International Plattdüütsch Konferenz in Wausau, Wisconsin

This year, September 9-11, the 16th Annual International "Plattdüütsch" Conference will be held in Wausau, Wisconsin. Hosted by the Pommerscher Verein Central Wisconsin, the conference will feature talks on the history and characteristics of the Low-German dialects and the culture and traditions of "Platt" speakers around the world. The Max Kade Institute will be represented with an exhibit and talks by Professor Mark Louden and Antje Petty. And there will be plenty of opportunity to have a good time with music, dance, "Platt" demonstrations, and - of course - good food. For more information and a detailed program click here (PDF).

German-American Comedy Songs on the National Jukebox

The National Jukebox, a project of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, is now online providing access to more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. Included in this treasure trove of historical and cultural materials are ethnic or dialect recordings that sought to entertain the American public through the use of characters or elements reflecting "attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs associated with ethnic and regional groups at the time the selections were written and performed." Among these we find quite a few recordings of a German-American nature, with performers employing "an exaggerated broken-English dialect infused with German pronunciation, syntax, words, and phrases." The National Jukebox Web site alerts us that dialect recordings (particularly those associated with African Americans) contain "characterizations [that] may utilize outmoded and offensive stereotypes of nationalities, religions, or races." Although the German-American recordings might be a challenge to follow due to the thick "accents," the representations are fairly light-hearted, featuring folks who are "stout, good-natured, musical, hard-working, slow-witted, and frumpy. . . , fond of beer, pretzels, sauerkraut, sausages, and small elongated dogs."

According to Prof. James Leary of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dialect recordings associated with German Americans (or the "Dutch" as the English of the 18th and 19th centuries referred to anyone from a wide range of Germanic regions) entertained and appealed to both German-American audiences and mainstream Americans.

Take some time to listen to comic songs, skits, and recitations such as "The Germans' Arrival," "Hans Krausmeyer and His Dog Schneider," "Krausmeyer's Wedding Party," "Louisa Schmidt," "Fritz and Louisa," "The Happy German Twins," and "It Takes the Irish to Beat the Dutch." Some of these recordings may also be found and listened to by searching for "German dialect" or "Dutch dialect" on the Cylinder Project site at University of California-Santa Barbara .

You may also wish to read Prof. Leary's paper, "Dialect Songs among the Dutch" [PDF] and listen to audio samples associated with the work: http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki/Resources/Online_Papers/MusicConfPapers/DutchmanSongs/DutchmanSongsIndex.htm

And to examine German-American ethnic stereotypes through cartoon images found on popular postcards in the 20th century, see: http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/incs/documents/GemutlikeitSchnitzelbankandKitsch.pdf.

Germany Reports on German Heritage in Wisconsin

I always find it interesting what German papers report on German history and traditions in America. Over the summer germany.info, the official Web site of the German Missions in the United States, did a series on German heritage in Wisconisin. Read what they have to say about "Bierbrauer vs. Piraten," "Appleton's Ancestral Ties to Germany," and "30 Years of Milwaukee's Original Haus Party."

Some Things Remain Much the Same. . .

As America commemorates the sesquicentennial of its Civil War, we at MKI are poring over the materials in our collections to illuminate how the events of this era were documented by German speakers in America and in Europe. The following comes from the Geschichte des Tages (Events of the Day) section of the August 4, 1855 Illustrirte Abend-Schule, published in Buffalo, New York. While still several years before the outbreak of armed conflict, this summary of the mood in German America is telling:
America: Party politics, temperance litigation, murders, railroad and steamship disasters – and that's it.

Friends of the Max Kade Institute 2011 Annual Meeting ---- St. Nazianz Village, Manitowoc County

Join us on Saturday, May 7, for our annual meeting and an exciting day in Manitowoc County where we will visit St. Nazianz, the site of the Oschwald communal society you have read about in your newsletter. A guided tour will include St. Gregory’s Catholic Church and cemetery; a walk through the village, a visit to the local museum; and a stroll to the old Salvatorian property just south of the village, where we will hold the Annual Meeting. We will conclude the day with supper at the Silver Valley Banquet Hall just west of Manitowoc.

