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SOCIETY FOR VOLUME 37 NO. 1 German- American Studies NEWSLETTER SGAS.ORG

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE An Excursion to the Cradle of German North. It turns out there was wine involved. According to the Cat Spring chronicle, one Lorenz Mueller suggested the An invitation from the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce name to New Ulm in honor of his origins, stressing his point provided the occasion for a pleasant drive last weekend “by treating those present at the discussion to a case of to the area where first gained a foothold in Texas, Rhine wine.” In some ways Cat Spring, a dozen miles east even before the Lone Star Republic was established. Heading of New Ulm, rivals Industry as the cradle of German Texas. Its west out of my college town, you soon cross the Brazos River Landwirtschaftlicher Verein, the oldest agricultural society in and then turn south, traversing the bottomlands and cotton Texas, kept its minutes in German all the way down to 1942, fields that still bear traces of plantation society. Then on past and is still thriving as it approaches its 160th anniversary. the Baptist Church that Sam Houston attended and a side Nearby Millheim once claimed six holders of German road to the creek where he was baptized. From there on, doctorates; at the Verein, these farmers discussed you’re in a different cultural landscape. Even with names with peasant farmers the most effective techniques of Texas like William Penn, or Sandy Hill, and Prairie Hill, the Lutheran agriculture, and also engaged in a bit of conviviality. I finally churches in these villages tell you that you are in German had the opportunity last weekend to see its imposing 12-sided territory. County, along with neighboring Lee dance hall from the inside, with 40-foot clear span ceiling County, share the distinction as the only counties in Texas beams radiating out from a central column. My host, born in where Lutherans rather than Baptists or Catholics are the 1938, told me he spoke nothing but German until he started leading denomination. Continuing south from the county grade school. Even after all these years, the hall sports a sign seat of Brenham on FM 108, you are soon in Austin County, site on the wall “auf Deutsch”, with rules of conduct reflecting an of the very first German settlement in Texas. The big Lutheran amusing mixture of German church at the village of Welcome tells you it really should and cowboy culture. be called Willkommen. Two other town names in the vicinity, Bleibersville and Frelsburg, reflect an odd combination of Traces of German culture German family names with American suffixes. A few miles such as this can be found further south on the west side of the road stands the lovingly in a wide band stretching restored 1899 Halle des Welcome . Cross Mill almost 200 miles across Creek and you approach the town of Industry, a name from Austin inspired by German Fleiss (industriousness). A sign points you County all the way beyond to Ernst Memorial Park, named after the town’s founder, Fredericksburg. We hope Oldenburg immigrant Frederick Ernst, who arrived in 1831 that many of you will and owned the land where the park now stands. Fordtran be able to join us in San Boulevard memorializes Ernst’s traveling companion, and Antonio and sample a bit two other streets are named after cotton gin owner Knolle of this flavor. and carpenter Buenger who built it. Yours truly, Another ten miles brings you to New Ulm, which calls its Walter Kamphoefner main street Ernst Parkway in the pioneer’s honor. One might President – SGAS 2015-2017 wonder how it got such a South German name in a settlement heavily dominated by Oldenburgers and others from the

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES FEBRUARY 2016 PUBLISHED TRI-ANNUALLY Lindheimer’s Texas at Sophienburg Archives and Museum of History New Braunfels, Texas

The Sophienburg Archives The work of Lindheimer and other naturalists and botanists and Museum of History in is important both for local history as well as for transatlantic New Braunfels highlights the connections. These scientists gave the rest of the United contributions of Ferdinand States and the European continent the first real look at a Lindheimer in their exhibit vast, unique, unexplored, and unimagined Texas. Their “Lindheimer’s Texas” which runs descriptions, drawings, and specimens paved the way through May 2016. Lindheimer, for future explorations and settlement and fired dreams an immigrant from , of freedom and prosperity in the minds and souls of 19th , became known as century immigrants. Over the course of thirteen years ‘The Father of Texas Botany.’ Lindheimer collected fifteen hundred species in the south He lived and collected his Texas area. He also persuaded Wilhelm Bruckisch of the samples in the Central Beekeepers Society to bring black Italian bees to region and pioneered the Texas for pollination of the fruit trees in the Guadalupe sciences throughout Texas. The River valley. exhibit is curated by Keva Hoffmann Boardman. Lindheimer joined the in 1842 and settled In the exhibit are actual plant specimens sent by in New Braunfels. His research brought him in contact Lindheimer to his fellow Frankfurt native, botanist, and with John O. Meusebach, the founder of Fredericksburg friend Georg Engelmann in St. Louis. Much of Engelmann’s and successor of Prince Carl of Solms-New Braunfels, collection is now at the Botanical Garden, which the executive administrator of the Adelsverein. 2016 also has graciously allowed the Sophienburg to include a good marks the year of Lindheimer’s 215th birthday which will be sampling of Lindheimer’s herbaria sheets in this exhibit. celebrated at his home, now a national historic landmark. It currently houses the New Braunfels Conservation Society. The Sophienburg Museum also partnered with New Braunfels Independent School District to develop a web- Sources: based curriculum featuring Lindheimer and other 19th https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fli04 century German-Texan naturalists and will be available to 3rd-5th grade teachers nationwide. This program is For information contact [email protected] made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, or visit www.sophienburg.com. the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Downtown New Braunfels is home to several murals paying tribute to the German heritage in the area. The first mural, “City of a Prince,” was painted in 1999 by muralist and historian Clinton Baermann and Historic commemorates the founding of New Braunfels by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels in 1845. There is a mural of Outdoor Art , father of Texas botany. Another mural is dedicated to food, fun, and the widely known Museum Wurstfest, now over 65 years old. The spirit of Krause’s Cafe, a traditional gathering place popular with locals New Braunfels and visitors alike, is captured by another mural. Several panels immortalize the colony’s first teacher and “soul of New Braunfels,” Hermann Seele. All sites are in close proximity to each other. And don’t miss the life-size bronze statue of Prince Carl, created by local artist Paul Tadlock. See http://www.nbmurals.org/ for a map of the walking tour.

