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August/September 2001
Kissinger's Secrets of Success
By Scott S. Smith
Henry Kissinger was a very serious and brilliant young man. To many, he seemed arrogant. As his political career took off, the
future German-born United States Secretary of State realized he had to change that impression if he wanted to win friends and influence people. He began using humor which was either self-deprecating or poked fun
at his image.
He referred to his 1957 book Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy as "the most unread bestseller since (historian Arnold) Toynbee."
He announced to one audience that he had not faced such a distinguished group since dining in a hall of mirrors.
Once, after flying off the handle with his staff, he quipped that "since English is my second language, I didn't realize
that 'maniac' and 'fool' were not terms of endearment."
When he was scheduled for a heart bypass operation, he remarked, "It proves that I do have a heart!"
Kissinger also found that a sharp wit combined with great conversational skills made him a popular guest at parties. He was able
to talk to anyone because he had read widely, not just in his specialty of world history. At social events, he demonstrated his ability to get along with those with whom he had political differences. This was
excellent training for getting along with world leaders whose personalities or policies he did not personally care for.
By 1973, Kissinger, the National Security Advisor (1969 to 1975) and Secretary of State (1973 to 1977), had an 85 percent public
approval rating and was ranked by the Gallup Poll as America's most admired man, "the first and thus far only celebrity diplomat of the media age," comments Walter Isaacson in Kissinger: A Biography.
Wonderful Würzburg
By Leah Larkin
"Ein Wein für einen schlechten Tag." (A wine for a bad day.)
A 1997 Würzburger Stein Rieslaner Auslese -- smooth, golden, heavenly -- a wine so good, Bernd van Elten said, it would brighten
the bleakest of days. Van Elten is a director at the Staatlicher Hofkeller Würzburg, one of Würzburg's major wine producers.
We sipped this elegant elixir by candlelight in the ancient dark and musty cellars under Würzburg's Baroque Residenz.
"People are different where wine is grown," van Elten said. "They know how to enjoy life more."
Würzburg, a jewel on the Main River, a center of Baroque treasure and Bocksbeutel wine, is a lively place whose friendly
and proud citizens enjoy their lovely city, as well as the fruits of its vineyards.
This city in Franconia in central Germany is a university town -- 26,000 of its 130,000 inhabitants are students. "Without
the students and wine, Würzburg would be dull and boring," says city guide Karl-Heinz Pfaff.
However, Würzburg is vibrant. In addition to a youthful population and wonderful taverns for drinking wine, this charming town
has bustling cafes and restaurants, a colorful outdoor food market, a mighty fortress, a lavish palace and beautiful churches.
Considering that the city was virtually leveled by Allied bombs on March 16, 1945, it is also amazing. Pfaff first took me to the
city's town hall to see a model of Würzburg in 1945 -- all the buildings were without roofs. Damage was so extensive, he said, that no one believed the city could ever be rebuilt to its former splendor.
However, by the mid 1960s, reconstruction was complete and Würzburg was once again an attractive inviting city.
Who Put the Cuckoo in the Clock?
by Peter Henault
When I was in Boy Scouts many years ago we used to sing a song while hiking that went something like this:
Twas on a summer’s morning,
We walked the forest through
When suddenly we heard it,
A sweet but soft cuckoo.
Ku-koooo, Ku-koooo
Ku-koo-ku-ku, ku-kooooo!
Someone wiser than I must have told me there was no such bird because for the next 30 years I believed the cuckoo was nothing
more than a myth steeped in Old World legends. However, one spring morning after arriving in Germany, I awoke about 5:00 a.m. to the soft call of a cuckoo wafting through the open window. At first I had no idea
it was a cuckoo but it sure sounded like the little mechanical cuckoos I had seen on the popular Black Forest clocks and, lying there, it dawned on me that perhaps there really was such a bird.
A little research revealed, of course, that the cuckoo was a member of a fairly large family which even included the roadrunner.
