Volume 18 No 4 • Winter 2009 A Tour of the Library Kevin M. Kurdylo
Researching at the MKI Library. Standing: Natallia Janechek, Cora Lee Kluge, Caitlin Carlson, Kevin Kurdylo; seated: Shelby Eckenrod.
he Max Kade Institute is nate European events and conditions proud of its library and affecting migration and help to posi- archive collections, which tion this significant immigrant group Tare increasingly attractive to scholars within American society in general INSIDE and researchers. Over the years, the and within the development of the • Herta Müller, 2009 Nobel MKI has become known worldwide United States. Our library is the heart Prize Laureate in Literature as a center for the study of the im- of our institution, and we open it to • Music in German Immigrant migrant experience. We are com- all visitors and draw upon it for all Theater, Book Review mitted to collecting, documenting, our outreach activities. • Ruppius’s Bill Hammer preserving, and making accessible Our collections include unique • Online Resources, Part II materials that reveal the experiences German-language items produced in • Chicago’s Volga Germans of German-speaking immigrants and America, ranging from cookbooks • Friends Profile: their descendants in North America. and religious works to poetry and James Kleinschmidt Such materials not only reflect their literature, from family histories to • The MKI Library Capital unique history, literature, and culture diaries and letters, from advertis- Campaign in the New World; they also illumi- Continued on page 4 DIRECTOR’S CORNER
Greetings, Friends and Readers! e approach the end of the fall semester and of the year with feelings of Whope and energy. It will not be long before we move to the fourth floor of the University Club, and we look for- ward to being in the central campus area, near the Memorial Library, the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and a number of humanities departments and research institutes. The pieces are all coming together. View from the front steps of the University Club, future home of the MKI. The UW College of Letters and Sci- ence has demonstrated its commit- and their descendants in a global, able several thousand hours’ worth ment to us and its confidence in the multicultural, and interdisciplin- of digitized recordings of German MKI’s bright future by making avail- ary context; (2) preservation of dialects spoken in North America, able this large area at the top of the German-language American print some going back as far as the 1940s. University Club. We are aware of the culture and personal documents; and Our Published in America collection size of this gift—and the value of this (3) programs and projects to share contains over 3,000 individual items; pledge of support. In addition to the our resources through publication, our Pamphlets, Family Histories, and property itself, the College is willing community outreach, and educa- Subject collections are extensive; and to undertake some basic renovations. tional programming. We are proud we have developed an excellent on- Nevertheless, this is not enough. of what we have and are delighted line catalog and more. Scholars, stu- We want to get it right, designing and that researchers and scholars send dents, genealogists, local historians, preparing our facilities to an appro- questions—and come—from all and members of the general public priate standard before we move in. over the world. We know that we find the MKI Library and Archives to After all, our Library and Archives have a treasure in our unique North be a source for information not avail- have special needs. Some of our pre- American German Dialect Archive, able elsewhere. cious and delicate collections require which contains and makes avail- We have begun a serious fundrais- special shelving and climate con- trol; visiting scholars and students need modern and functioning office The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies is technology to help them gather and published quarterly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Submissions are invited and manage the materials they find; and should be sent to: we all need well-appointed reading Kevin Kurdylo and study rooms, as well as more Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies spacious and better work areas than 901 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705 we have had for many years. Phone: (608) 262-7546 The MKI Library and Archives are Fax: (608) 265-4640 [email protected] central and basic to all parts of our mission: (1) research into the story mki.wisc.edu of German-speaking immigrants maxkade.blogspot.com
