The German Language in a Time of War: Die Abendschule Speaks out in 1915 Translation by James Doing, with Introduction by Cora Lee Kluge
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Volume 24 No 2 • Spring 2015 The German Language in a Time of War: Die Abendschule Speaks Out in 1915 Translation by James Doing, with introduction by Cora Lee Kluge ie Abendschule, a whole- thing possible be done to prevent the some and conservative country’s involvement in the conflict. INSIDE family newspaper published Nevertheless, it continued to support Din St. Louis for nearly all its long life the United States government, even • Upcoming Conference (1853 to 1940), is known today as one after April of 1917, when America • The Meeme House Inn of the most influential German-Amer- joined the Allies to fight against Ger- • Eugene Field and Carl Schurz ican periodicals, not least because of many and the other Axis powers. • Library Campaign its huge press run and its widespread Throughout the entire period, Die • 2015 Friends Annual Meeting appeal. Abendschule’s editorials reflected the • The Wisconsin–Hessen When World War I began in Europe difficult position of German Ameri- State Partnership in July of 1914, Die Abendschule cans, as well as their growing concerns Proclamation featured war news; and it staunchly over the anti-German sentiments advocated America’s maintaining its heard in this country—the “Germano- • Thiel and Zamzow Join the declared neutrality, urging that every- Friends Board Continued on page 13 DIRECTORS’ CORNER Greetings, Friends and Readers! reetings from the Univer- sity Club! As the Spring of this year Gdraws to a close, we reflect on what we have accomplished in the last few months: teaching, doing research, and presenting our work to students, scholars, and other interested groups, both on the Madison campus and beyond. Mark gave presentations on the Pennsylvania Dutch, Wisconsin’s speakers of Low German, and the Amishand in places as far-flung as Madison, New Holstein (Wisconsin), Plymouth (Wisconsin), and Bocken- heim (in the Rhenish Palatinate, Ger- A scene from Bekehrung vom Temperenzwahn many). Antje and Lori Bessler from the Wisconsin Historical Society held century German-American culture, after-dinner lecture on “Wisconsin’s a successful day-long workshop for concerns, language, and literature German Heritage” by Mark Louden. genealogists, addressing the question were brought before enthusiastic au- More than 80 Friends were in at- of how to investigate our German diences of modern spectatorsthree tendance; and even the UW’s Spring ancestors. And Cora Lee spoke on times in Madison, and once in Revelry event, which was taking the German Americans and the First Milwaukeeand thus some of what place just outside our windows, was World War (in Janesville), Friedrich many believed was Wisconsin’s long- not able to drown out our Friends’ Kapp’s article on John Brown (in gone past was moved to front and festivities. St. Louis, at the symposium of the center stage. We are absolutely de- On page 3 of this Newsletter, you Society for German-American Stud- lighted to find that our field has now will find information about the ies), and Christian Essellen’s comedy become part of the area’s entertain- Wisconsin Workshop conference on Bekehrung vom Temperenzwahn ment scene! “Outside the Kaiserreich: The Ger- (Deliver Us from Temperance!) (in However, the absolute highlight of man Diaspora in the World War I Madison). the semester was the annual dinner Era,” which we will host on October In May, Essellen’s play, which was and meeting of the Friends of the 8–10, 2015. Please mark your calen- written in 1853 for the German- Max Kade Institute, which was held dars! The 100-year anniversary of the American stage in Milwaukee, was in Madison on May 2. It featured a First World War makes this a timely performed in German by students guided tour of German-American event, and we have put together a in the UW–Madison’s Department books, artifacts, and other materials very attractive program. of German under the direction of that are held at the Wisconsin Histor- We wish you all the best for the German theater director Manfred ical Society, the opening in our own summer months ahead. Enjoy the Roth and professor/producer Sabine MKI Library of our new Carl Schurz season, do good work, and stay in Gross of the German Department. exhibit, and dinner at the Univer- touch! With this presentation, nineteenth- sity Club, which was followed by an Cora Lee and Mark 2 UPCOMING CONFERENCE Outside the Kaiserreich: The German Diaspora in the World War I Era International Symposium, October 8–10, 2015 Free and Open to the Public, on the University of Wisconsin–Madison Campus During the era of the “Great War,” many nations had significant numbers of first- or second-generation ethnic Germans living within their borders. Speakers of German could be found in the United States, Russia, Denmark, southern