But the cuckoo that woke me was the migrating Old World cuckoo with the distinctive two-syllable call. A slender grayish bird with a slightly-down-bending beak, it flies up from Africa each spring to mate and
lay its eggs in other birds’ nests. And, although very real, this cuckoo is also very much the subject of myths and legends. In Cornwall, for example, if you hear the call coming from your right, it is a sign
of good luck to come. A Bohemian legend has it that the cuckoo is really a maiden turned into a bird and now calling for her lost lover. In much of Europe it is believed important, upon hearing the first call of
the year, to make a wish and mark the occasion but turning a coin in your pocket.
In Germany, the cuckoo has been loved throughout the ages. Its call is a signal that flowers may be planted with no fear of
frost, the long winter of cutting firewood is over and school vacations will soon begin. It is easy to imagine why Germans put a cuckoo in their clocks.
Tips for Trips
The Schwarzwald, or Black Forest, is a paradise destination in summer or winter and well worth visiting for several days whether
or not you are interested in clocks. It is a high plateau of dark forested mountains cut by valleys of scattered farms and villages and stretches for a hundred miles north of the Swiss border to Karlsruhe and
ranges from 15 to 40 miles wide. If you travel off the red roads, which are the old industrial roads on most maps, you will think you have slipped back in time about a century. Farmhouses are monstrous marvels
of architecture, large enough to house family, animals and farm vehicles. Some still have the old-fashioned thatched roofs. Summertime activities in the Black Forest, in addition to simple touring, include
hiking, mountain biking and wine hunting. Winters offer the best cross-country skiing in Germany. Small Gemütlich family restaurants abound and offer everything from traditional Black Forest dishes -- trout tops the lists -- to world-class specialties in Michelin-starred hostelries.
Sightseeing opportunities, if not endless, can fill several vacations. If you want to learn more about Black Forest clocks, I
suggest driving the Deutsches Urenstraße -- the German Clock Road. It begins in Villingen-Schwennigen and winds though some of the most scenic country for 195 miles. Along the way are the German Clock Museum
(with examples of all the early clocks mentioned earlier), several smaller clock museums, clock factories, the Schwarzwald Volks Museum, several wonderful shopping towns, numerous holiday and health resorts and
the highest waterfall in Germany.
Just off this route is the Outdoor Folks Museum in Gutach where a dozen original farm buildings from the 1700s and 1800s have
been collected after being carefully taken apart, moved from their original locations and reassembled. This stop alone is worth at least half a day. At the airport in Schwenningen, you will find the
International Aviation Museum where you can see planes dating back to World War I (including a replica of the Red Baron’s) and can even fly in some of them.
More information is available from the Villingen-Schwenningen tourist office -- Telephone: +49-7721-182-2340; website: www.villingen-schwenningen.de ; from the German Clock Museum -- Telephone: +49-7723-92-0117; website: www.deutsches-uhrenmuseum.de; and from the city of Triberg -- website: www.triberg.de .
Calendar for August and September
Jasper, IN
August 2-5: Strassenfest. Performances from the Continentals of Washington D.C. will also be included. For more information, contact the Jasper Chamber
of Commerce at 1-800-968-4578.
Evansville, IN
August 2-4: Volksfest. For more information, call (812) 422-1915.
Zoar, OH
August 4-5:28th Annual Zoar Harvest Festival. For more information, contact the Zoar Village at 1-800-874-4336.
Hunter, NY
August 4-5: World Cultures Festival. For more information, contact Hunter Mountain at (518) 263-4223 or go to the web site www.huntermtn.com .
Dayton, OH
August 10-12: German Picnic in Carillon Park. Sponsored by the Dayton Liederkranz Turner. For 18 years this picnic has provided German food, live
music, cultural displays, and a German fashion show. For more information, contact (937) 223-9013 or Leider97@aol.com .
Hunter, NY
August 11-12: German Alps Festival. The festival will include German musicians and dancers all rooted in Bavarian tradition. For more information,
call (518) 263-4223 or www.huntermtn.com.