1:30 – 2:00 Registration at St. Gregory's Church, 214 Church St., St. Nazianz, WI
2:00 – 4:00 Tour of St. Nazianz village and Salvatorian property
4:00 – 5:00 Annual Meeting and social time (followed by brief Board of Directors meeting)
5:00 – 5:30 Drive to Silver Valley Banquet Hall, 1222 S Alverno Rd. Manitowoc, WI
5:30 Dinner at Silver Valley Banquet Hall (Buffet with a variety of German dishes)

Please register by April 30th -- click HERE for PDF with registration form and driving directions

University of Heidelberg Honors American Abolitionist and Former Slave

By establishing the James W.C. Pennington Distinguished Fellowship, the University of Heidelberg/Germany is drawing attention to a long forgotten historic occurrence that brought together German democratic revolutionary ideals, the international peace movement and the abolitionist movement in America. In 1849, James W. C. Pennington became the first African American to be awarded an honorary degree from a European University when the University of Heidelberg conferred on him the honorary doctorate of divinity. He had been invited to Heidelberg by the theologian and democratic activist Friedrich Wilhelm Carové after the two met at the 1849 World Peace Congress in Paris.

Pennington was born in 1807 as Jim Pembroke, a slave on an estate in western Maryland, and later worked as a blacksmith. He escaped bondage as a young man, fled north, was able to educate himself, and became the first African American to attend classes at Yale. He was eventually ordained as a Presbyterian minister. In 1849, he published The Fugitive Blacksmith, or Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, an account of his harrowing escape. With his oratory and literary skill, Pennington became a leading voice for the abolitionist movement, representing its Evangelical Christian branch.

According to Dr. Mischa Honeck, Assistant Professor at the University of Heidelberg’s Center for American Studies, Pennington’s honorary degree from Heidelberg not only raised his prominence in the abolitionist movement in the US, but it also was seen as a positive tool for the foundering cause of German liberalism. More information can be found here.

German and German-American Dimensions of the Civil War

2011 is the year of the sesquicentennial of the beginning of the American Civil War. The Max Kade Institute will mark the occasion by hosting an international symposium to examine the time before, during and directly after the Civil War from a unique angle, focusing on immigrants (especially those from German lands) and the global impact of the war (especially within German-speaking Europe). Join us March 3-5 at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. For a detailed program and abstracts of presentations see the MKI Website.

Music of the Old Order Amish

On February 10 at 7pm, Professor Mark Louden (German Department, University of Wisconsin) will hold a lecture on "Music of the Old Order Amish." Professor Louden will give an overview of the variety of forms of musical expression among the Amish, which show influences from both Central European hymnody and nineteenth- and twentieth-century American gospel music. An experience "Vorsaenger" (lead singer) himself, Professor Louden will demonstrate how Amish songs are led in worship and at Sunday evening social gatherings. Join us at the Memorial Union on the UW-Madison Campus!

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present

An ambitious project coordinated by the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C., will highlight the role played by immigrant entrepreneurs—specifically those who came from German-speaking lands—in the development of America's economic success. The project will utilize a wide range of source materials to provide biographical sketches as well as company histories for businesses from the early eighteenth century to the present day; the information will be presented online free of charge. All entries are to include information concerning the individual's reasons for migration; his or her social origins, regional identity (either in the home country or in the U.S.), religion, ethnic networks, Americanization, and business strategies; the impact of problems in America such as nativism, anti-German sentiments, boycotts, and anti-Semitism; and also the business's development and change over time.
The site is in progress at: http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/

Announcing: Anglo-German Walks 2011

Submitted by MKI Friend JoAnn T.

