Newsletter Summer 2003
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Max Kade Institute Friends Newsletter VOLUME 12 NUMBER 2 • SUMMER 2003 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON, 901 UNIVERSITY BAY DR., MADISON, WI 53705 The magnificent two-story 1882 WHAT’S INSIDE: Turner Hall ballroom (left) MKI Friends Profile: was recently Don Zamzow. restored to its original splendor Page 4 (below) and public function Director’s Corner. as a venue for Page 5 civic and cultural events. New Feature! “Speaking of Language.” Pages 6–7 Turners Friends celebrate Annual Dinner story and 150 years photo By Rose Marie Barber gallery. Pages 8-9 The Milwaukee Turners, Inc., and the Milwaukee Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee Turners Book Review by Cora Lee Turners School of Gymnastics th Kluge. will be celebrating their 150 Page 10 anniversary on September 6, 2003. Past presidents Time: 6 p.m. cocktails and forty-year members will be honored. There will 6:45 p.m. dinner be zither music during cocktails, and dinner in the 8 p.m. speakers and Highlights of recent library entertainment acquisitions. ballroom followed by brief histories of the Turners, an Page 11 exhibition, in full 1853 costume, by our ladies class, Date: September 6, ethnic dancing by the Oberlandlers; and a sing-along 2003 of familiar German and American songs. Collection Place: Turners Hall, The Milwaukee Turners, known originally as the 1034 Old World Feature: Socialer Turnverein, was founded on July 17, 1853, Third Street, Legal Milwaukee advice in Phillips Tavern on Market Square, a popular books. gathering place of the time. These pioneers were For cost and more educators, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and info call 414-272- Pages 1733 14–15 intellectuals who had lost a revolution in 1848 and came to America to realize their dream of freedom. www.milwaukee turners.org Continued on page 2 2 Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society The Milwaukee Turnverein group won five prizes in international competition in Germany, 1880. This photo is part of a larger collection of Milwaukee Turner material at the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies. Continued from page 1 These 48ers, as they were called, improved the city’s social and economic conditions through public discussion. They debated the city’s future, and in The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute for doing so helped ensure it had one. This practice is German-American Studies is published quarterly at the continued to this day with our 4th Street Forums, held University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Newsletter is edited and produced by Nicole Saylor with the assistance of the every Thursday at noon during the year with the Newsletter Committee of the Board of Directors and is exception of the summer months. printed by Great Graphics, Inc. The Newsletter appears In August 1853, the group’s first tournament of quarterly in March, June, September, and December. games was held in what was then faraway Ozaukee Submissions are invited and should be sent directly to: County farmland, now Mequon. The new, unusual Max Kade Institute organization caused excitement in Milwaukee, and for German-American Studies membership increased rapidly. Building on the Turner 901 University Bay Drive Madison, WI 53705 motto “Frisch, Frei, Stark und Treu,” physical fitness Ph: (608) 262-7546 Fax: (608) 265-4640 was a “way of life” promoted for all ages. It was the Any submissions via e-mail may be directed to Turners who introduced physical education to the [email protected]. public school system. At one time the organization Visit the Max Kade Institute on the even trained gymnastics and physical fitness teachers World Wide Web at: for schools. The first woman physical education http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki Continued on page 3 3 Continued from page 2 teacher graduated from the Turners program in 1875. Many Turner societies, include the Milwaukee Turners, played an important role in the Civil War. In the wake of the conflicts of 1848, many members had the knowledge, strength, and organizational skills to make fine soldiers. In 1880 the name of Milwaukee’s George Brosius became known across the country for what his famous “Frankfurter Riege (team)” accomplished at the German Federal Turnfest in Frankfurt. (Turnfest is a competition similar to a mini-Olympic event.) It was the first time that a team from outside of Germany won significant honors; in fact, the Milwaukeeans won six top prizes. Music has also been an important part of the Turners with its singing societies—a men’s chorus and a mixed chorus once directed by John Anello. Sunday afternoon concerts under the baton of Christoph Bach, and his son, grandson, and nephew were a tradition in the ballroom. The song “After the Ball” by Charles K. Harris was written in 1892 after a ball at