Baltimore, MD
August 17: German Fest. For more information, call (410) 522-4144.
Norwood Young America, MN
August 24-26: Stiftungsfest. For further information, call (952) 467-3365.
Harmony, PA
August 23: Eintract Maennerchor. Bring a lawn chair for the entertainment, and shop or dine before concert at 8pm. For more information, call (724)
452-0203.
Cincinnati, OH
August 24-26: Germania Park Oktoberfest. The festival includes entertainment, German music, foods, and beverages. Admission is $2. For
more information, call (513) 742-0060.
Harmony, PA
August 25: 31st Annual Harmony Museum Dankfest. For more information, call 1-888-821-4822.
Columbus, OH
August 31-September 2: Oktoberfest. Central Ohio’s oldest and most famous authentic German Oktoberfest. The Tom Katrenich Band, Al Nowak, the
Edelweiss Orchestra, and many more will perform. For more information, call (614) 461-8095.
September
Erie, PA
September 1: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (814) 456-9599.
Hamilton, OH
September 1-2: Oktoberfest. Liberty Home German Society’s (Deutscher Hausverein) 35th annual Oktoberfest including live German music,
dancing, rides, and games. For more information, contact (513) 863-1605 or e-mail Hausverein@aol.com .
Vail, CO
September 6: Oktoberfest. For more information, contact the Vail Valley Tourism Convention and Visitors Bureau at (970) 479-1014.
Louisville, KY
September 7-9:Oktoberfest. German food will be served, while various bands perform at the festival. For more information, call (502) 426-1740
or visit the web page www.german-americanclub.com .
Covington, KY
September 7-9: Oktoberfest. Mainstrasse Village. For more information, call (859) 491-0458.
St. Paul, MI
September 7-9: Rheinfest on the Mississippi. This year marks the return of the Fantastic fanfares, the 39-piece band from Neuss, and on Friday, a
special fundraising concert will be held at the Landmark center in downtown Saint Paul. High quality entertainment that will represent many facets of Germanic Culture, a family friendly environment, and
superior food and beverage offerings continue to be the programming goals for the event. For more information, call (651) 223-4700.
Sierra Vista, AZ
September 8-9: Oktoberfest. For further information, call (520) 417-6980.
Milwaukee, WI
September 8-9, 15-16, 22-23: Oktoberfest. Sponsored by the United Germans of Milwaukee.
Torrance, CA
September 8-October 28: Alpine Village Oktoberfest. For more information, call (310) 327-4384.
Walpole, MA
September 8-9: Oktoberfest. Boylston Schul Verein. For more information, call (781) 893-6627.
Holmdel, NJ
September 9: German Heritage Festival. Held at the PNC Bank Arts Center and sponsored by the German Heritage Council of New Jersey, the festival will
include German food, folk dancers, and free parking. For more information, call (609) 585-6757 or visit the web at www.gnf-nj.org .
Helen, GA
September 13 – November 3 (weekends): Annual Alpine Helen Oktoberfest. For more information, contact the Helen Camber of Commerce at (706) 878-1908.
Frankenmuth, MI
September 13-16: Oktoberfest. For more information, call 800-386-8696.
Mt. Angel, OR
September 13-16: Oktoberfest. For more information, visit the web at www.oktoberfest.org.
Newark, DE
September 14-16: Oktoberfest. Sponsored by the Delaware Saengerbund. Admission is $5 and includes Brass bands, amusement rides, and entertainment by
folk dancing groups. For more information, contact (302) 366-9454 or visit the web at www.delawaresaengerbund.org .
Odessa, WA
September 14-16: Deutschfest. For more information, call (509) 982-0049.
Shepherdstown, WV
September 14-16: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (304) 876-2551.
Sioux Falls, SD
September 15: German Fest. For more information, call (605) 338-4009.
New Harmony, IN
September 15-16: Kunstfest. For more information, call (812) 682-4488.
Huntington Beach, CA
September 16-Oct 28 (weekends): Oktoberfest. For more information, call (714) 895-8020.