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER VOLUME 37 No. 1, PAGE 2 SGAS SYMPOSIUM 2016 German Seed in Texas (and other) Soil: Weighing Location and Culture General Information (check with www.sgas.org for latest updates)

REGISTRATION SYMPOSIUM OVERVIEW Conference registration fee is $ 65.00 per person Thursday, 28 April if paid in advance, $ 70 thereafter. This covers the Thursday night reception, all sessions, and confer- 1:00 – 4:00 PM: SGAS Executive Committee Meeting ence materials. One-day pre-registration for either 4:00 – 7:00 PM: Registration Friday or Saturday is $ 35.00 and student registration 5:30 – 7:00 PM: Gemütliches Beisammensein is $15.00/day. Dinner on your own SGAS Business Meeting with Lunch at Conference Room B Friday, 29 April Cost: $ 26.00 8:00 – 9:00 AM: Registration Saturday Banquet at Symposium Hotel 8:30 – 9:00 AM: Plenary address: Walter Kamphoefner, Cost: $ 38.00 President: “Within these Walls: The German- English School, Multiculturalism 1880s Style” CONFERENCE HOTEL 9:00 – 5:30 PM: Concurrent Sessions MARRIOT PLAZA, Lunch and Dinner on your own 555 South Alamo, Saturday, 30 April San Antonio, TX 78205. 8:30 AM – noon: Concurrent Sessions (210) 229-1000 12:30 PM: Business Meeting and Lunch at Conference rate: $169.00 plus tax. Self park is Conference Room B $25.00/day. Please make your reservation by April 4 Afternoon excursions to get the conference rate. Mention “SGAS.” 5:30 – 7.00 PM: Social Hour The hotel is approximately 9 miles from the airport. 7:00 PM: Banquet at Conference Hotel The hotel does not provide shuttle service.

DETACH AND SEND SGAS REGISTRATION FORM Please complete and return with payment or pay online at www.sgas.org Membership is required. Membership fee is to be paid separately and mailed to the membership chair, Karyl Rommelfanger, 4824 Morgan Dr., Manitowoc, WI 54220 (or pay online).

REGISTRATION Conference Pre-Registration: $ 65.00 (by April 8th) On-Site Registration: $ 70.00 One Day Pre-Registration: $ 35.00/day Friday____ Saturday ______Student Registration $ 15.00/day Friday ____ Saturday ______Saturday Box Lunch (several choices) $ 26.00 Indicate if Vegetarian______Saturday Evening Banquet $ 38.00 Chicken ____ Vegetarian_____

Total Enclosed: ………………………..………………..………… Send Registration to: Name: Dr. Steven Rowan Dept. of History Address: University of Missouri-St. Louis One University Blvd. E-mail: 484 Lucas Hall St. Louis, MO 63121-4499 Make checks payable to “SGAS”

Texas German and the Texas German Dialect Project Sources: Austin Statesman, December 7, 2014; www.tgdp.org

German immigrants began settling in Texas during the Dr. Hans Boas, linguistics professor at The University of 1830s. Towns such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg Texas at Austin started the Texas German Dialect Project are known for their German roots and have a (TGDP) in 2001. The TGDP is an umbrella organization concentration of the 11 percent of Texans who claim for carrying out research in representative speech pure or partial German ancestry. communities in Central Texas, such as New Braunfels newspapers and churches once were common in such and Fredericksburg. The goals of the TGDP are to record towns. There even were schools that taught in Texas and preserve the Texas German dialect, to gather German until , when anti-German sentiment information about linguistic diversity, to make research spread across the country and state officials declared on language differences and change available to the English as the of instruction. Today, general public, and to devote the collected research Texas German is spoken mostly at social gatherings and materials to improving educational programs on at home. language and culture. Visit www.tgdp.org for more information on the project.

