DOCSLIB.ORG

An Intriguing Variation on a Common Theme

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Intriguing Variation on a Common Theme Klaus Dehne. Deutsche Einwanderer im lÖ¤ndlichen SÖ¼d-Indiana (USA): Eine historisch-geographische Analyse. Passau: Selbstverlag des Faches Geographie der UniversitÖ¤t Passau, 2003. 108 pp. EUR 19.90, paper, ISBN 978-3-9807866-1-4. Reviewed by Timothy G. Anderson Published on H-GAGCS (June, 2004) Students of German immigration to North local, regional, and global drivers responsible for America, who have followed research in the feld the mass migrations of the nineteenth century. over the past twenty years, will fnd much that is Dehne's study departs from this model of familiar in this slim volume. With respect to analysis by focusing almost entirely on the nature methodology, design, context, and data sources, of immigrant communities on the American side, the work has a good deal in common with many with only cursory attention paid to conditions in other such studies. But in terms of the distinctive the European sending region. As such, Dehne is nature of the communities under scrutiny here not so much concerned with why the migration and the questions author Klaus Dehne asks about occurred as with the settlement, growth, and de‐ them, the research constitutes an intriguing de‐ velopment of the immigrant study communities parture from the mean that, in the end, makes a in the United States. But what truly distinguishes significant contribution to our understanding of this work, from the plethora of studies of Mid‐ the nature of German immigrant communities in western immigrant communities that have been the United States. written over the years, is the nature of the study Some of the most significant advancements in itself: a longitudinal, comparative analysis of two immigration history over the past two decades civil townships in neighboring counties in south‐ have stemmed from studies that focused on the ern Indiana, both settled in the mid-nineteenth trans-Atlantic nature of nineteenth-century immi‐ century by groups of German immigrants but gration from northwest Europe. In order to more with distinctive regional origins in Germany. The fully understand the total immigrant experience author's research questions center on agricultural from start to fnish, dozens of such studies under‐ and socio-economic diversity and difference in taken in the 1980s and 1990s tended to focus as these immigrant populations and communities much attention on pre-migration conditions in lo‐ over time and space. Employing the traditional ar‐ cal immigrant sending regions in Europe as on re‐ ray of primary sources such as manuscript census ceiving locales in North America. The result was schedules, county histories, funeral and tax richer analyses of immigrant chains set within the records, and plat books, the study seeks to ac‐ framework of contemporary social theory that count for these observed differences. overcame earlier, overly romantic explanations Dehne begins with a quite thorough and com‐ for emigration and clarified, in better detail, the plete review of the secondary literature related to German immigration to rural North America and H-Net Reviews places his own study within this literary context. contrasted in terms of ethnic identity, accultura‐ From this review of the relevant literature, eight tion, and economic development over time. Em‐ hypotheses related to German immigration and ploying primary data in the form of manuscript assimilation in North America are presented. In census schedules, land and tax records, and coun‐ essence, Dehne's work here is an attempt to test ty histories and atlases, statistics regarding land these hypotheses in the communities studied in ownership patterns, demographic and social southern Indiana. The second chapter identifies structure and population and age characteristics and describes in some detail the two communities are presented for each community and are com‐ studied, each settled in the 1840s. The frst, Wid‐ pared with each other, as well as to their Ameri‐ ner Township in Knox County, represents a clear can neighbors. Many of the results of this analysis case of chain migration that resulted in a rather are not surprising and dovetail well with the fnd‐ homogeneous immigrant community: seventy- ings of other such studies of rural German immi‐ one percent of the immigrants hailed from the grant communities. For example, by 1880 the rate small principality of Lippe-Detmold in northwest of farm ownership among German farmers was Germany and nearly three-quarters were Protes‐ around ffteen percent higher than their Ameri‐ tant (Lippe-Detmold had been Protestant since the can counterparts, but the size of German-owned Reformation). The second, Ferdinand Township in farms was slightly smaller. Using manuscript agri‐ Dubois County, represents a textbook example of cultural census data, Dehne confirms the pattern a planned Catholic immigrant settlement venture, of economic acculturation of German immigrant initiated by an early Catholic priest, which result‐ farmers that has been reported in many other ed in a community that was heterogeneous in similar studies: