglo-Saxons and Teutons as racial cousins, and developing an understanding of the past and present which portrayed the British and German Empires as allies, united by common goals and ideals. Additionally, they staked a claim as nation builders. At a time when the Germans in Europe were building a great nation, the Germans of Berlin, Ontario claimed that they were helping to do the same in Canada.
In his diary, Louis Jacob Breithaupt, the son of a German-born tannery owner, enthusiastically recorded the events of the Peace Festival. The day, declared a public holiday, began at 6:00am with the firing of cannons, followed by services in the German churches.
Citizens then gathered at the railway station to greet visitors from out of town and from there moved in a procession to the courthouse where an oak tree was planted and speeches were delivered. In the afternoon, they gathered at the marketplace for more speeches and amusements while the highlight of the evening was a torchlight procession from the drill shed to the courthouse for fireworks, singing, speeches, and the unveiling of a portrait of
Germania.18
18 L. J. Breithaupt Diaries, 2 May 1871. 5
Although this was ostensibly a festival for German unification, patriotic German, British,
and Canadian symbols mingled freely during the celebration. The Union Jack and the Dominion
Standard adorned the town, along with the flag of the North German Confederacy, which
became the flag of the German Empire. Furthermore, while the unveiling of Germania was
accompanied by the singing of “Die Wacht am Rhein” and “Deutschland Uber Alles,” the
proceedings closed with “God Save the Queen.”19 This comingling of German, British, and
Canadian patriotic symbols, suggestive of their compatibility, became a common feature in public spectacles in Berlin.
Historians studying public spectacles have highlighted the importance of analyzing the
spaces in which they take place. Public spaces were a contested terrain with the right to access
them for the purpose of self-representation being unevenly distributed among social groups.
Susan G. Davis contends that in nineteenth-century Philadelphia, the right to public celebration was restricted to white men. Others who sought access to public spaces for these purposes put themselves in physical or symbolic danger.20 For their Peace Festival, the Germans were granted uncontested access to Berlin’s public spaces; this right was not contested, physically or symbolically. Additionally, they were allowed to plant an oak tree, a symbol of their ethnic identity, in front of the courthouse, a local representation of the power of the state. This is
demonstrative of the negotiation which took place in this celebration and the acceptance of
ethnic Germans as Canadians.
19 “The German Peace Festival,” Globe (Toronto), 3 May 1871, 4. 20 Davis, 13, 45-46; Heron and Penfold, 364. 6
It is also important to note who led the Peace Festival and subsequent celebrations,
claiming to speak on behalf of the German community. In this boundary zone, contact between
the German community and the rest of Canada was mediated by the ethnic elite, comprised of
German industrialists, professionals, politicians, and clergymen.21 They controlled the message
of these spectacles and sought to present a respectable face for their community and suppress
any alternate visions of their community’s identity which might threaten their acceptance in
Canada. Each celebration, therefore, contained several telling silences as the ethnic elite
denied certain groups a voice or chose to speak for them.
Although Germany itself was riven by regional tensions even after unification, the Peace
Festival presented the local German community as being united in celebration. In 1870, there
had been tensions and even fistfights in Berlin, Ontario between “core” Germans and those
hailing from Alsace and Lorraine.22 Speeches and banners at the Peace Festival, however,
welcomed Alsace and Lorraine to the German Empire and discounted the possibility of any
lingering regional animosity.23
Newspapers from outside Berlin that witnessed the Peace Festival nearly universally
praised the orderly manner in which the celebration was carried out. The St. Thomas Journal
noted that “order and decorum were excellent,” while the Hamilton Times praised the “order,
fitness, and decorum so characteristic of the Teutonic race.”24 This praise contrasts with how
other ethnic celebrations, such as St. Patrick’s Day parades were viewed. They were seen as a
21 “The German Peace Festival,” Globe (Toronto), 3 May 1871, 4. 22 Barbara Lorenzkowski, Sounds of Ethnicity: Listening to German in North America, 1850-1914 (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2010), 138-139. 23 “The German Peace Festival,” Globe (Toronto), 3 May 1871, 4. 24 “The Press on the Festival,” W.H.E. Schmalz Collection, MC.15.1a. 7
potential source of anarchy and disruption.25 By maintaining an image of orderly jubilation, the
ethnic elite claimed a place as good Canadians by dissociating their celebrations from other
ethnic, particularly working class, celebrations which were regarded as a threat to social order.