News from the IUPUI Max Kade Center February 2016 Karen Roesch, Director of the the , who emphasized a healthy mind and Max Kade German-American body; the academic-focused Forty-Eighters and Center, is teaching a special Freethinkers, who advocated equal rights for all people course this Spring titled: “The and whose moral values were dominated by respect Immigrant Experience - Tales for life and nature; and the largest group, the "salt of of German- in the earth" farmers and craftsmen. Savvy businessmen ” which has captured and philanthropists such as the Vonneguts are also the attention of the Indiana featured. The course takes a detailed look at the part Bicentennial Commission. The German-Americans played in establishing important state of Indiana is celebrating cornerstones in education, art, music, architecture and its 200-year anniversary in 2016. A range of events and entrepreneurship. activities are planned around the state and some receive Students familiar with the city and state will recognize special endorsement by the Bicentennial Commission names associated with some Indiana landmarks, such as as Legacy Projects. Bicentennial Legacy Projects must landscape architect and Kessler Boulevard namesake be celebratory, culturally inclusive and create a legacy George Edward Kessler and Richard Lieber, known for the future. The curriculum's field and museum trips as the father of the Indiana State Park System. Class address the requirement that Legacy Projects be activities include a visit to the Museum of engaging and inspiring to youth and young adults. The Art to observe the work of German-American printmaker course curriculum Dr. Roesch has developed can be and painter Gustave Baumann who started his career adapted to high schools, colleges and universities, and in an artist community in Brown County, Indiana; a field adult education. Classroom lectures and guest speakers trip to Oldenburg, Indiana, to experience the German- address contributions of German-American immigrants American history, architecture and that have left a lasting impact on Hoosier life and history. culture of that small community, “German heritage is less apparent, and people are less and a visit to the Athenaeum in aware of it, because German immigrants integrated so downtown Indianapolis. well into American society,” Dr. Roesch said. “This class is Adapted from IUPUI Press Release, about passing on that heritage to the next generation.” February 4, 2016 The class explores the cross section of German groups who contributed to the state's development, including

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER VOLUME 37 No. 1, PAGE 4 SGAS 2016 SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE SGAS 2016 SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, APRIL 2 9 Check www.sgas.org for updates 9:00-­‐10:30 am. Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 9:00-­‐10:30 am. Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C Session I: Literature Session 1: Go West! Session II: Germans and on the Texas Moderator: Michael H. Rice Frontier. Commentator: R owena McClinton, SIU Michael H. Rice, Middle State University. “Texas Christopher J. Wickham, University of Texas, San Antonio. as Inspiration: Selected Poems from Lisa Kahn’s Aus meiner “Cultural Intermediary in Texas: Emil Kriewitz between texanischen Blockhütte.” German and .” Bärbel Such, University. “Growing Roots in Texas: The Daniel Gelo, University of Texas at San Antonio. “Frontiers of Concept of ‘Heimat’ in Lisa Kahn’s Poetry.” Language: Texans, Germans, and the Development of Shoshonean Linguistics.” Gregory Divers, St. Louis University. “Rolf Dieter James C. Kearney, University of Texas at Austin. “Friedrich Brinkmann’s Westwärts 1 & 2: German Poetics Go West.” Armand Strubberg and the Paneteka Comanches of Central Texas.” 9:00-­‐10:30 am. Venue 3: CONFERENCE ROOM D Session III Continued. Andreas Huebner , Uni. Kassel. “A Session III: Eighteenth Century Immigrations Good Worker who Merits some Slaves’: German-Speaking Migrants and the Institution of Slavery in Colonial .” Barbara Becker-­‐Cantarino, Emerita, Ohio State University. Chet Neumann, City. “A Contrast to the Texas Civil “Migration to America in Moravian ‘Personalia’ of the War Experience: The 1710 Palatines during the Eighteenth Century.” .” 11:00am-­‐12:30pm. Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 11:00am-­‐12:30pm. Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C Session IV: Literature Session 2: Wild West Stories Session V: Who is a German? Moderator: Gregory Divers Brigitte Malm, Independent Scholar. “The Road West from Elliot Worsfold, Western University, London, ON. “St. Louis Louisiana.” in Germany: The Role of Ethnicity and Nationality in Missouri Synod Missionary Efforts in Postwar Germany.” Gaby Divay, University of Manitoba. “Grove’s Tenure at a Manuela Engstler, St. Louis University. “German Internment Bonanza Farm in the 1890s: Fact and Fiction.” in Crystal City, Texas in World War II.” Myka Burke, University of Leipzig. “Karl May and Walter Erika Weidemann, Texas A & M. “Fluid and Malleable: Bauer’s Grey Owl: A Comparative Biographical Study.” Ethnic German Identity, 1945-1949.” 11:00am – 12:30pm. Venue 3: CONFERENCE ROOM D Session VI Continued. Sandra Rebok, Spanish National Session VI: Humboldtian Images Research Council, Madrid. “Texas in Alexander von Humboldt’s writings: from Statistics to Regional Descriptions.” Frank Baron, University of Kansas. “Humboldtian Science in Steven Rowan, University of Missouri-St. Louis. “The Palo the Ecuador Landscapes of Frederick Edwin Church.” Duro Canyon of the Red River in the Visions of Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein’s Die Geheimnisse von New-Orleans.” 2:00-­‐3:30 m p . Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 2:00-­‐3:30 pm, Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C Session VII: Texas German Session VIII:Germans in America in the Great War Commentator: Ryan Dux, University of Texas, Austin Hans C. Boas and Marc Pierce, University of Texas, Austin. Frank Trommler, University of . “The Failure of “Investigating Texas German in the 21st Century.” German-: Revisiting Niebuhr’s Verdict in 1916.” Karen Rösch, Indiana University- Purdue University at Cora Lee Kluge, Max Kade Center, Madison, WI. “The Indianapolis. “Linguistic Variants as Sociolinguistic Markers in Enemy at Home: German-Americans in the World War I Era.” Texas Alsatian.”