during the early, formative years terms of regional origins in Germany but that was of initial settlement, agricultural differences be‐ at the same time very homogeneous in terms of tween German and American farmers in terms of religious confession. Almost all of the immigrants types of crops and livestock raised and in terms of were Catholic but hailed from a variety of loca‐ acreage devoted to each were rather significant. tions in Germany, especially Bavaria, Hannover, Within ten years, however, Germans appear to Westphalia, and Alsace. A significant number of have adapted to the American Midwestern agri‐ early settlers were also recruited from other Ger‐ cultural system, a system that is extensive and man immigrant communities within the United market-driven in nature and less diverse than the States. These distinctions, and the comparison system practiced in nineteenth-century Germany. and contrast of the settlement and development To readers of this forum, such fndings are of the communities over time, are by far the most hardly surprising. Much more intriguing, howev‐ intriguing and distinctive aspects of Dehne's er, is the comparison of the two German study study. Chapter 3 situates the immigration to communities. Here, Dehne convincingly shows southern Indiana within the context of German that observed differences in land ownership, pat‐ immigration to rural America in general. This is terns of land alienation, rates of agricultural as‐ accomplished through a discussion of timing, similation, and socio-cultural phenomena can be numbers, and areas of settlement, as well as pop‐ accounted for by the differences in regional ori‐ ulation development and land alienation patterns, gins of the early immigrants, as well as by that compares southern Indiana to the national whether or not Germans constituted a numerical model. majority in their communities. In Ferdinand The most important and significant fndings Township, German farmers far outnumbered of Dehne's research are presented in chapters 4 American farmers, while in Widner Township, and 5, in which the two study communities are German farmers constituted a numerical minori‐ 2 H-Net Reviews ty. Dehne argues that German farmers in Ferdi‐ ceptualized. In this regard, the book is not so nand Township were "secluded" and "cut off" much historical geography (despite the large from outside American influences and thus did number of maps depicting such things as land not adapt to American cultural and economic ownership patterns) as it is social history. Never‐ norms as quickly or as pervasively as the Ger‐ theless, the work is a significant contribution be‐ mans in Widner Township who, as a result of cause it tackles a subject that has rarely been ad‐ more frequent interactions with their American dressed in German immigrant community studies neighbors, adopted American ways more quickly. in its comparison and contrast of two communi‐ So too, as Dehne describes in chapters 6 and 7, ties that were established at the same time and these differences are played out in the extent of place but by groups with different regional ori‐ German ethnicity and the traces of that identity in gins in Germany and dissimilar settlement pro‐ the cultural landscape. In the close-knit immi‐ cesses (chain migration versus a planned settle‐ grant Catholic community of Ferdinand Town‐ ment venture). As Dehne demonstrates, this made ship, the use of German as a frst language persist‐ all the difference when it came to issues such as ed far longer, well after World War II, than in religious heritage, acculturation rates, adoption of Widner Township. Likewise, the ethnic cultural American agricultural techniques, and cultural landscape imprint, manifested most vividly in landscape imprint. For these reasons, the book is church architecture, cemeteries and the use of a welcome addition to the literature on the sub‐ German place names, is more pervasive and com‐ ject. plete in Ferdinand Township. One might make the argument, however, that this is explained more by the fact that the Ferdinand Township is over‐ whelmingly Catholic and that Catholic religious landscapes, with an emphasis on symbolism, or‐ nate structure, and decoration, are often more "pronounced" than Protestant ones with less per‐ vasive, outward signs of religious symbolism. In the end, Dehne's study represents a wel‐ come addition to the large literature relating to the nature of German immigrant communities in the United States in the nineteenth century.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Basic Genealogical Sources in Westphalia – an Introduction Online Westphalia Connection Session, Dec