Hayward, CA
September 16: German Fest in Hayward. For more information, call (510) 836-0735.
New York City, NY
September 17-23: German-American Friendship Week. Includes the Annual German-American Steuben parade beginning at noon on September 22 and
continuies with a German American Friendship Party at 2:00pm in Central Park. For more information, please contact Stephen Purk at (212) 988-5007 or Herb Seef at (845) 628-7638 or visit the website at www.gasp-ny.org.
Addison, TX
September 20-23: Oktoberfest. Held at the Addison Conference and Theater Center, the festival will include traditional folk dancers, folk song, German
food, and The Munich Evergreens. For more information, contact 1-800-ADDISON or visit www.addisontexas.net .
Birmingham, AL
September 21-22: Oktoberfest. Sponsored by Freunde Deutscher Sprache und Kultur, the festival will take place at the Sloss Furnaces, including
family fun with German music, German food, and a selection of German wines and beers. Admission is $5. For more information, call (205) 923-6564.
Bellevue, NE
September 21-23: Oktoberfest. For more information, contact (402) 291-3090.
Columbus, OH
September 21-23: Oktoberfest. For further information, call (614) 221-8888.
Lancaster, PA
September 21-23: German Oktoberfest. For more information, call (717) 898-8451 or visit www.lancasterliederkranz.com.
Manilus, NY
September 21-23: Great Syracuse Oktoberfest. Sponsored by the German-American Society of Central New York. For more information, call Ron Dolata
at (315) 682-2584.
Peoria, IL
September 21-23: Oktoberfest. For more information, contact (309) 689-3019.
Seattle, WA
September 22-23: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (206) 706-9869.
Big Bear, CA
September 22- October 28 (weekends): Oktoberfest. For more information, call (909) 585-3000.
Serbin, TX
September 23: Thirteenth Annual Wendish Fest. For more information, call the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum at (979) 366-2441 or contact wendish@bluebon.net .
Davenport, IA
September 28-29: Davenport Oktoberfest. For more information, call (563) 322-8844 or e-mail director@germanamericanheritage.org .
La Crosse, WI
September 28-October 6: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (608) 784-FEST or visit www.oktoberfestusa.com .
Anaheim, CA
September 28-October 7 (weekends): Oktoberfest. For more information, contact (714) 563-4166.
Leavenworth, WA
September 28- October 7: Autumn Leaf Festival. For more information, contact (509) 548-5807 or visit the web at www.info@leavenworth.org .
Woodland Park, CO
September 28-29: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (719) 687-9885.
Appleton, WI
September 28-29: Oktoberfest. For more information, contact the Appleton Chamber of Commerce at (920) 734-3377.
Philadelphia, PA
September 29: 31st Annual Steuben Parade. 10 A.M. Inter-Denominational service at the Cathedral of STS Peter and Paul, 18th & the Parkway.
12-Noon: Parade starting at 20th & the Parkway. Following the parade: Oktoberfest at the Bayerischer Volksfest Verein, 9940 Haldeman Avenue. For more information, see www.steubenparade.com
Las Vegas, NV
September 29-30: Oktoberfest. For more information: www.oktoberfestivals.com
Encinitas, CA
September 30: Oktoberfest. This free event extends five blocks and includes an estimated 300 booths, two family fun zones, authentic German food, and
Oktoberfest beer. For more information, contact Frank Mangio at (760) 632-1199 or email mangiompc@aol.com .
Upper Marlboro, MD
September 30: Oktoberfest. For more information, call (301) 565-9277.
Pfalz Impressions: Driving Down The Deutsche Weinstrasse
by Sharon Hudgins
During the 15 years I lived in Germany, I never passed up an opportunity to sample wines in each of the grape-growing regions
there. Last summer, my husband and I returned to Germany's Pfalz region, to drive down the Deutsche Weinstrasse (German Wine Route) that wends its way through vineyards and villages nestled in the foothills of the forested Haardt mountains, overlooking the broad Rhine River plain below.