Glenn Gilbert, “The Texas Germans: What we once knew in 1966 about their language in comparison with current knowledge.” 2:00 – 3:30 pm. Venue 3: CONFERENCE ROOM D Session IX Continued. David Z. Chroust, Texas A &M Session IX: World War II and its Aftermath University. “Lives among Germans and Memories of Germans: Writings from Czechs in America.” Joyce E. Bromley, Madison, . “At Home! Germans Cora Grenata, Birta Pfleger, “ Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Texas vs. Germans in (Eastern) Germany.” in World War II: and Pennsylvania.”

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER VOLUME 37 No. 1, PAGE 5 SGAS SGAS 2016 2016SYMPOSIUM SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE SCHEDULE

Friday, 4:00-­‐5:30 pm. Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 4:00 -­‐5:30 pm. Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C Session X: Mathild Anneke auf Englisch Session XI: Postwar Realities Commentary by S. Rowan, J. Reinhart, W. Kamphoefner Alison Efford, , Viktorija Bilic, Karl-­‐H. Fuessl, Technical University of Berlin, Germany. University of Wisconsin-. “A Project to publish the “Between Despair and Hope: German Émigrés in the US after correspondence of Mathilde Anneke.” 1933.” Jason Johnson, Trinity University, San Antonio. “The Rhine 4:00-­‐5:30 pm. Venue 3: Conference Room D River does not flow through the Territory of our Country’: The Session XII: Forty-­‐Eighters Struggles of East German Cultural Diplomacy in the US, 1961- 1989.”

William E. Petig, Stanford University. “The Freethinkers of Tom Alter, University of at . “Inheritors of the Watertown, Wisconsin.” Revolution: The Legacy of 48ers within Texas Agrarian Radicalism.” SATURDAY, APRIL 30 8:30-­‐10:00 m a . Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 8:30-­‐10:00 am. Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C SessionXIII:German-­‐Americans and the Great War Session X IV: German Developments on the Land Christian Hafertepe, Baylor University. “German Builders on San Antonio Soil.” Joseph B. Neville, “Texas Germans write to their old La Raw Maran, Prof. Emeritus, University of Illinois at Fatherland, September-October 1914.” Urbana-Champaign. “ Ancestral immigration experience and the patterns of German heritage expression today: regional German cultures and transformations in America.” Daniel Hammer, Historic Collection. “The Kristin Poling, University of at Dearborn. “Seeds German Bazaar of New Orleans, 1915.” and Saplings in the Wasteland: Carl Ernst Schmidt and German-American Identity in the Michigan Forests.” 8:30-­‐10:00 am. Venue 3 : CONFERENCE D ROOM Session XV Continued Session XV: German -­‐American Entrepreneurs Uwe Spiekermann, Universität Göttingen/German Historical Todd Barnett, University of Missouri-Columbia. “, Institute, Washington. “A German Mother of the American Money, and Politics: ’s Career in Texas.” Nation: The entrepreneurial and public career of Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936).” 10:30 am-­‐12:00pm. Venue 1: CAVALIER ROOM 10:30am-­‐12:00pm. Venue 2: CONFERENCE ROOM C Session XVI: Commemorating the Reformation in Session XVII: Texas Germans Talking. Germany and the . USA Eberhard Görner (Author, Screenwriter, Filmmaker). Christopher Wickham, University of Texas at San Antonio., Ryan Joseph University Dux, of Texas, Austin. “How much of on a project concerning H. M. Mühlenberg, with readings by Texas German is English?” Görner from In Gottes eigenem Land: Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg der Vater des amerikanischen Lutherthums. Marita Gruner, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Rowena McClinton, Southern Illinois University at Germany. “Benigna von Watteville (geb. von Zinzendorf) in Edwardsville. “Sam Houston: His Life as a Cultural Broker Pennsylvanien.” among and among German Texans” 10:30 am-­‐12:00pm. Venue 3: CONFERENCE ROOM D David Huenlich and Adams , LaBorde University of Texas, Session XVI II: Questions of Identity Austin. “Teaching History through Language Games: The German-Comanche Treaty.” Norman Sullivan, Emily Johnson, Marquette University; Session XVIII Continued Erin Hastings, National University of Ireland-Galway. Kay Goldman, Houston, Texas. “On Becoming Texans: “Marriage Endogamy and Community Continuity in the Nineteenth-Century Jewish Immigrants Claim their German Wisconsin Holyland.” Identity.” Judith A. Siebert, “ Tourists and Images of Ethnic Identity in the German-Chilean Lake District.”