2 ing campaign to benefit the MKI Li- has come when your contribution brary and Archives and are appealing will do the most good. Our overall to private foundations and applying goal is high, but it can be reached: we for federal grants for major assis- hope to raise one million dollars over tance. However, we will also need three years. Gifts can be made either the support of individuals who are through the Friends or through the interested in our work: our Friends, UW Foundation—but in either case, our Friends’ Friends, and all who they should be clearly labeled “For are willing to help. Our MKI Library the MKI Library Capital Campaign.” Project (a capital campaign) will be As always, all donations are tax used exclusively to support the MKI deductible. Library: We are grateful for your help and • to create a state-of-the-art li- support. It is in large part because of brary facility in our new quarters your generosity that we have come in the University Club; so far and accomplished so much. • to purchase new acquisitions to We look back with satisfaction on fill gaps in our collections; and the past year and our 25th anniversary • to endow a position to support celebrations, and we look forward library staff. to working on the new challenges Many of you are acquainted with our ahead. You will be hearing more present situation and will under- from us in the coming months about stand what big steps forward we are the role you can play. envisioning. Our current space is Our best to you for the rest of the far from being a modern library of fall season and for the coming holi- any kind; our collections have come days. We wish you health, happiness, exclusively from private gifts and and hard work in the coming New donations; and our librarian’s salary Year. Do keep in touch! comes largely from soft money, such —Cora Lee as projects and grants. We appeal to you for donations to our MKI Library Project; the time
Board of Directors, Friends of the Max Kade Institute Peter Arvedson Treasurer, Elm Grove Hans Werner Bernet Monroe Sandra Casterline Oconomowoc Gary Gisselman Secretary, Wausau Elizabeth Greene Madison Charles James Vice President, Madison James Kleinschmidt Fitchburg Cora Lee Kluge ex officio, Madison Tom Lidtke West Bend Fran Luebke Brookfield Peter Monkmeyer Assistant to the Treasurer, Madison Antje Petty ex officio, Madison Karyl Rommelfanger President, Manitowoc
3 Continued from page 1 German-language materials, nor the histories of their businesses. ing brochures to report cards and Possibilities for original research business ledgers; we also have are almost endless: one can select secondary source materials essential any book to begin. Let us consider, to research in the field of German- for example, the first book shelved American immigrant studies. In in the PIA collection, which is addition, we house a singular col- Bibellesungen für den Familenkreis lection of recordings—the North (Bible Stories for the Family Circle), SoundScriber machine used by Prof. Lester Seifert American German Dialect Ar- published in 1916 by the Pacific Press to record Wisconsin German dialects. chive—documenting the German Publishing Association in Mountain language as spoken in America, View, California. Founded in 1874, that German-language materials which dates from the late 1940s—a Pacific Press is one of the two major were published in nearly every state, resource of extreme interest to Seventh-day Adventist publishing and we would like to document this linguists and historians. Some of houses in North America. Accord- further. Among the major publishing these materials have been exam- ing to the title page of Bibellesungen, concerns represented in our collec- ined extensively by researchers, they also had locations in Kansas tions we find such names as Concor- while others await consideration, City, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; dia and the Deutsche Evangelische evaluation, and interpretation. The Brookfield, Illinois; Calgary, Alberta, Synode von Nord-Amerika, both variety of approaches that can be Canada; and Cristobal, Canal Zone. based in St. Louis; Brumder and taken to investigate these materials A search of WorldCat, an online Northwestern in Milwaukee; and the is a continual surprise—academic union catalog with access to the col- Amerikanische Traktat-Gesellschaft, researchers from such diverse fields lections of more than 71,000 libraries Benziger Brothers, Kaufmann, and as history, linguistics, political sci- in 112 countries, reveals that Pacific Pustet in New York. Publication dates ence, German studies, immigration Press published more than 100 titles of items in the PIA collection range studies, and ethnic studies have con- in German; no doubt they felt it was from 1808 to 1918, but we hope one tacted us, not to mention the many important that their message reach day to acquire books published both genealogists and local historians. this segment of the American audi- earlier and later. Since our founding, Any tour of our collections should ence. The MKI owns only 17 of these the MKI has developed its collections begin with what is known as the titles—an indication of how much on a donation-only basis—thanks Published in America (PIA) col- more we would like to collect—and to the generosity of MKI Friends, lection. As the name suggests, it this is not even a publishing house researchers, and genealogists! is composed mainly of German- founded or run by German Ameri- The PIA collection is currently language books printed in the cans! receiving attention from students United States, although there is also The largest number of books in in Cora Lee’s class on German- a smattering of titles from Canadian our PIA collection was published American literature. For their paper publishing houses. The more than in Missouri, followed closely by projects, students are identifying and 3,000 items of the PIA collection Wisconsin and then New York and researching works by