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Max Siegling

16.05.2011

Professor Kasinitz

Germans in : From the Revolutions of 1848 to World War I

The experience of German immigrants in New York City in the 1800s was one of fruitful struggle, from the coalescing of a German American community after the revolutions of 1848 brought many Germans into New York, to the height of German American culture pre-World War I, with its abundance of theater troupes, opera companies, cultural societies, and journals. It was at this very height, when had moved upward socially and economically in American society, that anti-German sentiment in WWI led to the complete assimilation of an ethnic group which had earlier maintained a high ethnic presence. This high ethnic presence was enabled by the creation of a German American culture – not fully German anymore, but neither completely American – with cultural products – art, music, journals – that depicted the German American experience in New York.

This German American experience was marked by a longing for the homeland, regional disunity and mixing, class conflict, and an integration into and ascent in American society.

These cultural products were split between a “high” and “low” culture (in terms of upper and lower classes); where the high culture sought to promote German art of the homeland, particularly Wagner, the low culture, often through humor – only sometimes sardonic – sought to express the experience of Germans in New York with new art, art made by and for

Germans in New York.

There was always a German presence in New York, but it was only after the failed revolutions of 1848 in that the German community really began to coalesce in New

York, into a neighborhood known as Klein Deutschland (Little Germany – now the East 2

Village and parts of the Lower East Side). The character of this particular group of immigrants, the ‘48ers, came to dominate the German American community, how that community was divided, and how German American culture was expressed. Prior to their immigration, much of German culture in New York was dispersed or sporadically expressed.

The immigrants who came before the ‘48ers were generally peasants, small proprietors, spinners and handloom weavers, skilled shoemakers and furniture makers, and a few merchants and manufacturers, according to Edwin Burrows, author of Gotham: A History of

New York to 1898 (Burrows 735). What the revolutions of 1848 brought to New York were craft workers, small shopkeepers and intellectuals, most importantly “all of whom had backed a program of radical social and economic change: universal suffrage, socialized workshops, a minimum wage, a ten-hour day” (Burrows 736). The ‘48ers came to America with a particular vision, purpose and solidarity; they were republicans (as opposed to monarchists) through and through, expected to find in the a society akin to their vision, and had the cohesion and education in order to advocate that vision when it didn’t match. A group of radicals departing Baden for New York said: “Since Capital so commands

Labor in the Fatherland... [we will go] where the reverse relationship prevails” (Burrows

736). Once the ‘48ers saw the reality of industrialization in the United States, they took action.

It was through the establishment of an immigrant neighborhood, Klein Deutschland, and the creation of institutions necessary for that community, that a recognizably German

American culture and the art that expressed it were created. The ‘48ers were an integral part in the formation of this community, through journals and the stage. They came with a history of political advocacy, and immediately as they settled in New York, they began publishing journals. Between 1850 and 1852 alone, twenty-eight appeared, including the New Yorker 3

Staats-Zeitung, both the most famous German American paper published and the most representative of the ‘48ers. The Staats-Zeitung was founded by Oswald Ottendorfer, who had fought on the barricades of in 1848, and exhibited the republican liberal sentiment characteristic of the ‘48ers for part of its publication (Burrows 739). The influence of these papers on the German American community and how important they became to the culture of German Americans is shown by the sheer number of papers published and their circulation: by 1860, the Staats-Zeitung had the largest circulation of any German paper in the world (Burrows 739) and eventually it became the third largest daily in the city ("New

Yorker Staats-Zeitung"). The papers made use of their large circulation in order to promote a sense of German community, as John Koegel, author of Music in German Immigrant

Theater: New York City, writes: “The very active German-language press – one of the principal institutional voices of the German American community – regularly reviewed and supported their [amateur dramatic societies] activities to encourage ethnic solidarity and cultural literacy” (Koegel 4). The German-language press was an integral part of German

American art, by enabling it and spreading it through the German American community.

The first amateur dramatics societies began performing German plays in New York in the late 1830s, but by the 1850s, after the immigration of the ‘48ers, the German American theater had assumed a professional character – helped by the German-language press, and by extension, the ‘48ers (Koegel 4). Indeed, many of the leading actors on Klein Deutschland’s stage were ‘48ers who were forced out of Germany by the revolution (Koegel 19). The

German American theater was also helped by establishments that catered to German

Americans; the confluence of the active press and fora in which to experiment and perform brought professionalism to the German American theater, and made it the most important expression of the German American experience. As Koegel writes: “In the period between 4

1840 and 1854, German performances [of German-language musical plays] were given somewhat sporadically, mostly by peripatetic amateur and semi-professional troupes and actors, who appeared in beer gardens and social halls, theater, and outdoor summer gardens throughout lower Manhattan” (Koegel 20). One of the first establishments that catered to

German Americans through theater and performance was Valentin Mager’s Conzert-Halle at

101-105 Elizabeth Street. It contained “a saloon, restaurant, performance space with a large stage, meeting rooms, and probably an outdoor garden” (Koegel 27). In Mager’s Conzert-

Halle one can see, on a miniaturized scale, the general forms that the expression of German

American culture took: through societies (meeting rooms, outdoor garden), lower class drinking and camaraderie (saloon), and theater and opera (performance space). Mager’s

Conzert-Halle “regularly featured theatrical performances as well as a convivial atmosphere where the consumption of beer, wine, and food was encouraged” (Koegel 27).