The public spectacles put on by the German community of Berlin also contrasted with
those of other ethnic groups in that they actively sought the participation of people outside the
ethnic community. The Peace Festival’s organizers invited a delegation of Berlin’s English- speaking residents to address the crowd. The delegation was comprised of local professionals, including lawyer John King, the father of future Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.26
Additionally, several members of the provincial and federal legislatures were invited to speak at the occasion. By inviting representatives of the Anglo-Canadian mainstream, the ethnic elite
claimed membership in it, rather than distinctiveness from it. By agreeing to participate and by
echoing the rhetoric of the ethnic elite, the representatives of the Anglo-Canadian mainstream
signalled their acceptance of the Germans.
The speeches, both those given by the ethnic elite and Anglo Canadians, praised the
Germans for their positive qualities and the ideals they shared with the British people and
spoke of their role in constructing a great nation in Canada. After recounting the German virtues that the oak tree symbolized, school trustee Otto Klotz cautioned his fellow Germans that if they wanted to be held in a position of respect in Canada, these virtues needed to be upheld. More optimistically, Charles Magill, the M.P. for Hamilton, stated that he was glad to
see the good qualities Germans had demonstrated in the fatherland had survived the trip
25 Donald H. Avery, Reluctant Host: Canada’s Response to Immigrant Workers, 1896-1994 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Inc., 1995), 61; Cottrell, 60. 26 “German Peace Festival 1871, Address of the English Deputation to the Managing Committee,” (Kitchener Public Library Grace Schmidt Room, W.H.E. Schmalz Collection, MC.15.1a). 8
across the Atlantic, as they could be counted on to defend what was right in Canada. Both
Magill and Isaac Buchanan, former member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of
Canada for Toronto, pointed out that the British royal family was of German descent,
something which would become a common refrain in the following years.27 The address delivered by Berlin’s English-speaking population claimed that the German and British people were united in their “reverence for truth, morality, and religion, the observance of law and order, and respect for constituted authority.” The address closed, stating that together they were building a “Great Canadian Nationality,” laying “a foundation similar to that upon which now stands the powerful and united Empire of Germany.”28
The right of the German community to self-representation was not limited solely to
events that were primarily “ethnic” in nature. The ethnic community and its pride in the
German Empire infused public life in Berlin, in a process Kathleen Neils Conzen refers to as the
localization of an immigrant culture.29 The German community was prominent, for example, in
greeting distinguished visitors to Berlin, such as Canada’s Governors General. When the
Governor General, the Marquis of Lorne, visited Berlin in 1879, he agreed to the apparently
unusual request to be given two addresses of welcome, one on behalf of the town, and another
one in German on behalf of the German residents.30 This drew the ire of some of the town’s residents who felt that the English and Mennonites were underrepresented.31 The Mennonites
in particular were incensed since, despite being German speakers, they saw themselves as a
27 “The German Peace Festival,” Globe (Toronto), 3 May 1871, 4. 28 “German Peace Festival 1871, Address of the English Deputation to the Managing Committee.” 29 Kathleen Neils Conzen, “Mainstreams and Side Channels: The Localization of Immigrant Cultures,” Journal of American Ethnic History 11, no. 1 (1991): 6-7. 30 “The Governor General Heard From,” Daily News (Berlin), 9 September 1879. 31 “Not Satisfied,” Daily News (Berlin), 19 September 1879. 9
distinct group and resented being called “German.”32 In this and subsequent celebrations,
however, the Mennonites were usually subsumed, against their will, under the category of
German.33
Representing the German community, Hugo Kranz, Canada’s first German M.P., greeted
the Marquis “with old German heartiness and at the same time with that loyalty which is
peculiar to British subjects.” Speaking in both German and English, the Marquis praised the
town’s German residents for being loyal subjects of the Queen while remaining good Germans.