authors whose are arranged alphabetically by state, Ohio. Completing our collection contributions to American prose then city in which the publishing are numerous books published in and poetry remain largely unknown house was located, the publisher’s Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa, because they wrote in the German name, and finally author and title. and we have a fair representation of language. We look forward to seeing We do not know how large a com- items from such states as Indiana, the fruits of their labors, and we plan prehensive PIA collection would Minnesota, Maryland, and Nebraska; to add copies of their papers to our be, nor even the total number of from Tennessee we have but three, Subject collection. American publishers who printed and from Kansas only one! It is likely Continued on page 15
4 Herta Müller, 2009 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, and the Story of Her Ancestors’ Migration
Antje Petty
hen the winner of the century, the colonies in North nic Germans were expelled from the 2009 Nobel Prize in America and later the United States Serbian Banat; Germans in Romania Literature was an- seemed problematic: the voyage it- were sent to Russian labor camps for Wnounced, many asked: “Who is Herta self was treacherous and expensive, several years, and their lands were Müller?” Her selection may have and new settlers had to fend for confiscated. Later they returned to come as surprise, but the timing was themselves. About half of the ap- their Romanian communities, which no coincidence. 2009, after all, marks proximately 100,000 German emi- continued to be islands of Danube the twentieth anniversary of the fall grants who came to America during Swabian culture and German lan- of the Berlin Wall and the end of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth guage that were beleaguered under communism in Europe, and much centuries arrived as “redemptioners”; the communist regime. of Herta Müller’s work focuses on that means they were taken across When in the 1980s the “Aussiedler” life in Romania under the repressive the Atlantic in exchange for years of program offered ethnic Germans Ceauşescu regime. Her perspective is labor as indentured servants. an opportunity to leave Romania, that of a member of the Romanian- At the same time, Austria-Hungary most jumped at the chance. Within German minority population, and needed settlers for its swampy Dan- a few years, half the German she writes in German. ube River regions in the East. Would- population had left, and after the Herta Müller grew up in Romania be emigrants could reach these areas fall of communism in 1989, the rest in a German-speaking family and by traveling down the Danube; the followed. Today there are virtually no community founded by immigrants Austrian government supported the descendants of the original German from Southwest Germany over 200 journey; and new settlers received settlers left in the Banat: instead, they years ago. She studied German and subsidies, tax credits, and special live in their ancestors’ country of Romanian Literature at West Uni- privileges upon arrival. During the origin. Herta Müller is one of them. versity in Timişoara. Her first work, last eighty years of the eighteenth She is among the more than three “Niederungen” (“Nadirs”)—a child’s century, over 200,000 people known million “return-migrants” (about view of village life in the German- as the “Donauschwaben” moved to 300,000 from Romania) who now cultural Banat—was published in the Banat and neighboring Sieben- contribute to modern Germany’s German in Romania in 1982 in a bürgen (Transylvania) from the increasingly multicultural society. state-censored version. As a mem- Rhineland, the Palatinate, Bavaria, For them three centuries of German ber of the “Aktionsgruppe Banat,” a and Alsace and Lorraine. At the be- migration have come full circle. group of German-speaking writers ginning, life in the Banat was dismal, In announcing the 2009 award, who fought for freedom of speech, and many died of malaria and mal- the Swedish Nobel Academy lauded she soon became a target of the Se- nutrition. However, once the swamps Herta Müller for the frankness of curitate, Romania’s secret police. In had been drained and turned into the poetry and prose with which 1987, she and her husband moved to fertile agricultural land, the region she depicts the landscape of the West Germany as part of the “Aus- prospered. disposed. Her works are the story siedler” program, a German govern- After World War I, the Banat was of her experience with oppression, ment initiative that paid Eastern divided between Hungary, Serbia, displacement, and totalitarianism. European countries to let ethnic Ger- and Romania. In Hungary, all eth- At the same time, her family’s mans “come back” to Germany. nic minorities were subject to new history is another story of German Americans sometimes forget that magyarization policies, and many emigration—the story of a group that not every emigrant in the world came Germans left—some emigrating to did not immigrate to America. to this country. In the eighteenth- America. After World War II, all eth-
5 BOOKS
Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840–1940 by John Koegel. Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2009.