    Basic Genealogical Sources in Westphalia – An Introduction Online Westphalia Connection Session, Dec. 5th, 2020, Roland Linde Dear genealogists, I would like to give you some advice how you can obtain further information about your ancestors in Westphalia. But I can only give you a very few initial clues because its a fairly broad topic. Perhaps I can tell you more about the history of Westphalia in another conference; it is a diverse landscape with strong cultural, economic and religious differences. Around 1800 Westphalia still consisted of various clerical and secular principalities, larger and smaller, some of which were Catholic and some were Protestant. Then the French came under Emperor Napoleon and turned Westphalia pretty much on its head. With the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Westphalia first emerged as a state unit, as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. Münster became the provincial capital. In 1816, Prussia set up three administrative districts (Regierungsbezirke) within this province: Münster (western Westphalia), Arnsberg (southern Westphalia) and Minden (eastern Westphalia). The administrative districts were again divided into districts (Kreise) and these into rural and urban communities (Gemeinden und Städte). That doesn't sound terribly exciting, but as a genealogist you have to know that in order to find the sources. The Prussians founded a state archive in Münster, in which the historical tradition for the whole of Westphalia was brought together. It still exists today under a different name. Exactly 150 years later, in 1946, the Allied occupying powers smashed the Free State of Prussia, which had dominated Germany since 1815. From the two western provinces of Prussia, the Rhineland and Westphalia, today's state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen) emerged under the British military government at that time.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing to Archives in Germany, France, and Poland
    Writing to Archives in Germany, France, and Poland As is the case with all genealogical research in forwarded to regional archives in the cities of Germany, researchers need to know how to correctly Det mold and Minden. And the list goes on. and efficiently formulate letters and emails to staff The first task is to determine the county and state members in archives on all levels of jurisdiction ­ of the target town during the years of the German public and private. In the case of census records, the Empire (1871-1918). The primary tool for that archives will be entities of the governments of towns, search is Meyers Orts undVerkehrsverzeichnis des Deutschen counties, provinces, and states (depending upon the Reichs [Meyer's Commerce Directory for the German organization of archives in each of the modern states Empire]. 2 Access to this key resource is possible of the Federal Republic of Germany). through various leading genealogical websites. Once Conclusions may be drawn from the corre­ the location of the town has been identified, other spondence campaign carried out in preparation for websites will establish the current county and state of the current book. More than one thousand letters that town. Wikipedia will usually provide such details. and emails were sent and perhaps one-half of those The next step is to locate the address of the received a response. The best responses came from town archive in question. The finest tool for this city archives, while responses from archives at higher task is the Internet. To begin, use the German pat­ levels were progressively less satisfying.
    [Show full text]
  • Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform an Intellectual Biography of Johan Skytte (1577–1645)
    ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in History of Ideas 42 Cover: Johan Skytte af Duderhof (1577–1645). Oil painting by Jan Kloppert (1670–1734). Uppsala universitets konstsamling. Jenny Ingemarsdotter Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform An Intellectual Biography of Johan Skytte (1577–1645) Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Auditorium Minus, Gustavianum, Akademigatan 3, Uppsala, Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 10:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in Swedish. Abstract Ingemarsdotter, J. 2011. Ramism, Rhetoric and Reform. An Intellectual Biography of Johan Skytte (1577–1645). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in History of Ideas 42. 322 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8071-4. This thesis is an intellectual biography of the Swedish statesman Johan Skytte (1577–1645), focusing on his educational ideals and his contributions to educational reform in the early Swedish Age of Greatness. Although born a commoner, Skytte rose to be one of the most powerful men in Sweden in the first half of the seventeenth century, serving three generations of regents. As a royal preceptor and subsequently a university chancellor, Skytte appears as an early educational politician at a time when the Swedish Vasa dynasty initiated a number of far-reaching reforms, including the revival of Sweden’s only university at the time (in Uppsala). The contextual approach of the thesis shows how Skytte’s educational reform agenda was shaped by nationally motivated arguments as well as by a Late Renaissance humanist heritage, celebrating education as the foundation of all prosperous civilizations. Utilizing a largely unexplored source material written mostly in Latin, the thesis analyzes how Skytte’s educational arguments were formed already at the University of Marburg in the 1590s, where he learned to embrace the utility-orientated ideals of the French humanist Petrus Ramus (1515–1572).