Situated in the southwestern corner of Germany, the Pfalz has an especially temperate climate, with 1,800 hours of sunlight
annually. The Pfalz is the largest cultivated area in Germany, where soil and sunlight combine to produce abundant crops of fruits, vegetables, berries, mushrooms and nuts; apples, asparagus, almonds, arugula
and apricots; potatoes, pears and plums; radishes and rhubarb; cherries and chestnuts; figs, melons, kiwis and strawberries.
The Pfalz is also well-suited for growing grapes, the first of which were planted there by the Romans 2,000 years ago. Today, the
Pfalz is the second largest wine region in Germany (in total acreage), whose 144 grape-growing communities often produce the largest annual vintage in the entire country.
We started our trip at Bochenheim, the northern end of the German Wine Route that extends southward for 50 miles to the
German-French border. Officially established in the 1930s, the German Wine Route can easily be covered by car in half a day. But who would want to rush through such a scenic and interesting region?
Bochenheim's northern gateway to the wine route is Das Haus der Deutschen Weinstrasse, a modern structure spanning the highway, which combines a tourism-and-wine-information center with a restaurant and wine tavern that offers regional specialties, a selection of Pfalz wines and a panoramic view over miles and miles of vineyards. Less famous to foreigners than Germany's Rhine and Mosel wine regions, the Pfalz produces not only very good table wines, but also many award-winning finer wines, including the sparkling wine known as Sekt. Yet many people -- including some of my German friends who fancy themselves to be connoisseurs -- have a false impression that Pfalz wines are generally sweet, undistinguished and inferior to wines produced in other parts of the country.
Anyone who stops to sample wines along the German Wine Route will soon discover that Pfalz products can be very good indeed.
However, travelers to this region should be forewarned when they see the term Schoppen on a local restaurant's wine list. Elsewhere in Germany, that means a .2- or .25-liter glass of wine, but in the Pfalz, a
Schoppen is a whopping half-liter glass, more than you might want to consume at one sitting.
For more information on the Pfalz region of Germany, see the following websites: www.germany-tourism.de ; www.zum-wohl-die-pfalz.de ; www.germanwineusa.org (which also has a link to the Deutsche Weininstitut [German Wine Institute], with more information on Pfalz wines and the Deutsche Weinstrasse).
The Tin Figures Museum in Zürich
by Phyllis Meras
It is little. It is odd. It is fascinating -- the Tin Figures (Zinnfiguren) Museum in Zürich, Switzerland.
Zürich's Tin Figures Museum, up a narrow street in the Old Town, is a little-known attraction of Switzerland's largest
city and banking capital.
In a creaky 12th-century house on Obere Zaune, just above the Grossmunster that the Emperor Charlemagne is said to have founded,
is a floor full of some 40,000 tin "flats," miniature figures -- generally a little over an inch tall -- that were manufactured as children's toys in 18th and 19th-century Germany and Switzerland and a
few in France. These figures -- circus figures, flowers and animals as well as soldiers -- are different from the three-dimensional "solids" (mostly lead) that were popular in Britain and America about
100 years later. Flats, considerably lighter in weight, are made from a mix of pewter, tin and other metals cast in a slate mold.
In the late 18th century, the use of pewter for cooking and eating declined. Benjamin Franklin had pointed out the danger of
absorbing the lead in pewter by eating from pewter dishes and, in addition, attractive pottery and faience were being produced all across Europe. Pewter workers, seeking a use for their expertise, turned to the
fashioning of miniature toy figures.
Kleingartens: Urban Farming
By Karin Gallagher
"What is it a Berliner needs to be happy?" asks a song by Claire Waldoff, an avid gardener and famous singer during the
Weimar Republic. "An arbor, a fence and a flower bed!" Waldoff's answer echoes a feeling shared by more than one million other modern-day Germans. Like Waldoff, the ultimate pleasure for many is to
cultivate and admire their rented kleingarten, or small garden, in Germany's urban landscape.