Cora Lee Kluge
his volume of nearly 600 sional German-language theaters pages, which appears in the in New York City, together with Eastman Studies in Music the years, locations, and histories Tseries, is a major contribution to the of the buildings themselves; topic of German theater and par- • dates of opera and operetta pre- ticularly German musical theater in mieres in German and other lan- New York City. Its three parts are I. guages in New York, 1842–1893; Musical Theater in Little Germany; • the opera and operetta reper- II. German-American Performers tory performed in German, by and Characterizations; and III. Adolf seasons; Philipp and the German American • a list of European singing star Immigrant Ritual. Koegel’s topic Marie Geistinger’s tours with has essentially not been dealt with members of the Thalia Theater
in scholarly literature, though its 288. Division, Library p. the Music Congress. Koegel, of From Company, 1881–1883, which scope and importance is huge: by Sheet music for a Low German dialect song included over 40 communities, his conservative estimate there were from Adolf Philipp’s Über’n großen Teich some as far away as Salt Lake City (Across the Big Pond), produced in Berlin. probably at least 40,000 to 50,000 and San Francisco; German-language performances of • lists of Adolf Neuendorff’s and 4,000 individual works in Manhat- even brought his works from the Adolf Philipp’s stage works. New York immigrant community to tan in the century between 1840 and By far the largest appendix is a his Deutsch-Amerikanisches The- 1940, and a total of at least 200,000 list of German-language works or ater in the Köpenicker Straße. In theatrical performances within the translations into German that were 1919 he formed the Adolf Philipp German-American community in performed between 1840 and 1894 in Film Corporation, producing three the United States. New York City, essentially a view into “musical film comedies” that were Adolf Neuendorff (1843–1897) and the complete nature of the repertory probably not a financial success; but Adolf Philipp (1864–1936) are the for those years. 72 composers and he continued to be a celebrated and central figures in Koegel’s story—par- 131 librettists and playwrights are productive impresario through the ticularly the latter, to whom he de- listed, as well as the dates of known 1920s. Scholars—even recent ones— votes more than 150 pages. Philipp, premieres and the seasons when the who concentrated on popular musi- have bemoaned the loss of Philipp’s 1 individual works were performed. cal theater, had become a successful works, but Koegel provides informa- tion about where many of them can Koegel gathered this information singer and writer of libretti and plays be found. from a wide range of sources, such in Europe before he was brought to Koegel’s study concentrates on mu- as various histories of the New York New York in 1890 by Gustav Am- sic in the German immigrant theater stage and newspapers. berg, the long-term director of New in New York City, but his 100 pages We can no longer argue that mate- York’s Thalia Theater. In this country of appendices provide a much wider rials for investigating the German- he developed into one of the most range of information, including: American musical theater have successful writers of ethnic musical • a list of the locations of ethnic disappeared. Koegel’s work, together comedy, and during a brief period theaters in the United States; with the digitized bibliography of the he spent in Berlin (1903–1907), he • a list of the 20 principal profes- Milwaukee Public Library’s Trostel
6 Kind” (A New York Child) from Der Pawnbroker von der East Side and “Was kostet Amerika?” (What Does America Cost?) from Zwei Lots in the Bronx, both by Adolf Philipp. The perennial problem for Ger- man-American cultural topics—the foreign-language issue that often restricts the number of people who can read and understand studies about our American heritage—is ad- equately resolved here, as the libretto texts are given in the original Ger- man and also translated into English. Other quotations are given only in English, with no indication that the original was in German; but this will not bother most readers. We greet with enthusiasm the ap- pearance of John Koegel’s Music in German Immigrant Theateras a work that will contribute to our field of study in many ways. It covers far more than the German-American music situation in New York City, although this is its focal point; and we hope that it will lead to further endeavors in this area.