As German American theater grew more professional and widely known, Adolf

Philipp (1864-1936), playwright and composer, became its dominant voice. By looking at his works of musical theater, the breadth of the German American experience is seen, as well as the form that expression took: the longing for the homeland, feelings of class inequality and struggle, regional pride and regionalism, and a sense of possibility, of upward mobility made possible in the United States. When Philipp opened his own theater in the 1890s, the

Germania, he intended it to be a Volkstheater (folk or people’s theater), and also originally intended to perform mainly works by European authors (Koegel 202). However, the fantastic success of his Der Corner Grocer aus der Avenue A (1893) led his own works to dominate the stage. The German Americans wanted to see their own experience depicted and expressed, and Philipp became their voice. 5

Adolf Philipp was able to express the feeling of Sehnsucht, a kind of longing for the homeland, that many German immigrants to the United States felt. In fact, an entire form of

German American art developed around the concept of Sehnsucht: Heimatkunst (homeland art). Heimat (homeland) has a particular historical meaning, beyond that of the English word homeland; the idea of Heimat pits country against city, and was an advocation of provincial or rural life – a “fixed, familiar, rooted identity against cosmopolitanism” (Koegel 238). It provided a sense of identity for German immigrants to the United States, and helped promote unity among the disparate, regionalized German immigrants. Philipp represented Heimat with his musical theater numerous times, and poignantly in his Heimathlied (homeland song) from

Der Corner Grocer aus der Avenue A:

“Hein Snut: Heimathlied”

Wenn wir auch von der Heimath fern, Even though we’re far from the homeland gedenken ihrer wir doch gern, We remember it with fondness, wo uns’re Kindheit ist entfloh’n Where we spent our youth, wenn es auch oft recht lange schon. Even if it was long ago.

Wir denken traulich und allein Cozy and alone, we wonder wie mag’s wohl in der Heimath sein, How it is in the homeland, und schauen oft auf’s Meer hinaus And look often out to the sea und denken sinnend an das Vaterhaus. And think pensively of the family home.

Wenn die Woge rauscht uns’re Füsse küsst, When the waves lap up and kiss our feet, wenn das Schiff unsern Blicken entschwunden ist, When the ship sails out of sight, das zurück dann fährt nach dem theuern Strand. Headed back to those beloved shores. Dann wünschen wir wären im Heimathland. Then we wish we were in the homeland.

Doch das Schicksal treibt uns fort und fort. But fate drives us ever farther away. Heut’ sind wir hier und morgen fort. Today we are here, and tomorrow away. Doch trotz aller Klagen, Sorgen, und Müh,’ But in spite of all the complaints, sorrows, and toil, meine Heimath vergesse ich nie. I’ll never forget my homeland.

Wie fällt uns oft der Abschied schwer, How difficult parting is for us, wenn fort wir ziehen übers Meer. When we travel overseas. Der Mutter Weinen Tag und Nacht A mother’s weeping day and night oft den Entschluss noch wankend macht. Often weakens our resolve.

Die Ahnung durch die Seele zieht A foreboding creeps through her soul dass sie den Sohn nie wieder sieht. That she will never see her son again. Und mehr wie oft schon ward es klar And more often than not it turned out das wohl der Mutter Ahnen richtig war. That a mother’s premonition came true.

(Koegel 239) 6

The Heimathlied expresses the nostalgic feeling of many German immigrants, as well as the pain of separation from families and past ties. The common feeling of Sehnsucht among

German immigrants, their common condition and hardship, helped to unite an otherwise disparate people. After all, many German immigrants did not think of themselves as

“German”; they were Bavarians, Prussians, Swabians, etc. Burrows writes: “Quite apart from the admixture of Irish, English, and older American residents, the ‘German’ residents in fact hailed from very different cultural and linguistic regions. ‘Germany,’ after all, was a patchwork of thirty states” (Burrows 745). Philipp often used ‘wir’ (we) in his works, stressing group identity, such as “we Germans ‘think, do, feel, are thought of’ (Koegel 209).