Also known as allotment gardens, kleingartens are sections of land within an urban area that a gardening association leases from a municipality or private institution, subdivides into smaller plots and subleases to its members. The gardening association runs the allotments, sets the rules and collects the rents; members maintain the allotments and make improvements as needed. Because inner city houses with land are expensive and difficult to find, kleingartens are in high demand.
Christof Bornhoevd's parents have leased their garden from the City of Frankfurt for the last 30 years. Their plot is a complex
layout of 50 different types of flowers, fruit trees, vegetables and a small square of grass with a gravel path running from the center gate to a wooden summer house at the back of the property. It belongs in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
Now retired, the Bornhoevds, like many other small gardeners, spend four to five days a week, in the spring and summer, planting,
pruning, weeding and watering. If they need gardening tips, the association offers courses ranging from seed selection and tree-cutting to composting and soil conservation. For a plot they can call their own,
the Bornhoevds pay an annual fee of $300 per year, plus utilities, insurance and membership.
Through Wagner Country
By Betty Lowry
The house in Leipzig is gone now, but the Horton Department Store has a plaque on the Bruhl Street side marking the birthplace of
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, opera's most influential composer. The date was May 22, 1813, and, if his paternity is still in question, there is no doubt about his genius. Across the street his bronze bust stands in
Schwanenteich, a city park where swans swim in the pond.
Swans. Without "Lohengrin" they might just be large migratory white birds. Instead they are forever linked with
a magical opera -- memorialized worldwide from Neuschwanstein, the fairy-tale castle in Bavaria built 1869 to 1886, to Boston, Massachusetts, where swan boats, created for the Public Garden in 1877, still
delight children today.
Wagner left Leipzig for Dresden at age one. There he grew up surrounded by theater -- his stepfather Ludwig Geyer and sister
Rosalie were both stage professionals. He returned to Leipzig for secondary school (the Nicolaischule) and then went on to study music at Leipzig University.
His career moved steadily ahead. He was named chorus manager in Würzburg; music director in Königsberg where he married
aspiring actress Minna Planer, and then on to the same position in Riga. His breakthrough was as First Conductor in Magdeberg.
He returned to Dresden with Minna in 1843, Kapellmeisterto the court of the King of Saxony. "Rienzi,"
"Der fliegender Hollander" and "Tannhauser" all premiered here in the Semper Opera House (now restored to its original neo-Renaissance beauty). The village of Groupa on the
Dresden Road has a "Life & Works of Richard Wagner" museum with emphasis on the Dresden period.
Wagner's radical politics sent him fleeing Dresden to Weimar in 1849 just ahead of the Prussians. There he was able to renew his
contact with Franz Liszt as well as Liszt's young daughter, the 16-year-old and already-doting Cosima. A warrant for Wagner's arrest for high treason meant an abrupt departure for Paris, and when "Lohengrin" premiered the following year with Liszt conducting, Wagner missed it.
Wagner remained in exile for a dozen years, shuttling between the cities and spa towns of Europe, spending time briefly in a
debtor's prison, even stowing away on a ship when his passport was confiscated.
Wanderings... Wonderings
An Immigrant Narrative, Part Three
By Gert Niers
An autobiographical account of a young man's years in postwar Germany and his emigration to the United States. In its issue of April/May 2001, German Life had published the second part of a retrospective by
Gert Niers who described the tumultuous sixties in Europe. We continue this bilingual report with a closing remark on that decade and the author's recollection of his arrival in America during the early
seventies.