Notes
From the New York Public Library for the Performaing Arts. Koegel, p. 351. p. Arts. Koegel, Public Library the Performaing for York the New From 1 See, for example, Peter Merrill’s German- An advertisement of the Adolf Philipp Film Company. American Urban Culture: Writers and Theaters in Early Milwaukee (Madison, Wisc.: Max Collection of German Theater Scripts succeed not only in providing useful Kade Institute, 2000) 28. 2 See
7 Bill Hammer: Otto Ruppius’s Adventure Story from Civil War Missouri
Cora Lee Kluge
published in 1862 in serialized form of the numerous German immigrants in the Leipzig magazine Die Gar- who were eager champions of ‘free tenlaube, the story later appeared in labor’ and now enthusiastic support- book form in several European pub- ers of the endangered Union….” All lishing houses, either separately or these elements play important parts together with other stories. Our copy in Ruppius’s tale. is a rare item published by W. Düms In the course of the narrative, Bill in Wesel (1895 and 1899); it contains Hammer, a young German-American five color illustrations by the German boy, takes on two extremely danger- watercolor artist and lithographer ous missions as he attempts to pre- Wilhelm Schäfer (1839–?), who is vent a secessionist gang consisting of also known for his illustrations of a “all sorts of abandoned, unemployed, German-language edition of James and lawless rabble” from terrorizing Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking citizens of his area who were loyal to Tales. the Union. His peaceful community Set in the border state of Missouri of Pleasant Grove is under siege by in the year 1861, Bill Hammer is a these secessionist outlaws, whose suspenseful adventure story. Though crimes include arson, robbery, and a slave state, a Missouri convention murder. Fred Minner, an somewhat had decided against secession from older friend, asks him to undertake Front cover, showing Bill in the hands of the the Union before the outbreak of the an all-night trek from Pleasant Grove seccessionist gang. war; but the opposing factions estab- to Jefferson City to request that the lished both pro-Union and pro-Con- Union troops there send reinforce- he 150th anniversary of the federate governments, and hostilities Civil War is approaching, and between them were intense. Ruppius there are signs of increasing carefully lays out this historical back- Tinterest in this period in American ground, stressing that the secession- history. Those who engage in Ger- ists, mainly Anglo-Americans, found man-American studies are involved, themselves at odds with Missouri’s and we find that the MKI Library and German immigrants, nearly all of Archives collections are a rich source whom aligned themselves with the of neglected primary material related Union supporters. He describes how to the era. One example is a short the pro-Confederate Governor Clai- story entitled Bill Hammer, written borne F. Jackson was counting upon by German-American writer Otto three things as he tried to bring the Ruppius (1819–1864), a Forty-eighter state into the Southern camp: “the who spent the years between 1849 roughneck spirit that is a basic trait and 1861 in the United States—in throughout America, the southern Nashville, Lexington, Milwaukee, feeling of the slaveholders and their New York, Louisville, and St. Louis— supporters, and the instinctive hatred and then returned to Europe. First Otto Ruppius.
8 Europe in 1862, appeared relatively early in the Civil War. Its intent is to inform European readers of the situa- tion in Missouri and the position tak- en by the German immigrants there. It thus belongs to an influential group of works written by German Ameri- cans such as Mathilde Franziska Anneke, Ottilie Assing, and others, whose contributions informed the European reading public about the situation in America and the position of German immigrants in their new
Front cover of Die Gartenlaube, 1862, showing Ruppius’s Bill Hammer: Episode from the Civil War homeland. Through these writers in Missouri as the lead story. Europeans became familiar with problems facing German Americans ments. But Bill cannot get through: his lantern in desperation, running in the 1850s and 1860s: the wide- he barely escapes with his life when down the tracks, and jumping out of spread xenophobia among Anglo- he is caught and the letter he was to the way of the oncoming train just in Americans, the rise of the nativist deliver is found in the lining of his time to prevent disaster. It is a terrify- American Party, their growing sense hat. Dejected over having failed, he ing scene, which Ruppius describes that the situation was becoming more makes his way back home, nearly with great skill: the train thunder- desperate from day to day, their fear falling into a brook on the way be- ing along with all the troops aboard, that civil war might be unavoidable, cause secessionists have destroyed a nearer and nearer its catastrophic and the Civil War itself. bridge. But it is too late: early in the plunge into the river, the young boy morning he finds the town of Pleas- filled with fear, a young David oppos- ant Grove in flames. ing the train, the modern, mechani- Bill’s chance to redeem himself cal Goliath. comes later the same day in the Fred and Bill return to Mr. Ander- form of another—and even more son’s place, where the robber band is perilous—task. News comes that relaxing, drinking, playing cards, and Fred Minner has set out himself for awaiting further developments. Fred Jefferson City and is returning with now saves Bill’s life by killing their a trainload of Union troops. From watchman, and Fred and Bill togeth- reported secessionist conversa- er succeed in capturing the band in tions, Bill learns that the beams of a an action to which Ruppius ascribes railroad bridge on the train’s route great importance: “The capturing of have been cut through; and he sets this secessionist band was the first out as dark falls to stop the train, blow of the Missouri Union troops crossing the dangerous river under outside of St. Louis, and it introduced extreme time pressure, with only the beginning of a murderous war in a hastily fastened rope as security. the state that is far from over. But the Though pursued by the secessionist Southern sympathizers found it wise Mr. Anderson, who falls to his death, not to come near the stronghold of Bill reaches the tracks before the the German volunteers again.” train arrives at the bridge, swinging Ruppius’s story, first published in Fred Minner saves Bill’s life.