Turner Hall. At the end of the nineteenth century there were Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Turners more than three thousand Milwaukee Turner mem- Constructed in 1882, Turner Hall at 1034 N. 4th St. is bers, ten Turner Societies in Milwaukee and sixty one of several Milwaukee buildings designed by German across Wisconsin. But the twentieth century saw a immigrant Henry H. Koch. decline in Turner activity as members moved to the suburbs, newer gymnastic clubs were founded, and A fire in 1933 and again in 1941 damaged the once tastes in entertainment and public life changed. magnificent “old world” ballroom. We are happy to say that with the beginning of the twenty-first century we are making repairs, and the ballroom is again being used for art shows, dances, concerts, and other social events. Many people have come to know the Turners through its children’s gymnastics program. We still carry on the tradition with modern equipment, classes for all ages and abilities, and financial aid for children who could not otherwise participate in gymnastics. Turner Trustee E. J. Brumder, in a statement for our 140th anniversary, said that the Turners look forward “with renewed vigor, to use its roots to create its future.” Rose Marie Barber is executive director of the Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Turners Milwaukee Turners and a member of the Max The Turners sponsor the 4th Street Forum program, Kade Institute Friends Board of Directors. which fosters discussion of community issues. 4 Friends Profile Zamzow works to keep Pomeranian heritage alive By Antje Petty When Don Zamzow grew up in the Wausau area of traditions and language. He credits his grandfather, central Wisconsin, he spoke Plattdütsch at home. (who simply played deaf if Don did not speak Platt) Settled by immigrants from northeast Germany in the for his love for the Pomeranian dialect. mid and late nineteenth century, the Wausau region has Don’s other lifelong avocation has been music. been a center of Pomeranian When he was sixteen years old, Don dialect and culture for genera- joined the Jerry Goetsch Band as a tions. Lou Ann, Don’s wife of tuba player and has not stopped forty-five years, shares his playing since. The band plays polka cultural background. In fact, music in the Bohemian and southern only a few miles separate their German style. When trying to learn ancestral villages in Pomerania. lyrics, Don quickly realized that his For many years now Don Plattdütsch background was of no and Lou Ann have been dedi- help. Thus, he decided to learn the cated to keeping their Pomera- dialects of southern Germany too. nian heritage alive. Their work The Jerry Goetsch Band has be- culminated in forming the come famous not only across the Pommerscher Verein–Central state but also worldwide. For Wisconsin in 1994. The Verein twenty-seven consecutive years its now has about 400 members live show was broadcast on who not only work to preserve WSAW-TV in Wausau and for over the Pomeranian language, but thirty years the band has toured also actively collect, preserve, Don Zamzow three times a year: one tour to and publish Pomeranian history and culture in its Central Europe, one to Central and South America various forms, including personal stories, songs, and and one within the United States. Usually two hundred recipes. The Verein publishes a newsletter, Dat to four hundred polka fans accompany the band, and Pommersche Blatt, of which Don is the editor. more than once the group has taken on the role of Members of the Verein preserve their heritage by international goodwill ambassador. hosting the “Pommern Life” radio series, touring with Don tells the story of one trip to Czechoslovakia at their own “Pommersche Tanzdeel” dance troupe, the height of the Cold War. When the group arrived in helping each other research their family histories, and Prague, their hotel reservations had been canceled to taking joint tours to their ancestral homeland now in make room for an official Romanian delegation. While eastern Germany and Poland. the Americans were still contemplating their options, It was the Verein’s efforts to preserve the Ost- the band began playing in the hotel lobby. Soon Pommersch dialect that led to Don’s first contact with enthusiastic listeners surrounded them. The hotel the Max Kade Institute. Together they sponsored the manager asked them to play some traditional Czech Third Biennial Plattdütsch Conference in Wausau in tunes and brought in a folk dance group. Everybody 1999. Last year the Verein was instrumental in the first had a great time, and the next day the Wisconsin Conversational Platt class at UW–Marathon. The travelers had their hotel rooms back. class was a huge success, and Don and Lou Ann were In March 2003 Don, who in his day job is the especially happy to see their eleven-year-old grand- owner of a software development company, joined the daughter as one of the participants.