Here in Berlin, he claimed, the virtues of the Anglo-Saxon and German races worked together to
bring prosperity. In closing, he promised to inform the German royal family of how happy and
prosperous their fellow countrymen were in Canada.34
In Germany, several nationalist traditions focused on the figure of the Kaiser. They attempted, unsuccessfully, to exalt Wilhelm I as Germany’s “founding father.”35 This Kaiser cult was replicated in Berlin, Ontario, albeit in a Canadian context. Berlin’s Germans began
celebrating the Kaiser’s birthday as early as the 1880s, and continued to do so until halted by
the First World War.36 The German community did not seek to claim a public space for this
annual celebration but rather held it on the premises of the local German club. This was not,
32 “Who are Dutch?” Daily News (Berlin), 13 November 1879. 33 In a reception for Prime Minister John Thompson, for example, Lutheran Reverend von Pirch claimed that Berlin was founded by German pioneers; “The Berlin Addresses Delivered in the Rink,” Daily Record (Berlin), 27 September 1893, 2. 34 “A Living Princess in Berlin,” Daily News (Berlin), 17 September 1879. 35 Hobsbawm, “Mass-Producing Traditions,” 263-264; 277. 36 L. J. Breithaupt diaries, 28 January 1889. 10
however, an insular, ethnic celebration: every year the Kaiser’s birthday was an “open evening” and much like at the Peace Festival, non-Germans were invited to observe and participate.37
The proceedings typically began with a toast to the British monarch and the signing of
the British national anthem, followed by toasts and songs in honour of the Kaiser. Appraising the 1911 celebration, the News Record reported that the hearty three cheers for King George
left no doubt regarding the loyalties of the town’s Germans. At that same celebration, Mayor
W. H. Schmalz dismissed any talk of war between Britain and Germany as the work of
“sensationalist newspapers.”38 In the final celebration before the war, Mayor W. D. Euler and
C. H. Mills, M.P.P. for the riding, praised the Germans for what they had done to contribute to
the city’s growth. Seemingly oblivious to the situation in Europe, speakers commented on the
cordial relations that existed between Britain and Germany, while Louis Jacob Breithaupt
lauded the Kaiser as an agent of peace.39
As is evident from the celebrations of the Kaiser’s birthday, maintaining the apparent
compatibility of being good Germans and also loyal British subjects required a disavowal of the
growing tensions between the British and German Empires. The German community, however,
was not naively unaware of events in Europe. Even if they did not read the English-language newspapers, the local German-language press kept them well-informed. In 1909, Berliner
Journal hinted at the possibility of war in Europe in its regularly featured satirical column
written by the fictional character Joe Klotzkopp. Joe relayed the story of his friend Groundhog
George who had returned to the fatherland to visit with his old friend, the Kaiser. While at
37 “The Emperor’s Birthday,” News Record (Berlin), 27 January 1911. 38 “Celebrated Birthday,” News Record (Berlin), 28 January 1909, 1; “The Emperor’s Birthday,” News Record (Berlin), 27 January 1911. 39 “The Kaiser’s 55th Birthday,” News Record (Berlin), 28 January 1914, 1. 11
dinner with the Kaiser, George saw the British ambassador and the German chancellor sitting
across from one another, and observed, “The two were quite friendly to each other over the
table, but, I noticed that they were continually kicking each other’s shins under the table. The
emperor noticed it too, but he pretended not to see it, so that no war should break out
between Germany and Great Britain.”40 Much like the Kaiser in this humorous anecdote, in
their public celebrations, Berlin’s Germans chose to ignore the ominous war clouds on the horizon.
A rally held by William Lyon Mackenzie King in Victoria Park earlier in 1909 stands as one
of the few times the hostility between Germany and Britain was acknowledged in a public
celebration in Berlin. He called on the two Empires to cease their talk of war, look to Waterloo
County and be reminded of the racial and familial ties that bound them and the prosperity that
came from a union of the English and German peoples.41 The recognition of the friction
between the motherland and fatherland in this instance, however, was not intended to jeopardize the place of Berlin’s Germans as good Canadians. In fact, it was meant to strengthen it.