    [Show full text]
  • Additional Scenarios, Army Lists, New Rules and Special Rules for the Song of Drums and Shakos Fast Play Napoleonic Skirmish Rules
    More Drums and Shakos Additional Scenarios, Army Lists, new Rules and Special Rules for the Song of Drums and Shakos Fast Play Napoleonic Skirmish Rules This material is copyright ©Sergio Laliscia/Ganesha Games 2008 Written by Sergio Laliscia Rules editing by Andrea Sfiligoi English-language editing by John Oman Based on the “Song of Blades” engine by Andrea Sfiligoi The author can be contacted at: [email protected] Play testing and helpful suggestions: Andrea Sfiligoi, Stefano Stibelli, Jean Levrero, the Song of Blades Yahoo group, and the many nice folks at Lucca Comics and Games 2009 and at Dadi.com 2009 who stopped to play games at our tables. Thanks to Nic at Eureka Miniatures (http://www.eurekamin.com.au/) for providing exceptional 28mm models for the Tyrolean rebellion (see back cover). For errata and clarifications please download our free webzine Free Hack (www.lulu.com/songofblades) or join the Song of Blades yahoo group at (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/songofblades/) Official SDS blog: http://drumsandshakos.blogspot.com Official Ganesha Games blog: http://ganeshagames.blogspot.com Christopher Cook (order #5682797) Introduction 3 Wurzburg (Grand Duchy of) 20 New Rules 3 Dutch-Belgian Contingent 1815 21 Mixed Nationality Squads 3 Foreign Regiments in French Service 21 Unused Points 3 Foreign Regiments in British Service 22 Extreme Weather 4 Hanover (Electorate of) 22 Former Ally 5 Italy (Kingdom of) 23 Enemy 5 Naples (Kingdom of) 23 Optional Rule For Multiplayer Games 5 Nassau 24 Optional Rule: Double Six on Activations
    [Show full text]
  • German Gazetteers Online
    ll genealogical research is ultimately local in origin. Our ancestors lived in specific places, and the records about them were usually created in those places where they lived. Further, it is Athrough a family’s location that we, in part, identify them. German The geographic aspect of genealogical research is even more important for Germanic ancestors than it is for most North Americans. Some key records for North Americans were created at the state, provincial, and national levels. That is seldom the case with German ancestors. Virtually all the key records about German families were created at the local level, in the town or parish where they lived. gazetteers Therefore, locating places in Germany is an important aspect of successful German research. From there it is essential to identify the parish where the family attended church. The primary tools for such research are gazetteers. Most of those gazetteers are written in German (often using an archaic font style), and are hard for most researchers to access, except via microfilm at a Family History online Center. Fortunately, technology is changing all that. Slowly, an increasing number of gazetteers for various German states are appearing online. By Kory L. The German Empire Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA However, due to the constantly changing map of Europe, particularly as it pertained to German areas, the boundaries and jurisdictional levels of German countries often changed. Indeed, the actual country of Germany did not even exist until 1871. Earlier, our German ancestors lived in one of many different and independent German states. These changes have significant impact on German research, one of which is how to designate the now changed jurisdictions that were in place when our ancestors lived there.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert S. Chamberlain Collection of Military Medals and Coins, 392 BC – 1984 AD Collection Mss
    Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections University of South Carolina Libraries Robert S. Chamberlain Collection of Military Medals and Coins, 392 BC – 1984 AD Collection Mss. 2014:1 Contact information: Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections University of South Carolina Libraries 1322 Greene Street Columbia SC 29208 (803) 777-3847 email: [email protected] ©2016 University of South Carolina Libraries Descriptive Summary Title: Robert S. Chamberlain Collection of Military Medals and Coins, 392 BC – 1984 AD Collection Number: Mss. 2014:1 Creator: Robert S. Chamberlain, 1903-1981 Extent: 22 archival boxes Administrative Information Provenance: Gift, 1979 Processed by: Eliza Still Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research Preferred Citation: [Item], Robert S. Chamberlain Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries. Publication Rights: All rights reside with the estate of the creator. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Scope and Contents Note The Robert S. Chamberlain Collection of Military Medals and Coins contains military medals, Greek and Roman coins, Civil War documents, and military figurines collected by the Latin American historian Robert Chamberlain (1903-1981), mostly during the late 1960s and 1970s. The collection also documents Chamberlain’s research in Hispanic American history during the colonial period and railroads. Robert Stoner Chamberlain was born in Canton, Ohio, on October 13, 1903. He received a B.A. in History from Stanford University in 1925, a B.S. in Education from Ohio State University in 1927, and a Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • European Commerce, Shewing New and Secure Channels of Trade with the Continent of Europe: Detailing the Produce, Manufactures, A