9 RESOURCES
Online Bibliographical Resources for German-American Studies: Part II
Sonja Mekel
An examination of useful resources requires registration:
10 Home Away from Home: Volga Germans of Chicago’s Jefferson Park
Daniel Pogorzelski
hicago has long been a mag- . net for peoples from all over the world seeking a better Clife. Jefferson Park, on the Northwest Side, is known as the “Gateway to Chicago,” but it has not been one of the traditional areas where immi- grants first settled. Such “neighbor- hoods of initial settlement,” closer to the city center and the plentiful The Volga Germans: Krasnojar, Chicago, Everywhere Chicago, Krasnojar, Germans:Volga The jobs in their industrial environs, gave rise to the famous ethnic enclaves like Greektown, Little Italy, Polish Downtown, and Maxwell Street that are deeply embedded in the social
and historical fabric of the city. Nev- George courtesy Valko, Photo The band of the Volga German Benefit Society, Chicago branch, taken in 1934. ertheless, Jefferson Park did become the original settlement location for one group of immigrants: the Volga from southwestern Germany, these the largest urban Volga German cen- Germans. settlers came to be known as the ter in America, with well over 1,000 There are ethnic Germans in Rus- Volga Germans (Nyemtsy Povolzhe). families finding new homes there. sia, even today, and once there were While settlers were lured to Russia The beginnings were modest enough: many more. Spread out in clusters with promises of self-government, the first colonists arrived in 1891 throughout the Russian Empire exemption from military service, and directly from Enders, Russia, and from Volhynia to the Black Sea, an the right to cultivate their language found employment at a farm near estimated 1.8 million Germans were and culture, these privileges were Dunning, working for a German- living in Russia in 1897, according curtailed and rescinded towards the American association. Research to the Russian census. Beginning end of the nineteenth century under done by members of the American in 1762, Catherine the Great had the reigns of Czars Alexander II Historical Society of Germans from encouraged Germans to settle the and III. “Russification” policies were Russia (AHSGR) has shown that sparsely populated lands of Russia. enacted that mandated the use of the first known Volga Germans in Arriving with sophisticated agricul- only the Russian language and also Jefferson Park came in 1894, and tural know-how and unencumbered pressured all peoples in the Empire two decades later, a flood of Russian by the feudal obligations of Russians to convert to the Russian Orthodox Germans came to this area. Most who still served their lords as serfs, faith. Meanwhile, other forces were of these “Jefferson Parkers,” as they these German immigrants prospered. in play that would eventually lead to are often called, came from the area One such German cluster was along the collapse of the Russian state. of Volga German settlement called In the face of such difficulties, one “Wiesenseite”: the Volga River, an area first settled can easily understand why more than in 1764 that eventually grew to more Their previous home had been on 100,000 Germans emigrated from than 100 colonies between Saratov the eastern steppes of Russia near Russia to the United States. Many and Kamyshin. Migrating mostly the provincial cities of Saratov headed for Chicago, which became
11 and Engels along the Volga and 1 for “The United Order of Wolga Bolshoi-Karaman rivers . . . . (not a typo) Germans” was in Jef- [T]he majority of them came ferson Park. from the villages of Schwedt, While most Volga Germans in Jef- Krasnojar, Enders, Stahl, Rein- ferson Park were Protestant Luther- wald, Rosenheim, Katherinen- ans, a number of them attended the stadt, Paulskoye, and Nieder- Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lu- Monjou, Russia. All of these theran, or Congregational churches. villages were in close proximity in In addition, many Volga Germans Russia and the people were either attended meetings of the Bruder- friends, relatives, or acquaintanc- schaft, a nondenominational reli- es. They came to Jefferson Park gious brotherhood that held spirited Photo courtesy of Ed Hinsch and the Northwest Chicago Society. Historical Ed the Northwest of courtesy and Hinsch Photo through word-of-mouth, by letters prayer meetings three times a week, sent home telling of jobs, and where those present would burst because other Volga Germans al- into song brimming with “beautiful ready in the neighborhood spoke