Thomas Lekan argues that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, German
immigrants in the United States frequently sought to recreate their Heimat, or local homeland,
in the New World.42 Berlin’s Germans did this, quite literally, in 1894 by building a German
village in the town skating rink. This village was the setting for a Kirmes, or traditional German
40 “The Letters of Joe Klotzkopp, Esq.,” trans. H. K. Kalbfleisch (University of Waterloo Doris Lewis Rare Book Room, H0748), 8 October 1909. 41 “A Message of Peace from Waterloo County for the Entire World,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 12 July 1909, 1-4. 42 Thomas Lekan, “German Landscape: Local Promotion of the Heimat Abroad,” in The Heimat Abroad: The Boundaries of Germanness eds. Krista O’Donnell, Renate Bridenthal, and Nancy Reagin (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), 141-143. 12
village fair, held as a fundraiser for St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. This “typical” German village
contained a kaffee garten, candy booth, spinning room, court house, and town hall, while the
men and women who staffed these booths were dressed in folk costumes.43 Alon Confino
argues that promotion of the Heimat idea through means such as Heimat museums, where the
local became a representation of the nation, was more successful in uniting Germans in an
imagined community than traditions that made reference to the Prussian-dominated Empire.44
The presence of German flags and portraits of Kaiser Wilhelm I in the Kirmes village, as well as
the performance of military drills led by former soldiers in the imperial army, however, blended
these two traditions into one.45
Although the Kirmes organizers maintained that their village and fair were “authentic,”
they contained several incongruent elements which belied this claim and demonstrated their
vision of what it meant to be a German in Canada. The folk costumes worn by the Kirmes’
participants were intentionally drawn from several of the regions of Germany, condensing the
entire nation into a single village.46 As at the Peace Festival, this portrayed Berlin’s German
community as unified and free from a divisive provincial mindset. Furthermore, in describing
this “German” village, the Berlin Daily Record observed that Canadian bunting hung over many
of the booths. Additionally, the German flag that flew above the court house, which dominated
43 “The Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 13 October 1894, 1, 2; “Kirmes Program, October 11-13, 1894,” (Kitchener Public Library Grace Schmidt Room, Waterloo Historical Society Collection), 8-12. 44 Alon Confino, The Nation as Local Metaphor: Württemberg, Imperial Germany, and the National Memory, 1871- 1918 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 98. 45 “The Kirmes Grenadiers,” Daily Record (Berlin), 1 October 1894, 1; “The Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 13 October 1894, 1, 2. 46 “The Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 13 October 1894, 1, 2. 13
one end of the village, was accompanied by a Canadian flag.47 Finally, while Captain August
Schmidt and Messrs. Krohn and Gebhardt who led the youthful “grenadiers” in drill were
identified as former soldiers of the German army, the flag they paraded under on this occasion
was Canadian.48
The Kirmes was not only meant to attract German visitors who would be reminded of
their childhood days in the fatherland, but also served to advertise this community to non-
Germans. The prominent place given to advertisements in the program, which was printed in
German and English, shows that the Kirmes was also meant to promote Berlin’s businesses,
many of which were German owned. Prior to the event, organizers sent out invitations to
prominent men across the country.49 Although most were unable to attend, many made financial contributions, including the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Airey Kirkpatrick; George
E. Foster, the Canadian minister of finance; the minister of the interior, Thomas Daly; the
Premier of Ontario, Sir Oliver Mowat; and the minister of education, George Ross.50
The guest of honour for the opening evening was O. A. Howland, M.P.P. for Toronto
South. He was introduced by former Mayor Dr. H. G. Lackner, who expressed that although
Howland would likely be more familiar with haggis than sauerkraut, he hoped that the experience would help their guest gain an appreciation for all things German. Howland greeted the assembled crowd in German, but then apologetically reverted back to English. He was effusive in his praise for Berlin’s Germans, stating “the spirit that animates you flows from a loyal Canadian fountain, it is good to know, even if it comes from a German source.” Berlin’s
47 “The Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 13 October 1894, 1, 2. 48 “Kirmes Program, October 11-13, 1894,” 16; “The Kirmes Grenadiers,” Daily Record (Berlin), 1 October 1894, 1. 49 “A Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 1 October 1894, 2. 50 “Kirmes Program, October 11-13, 1894,” 14. 14
residents had “German blood in Canadian veins.” He said the reverence Canada’s English
citizens had for their motherland as well as the German fatherland was natural “since the two
great nations spring from a common origin.” Howland then closed his address with a few
choice quotes from Goethe.51 Attracting an estimated crowd of 3,000 on this first day, the
Kirmes proved so successful that another one was held two years later. It was much the same
as before, however, this time organizers billed it as a “great German-Canadian celebration.”52
The Canadian variation on the Kaiser cult in Berlin reached its zenith in 1897. That year,
Berlin hosted a Saengerfest or German song festival.53 As part of the festivities, the organizers
decided to erect a bust of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Berlin’s Victoria Park to commemorate the Peace
Festival of 1871.54 This park, officially opened in 1896 and named in honour of the Queen, was
a focal point of public life in Berlin. It was a place for casual recreation but also played host to
sporting events, political rallies, and Dominion and Empire Day festivities. Perhaps because a
celebration is ephemeral, while a bronze statue is much more permanent, the right of Berlin’s
Germans to access this public space was not as readily conceded as before.