Heimathlied shows this: “we remember it with fondness … we wish we were in the homeland.”

Philipp understood the regionalism of German immigrants, and sought to express the disunity this caused, as well as illuminate a kind of common ground, which was the commonality of their experience in New York. He often used humor and parody of regionalism, through characters overly proud of their region and making fun of dialects and speech, combined with an emphasis on the unity of the Germans. He used multiple dialects and modes of speech, as well as mixed ‘Germerican’ words His audiences embraced this humor and self-parody in his works, and this helped to bring the disparate German immigrants together as German Americans (Koegel 238). In Der New Yorker Brauer und

Seine Familie (The New York Brewer and His Family, 1894), Philipp parodies the regionalism of German immigrants and makes light of the sense of longing he often incorporated into his work; he commonly juxtaposed humor with serious emotional feeling.

Louis Strumkohl, the main character of Der New Yorker Brauer, is a cynical Berliner who has 7 come to America to show what needs to be done, which can be seen in his song, ‘Also, da sind wir ja, hier in Amerika!’:

“Louis Strumkohl: ‘Also, da sind wir ja, hier in Amerika!’”

Also, da sind wir ja, So, here we are, hier in Amerika! In America! Hab’ anders vorgestellt, We imagined it differently, wir diese neue Welt. This new world. Ach, Jotte, doch wie jrün Oh, God, how green is datt doch in Berlin, It is in Berlin, hier sind sie weit, weit zurück, Here they are far, far behind, es ist ein Glück! It’s good fortune!

Dass ich kam nach dem freien Land, That I came to this free country, obgleich man nicht nach mir gesandt! Although one didn’t send for me! So will ich ihnen zeigen doch And so, I really want to show them das Manches der Verbesserung noch That there is much here im hohen Grad bedürftig sehr. In high need of improvement. D’rumm kommt der Louis Strumkohl her! And that’s why Louis Strumkohl has come! Zeigt ihnen was ‘ne Harke is, We’ll show you what’s what, wir Berliner, wir Berliner, wir Berliner. We Berliners, we Berliners, we Berliners. Wir stehen für den Ritz. We’ll wait for the Ritz. Ach! und wie grässlich ist es uff der See! Oh, and how dreadful it is at sea!”

(Koegel 230)

German American audiences appreciated the humor that Philipp put into his musical theater; no region or dialect was safe from parody, and this helped to make light of what otherwise might be significant problems with integration caused by regional differences.

However, Philipp’s musical theater was not an expression of every German

American’s experience of New York, and this is particularly evident in his depiction of class.

The German American community was divided by class, both economically and culturally.

Philipp represented the sentiment of the lower classes, who sought a particularly German

American culture – a culture that was bilingual and combined aspects of German and

American culture. In theater, this meant a stage that “emulated that in German-speaking

Europe while seeking to represent and interpret the German American immigrant experience, and by sometimes following theatrical trends prevalent on the American stage” (Koegel 4).

On the other hand, the upper class German Americans wished to retain a more pure German culture. As Philipp was representative of lower class German Americans, Adolf Neuendorff 8

(1843-1897), composer and theater manager, was respectively representative of upper class

German Americans. As Koegel writes, “whereas Neuendorff sought to foster high art (he was an early champion of Wagner’s operas), Philipp’s main goal was to create up-to-date popular musical theater” (Koegel 5). Neuendorff was also involved with the Staats-Zeitung, serving at times as a correspondent. While originally papers like the Staats-Zeitung were part of a radical German American republican sentiment, they eventually became bulwarks of the more conservative German American elite; this shows the divide that eventually came to the

German American community, and how the upper and lower strata of the German American community came to separately express their experience of New York. The Staats-Zeitung’s review of Philipp’s Der Corner Grocer is particularly representative: “The Staats-Zeitung criticized Philipp for not creating a coherent plot and for pandering to the working-class (the upper balcony) and Low German-speaking elements of his audience … It also criticized

Philipp for taking aim at the German American elite... The Staats-Zeitung’s main readership was the same audience lampooned by Philipp and it often viewed his works with suspicion” (Koegel 217-219).

Generally, though, Philipp is more representative of the German American experience, for the elites were a small minority. He made reference to inequality and the need for social reform – stemming from the original radicalism of the ‘48ers, whose influence on the

German American community continued long after their arrival – and represented poverty and vice on stage. Philipp’s representations were very real to the German American community; after all, “this was the period in which journalist and photographer Jacob Riis

(1849-1914) exposed the squalid conditions in which many immigrants lived on the Lower

East Side – not far from the Germania Theater” (Koegel 208-209). However, Philipp also expressed the optimism that existed in the German American community in works like Zwei 9

Lots in the Bronx (1913); in these lyrics from “Was kostet Amerika” of Zwei Lots, this optimism is shown: “Let us rejoice, let us sing, / So that the neighbors burst. / What does all of America cost, / We’ve got it after all, it’s there. / Let the dollars fly, / No one can take me down. / Mother, pour them some champagne, / Red and white wine (Koegel 332). Great optimism existed because German Americans as a whole had greater upward social mobility than other immigrant groups, and came to the United States with a generally higher education and skill level.