SOCIETY FOR GERMANGERMAN-AMERICAN-AMERICAN STUDIESSTUDIES NEWSLETTERNEWSLETTER VOLUMEVOLUME 37 NONo.. 1,1, PAGEPAGE 6 6 In Memoriam Werner E. Kitzler, 1942-2015 Gert Niers

Upon the recent death of Werner American writings (poetry and prose) under the title Kitzler, the field of German- Deutschschreibende Autoren in Nordamerika (1989-99). American Studies has lost one of Werner Kitzler was born on May 23, 1942 in Rotthalmünster, its most enthusiastic supporters , the eldest of four children. His parents emigrated – as a teacher, editor, and with their children in 1956 to Ontario, , and from promoter. Dr. Werner Erwin Kitzler, there to Yankton, . Before becoming a U.S. Associate Professor emeritus of citizen in 1966, Werner served in the Seventh U.S. Army the University of South Dakota, in Germany (1962-65). He received his B.A. from the succumbed to congestive heart University of South Dakota (1967), his M.A. in German from failure in Rochester, , the University of , Lincoln (1971), and his Ph.D. in on October 29, 2015 at the age German also from the University of Nebraska (1978). of 73. He lived with his wife Janice, née Ludgate, in Vermillion, South Dakota, where he had His immigrant biography not only explains his interest taught German at the university since 1973. Although in teaching and promoting German language and he was also a contributor to the Yearbook of German- literature, but also his desire to be in direct personal contact American Studies, he will be remembered by many with the countries of his native language. He organized teachers and scholars of German foremost as the editor/ countless student exchanges between his university publisher of Schatzkammer der deutschen Sprache, and German counterparts, especially the Universities Dichtung und Geschichte (1982-2001). of Oldenburg and Jena. He was also instrumental in creating a Sister City program (Städtepartnerschaft) This scholarly magazine was dedicated to teaching between his hometown Vermillion, SD and Ratingen (near strategies, contemporary German and German- Düsseldorf). The German government honored his merits American literature, political and historical subjects, and with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (1997), and the Austrian book reviews covering Germanistik in its widest sense. government bestowed upon him its Großes Ehrenzeichen Kitzler’s interest in literature and German Americana also für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich (1989). motivated him to publish a series of original German-

Call For Papers: History, Memory, and Generations: German-Canadian Experiences From the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries

Much of Canadian immigration historiography has studies in fruitful ways with recent research in memory focused on the first generation immigrants, including and refugee studies. two important collections on German immigrants in Following in the path of two previous successful Canada published in 1998 and 2012. While scholars have collections in German-Canadian History, A Chorus of increasingly looked at the 1.5 and second generations, Different Voices: German-Canadian Identities (eds. they have tended to conceptualize them as distinct Angelika Sauer and Matthias Zimmer) and Beyond the categories or generations. Nation? Immigrants' Local Lives in Transnational Cultures This proposed collection of articles, focusing on the (ed. Alexander Freund), this collection seeks to engage experiences, histories, and memories of German the newest scholarship on generation, memory, and immigrants in Canada and their descendants, seeks migration to illuminate how German-Canadians have to explore how multi-generational families and groups lived in Canadian societies over the past 300 years. have interacted and shaped each other’s integration More broadly, this collection seeks to document the and adaption in Canadian society. As one of Canada’s state of the art in German-Canadian History, and thus oldest and largest ethnic groups, German-Canadians proposals for essays on all topics in the field are invited. allow for a variety of longitudinal and multi-generational studies that explore how different generations have The University of Manitoba Press has expressed an interest negotiated and transmitted diverse individual and group in reviewing the collection for potential publication in its experiences in the form of memories and histories. Studies in Immigration and Culture series. Having come from places and times of conflict and Submit all inquiries and abstracts to alexanderfreund9@ war, such as two world wars as well as conflicts in gmail.com and to [email protected]. North America, the volume of essays focuses on intergenerational experiences, memories, and histories of Deadline for abstracts (500 words) and short bio: 30 April war, flight, displacement, and resettlement. This will allow 2016. scholars of German-Canadian history to connect their