Neil McDonald, a German teacher from Yorkshire, England is an experienced hike leader and has organized cross-cultural walking weeks for adult participants since 1993. Both English and German native speakers share a week of language, culture, and most-importantly, hiking in the British Isles and German-speaking areas on the continent. I participated last June in the German-speaking Italian Alps (Südtirol), hiking in the area around Meran (see picture) and have fond memories of following the splashing Waalwege downhill and stopping for refreshment at Gasthäuser with unforgettable views!
Destinations for 2011 are the Höllental im Schwarzwald (Black Forest), Dahner Felsenland (Pfalz), Sächsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland) and Harzgebirge (Harz Mountains), as well as Exmoor, the Welsh Marches, the Scottish Southern Uplands, and Hadrian’s Wall.
Find more information and request a brochure at:
www.anglo-german-walks.com.

Instruction in German in American Schools

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Midwestern landscape of America was dotted with schools whose language of instruction was not English, but German, Polish, Norwegian, or something else. The library and archive of the Max Kade Institute contain numerous German-language school materials used in North America, such as primers; study guides for the German script; textbooks for learning math, science, and other subjects; readers for young adults; report cards; and more.

Now we would like to learn more, and wish to gather stories, anecdotes, and experiences of those who were taught in the German language in American schools.

If you attended a German-language school, or have stories of family members who received German-language instruction, please contact Antje Petty at: apetty(at)wisc.edu

If you know someone who has stories they'd like to share, do please send us contact information for them!
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German Christmas Traditions "at the Inn"

If you are in South-East Wisconsin this weekend, check out Christmas at the Inn at the Dousman Stagecoach Inn Museum, 1075 Pilgrim Parkway in Brookfield, Wisconsin. On Saturday (10am-4pm) and Sunday (noon-4pm), the Elmbrook Historical Society showcases Christmas traditions from Bavaria, Hesse, Pomerania, and the Danube settlements (Donauschwaben), - four European regions, from which many German-speaking immigrants in Wisconsin came from.

Germanic Languages and Migration Network (GLaM)

The Max Kade Institute is actively involved in "Germanic Languages and Migration" (GLaM), an international and interdisciplinary network. Realizing that language changes constantly, and that it is not confined by national boundaries, the network brings together scholars from a variety of fields (sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, education, cultural studies, cultural geography, media studies, among others) to study the relations between language, migration, and transnationalism. Now two virtual seminars that grew out of a collaboration between the MKI and the Universities of Leeds and Southampton have been posted online: "Social Networks and Language Contact in the Early Modern Dutch Republic" by Professor Robert Howell, UW-Madison; and "The Times of Their Lives: Time, Place, and Space in Central European Language Biographies" by Professor Patrick Stevenson, University of Southampton. Also check out the "New Glarus Heritage Tour."

Immigrant Names

According to one enduring myth, the surnames of many immigrants (including German immigrants) were anglicized or changed at Ellis Island. Not so! On the contrary, immigration officials at Ellis Island meticulously recorded names exactly as they were written on ship lists or other documents the immigrants brought with them. Only rarely and mostly because of transliteration questions, names were spelled differently our changed. An interesting article "New Life in America no Longer Means a New Name" in the New York Times looks at why some immigrants with ethnic names have opted for a change. The paper comes to the conclusion that these name changes today are rare, and if they occur, it is mostly for personal reasons (the wish to use a spouse's name for example) rather than a wish to disassociate with an ethnic name.

September 2010 Conference: Investigating Immigrant Languages in America

Investigating Immigrant Languages in America
September 16-17 (Thursday and Friday), 2010
in the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus
Free and open to the public

This event will bring together a set of scholars with the aim of creating new collaborations in linguistics and related areas.

Wisconsin has a long tradition of research into immigrant languages in North America, led by luminaries like Einar Haugen (Scandinavian Studies), and others including Frederic Cassidy (English / Dictionary of American Regional English) and Lester W.J. Seifert (German).