Africa, China, and Latin America. This symposium will look at the complex situations and dynamics of societies with German populations on the periphery or outside the borders of the German Empire in this period of global armed conflict. October 8, Thursday, 5:00–8:00 pm [University Club] 3:00–3:45 5:00 Exhibit Opening and Reception The Impact of World War I on American Classical Music, From the Archives of the Max Kade Institute: The German- Pamela Potter, UW–Madison American Press During the World War I Era 4:00–4:45 6:00 Keynote Address Enemy Alien Internment in the British Empire during World Imperial Germany as a Country of Emigration and Immigra- War I, Stefan Manz, Aston University, Birmingham, UK tion, Werner Sollors, Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Research October 10, Saturday morning [Pyle Center] Professor of English, Harvard University 9:30–10:15 7:00 Reception Rethinking “National Indifference”: German and Polish Activists October 9, Friday morning [Pyle Center] in Łódź during the First World War, Winson Chu, University of 9:00 Words of Welcome Wisconsin–Milwaukee 9:30–10:15 10:30–11:15 The German-American Experience in World War I: Brothers in Arms but Strangers at Home: Germans in Schleswig- A Centennial Assessment, Walter Kamphoefner, Texas A&M Holstein during and after WWI, Julie Allen, UW–Madison University 11:30–12:15 10:30–11:15 The Immediacy of the Unapproachable: Writings on China by Fissures in the Element: German-American Disunity and the German POWs in East Asia during World War I, Weijia Li, First World War, Cora Lee Kluge, UW–Madison UW–Madison 11:30–12:15 October 10, Saturday afternoon [Pyle Center] Urban Language Shift and the German Language in 2:00–2:45 Early 20th Century Metro Detroit The Martyrs of Alcatraz: A Narrative Account of Hutterite Con- Felecia Lucht, Independent Scholar scientious Objectors, Duane Stolzfus, Goshen College 3:00–3:45 October 9, Friday afternoon [Pyle Center] Pennsylvaniadeutschtum: Pennsylvania Dutch Identity and the 2:00–2:45 World War I Era, Mark Louden, UW–Madison Conflicting Loyalties in Wartime: The “Germanness” of British 4:00 Wrap-up Discussion and American Jews during World War I, Sarah Panter, Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz, Germany For abstracts, directions, and other information, consult the Max Kade Institute Web site (mki.wisc.edu) or contact Antje Petty: [email protected] This symposium is the forty-eighth Wisconsin Workshop, an annual interdisciplinary forum in German studies. It is cosponsored by the following University of Wisconsin–Madison units: Department of German, Department of History, Center for European Studies, Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, and the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. Generous financial support is also provided by the UW Anonymous Fund, the Jay and Ruth Halls Visiting Scholars Fund, and the UW Lectures Committee. 3 The First Customers at the Meeme House Inn Karyl Rommelfanger eldom does it happen that two rather insignificant his- torical events come together Sto frame a larger story. Such is the case, however, with the building of a log cabin by Michael and Andreas Herr in the town of Meeme, near Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and a jour- ney south along the Green Bay Road by immigrant Karl Pflaume. Recent research has begun to uncover some of the early history of the Herr fam- ily’s Meeme House, a way station for weary travelers along the Green Bay Road, which was recently purchased by the Manitowoc County Historical Society. Society Historical County Manitowoc credit: Photo In 1847 brothers Michael, Andreas, The Meeme House Inn, undated and Peter Herr, along with their widowed father Karl, immigrated opened up for settlement and govern- to Germany almost penniless. from Alzenau, Bavaria, to Wisconsin. ment-owned lands became available The lives of the Herr brothers and Peter settled in Sheboygan County, at very reasonable prices. Karl Pflaume appear to intersect in a while the others journeyed north into Another German immigrant, Karl narrative written by Pflaume about Manitowoc County. Andreas and Mi- Pflaume, came from Aschersleben, a trip that he and his neighbor took chael both purchased property along Saxon-Anhalt, in 1851. His situation in 1852 to Cedarburg to buy cattle. the Green Bay Road in the township was different. He was from a well- Pflaume writes: of Meeme, approximately one mile to-do family, had earned a degree in south of the village of Spring Valley. We traveled a road hewn into agriculture, and set out for America This was a time of poverty in Ger- the wilderness in an almost to earn his fortune, as it were. Pflaume many. The splitting of land parcels straight line from north to purchased land in the township of into ever smaller slices, poor crop south, which was called the Newton, on the northeast corner of years, and a sudden growth in popu- Green Bay Road.