Prior to the unveiling, the Berlin Daily Telegraph published an editorial which accused
Berlin’s Germans of disloyalty. The town’s other English-language daily, the Berlin News
Record, rushed to the defence of the German community. Calling the editor of the Daily
Telegraph “more British than John Bull,” the News Record stated that the German community had never committed a disloyal act. The editorial pointed out that when they decided to erect
51 “The Kirmes,” Daily Record (Berlin), 12 October 1894, 1, 2. 52 “Kirmes Program, October 1-3, 1896,” (Kitchener Public Library Grace Schmidt Room, Waterloo Historical Society Collection), 10. 53 These festivals drew participants from across the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. Between 1874 and 1912 Waterloo County held eight Saengerfeste; Lorenzkowski, 149. 54 “The Unveiling,” News Record (Berlin), 13 August 1897, 2. 15
a memorial, they first sought permission from the proper authorities. Demonstrating this
approval, Prime Minister Laurier had even allowed the bust into the country duty free.
Furthermore, the man who the bust depicted was an ally of Britain and was “beloved at home
and respected abroad.” Germans therefore had a right to be proud of the great German
Empire, “even if he has chosen to become a Canadian citizen.” Finally, at the time, Canada’s greatest need was people, and Berlin’s prosperity showed that the Germans were among the most desirable people this young country could seek out.55 The German community responded
by thanking the News Record “for having defined their position with regard to their citizenship
and their motive in erecting the Peace Memorial.” Seeing that its initial view was not widely
accepted, a chastened Daily Telegraph conceded that 999 of every 1,000 Germans were loyal
and it should not have attacked them indiscriminately.56
The Daily Telegraph, however, may have been somewhat justified in their initial
objection. Karl Müller, one of driving forces behind the erection of the monument, was an
ardent German nationalist. Müller moved to Canada in 1872 however he never felt at home and took frequent trips back to Germany, eventually returning permanently. He did not socialize with Anglo-Canadians and viewed every aspect of Canadian society as inferior when compared to Germany. He was even disparaging in his views of Berlin’s German community.57
Müller was one of a small number of militant German nationalists in Berlin. In the late
nineteenth century, two aggressively nationalistic German newspapers, the Freie Presse and
the Deutsche Zeitung, were founded in Berlin. Both quickly folded after failing to attract a
55 “The Loyalty of our German Citizens,” News Record (Berlin), 31 July 1897, 2. 56 “A Jingo,” News Record (Berlin), 3 August 1897, 2. 57 Lorenzkowski, 167-168. 16
sufficient readership, suggesting that few of Berlin’s citizens subscribed to their viewpoint.58 In public celebrations, the voice of this small group was muted by the majority who claimed fealty to Canada and the British Empire.