Haugen, a Norwegian-American bilingual from the Upper Midwest, was one of the creators of modern sociolinguistics, and made great contributions to our understanding of language structure, bilingualism, language contact, and language history. Building directly on that tradition, this conference will present new research in all these areas, including a presentation on Haugen’s work, founded on insights in his Bilingualism in America.

The conference aims to reach two distinct audiences. The first day focuses on linguistics, more directly intended for linguists faculty and students. Particular attention will be on syntax, an area long ignored in the study of immigrant languages. The second day aims to attract and engage a broader public, including language learners, members of heritage communities, and those interested in American dialects.

(Please see Today in the Union [TITU] for room information on days of conference.)

Click here for conference details and schedule (PDF).

Dance Halls in Texas

A recent report on National Public Radio has brought our attention to efforts to restore and preserve dance halls in Texas, most of which were built by German or Czech immigrants, although some are the handiwork of African Americans. Featured in the NPR story is the effort to restore Sengelmann Hall in Schulenburg, between Houston and San Antonio. Built in 1894 by German-speaking settlers, it closed during World War II and hadn't been danced in for more than 60 years. The NPR story can be read and heard online here, while an informative database of Texas dance halls can be viewed on the Web site of the Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc.

Herta Müller, 2009 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, and the Story of her Ancestors' Migration

On December 10, Herta Müller accepted the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature in a ceremony in Stockholm. When the award winner was announced in the fall, many asked: “Who is Herta Müller?” Her selection may have come as surprise, but the timing was no coincidence. 2009, after all, is the year of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Europe, and much of Herta Müller’s work focuses on life in Romania under the repressive Ceauşescu regime. Her perspective is that of a member of the Romanian-German minority population, and she writes in German.
Herta Müller grew up in the small village of Nitchidorf in Romania in a German-speaking family and a German-speaking community that was founded by immigrants from Southwest Germany over 200 years ago...
Read the complete article here
Image 1: germanyinfo.de; Image 2: nitzkydorf.de

"An exhibit of national forgetfulness"

Cora Lee Kluge’s 2007 publication, Other Witnesses: An Anthology of Literature of the German Americans, 1850-1914, continues to attract attention for its attempt to include German-language works by immigrant writers as part of American literature. A new review by Andrew Yox (Northeast Texas Community College) has just appeared on H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online, and is worth reading.

During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, enough of the American population read German to allow for a rich harvest of writing in that language; as revealed in Other Witnesses, authors produced works ranging from poems to plays, and from fiction to travel literature. But the audience of German readers did dwindle, and German-language publishing houses eventually ceased their operations, with the result that such German-American writings have been relegated to libraries and archives, while essentially fading from our national consciousness.

Of course, the greatest obstacle to appreciating these works today is indeed the fact that they are written in German. We’ve all heard the phrase, “lost in translation,” and no doubt some of the impact and beauty would be lost if the words of these “other witnesses” were shifted into English. But someday, perhaps, the task will be undertaken, and America can once again reclaim a part of its literary heritage.

German and Polish Students Study Immigration and Ethnicity in the Upper Midwest.

A week ago, a group of sixteen students from the American Studies Institutes of the University of Leipzig, Germany, and of the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland visited Wisconsin. Led by Professor Hartmut Keil, the group was on a two-week study tour of the Upper Midwest to learn about immigration and internal migration past and present, and issues of ethnicity in rural and urban America. At UW-Madison, the group attended a workshop on Language & Immigration and the following day visited one of Wisconsin’s many small rural communities that were settled in the 1850s primarily by German immigrants: Hustisford in Dodge County. Members of the Hustisford Historical Society graciously showed us their town, the historical museum Founder John Hustis’ old house), and the Lutheran church. Evidence of Hustisford German-American history was everywhere: in names, stories, signs, buildings, and the personal inscription in an old family bible that Prof. Keil translated. Read more about the Immigration and Ethnicity Study Tour on the group’s blog.

Wilhelm Tell in New Glarus – Last Performance in German?