harmonies,” as one person recounted. the same dialect of German.1 Known for their strictness and piety, Bruderschaft members figured Enthusiasm for Chicago arose Lorraine and Marlene Hinsch in Jefferson Park, with when an immigrant who had arrived prominently in recollections of Volga the “Russian Hotel” in the background. in 1903 returned to his home in German life in Jefferson Park. Most Schwedt after only four years with poignant perhaps are David Aul’s thing. I never forgot it. It left an a savings of $4,000. Within the next recollections: impression. They were that pious.2 few years 150 families from Schwedt The women would wear black left the Russian steppe for Chicago. shawls, the men would have no Volga German rites and traditions Volga Germans established them- ties. That was a sin. Theater or were once common in Jefferson selves in a number of Chicagoland anything like that was a no-no. Park. During the Christmas holiday locales, including Humboldt Park, They would “admonish” on that. Belzenickel (St. Nicholas) and Christ- the area around Roosevelt and Pulas- In 1932–33 they had a conven- kindl (the Christ child) would visit ki Avenue, and the Chicago suburbs tion, the Bruderschaft over in Volga German homes to bring gifts of Riverdale, Dolton, Calumet City, Jeff. Groups coming in from Flint, for good children, while plenty of Lansing, and Thornton. Offshoots of Michigan; Sheboygan and Racine, halvah (a Turkish desert popular in the Jefferson Park settlement sprang Wisconsin; Riverdale, Illinois. They Eastern Europe) was on every table. up in nearby Bellwood and Maywood had musicians called the “Michi- Wakes and funerals, many of which as people left the bustle of the city for gan Blowers.” They were a brass took place at the recently closed John more suburban surroundings. But band. The kids were just crazy over V. May funeral home, were replete Jefferson Park stood out by virtue of that band. . . . They had a speaker. with antique customs brought over its size among all the other enclaves Escaped what was going on in from the Old World. Wedding parties of Volga Germans. By the 1930s there Russia, he made a circuit around gathered after the ceremony at Cad- were 450 Volga German families the cities over the United States. ola’s Hall on the corner of Lavergne living in the vicinity of Jefferson He was telling of the atrocities. and Lawrence Streets. Park and nearby Mayfair, making Lots of crying. They knelt down on “Jefferson Parkers” were different it a center of cultural life for Volga their hands and knees and prayed. from other Volga Germans because Germans from all over Chicagoland. And it was like a bunch of Bumble of the late date of their arrival from The neighborhood’s importance was Bees. Everybody had an individual Russia. Having been exposed to a reflected in the fact that post number prayer. It was the most moving more intense “Russification” than Continued on page 14
12 FRIENDS PROFILE
James Kleinschmidt
Antje Petty
enealogy brought James Kleinschmidt to the Max Kade Institute. In fact, it was GJim’s father, Audrey, who first worked with the MKI, as he traced his ances- try in Bavaria. Now Jim has joined the Friends’ Board of Directors as one of its new members. Jim’s family roots go deep in German-speaking Europe and represent the different backgrounds of German-American immigrants in Wisconsin. In 1852, a Kleinschmidt ancestor came from a small town near Regensburg to Helenville, Wisconsin, where his original log cabin is still standing. A year later, family on Jim’s mother’s side arrived Island Church Foundation whose As a member of the Friends’ Board in Waterloo, Wisconsin, from Lands- mission is the preservation of the of Directors, Jim hopes—among oth- kron (Lanškroun) in Bohemia. Other old Island Church or St. Wenceslaus er things—to help build up the MKI’s ancestors from Bohemia made their Church in Waterloo, Wisconsin. This resources, strengthen the Institute’s homes in the Marshall, Wisconsin, Wisconsin-registered landmark was ability to serve the community, and area between 1865 and 1875. An- built as a tamarack log structure in assist local and family historians. other part of Jim’s family originated 1863 by immigrants from Bohemia, in Prussia, about 80 miles east of including members of Jim’s fam- Berlin, and immigrated to Danville, ily. His great-great-grandmother, Wisconsin. They eventually moved to Josepha Wurtz, is buried in the Island York Township in Dane County. Church cemetery. Jim says what fascinates him about Now residing in Fitchburg, genealogy is making the connection