Much like for the Peace Festival it commemorated, for the unveiling of the Kaiser’s bust,
Berlin was decorated with British and German flags and colours.59 In a moment symbolic of the place Berlin’s Germans claimed for themselves in Canada, the unveiling ceremony commenced with the singing of the song “Heil Die Mein Vaterland,” which was played to the tune of “God
Save the Queen.” Speeches, delivered in both German and English, all proclaimed that although the Germans revered their fatherland, they were still loyal Canadians. John Motz, president of the monument committee and editor of the Berliner Journal, even went so far as to claim that maintaining the traditions of the land of one’s forefathers was a prerequisite for being a good Canadian citizen. Motz described what the Kaiser had done to make Germany great and reflected upon what Germans had done and were doing to develop Canada into a great nation. Mayor John Christian Breithaupt, the younger brother of Louis Jacob Breithaupt, stated that Canada was a young nation and as such there was much that it could learn from
Germany. Louis Jacob, the final speaker, called for another monument to be erected, one to
Queen Victoria, so that Berlin would have monuments to “the two greatest personages and
Sovereigns of the nineteenth century.”60
58 Kalbfleisch, 80-81; 86-87. 59 “The Singing Societies are with us,” News Record (Berlin), 12 August 1897, 1; “The Concert and Ball” News Record (Berlin), 13 August 1897, 2. 60 “The Big Sangerfest,” Globe (Toronto), 14 August 1897, 13, 15; “The Unveiling,” News Record (Berlin), 13 August 1897, 2. 17
Despite being one of the principal organizers, Müller did not speak at the event. His
contribution to the celebration was the German flag he had ordered to fly next to the statue.
Although by law it had to hang below the British flag, it dwarfed the British flag in size.61 This
message of German superiority over, rather than partnership with, Britain and Canada which he
sought to impart, was drowned out by the prevailing message of loyalty imparted by the ethnic
elite.
In 1905, when Berlin’s town clerk discovered that Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was in Toronto at the time visiting the National Exhibition, came from the Hesse region of Germany like many of Berlin’s residents, the town jumped to invite him to visit.62 He seemed to personify the identity that Berlin’s Germans claimed. Descended from German nobility, he had married Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, become a naturalized British subject, and then an admiral in the British Navy. Amazingly, the Prince accepted the invitation to visit this town of barely 10,000, requesting only, “a good German meal with beer instead of champagne.”63
During his visit, the Prince was taken on a tour of the town which included an obligatory visit to
the Kaiser monument to which he, “reverently doffed his hat.” Speaking in German, he remarked that he was pleased to be amongst his former countrymen who, though loyal British
subjects, still revered their native land.64
After years of fundraising by the local chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the
Empire, in 1911, Berlin finally erected the monument to Queen Victoria that Louis Jacob
61 Lorenzkowski, 172. 62 “Prince Louis of Battenberg,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 23 August 1905, 1. 63 “Prince Louis of Battenberg,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 29 August 1905, 1. 64 “Prince Louis’ Visit to Berlin,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 31 August 1905, 1. 18
Breithaupt had called for in 1897.65 The Governor General, Earl Grey, was on hand for the
unveiling. After being welcomed by Mayor W. H. Schmalz to “the centre of the German
population of the Dominion,” the Governor General complimented the town on its prosperity
which he commented “was only natural to expect from a German community.”66 The speeches
at the unveiling ceremony centred on the apparent unity of the British and German people,
exemplified by the bonds between their royal families. Dr. Lackner, at that time M.P.P. for
Waterloo North, stated that it was fitting to erect this statue of the Queen only a few feet away from the bust of the Kaiser since his grandson was the guest of honour at the recent unveiling of a statue of the Queen in front of Buckingham Palace. The Governor General responded that the presence of the Kaiser in England for that occasion demonstrated “the strength and community of ideals which bind together the whole Anglo-Teuton race.” William Lyon
Mackenzie King, meanwhile, claimed that Berlin and Waterloo County showed the industry and
prosperity resulting from the union of the German and British peoples.67
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, “Busy Berlin” was well known for its booming industries as well as its sizeable German community. They were the source of
Berlin’s prosperity and were regarded as the town’s contribution to Canada’s greater prosperity. The annual Board of Trade banquets were an opportunity for Berlin’s leading citizens to gather and congratulate themselves and be congratulated by visiting luminaries for
their town’s thriving industries. They also provided an opportunity to expound upon what the