Every September for 72 years, the community of New Glarus, WI has performed Wilhelm Tell, Friedrich Schiller's play about Swiss independence. The play is presented on a natural outdoor stage in two versions: in English and in the original German. Now the Wisconsin State Journal reports that, due to dwindeling audience numbers, this year might be the last year the play is staged in German. Furthermore, the English show has been shortened from three to two hours. If you want to experience (maybe for the last time) a unique example of traditional German-language American community theatre come to the Wilhelm Tell Grounds on September 5 at 10am, and also join the weekend-long Wilhelm Tell Festival. More information is available at wilhelmtell.org.

German Word Blocks

Recently I visited the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) Historical Institute, which is located in the Salem Landmark Church in northwest Milwaukee. The institute is in the process of restoring this beautiful church. In the basement there are displayed a number of artifacts and documents related to WELS history, most of which were donated by individuals, congregations, and schools from the Milwaukee area. In a display devoted to early parochial schools, I was fascinated to see a collection of about 32 wooden blocks, each measuring about 10" x 10" x 10". On each face there was a German word or pair of words in Fraktur (and also punctuation marks), which were applied with black paint and (probably) stencils. The material is light plywood and each block is numbered. The blocks were stored in a folding cabinet about 5 feet tall. Two pictures of these blocks and the cabinet are given below:





The gentleman who gave me the tour through the collection said the blocks likely came from a WELS school in downtown Milwaukee. Their function was evidently to give children practice in composing German sentences. I have scoured the Internet for references to similar teaching aids and have not found anything comparable, which suggests that these blocks might have been the brainchild of one enterprising German teacher (with some good carpentry skills). I would be excited to hear whether any of our readers have seen or heard of anything similar!

Mark L.

Dirndl for Barbie

It was to happen sooner or later…. Just in time for the Munich Oktoberfest, Barbie – the most American of all dolls – will add a Dirndl to her vast collection of outfits. Designed by Munich designer Lola Paltinger the stylish Bavarian dress will be unveiled at the Oktoberfest and other events.
This means Barbie has come full circle. Barbie was inspired by the Bild-Lilli doll, who was presented as a young, attractive woman, dressed in fashionable clothes and having her own career, and who was modeled after the heroine of a popular 1950s comic strip in Bild magazine. At that time, Ruth Handler, American mother and wife of a Martell toy company co-founder, was looking for a doll for her daughter that was not an infant. On a trip to Europe, she saw Bild-Lilli, brought several of the dolls to America, made some design changes, and convinced her husband to manufacture her new Barbie. And the rest is history…
For more on the story go to Germany.info, which is also the source of the picture used here. (© picture-alliance/dpa)

Historic American Newspapers in Languages Other Than English?

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) is a new digital project initiated by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. The Web site provides descriptive information about all American newspapers published from 1690 to the present day, including those in languages other than English, such as Albanian, Arabic, Cherokee, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Norwegian, Thai, and many more. Information on a specific newspaper includes title, place of publication, publisher, dates of publication, frequency, succeeding titles, and a summary of available holdings, in original format or microfilm, at various institutions.

Digital images of select newspaper pages can also be viewed online. At this point in the project, only pages from English-language papers published from 1880 to 1992 from the following states are available: California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

We at the MKI would of course like to be able to search, retrieve, and view pages from German-language newspapers, and hope they might be included in the scope of the project as it continues. No doubt researchers would like to see pages from newspapers published in all the other languages as well, which would help to create a richer picture of American history.

A search of the site shows that only Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Vermont had no German-language newspapers, while Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Wyoming only had ones published in Prisoner of War camps. Consulting the impressive three-volume The German Language Press of the Americas by Karl Arndt and May Olson (München: Verlag Dokumentation, 3^rd edition, 1976), shows just a few differences, particularly for Nevada, where there were apparently four extremely short-lived German-language papers. It may be that no copies survived, and thus none of the libraries reporting to the online project had any records for them.

Chronicling America is an important project, and we look forward to checking in on its progress in the future.