Wisconsin, with his wife Linda, Jim to local history and to people around attended the University of Wiscon- the world. In pursuing his family his- sin–Madison and graduated with an tory, he discovered distant relatives MS degree in Civil and Environmen- in Europe and Canada and developed tal Engineering. One of his teachers a strong interest in the history of the was fellow member of the Friends’ regions in Europe from which his an- Board of Directors, Peter Monkmey- cestors came. In Wisconsin, Jim has er. At present, Jim is a senior project been actively engaged in early immi- manager for Strand Associates in grant and settlement history and in Madison, where he provides waste- the preservation of historic buildings. water utility consulting services for For example, he was president of the Wisconsin communities.
13 Continued from page 12 German heritage is still visible in Continued from page 10 the neighborhood’s landscape, from those who had arrived earlier, they German, and most are written in the the mostly Russian-German con- had faced intense pressure to assimi- old German script. gregation at Eden’s Church to the late and give up their native culture; Compact Memory
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Continued from page 4 Here also are handwritten documents Wisconsin with its comprehensive (originals or digital scans), including holdings, as well as the impressive TheSubject collection at the MKI diaries, letters, recipes, and poems. Wisconsin Historical Society, whose consists of scholarly contributions Such items provide not only insights splendid archives include a collec- that examine the reasons for mi- into everyday life in nineteenth-cen- tion of American newspapers second gration, the sometimes-harrowing tury America, but also access to the only in size to that of the Library Atlantic trips, contributions of attitudes and thoughts of individuals. of Congress. With our move to the German Americans in various states A student from Germany is coming University Club in 2011, we will be and regions of the United States, soon to investigate the immigration only steps away from both of these biographies of famous Americans of of German-speaking women; she will first-class repositories. In addition, German background, and more. At consult diaries, letters, and family we will continue to make materials present I am scanning both primary histories held at the MKI. Indeed, our available on the MKI Web pages in and secondary sources related to Family History collection is astonish- other formats. We realize that a great Germans in Missouri for a researcher ingly rich in narratives of immigra- deal of work remains to be done to in Colorado—in some cases even tion experiences and accounts of lo- expand our understanding of the secondary sources can be difficult to cal events. We welcome contributions German-American experience, but obtain! to this part of our collection, as they we also note that scholarship is mov- For the truly rare and unique items, tell the story of America one fam- ing forward by leaps and bounds. The we enter into our Family History ily and one town at a time. We are research possibilities for the MKI’s and Archives collection. Here we dedicated to preserving these stories visitors are increasing dramatically, find the results of arduous genea- and to making them known. and we look forward to working with logical research, which often reveal It should be noted that the MKI students, researchers, and all our interesting facets of American history is in the same city as the Memo- Friends in the future! as well as regional or local history. rial Library at the University of
15 Friends of the Max Kade Institute Non-Profit Organization for German-American Studies US Postage University of Wisconsin PAID Madison, WI 901 University Bay Drive Permit No. 2704 Madison, WI 53705
Announcing the MKI Library Project Capital Campaign
Are you . . . passionate about history? . . . interested in America as an immigrant country? . . . intrigued by the experiences of your German ancestors? . . . concerned about the preservation of American print culture?
If so, please support the MKI’s Library Project for • a state-of-the-art facility in our new quarters on UW–Madison’s central campus; • new acquisitions; • an endowment to support library staff.
See the Director’s Corner (inside) for details. This is a three-year fundraising campaign. Tax-deductible contributions can be made to the MKI Library Capital Cam- paign Fund at the UW Foundation. For more information, contact Antje Petty at (608) 262-7546 or