65 rych mills, Victoria Park: 100 Years of a Park and Its People (Kitchener: Twin City Dwyer Publishing Co. Ltd., 1996), 24-25. 66 “Berlin Welcomes His Excellency Earl Grey,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 29 May 1911, 1; “Vice-Royalty Loyally Received by the Citizens of Berlin,” News Record (Berlin), 29 May 1911, 1. 67 “Eloquent and Patriotic Addresses Delivered at the Unveiling Ceremony,” Daily Telegraph (Berlin), 30 May 1911, 1; “Earl Grey Delivers Eloquent Address at Unveiling Yesterday,” News Record (Berlin), 30 May 1911, 1. 19
German population had done to foster this prosperity. At the 1899 banquet, calling Berlin the
banner town in the banner county, Louis Jacob Breithaupt praised the town’s thriving factories
and its industrious, law abiding people. Inferring a correlation between the two, he proudly
declared that it was also the only place in North America that had a monument to the German
Kaiser. A visiting speaker praised Berlin and the British Empire and looked forward to the day
when the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic races would join together and lead civilization, unlike the
French and Italians who had supposedly turned their backs on God.68 At the banquet the
following year, the message of the previous year was reiterated and made more explicit by the
German and British flags which adorned the hall. In the final address, the President of the
Guelph Board of Trade, E. R. Bollert, praised the German residents for their industry, sobriety,
and honesty.69 Similarly, at the 1909 banquet, provincial cabinet minister W. J. Hanna stated
that Berlin owed its prosperity to the character of its people rather than any natural
advantages.70
Berlin’s flourishing factories and its German community were foregrounded in the
celebration that accompanied the attainment of cityhood in 1912. At midnight on June 10,
when Berlin was officially declared a city, the band played “God Save the King,” and “Die Wacht
am Rhein,” which had become standard selections to mark festive occasions, as well as “O
Canada,” and “The Maple Leaf.”71 The city was congratulated by King George, and Mayor W. H.
Schmalz also sent a message to the German Empress to notify her of the Canadian Berlin’s
68 “A More Illustrious Banquet Than Has Ever Been Held,” News Record (Berlin), 15 February 1899, 1, 3, 4. 69 “Civic Ownership, Railway Facilities, Imperial Trade and National Defence. Topics Discussed at Board of Trade Meeting,” News Record (Berlin), 17 February 1900, 1, 4. 70 “Hanna Tells Business Men to Stick to ‘Made in Berlin’ Slogan,” News Record (Berlin), 20 May 1909, 1. 71 “Busy Berlin is Now a City,” News Record (Berlin), 10 June 1912, 1, 2. 20
proud accomplishment.72 At the formal celebration the following month, Dr. Lackner stated that Berlin’s thriving industries were only natural since it had been settled by German artisans.
He boasted that seventy five percent of Berlin’s manufacturers were of German descent.73 This
idea that Berlin had flourished because of the thrift and industry of its German citizens rather
than any natural advantages, was repeatedly stressed in speeches, editorials, and
congratulations sent to Berlin from politicians and newspapers across Canada.74
While celebrations frequently discussed the many virtues of the German workers in
Berlin’s factories, the workers themselves were denied a voice. Thanks partly to the example of
the United States, immigrant workers in Canada were commonly associated with socialism and
labour strife. The neighbourhoods that immigrant workers lived in were also seen as hotbeds
of vice, crime, and social unrest.75 Berlin’s ethnic elite, however, sought to cultivate an image
of the German workers as being hard working, compliant, and respectable. A booklet
commemorating Berlin’s attainment of cityhood begins with a poem dedicated to Berlin’s
workers. An ode to an obedient worker, it declares, “Man grows beneath his burdens, beneath
the chain he wears; and still the toiler’s guerdon is worth the pain he bears. For there’s no
satisfaction beneath the bending sky like that the man of action enjoys when the night is
nigh.”76 Berlin’s leaders also boasted that seventy percent of the city’s residents owned their
homes. Its neighbourhoods, therefore, were not filled with radicals and delinquents, but
72 “His Majesty Cables Congratulations,” News Record (Berlin), 17 July 1912, 1. 73 “Cityhood Day Was a Big Success,” News Record (Berlin), 18 July 1912, 1, 4. 74 “Good Wishes Sent Berlin Upon Its Entrance into the Dignity of Cityhood,” in Berlin: Celebration of Cityhood, 1912 (Berlin: The German Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., 1912); “The City of Berlin,” News Record (Berlin), 10 June 1912, 4. 75 Avery, 61. 76 “A Page Dedicated to Our Workmen in One Hundred and Twenty Factories,” Berlin: Celebration of Cityhood. 21
respectable homeowners. This was, of course, attributed to the frugal, enterprising Germans
whose inborn desire was to become freeholders.77
In May of 1914, Berlin once again played host to Canada’s Governor General. In his
address, Mayor W. D. Euler mentioned the city’s prominent German heritage and claimed that in Berlin, citizens of all races lived together in harmony as Canadians and British subjects. While alluding to the familial ties between the German and British royal families, the Governor
General praised the qualities of the Teutonic race, loyalty in particular, which made them good
Canadians and British subjects.78 These sentiments, which had become so commonplace in
Berlin since the Peace Festival of 1871 would, in a few short months, become untenable.