Wandern und Wundern
Wenn ich auf die sechziger Jahre zurückblicke, zeichnen sich zwei Ereignisblöcke ab, die mir das Ende der Unschuld jenes Jahrzehnts anzeigen. Es war zum einen der Tod
des Berliner Studenten Benno Ohnesorg, der bei einer Straßendemonstration von einem Polizisten erschossen wurde. Der Polizist wurde später von den Gerichten freigesprochen. Ein anderer Gewaltakt
war der (misslungene) Mordanschlag eines Neonazis gegen den Berliner Studentenführer Rudi Dutschke. Dem Ausholen zum tödlichen Gegenschlag, zu dem sich als Reaktion auf fortwährende Provokationen das
westdeutsche Establishment entschloss, scheint -- auf der anderen Seite des Atlantiks -- die Erschiessung von vier Studenten auf dem Campus der Kent State University zu entsprechen. Doch nahm nicht nur das
ideologischer Belagerung ausgesetzte System Zuflucht zur Gewalt, sondern auch einige jener Weltverbesserer, die angetreten waren, das System zu ändern, aber dann feststellen mussten, dass sie es nicht schnell
genug konnten. Ich meine hier, was Deutschland betrifft, die Gruppe um Andreas Baader und Ulrike Meinhof und die Organisation der Weathermen in Amerika. Nicht zu vergessen sind auch die
Gewaltausschreitungen politisch unbedeutender Elemente am äußersten Rand der Gesellschaft, etwa der Charles-Manson-Bande.
All diese Ereignisse zeigten mir nicht nur das Ende eines Jahrzehnts an, sondern auch und gerade das Ende des Geistes, von dem dieses Jahrzehnt ursprünglich getragen war.
Noch während meiner Studienzeit in Deutschland begann ich, als freier Mitarbeiter Artikel für die Oberhausener Lokalredaktion der Neuen Ruhr-Zeitung zu schreiben. Nach Abschluss meinesStudiums an der
Universität Köln (mit Staatsexamen in Deutsch und Französisch) kam ich im Sommer 1971 in die Vereinigten Staaten.
Würde mich jemand fragen, welche die angenehmste Erfahrung war, die ich als Neuankömmling in den USA machte, so würde ich auf meine Besuche in Gastwirtschaften verweisen, wo
Musik live geboten wurde, normalerweise von einem Interpreten der Folk Music mit eigener Gitarrenbegleitung. In Deutschland war die einzige Art, amerikanische Musik live zu erleben, in Form eines
Konzertbesuchs möglich, für den man zuvor eine Eintrittskarte kaufen musste. Nun erfolgte die beste Dienstleistung gratis zusammen mit dem bestellten Getränk.
Wie sich jedoch bald zeigte, war das Leben in Amerika nicht so einfach, wie ich es mir vorgestellt hatte. Für mich gab es in Lakewood, New Jersey, keine Anstellung im
Lehrberuf. Da ich keinen Anspruch auf Arbeitslosengeld oder Wohlfahrtsunterstützung hatte, musste ich mich schnell nach einem Job umsehen, um etwas zum Haushalt beizusteuern. Ich zögerte
deshalb nicht, ein Praktikum im Offsetdruck bei der örtlichen Zeitung, der Ocean County Daily Times, anzutreten. Ich ging davon aus, dass nach dem Gastspiel bei meinerdeutschen Lokalredaktion die
Beschäftigung mit der praktischen Herstellung einer Zeitung sich als beruflicher Vorteil erweisen würde. Obwohl ich nurden Mindestlohn erhielt, gewährten mir die sechs Monate, die ich in diesem Betrieb
verbrachte, wertvolle Einsichten: ich lernte die Arbeit in der Dunkelkammer kennen (Entwicklung von Fotos und Druckseiten), das Zusammenkleben der Seitennegative und die Bearbeitung der Druckvorlagen,
ferner die Bedienung und Reinigung der Presse (einer Goss Community) und andere nützliche Verrichtungen.