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER VOLUME 37 No. 1, PAGE 7

Looking ahead to St. Louis, cont’d. Looking ahead to St. Louis, cont’d. VOLUME 35 NO. 2 SOCIETYSOCIETY FORFOR VOLUME # NO. # A ST. LOUIS PATRIOT Continued Another indication of ethnic solidarity was the program of Ger- all survived ; the Anheuser-Busch operation re- ated. But its gradual decline is reflected in the fate of the Westliche Post, since 1919 the city’s oldest daily in any language, German- man instruction in St. Louis public elementary schools institut- mained under family management for 156 years until a Bel- and as of 1924, the last surviving daily in German. But that was small comfort. Subscriptions were on a downward trend gian buyout in 2008. German- ed in 1864. Begun as an experiment in five schools the first already before 1914, but advertising, in particular, was impacted by the war and the loss of beer ads. As the city’s unofficial stages of fighting for St. Lo,” Irwin noted in a July 29, Irwin noted in her Post-Dispatch report that Stern 425 University Blvd. Suite 329 year, it met with heavy demand and quickly spread through- historian James Primm writes, “World War I and its illegitimate offspring, the Prohibition Amendment, ruined the beer indus- American Studies From the perspective of present-day St. Louis, it seems 1944, report. wanted to become a foreign correspondent. After Indianapolis, IN 46202 out the city’s system. Within ten years, nearly half of all pupils amazingthe war, to helearn said that he inapplied 1874 theto the city New was Yorksupporting Times, four try.” The Depression added to the financial woes of the Westliche Post, and the Arise ST.of Nazi LOUIS Germany PATRIOTposed an additional NEWSLETTER Stern told Irwin then that he’d interviewed thousands American Studies but couldn’t get hired. There was a glut of reporters were taking part; in 1878, the Westliche Post proudly reported daily newspapers–and that was just in the German lan- dilemma. Despite its previous consistent opposition to anti-Semitism, it attemptedCOMES to stay out HOME,of the controversy, which SGAS.ORG of prisoners and thought 90 percent of them figured coming home to pre-war jobs. He stayed in New York NEWSLETTER SGAS.ORG a figure of 53 percent. By 1880, all but five of the city’s 57 pub- guage! (There were five in English). Three German dailies proved to be a no-win situation. The Westliche Post ceased operations as a daily on June 19, 1938. Although a weekly edi- the war was hopeless at that point, but many, out of to study romance languages at what is now Hofstra St. Louis Post-Dispatch lic gradepride, schools wouldn’t offered admit German. it. The program was such a survivedUniversity into and the Columbia twentieth University.century, and on a weekly or tion continued, it survived only a few more months. As the Westliche Post’s biographer writes, “For the first time in 103 success that St. Louis teachers published a series of their own monthly basis there were numerous other publications years St. Louis was without a reputable German paper.” “That assessment may have been a bit high,” Stern He became a distinguished German scholar, in part textbookssays that today, were “but quite they pedagogically saw that juggernaut advanced of andour widely ranging across the political spectrum, including several an- PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE due to his personal experiences and longevity. The final word should be left to a St. Louis immigrant named Louis Dilger, a blue collar worker who still followed German adoptedequipment nationwide. that Witter’s we had, Deutsch that basically-Englische showed Schreib that- und archist and socialist sheets. One of the latter, the Arbeiter PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE affairs closely a half-century after he left. Admonished by his brother that “as a true-born German, [he] should promote Ger- Lese-Fibelthey washad evenno match republished for that.” by SGAS member Eberhard ZeitungIn an, often-toldgave rise story,to an heEnglish credits counterpart, his good health St. Louis to La- three things. A balanced diet. He swims before going man culture in this country,” Dilger’s letters instead show repeated evidence of what he wrote in 1934: “I am proud of my WHAT HAPPENED 46 YEARS AGO? Reichmann as late as 1987. bor, but as late as 1922 over 40 percent of their combined Guy Stern, 93, poses for a portrait in downtown St. Louis on Thursday, April 9, 2015. On July 1, 2015, Bill Roba will hand off the Presidency of preliminary groundwork in St. Louis. Thinking outside the box, Contrary to training that puts a premium on individual to work as director of the Zekelman International German heritage, but American from head to toe.” SGAS to me and moveAs members on to the ofrank the of Society President for Emeritus.German -Americanhe arranged Studies alook Thursday towards night the movie fiftieth “The anniversary Whisky Cookers,” of the interrogations, Stern took to questioning large groups circulationInstitute wasof the in RighteousGerman. At at the the opposite Holocaust end Memorial of the spec- In the background is Union Station, where Stern arrived in 1937 after escaping The St. Louis German program met an earlier demise than in I want to take this opportunitySociety in to2018, thank it Billis worthwhilefor his leadership to consider that some gave of usthe a benchmarksglimpse of an in underappreciated its development. aspect Using of of prisoners all at once for what he called special trum,Center two leadingnear Detroit. German And Protestant his spouse denominations is four decades estab- Nazi-occupied Germany. most other cities. It came under attack already in 1878, but a role,Awards and for the2 opportunitysome rather of serving broad underbrush him. strokes, Our this messageGerman-American may be a start culture towards and acapturing chance toour interact collective with situations. Addressing one entire unit, he’d ask those younger than he is. His first marriage in 1948 didn’t last Inside this issue: lished their headquarters and seminaries in the Gateway organization has madememory some which important began strides in 1968. under The his original impetusa talented for youngthe Society, documentary was a felt maker. need Andfor an it was informal, due to vigorouswho petition were traineddrive caused on the themachine school gun board or some to relent. other In because he said they were too young. His second City: Concordia Seminary of Missouri Synod Lutherans, April 10, 2015 12:00 am • By Jesse Bogan CONTACTS leadership during the last two years, with the able support Bill’s effort that the exile scholar Guy Stern (see this issue, type of weapon to raise their hands. SGAS 39TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM News from Max 3 special interest group for researchers working in the area of the German experience in America. 