The First World War terminated this version of Canadian nationalism, which looked to
the German Empire to furnish its traditions. During the war, its two most prominent symbols,
the Kaiser’s bust and the name of the city itself, were destroyed: the former by vandals and the
latter by a contentious, controversial vote. William Henry Breithaupt, of the ubiquitous
Breithaupt family, tried to salvage the connection to Germany by locating it in the more distant past. In a letter to the editor of the Berlin News Record opposing the proposed name change of
the city, he argued that Berlin, Ontario was not named for the capital of the German Empire
because there was no German Empire at that time. He reminded readers that when Berlin,
Ontario was christened, its namesake was recovering from the Napoleonic wars in which its
residents had fought alongside the British.79 The following week, the News Record printed a
77 “A Tribute to the Pioneers of 1799,” Berlin: Celebration of Cityhood; “Berlin’s Advantages,” Berlin: Celebration of Cityhood. 78 “His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught, and Her Royal Highness, Princess Patricia, Pay Visit to City,” News Record (Berlin), 9 May 1914, 1. 79 William Henry Beithaupt, “The Proposed Change of the City’s Name,” News Record (Berlin), 26 February 1916, 6. 22
response to Breithaupt’s letter which rejected the connection he tried to establish. The author
maintained that it did not matter that there was no German Empire when Berlin, Ontario was
named. Berlin was still the capital of Prussia “whence have emanated the most diabolical
crimes and atrocities that have marred the pages of history.” In a repudiation of their role as
nation builders, the author stated that Berlin’s prosperity had little to do with the qualities of its
German residents. They had the simple fortune of settling in the right place at the right time.80
The war, however, did not abolish the German community and force them to assimilate
into an Anglo-Canadian milieu. The turmoil of the war forced the ethnic elite to invent new
traditions to assert their loyal place in Canada. In an ironic twist, they turned to the
Mennonites, one of the groups that had hitherto been denied a voice in public celebrations.
Many of those who promoted this more tolerable identity for the German community were the same ones who had previously reveled in the connection to Germany. The leading figure in advocating for the erection of a pioneer memorial to celebrate the original Pennsylvania
Mennonite settlers was William Henry Breithaupt who had so recently defiantly declared that he was “not ashamed” to be German.81 Therefore, rather than surrendering the spotlight to the
Mennonites, the German ethnic elite co-opted the city’s Mennonite heritage.
In Nationalism from the Margins, Patricia Wood argues that Italian immigrants in
western Canada articulated a version of Canadian nationalism that challenged the hegemonic
80 W.G. Cleghorn, “Recruiting Committee Responds to Mr. Breithaupt’s Letter,” News Record (Berlin), 1 March 1916, 4. 81 Geoffrey Hayes, “From Berlin to the Trek of the Conestoga: A Revisionist Approach to Waterloo County’s German Identity,” Ontario History 91, no. 2 (1999): 136-137. 23
nationalism and better represented their own unique experience.82 Conversely, the version of
Canadian nationalism expressed by the German community of Berlin, Ontario was not articulated in opposition to the mainstream of Canadian nationalism, but rather sought to divert its flow just enough that it enveloped them. Even though they formulated a more inclusive national identity, one which was able to cross the lines of ethnicity, there were still groups that were excluded. For Mennonites or anti-Prussians who held no particular reverence for the German Empire as well as workers who wanted to challenge their subordinate position, this version of Canadian nationalism offered little.
82 Patricia K. Wood, Nationalism from the Margins: Italians in Alberta and British Columbia (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002), xv.
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