When the German American community had reached its height in terms of culture, societal clout and cohesion (consider the optimism of Zwei Lots in the Bronx, written in

1913), World War I started. After the United States entered the war in 1917, the German

American community was shattered; the community could not even depict their experience in

New York, for their cultural products suddenly became taboo. For example, the Metropolitan

Opera completely ceased performing German operas; “during the 1916-17 season, the

Metropolitan performed twelve German operas out of 41 works (46 out of 185 performances, or about 25% of the total). For the 1917-18 season, it completely ceased German-language performances and dismissed most of its German members” (Koegel 361). Philipp himself stopped German performances at his theater, and professional German theatrical activity ceased almost completely (Koegel 362). This was due to intense pressure on performers by organizations like the American Legion and self-censorship by those performers for their own preservation. Rudolf Christians, German American opera and theater director, had his operas and plays forcibly cancelled by the then-mayor of New York, Mayor Hylan, as a result of

WWI, and was ruined financially. He released this statement:

‘We are bankrupt as a result of this. President Wilson has made many statements in which he said that war was not against the German people. If the war was not against the German people, why should the operas be interfered with by local authorities? We are being deprived of making a livelihood. One year ago, while 10

the war was in progress, we gave a series of similar operas in German at the Irving Place Theater. At that time there was no publicity and in no way did the authorities interfere with the performances. It is estimated that there are 800,000 Germans in New York, and these operas are for their benefit.’ (Koegel 364)

Otto Goritz, another opera director, attempted a season of German operetta and opera in the fall of 1919, looking to present the usual German repertory in eight weeks to make up for the years lost during WWI. Opposition to this season led Goritz’s company to publish a plea that stated that “‘70% of its members are actually Americans, and more than half were born and educated in this country’” (Koegel 366). Mayor Hylan again intervened and ordered the performances cancelled, but Goritz opened the season despite the order. This resulted in

“mayhem outside the theater and a tense situation within … [as well as] an incident-filled week with interruptions in the performance schedule, legal maneuverings, acts of violence, and continued opposition” (Koegel 366). Goritz’s company even began to perform all their works in English in order to avoid bankruptcy, but this last-ditch measure failed. The German

American community was essentially forced to stop expressing the German aspect of their culture during WWI, and the community was never able to fully recover. In the 1920s,

German American actress Mary Scheller-Ahlfeld lamented the end of the glory years of

German theater in the United States:

‘No, dear friend, I’ll wait until these German operettas and plays are produced like in the old days, in our own language and style. The memory of the old German theater, the appreciative audiences and my colleagues is too sacred to me. I’ll wait until a new Christians, Conried, Baumfeld, or Amberg appears as a bringer of happiness to the German American audience, and then I hope to be there, and then if you come to visit me in my dressing room I will gladly pour my heart out to you about the glorious, past years of the German theater in America.’ (Koegel 359)

Mary Scheller-Ahlfeld never stopped waiting. The German theater in the United States remained mostly a memory, and new bringers of happiness never came to the German

American audience. During the interwar period, a trickle of German American theater 11 lingered on, but it was a ghost of the past that disappeared with World War II. Adolf Philipp, once famous and influential in the German American community, died on July 30, 1936, forgotten by his community. Even the Staats-Zeitung, which had at times derided him, published “an extensive and laudatory eulogy and noted that, sadly, and despite his important contributions to German theater and culture, Philipp died mostly forgotten by New York’s

German American community” (Koegel 359).

World War I accelerated a process of assimilation that was already occurring in the

German American community, but whereas other now-assimilated ethnic communities of

New York, like the Italians, the Irish or the Jews, still maintain some sense of cultural identity and understanding of their heritage, the descendants of New York Germans no longer meaningfully maintain any sense of identity or any particularly German cultural practices

(except those practices that became general American practices). The memories of longing for Heimat, of regionalism, of class conflict, and of integration and ascent in American society have been mostly forgotten, as have many of the cultural products that responded to these experiences. Adolf Philipp, once the voice of the German American community, died forgotten, and thus as well did most of German American culture in New York. 12

Works Cited

Burrows, Edwin. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.

"History of a New York City Institution." New Yorker Staats-Zeitung. N.p., 1997. Web. 15 May 2011. .

Koegel, John. Music in German Immigrant Theater : New York City, 1840-1940. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2009. Print.