1887, however, school board districts were redrawn in “a clear wife of 25 years died in 2003. Now he’s married to a of the rest of the executive board. A St. Louis Patriot Comes Home), traveled to St. Louis and and Eden Seminary of what was once named the German Newsletter Co-Editors Kade Madison Robert E. Ward, Associate Professor of German at Youngstown State University, corresponded with 52-year-old German short story writer and poet. St. Louis, 9-12 April 2015 case of“Of gerrymandering” particular import and was the the program’s fact that fateour highwas sealed. First, it was a great “Stein vom Herzen” to see our lapsed presented an inspiring paper at our symposium. Evangelical Synod of North America. Each published a ST. LOUIS • The short, 93-year-old man in a maroon The Class of ’39 alumnus of Soldan High School showed Claudia Grossmann, [email protected] other academics interested in alternative approaches to the traditional field of Immigration History, LookingFederal Ahead Nonprofit to 4 501(c)3 status restored, for which we Germanranking instruction officers had feared been offeredthat World just asWar one II mightof the end cours- like For his presentation Friday morning at the symposium, turtleneck and gray sport coat“The stood Heartlands Thursday a –few America’s persistence Most German early onRegion” while writing for the former school and began publishing occasional newsletters Atabout the endthis effort.of this semester, Roba also retired from World War I with gas warfare,” he said. German language paper for more than a century, starting Karen Rösch, [email protected] primarilySt. Louis have Roba’s footwork and political connections to his position as History Instructor at Scott Community es during a normal day of instruction, so it did not have the Stern will try to do his part to bridge a small piece of blocks from where he’d first arrived in St. Louis by train newspaper — the Scrippage. He said he landed interviews before the Civil War. The Missouri Synod put out Der Lu- Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis thank. By the middle of the 1970s, a groundswell of College.interest in But history I suspect focused it will onbe the“weniger Bicentennial Ruhestand Celebra- als the racial gap that the Ferguson saga laid bare. His nearly eight decades ago. with German novelist Thomas Mann while on a lecture tour Conferences 7 effect ofStern isolating started German asking prisonersstudents tofrom raise others. their handsAn if ob- tion of 1976. Readers of Ward’s newslettersUnruhestand.” discussed ways Importantly of reorganizing for our organization, the Society, heand is the theraner from 1844 to 1954; the Evangelicals hung on for a and Benny “The King of Swing” Goodman. Tel: (317) 274-2330 Due in no small part to the able editorship of Bill Keel, our they carried gas masks, had protective clothing, or paper is titled: “German speaking refugees in an Afro- server remarked in 1874: “The city acted wisely in introducing Guy Stern is here from Detroit to present a paper at CONTACTS Yearbook has nearlyresult caught was up a onchange its backlog to a non and-profit will soon status, forheading an organization up a committee chartered to celebratein Ohio. Startingthe SGAS in Semi- 1977, yearAmerican longer, issuing setting—Afro-American Der Friedensbote poetsfrom 1850 in a Germanall the way Centennial in 2018. It is reassuring to know as I take on the had gone through a gas hut for training. the Society for German-AmericanPhiladelphia, Studies’ 39th 5 Annual-7 March 2015“Jazz http://www.h was forbidden-net.org/ in Germany,” he said. “It was called be appearing at datesthis appropriatenew organization to its cover.started Thanks holding to annual meetings as part of a program for annual symposia in the study of German, as otherwise the Teutonic citizen would to setting.”1955, supplemented in their later decades by parallel tasks of SGAS President that I can rely on Bill Roba’s steady Symposium. With the theme, “The Heartlands — America’s degenerate music by the Nazis.” President,Newsletter William Co-Editors Roba the efforts of Susan differentSchurer, ouracademic book review locations, section and has issuing a quarterly newsletter. This was capped off in 1979 with doubtlessThe havenumbers been were tempted small. to send his child to a private “Fraktur and Everyday Lives of Germans in Pennsylvania and the Atlantic World” hand of support. EnglishIn his paper,editions. he German says St. CatholicsLouis is his also hometown had a strong and he insti- Most German Region,” the conference is being held ScottClaudia Community Grossmann, College [email protected] been greatly expandedthe decision to give toa comprehensivepublish an annual overview yearbook, initially sponsored by the University of Kansas. school. . . . Now native American children take up German While studying languages at St. Louis University, he tried to Karen Rösch,Rosch, [email protected] of new publications across the spectrum of German “I could say to headquarters by all appearance they tutional“owes presence his very lifein St.to thisLouis. city.” They were able to support a through Sunday at the Pear Tree Inn near Union Station. Walter D. Kamphoefner “Fraktur and the Everyday Lives of Germans in Pennsylvaniavolunteer and the Atlantic for World World, War II.1683 He said–1850” the willNavy be didn’t held in want [email protected] University-Purdue (563) 441-4319 University Indianapolis ThisAmerican flurry of Studies.activity continued into the 1980s. The first Jahrbuch, published in 1980, contained articles and essays, and readingare and not oral prepared lessons for at gasthe warfare,”same time he as said. their “My little stats Ger- German-language daily down through World War I. The President-Elect After World War II came to a close, he found out that In many ways, the event is a homecoming for Stern, even him because he wasn’t native. Later, in 1942, he was Tel: (317) 274-2330274-2230 reinstated an annual bibliography of German-American publications. It had been started by The American-German Re- man fellowbore- scholars.”out, and