    -^^. v..,> / '^1 i^t^trif Sn^jJW. A s;KO;i:CCc-sa:t; \ jfi-" -.J-, me Robert E. Gross Collection A Memorial to the Founder of the ' ' Business Administration Library « Los Angeles ymtmmimmmjtMi^imatMmim : EUROPEAN COMMERCE, SHEWING NEW AND SECURE CHANNELS OF TRADE WITH THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE ' PETAILINGTIIE PRODUCE, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE^ or RUSSIA, PRUSSIA, SWEDEN, DENMARK, AND GERMANY 5 AS WELL AS THE TRADE OF THE RIVERS ELBE, TVESER, AND EMS-, WITH A REN'ERAL VIEW OF TRE Trade, Navigation, Produce, atid Manufactures, of the UNITED KINGDOM ofGREAT BRITAIN 5C IRELAND. BY J. JEPSON ODDY, MEMBER OF THE RUSSIAN AND TURKEY OR LEVANT COMPANIES. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. PHILADELPHIA; PRINTED AND SOLD BY JAMES HUMPHREYS, CHANGE WALK, Thp Corner of Second and Walnut-streets. 1807. CONTENTS. BOOK IV, CHAPTER I. OF Stoeden in general. Its boundaries and seas i its mines of iron, copper, gold, silver, and lead; its production in tar, pitch and timber. Fishery, ma- nufactures, lakes, and canals. 9 CHAPTER II. Distinction betzveen the old aiid the neto staple towns of Sweden specified. Of Stockholm ; its localities, ma- nufactures, exchange, and exports in 1803 6C 1804,- its 7nonies, zoeights, and measures. Gothenburg ; its trade, exports,, fishery, Greenland company, station for British packets. Gefie; its trade and exports. The same of Abo. Szoedish Po?nera?iia. Stralsund, a newly inade free port. Grypszvald. Wolgast. Barth. Rugen. Aggregate shipping of Sweden. 21 CHAPTER III. Public institutions and bodies for the purposes of trade in Sweden ; the Bank, East India company. West India company, college of commerce, trade, marine rine society, company for diving and salvage^, re- marks on national debt, trade of Szveden, imports and exports, trade and ^mvigation, 8(c.
    [Show full text]
  • Kurt Baschwitz
    BabetteJaap van HellemansGinneken Kurt Baschwitz A Pioneer of Communication Studies and Social Psychology Kurt Baschwitz Kurt Baschwitz Pioneer of Communication Studies and Social Psychology Jaap van Ginneken Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: Present-day kiosk or newspaper-stand, Nice, early 2017 Picture taken by the author Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 94 6298 604 6 e-isbn 978 90 4853 728 0 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789462986046 nur 681 / 775 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) The author / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2018 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. ‘We want to hope, that practical politics will also acknowledge […] the rediscovery of the overwhelmingly large majority of decent people’. (Final sentence of Kurt Baschwitz’s key work Du und die Masse, published in the fateful year 1938) Table of Contents Preface 15 1 Introduction 17 Baschwitz’s significance 17 A very European intellectual 19 Causes of neglect 20 Approach of this study 22 Outline 24 A note on documentation 25 2 1886-1914: Youth and First Journalism 27 Wider historical background: ‘German exceptionalism’? 27 The liberal southwest 30 The Baschwitz family name and roots 31 A book-printer dynasty 33 Jewish assimilation and resurgent anti-Semitism 35 German education 37 The Baschwitz’s family life 38 School and student years 39 The early German social sciences 41 Baschwitz’s Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Library of Liberty: Travels in the North of Germany, Vol. 1
    The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Thomas Hodgskin, Travels in the North of Germany, vol. 1 [1820] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. This title is also part of the Portable Library of Liberty DVD which contains over 1,000 books and quotes about liberty and power, and is available free of charge upon request. The cuneiform inscription that appears in the logo and serves as a design element in all Liberty Fund books and web sites is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, in present day Iraq. To find out more about Liberty Fund, Inc., or the Online Library of Liberty Project, please contact the Director at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Queen Elizabeths
    l Mon mou th A . Ca l lzoto by LV. , A TON C HU C H , MONU ME NT TO B L ANC H E P A R RY I N B C R HE RE FORD S H I RE QU E EN EL IZ A BETH ’S A N D O TH E R SK E TC H E S S Y B I L C U S T “ AU THOR OF FROM A L ITTL E TOWN-GARDE N H L ’ L ONDO N ! SMIT , E DER 63 CO . 1 5 WATER LOO P LACE 1 9 1 4 !All rights reserved! P R E FA C E TH E kin d reception given to my former From a Little Town small volume of essays , Go rden ff , has encouraged me to o er another series to my readers . These sketches are obviously too miscellaneous to form a con n e cted n W work , rangi g , as ill be seen , from Fo r Queen Elizabeth to a dormouse . this ' o fier shortcoming I can no apology , but trust to the friendly indulgence o f those into Whose hands my little book may fall . L t — My special thanks are due to . Col . J . A . C B . Bradney, . , and the Rev C T Brothers , o f Rector Bacton , Herefordshire , for their kind assistance with the history of Mistress Blanche Parry, and to the Rev . H . F . Westlake f or permission to use his photo ’ o f . graph her tomb in St Margaret s , West t o a Gieseler minster .