Zusammen mit meinen Schreibkenntnissen im Deutschen bescherte mir die Erfahrung im Zeitungsdruck, die ich bei der Ocean County Daily Times gemacht hatte, die ideale
Voraussetzung für eine Anstellung in der Redaktion einer deutschen Zeitung in New York. Ich ging somit zur New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, deren Büro sich zu der Zeit im New Yorker Stadtteil Queens
befand. Dort blieb ich von 1973 bis 1978 und erwarb zwei wichtige Fähigkeiten: Übersetzungen vom Fernschreiber der Associated Press auf Zeile herzustellen und Seitenumbruch bzw. Produktion zu
überwachen. Ich machte mich auch mit der Mentalität der Deutschamerikaner vertraut und der Geschichte der deutschen Amerika-Einwanderung. Ich nahm freundliche Kontakte mit der Society for
German-American Studies auf und entdeckte mein Interesse an deutschsprachiger Literatur aus den Vereinigten Staaten. Dies war (und ist immer noch) ein komplexes und faszinierendes Thema insofern, als ein
beträchtlicher Anteil dieser Literatur von deutschen Einwanderern geschrieben wurde, die aus traditionellen Gründen nach Amerika gekommen waren, und ein anderer ansehnlicher Teil von deutschjüdischen
Flüchtlingen, die in der Tat um ihr Leben hatten laufen müssen, um an die Gestade dieses rettenden Kontinents zu gelangen.
Wanderings and Wonderings
In retrospective, two comparable blocks of events in Germany and in the United States indicate to me the end of innocence during the sixties. It was the death of the
Berlin student Benno Ohnesorg who was shot by a policeman during a street demonstration. The policeman was later acquitted by the courts. Another major act of violence was the assassination attempt
committed by a neo-Nazi against the Berlin student leader Rudi Dutschke. Such fatal outlash of the West-German establishment against continued provocations seems to correspond -- on the other side of the
Atlantic -- to the shooting death of four students at Kent State University. Not only the system under ideological siege recurred to violence, but also some of those who had started out to change the
system and then found they couldn't do it fast enough. I am referring here to the group around Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof in Germany and the Weathermen organization in America. Not to forget
the violence exerted by politically less relevant elements on the fringe of society, such as the Charles Manson gang.
All these events signaled to me not just the end of a decade, but of the spirit of that decade. While finishing my studies in Germany, I began to write freelance articles
for one of the local newspapers in Oberhausen, the Neue Ruhr-Zeitung. After graduating from the University of Cologne with an M.A. equivalent in German and French, I came to the United States in the summer
of 1971.
If someone would ask me about the most pleasant experience that I had as a newcomer to the United States, I'd have to point out the visits to local bars with live music, usually
presented by a folksinger accompanying himself on guitar. The only way to enjoy American music live in Germany had been at a concert for which one had to buy a ticket. Now, the best service in a bar
came free along with the drink.
As it soon turned out, however, life in America was not as simple as I had anticipated. There was no teaching job immediately available for me in Lakewood, New
Jersey. Since I was not eligible for unemployment benefits or welfare, I had to find a job quickly in order to contribute something to our household. Therefore, I did not hesitate to accept an
apprenticeship in offset printing at the local newspaper, the Ocean County Daily Times. I thought that after my brief encounter with our German hometown news, the exposure to the production side of a paper
would be a good professional asset. Although I only received minimum wage, the six months I spent in this job provided me with valuable insights: I learned how to do the darkroom work (developing flats and
halftones), stripping page negatives and burning plates, running and cleaning the press (a Goss Community), and other useful techniques.
Together with my writing skills in German, the production experience collected at the Ocean County Daily Times provided the ideal qualification for an editorial position
at a German language newspaper in New York. Thus, I went to the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, located at that time in Queens, where I stayed from 1973 until 1978 and acquired two important
abilities: to produce translations by line from the AP wire service and to supervise page layout and production. I also familiarized myself with theGerman-American mentality and became aware of the
historic dimension of German immigration to America. I developed friendly contacts with the Society for German-American Studies and also took interest in German literature written in the United
States. This was (and still is) a complex and fascinating subject insofar as a large amount of this literature was written by German immigrants who came to this country for traditional reasons, and another
substantial part by German-Jewish refugees who actually had to run for their lives to make it to these shores.
Dr. Niers is Professor of Humanities at Ocean County College, New Jersey.
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