they In fact, were nearly delighted one- quarterthey had of gottenthe pupils , Pennsylvania, March 5-7, 2015. The conference is jointly sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early With the able assistance of our tenacious Membership Catholic Central Verein, a national union consisting largely though he lived until he was 15 in Hildesheim, Germany. drafted anyway and sent to the Army’s Military Intelligence view In 1934, and discontinued in 1966. In that pre-internet world, this bibliography was essential because it provided in- that information.” his parents, brother and sister, and other relatives, Membership, North America Chair Karyl Rommelfanger, our membership numbers American Studies, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It will coincide with formation for scholars coming from different disciplines to have a source to use in exploring their sometimes brand-new taking language instruction were not of German background. of hadlay societiesbeen killed. serving He’s Germannot sure where,Catholic probably immigrants, in the was In 1937, he moved to St. Louis, leaving his Jewish parents Training Center, Camp Ritchie, Md. President, WalterWilliam D.Roba Kamphoefner have increased steadily during the past two years of Karyl Rommelfanger research topics. The next year the Publication Fund was started, reaching $20,000 in 1991, and exceeding its goal of He credits that piece of work with being awarded the headquarteredWarsaw in St.or atLouis. Auschwitz. Its monthly journal gave up andmajor younger exhibitions siblings at bothbehind. the The Museum Nazi war and machine the Free Library. The Philadelphia Museum will be exhibiting Fraktur TexasScott CommunityA&M University College Roba’s tenure, growing by 11% or more in each of the St. Louis was long noted for producing “shoes and booze,” the His exploits as an interrogator were explored in the notable $100,000 in 2000. This also provides an opportunity to extent our Bronze Star. wasfrom building the collection fearsome of Joan steam and and Victor he had Johnson, the fortunate featuring many extraordinary manuscript and printed examples [email protected]@[email protected] (920) 905 (563)-4911 (979) 441-4319 862-1314 last two years, so that we now stand at 360 individual and German entirely only in 1940, when it became the Social thanks to Claudia Grossmann, who carried on latter thanks mostly to its German element. No less than five opportunity to live with an aunt and uncle in Missouri. 2004 German-directed documentary, “The Ritchie Boys.” institutional members. from southeastern Pennsylvania along with other objects, and will also be publishing a comprehensive scholarly At times, he’d also dress up in a Russian uniform and Justice Review which is still published today. Long before the film, Post-Dispatch war correspondent Membership, North American The Society became actively involved in planning and implementing nationalalone for conferences. more than a Theyear first as our major Newsletter symposia Editor was St. Louis Germans merited inclusion in the German Historical We concluded our last two annual meetingsth in Milwaukee play to POW fears that they’d be turned over to the “Icatalogue am a St. Louisof the patriot,” Johnson said collection. Stern, who The is workingFree Library on an features historically Irwin ran significant, into Stern rare in Normandy, and unique , examples where Membership,Karyl Rommelfanger Europe held in October, 1983, to celebrate the 300 anniversary of the first Germanafter the settlement untimely deathin the ofEnglish Daniel colony C. Nützel of Pennsyl- (1962- Institute’s biographical directory of German-American entre- As these examples show, despite the challenges posed by and St. Louis each time with an increased attendance Red Army if they didn’t cooperate. autobiography titled “Chance Encounters.” he’d landed three days after the D-Day invasion to vania. Thirteen Mennonite families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived on the “Concord” and founded Germantown in 1683. of Fraktur, manuscripts, broadsides, and printed books from the Henry Stauffer Borneman Pennsylvania Ger- [email protected] Hartmann (920) 905-4911 over the previous year, and a more extensive program of 2013). Since August 2014, Claudia has again been preneurs. Not surprisingly, four of them were brewers, among World War I, reports of the German language’s death in Those attending heard a variety of papers, many of which explored interdisciplinary approaches to understand German question prisoners of war held in barbed-wire “cages.” presentations. San Antonio 2016 is shaping up nicely, so sharing the Newsletter editorship with Professor Asked if any of the POWs knew he was Jewish, he Asman a teenager, Collection. he Presently was a bus many boy atof thethese Chase, items then are aavailable to scholars in an online database at http:// [email protected] ethnicity. This effort eclipsed earlier boundaries for Immigration History, by focusing on the formation of a distinct Penn- them the household names of and partner 1918 were, to quote a famous Missourian, greatly exagger- Membership, Europe perhaps we can break one hundred there. Karen Rösch, the new Hoyt-Reichmann Scholar of said: “Some undoubtedly knew. After all, they were waiterlibwww.freelibrary.org/fraktur/ at the now closed Bismark and Cafe are on featured Twelfth on Street. the FreeA Library’s“Through PA an Germaninterpreter, Collection who turned Blog. out to be Staff Sgt. Tel (+49Katja-3328) Hartmann 308340 sylvania German identity. Adolphus Busch, and Joseph Griesedick. Their enterprises I am especially grateful to Bill Roba for negotiating an German-American Studies. trained in racial discrimination, but that never was an soccer fanatic in Germany, he soon switched allegiances Guy Stern of 1116A Maple Place, St. Louis, I talked with [email protected] (+49-3328) 308340 issue.” to baseball. several Germans who had been captured in the early advantageous venue in Milwaukee and doing much of the (next page)

SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES SOCIETY FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTERSOCIETY FOR VOLUME GERMAN-AMERICAN 35 No. 2, PAGE STUDIES 6 NEWSLETTERSOCIETY FOR VOLUME GERMAN-AMERICAN 35 No. 2, PAGE STUDIES 7 DECEMBER 2014 PUBLISHEDSOCIETY TRIFOR-ANNUALLY GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES JULY 2015 NEWSLETTER VOLUME 35 No. 2, PAGE 7 NEWSLETTER VOLUME 35 No. 2, PAGE 7 PUBLISHED TRI-ANNUALLY