    [Show full text]
  • Using Germany's Church Tax As an Example of Non-Geographically Bounded Taxing Jurisdiction
    Washington University Global Studies Law Review Volume 9 Issue 4 January 2010 Caesar As God's Banker: Using Germany's Church Tax As an Example of Non-Geographically Bounded Taxing Jurisdiction Stephanie Hoffer The Ohio State University Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_globalstudies Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the Tax Law Commons Recommended Citation Stephanie Hoffer, Caesar As God's Banker: Using Germany's Church Tax As an Example of Non- Geographically Bounded Taxing Jurisdiction, 9 WASH. U. GLOBAL STUD. L. REV. 595 (2010), https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_globalstudies/vol9/iss4/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington University Global Studies Law Review by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CAESAR AS GOD’S BANKER: USING GERMANY’S CHURCH TAX AS AN EXAMPLE OF NON-GEOGRAPHICALLY BOUNDED TAXING JURISDICTION STEPHANIE HOFFER I. INTRODUCTION Germany permits its religious organizations to tax their members.1 The tax, which is often collected by the state on behalf of those organizations, is part of the country’s constitutionally enshrined tradition of treating its large, lasting religious organizations as public law corporations.2 It is a practice that stands directly opposed to the American idea of religious liberty. Nonetheless, it is not as foreign as one might think. Many of the American colonies and the early states levied church taxes that were quite similar to Germany’s current system.3 The last of these taxes, which supported the churches of Massachusetts, survived until 1833.4 Notably, some of the arguments against the German system today are similar to those forwarded by famous voices of the American disestablishment.
    [Show full text]
  • Suspended from a 30Mm White Ribbon with Two 8Ram Red Stripes 2Mm from the Edge
    suspended from a 30mm white ribbon with two 8ram red stripes 2mm from the edge. Figure 9: Reverse of a full-size Hessen traditional modified medal bar trio with tailor’s label Figure 7: Full-size Hamburg traditional modified medal Hohenzollern bar trio. The principality had been a state since 1576 and it became Hesse-Darmstadt part of Prussia in 1849. The Silver Honor Medal with Swords of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern was The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt had existed since originally instituted in 1842 and was always minted in 1567 and by 1914 had 1,333,000 inhabitants. There were silver. The obverse has two concentric circles surrounding about 150,000 Hessen Honor Medals issued during World a central medallion with the Hohenzollern shield crowned War I, and it was issued regardless of rank to enlisted men by a three-arched crown (Figure 10). The inner circle has as well as officers. FOR TREUE UND VERDIENST, ("for faithfulness and merit"). There is a very small Star of David below the crown in the second circle between the words F~R and VERDIENST. The outer circle has an oak wreath within it. Figure 8: Obverse of a full-size Hessen traditional modified medal bar trio. The Honor Medal shown is a later war issue made of silvered zinc (Figures 8 and 9). It is a circular 30mm with the left profile of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig on the obverse surrounded by the inscription ERNST L UD WIG GROSSHERZOG VON HESSEN. The reverse has F~)R/ Figure 10: Full-size Hohenzollern Bavarian-style medal bar.
    [Show full text]