|
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2004 - excerpts from the editorial
Berta Hummel – Forever Capturing the Inner Child
by Sue Grant
Three small dimpled-kneed boys in Lederhosen stand close together on the path, curly heads bent over a slate. What ever is 1+1=? No matter how hard they try, they will never find the solution.
Figurines of stone are simply not famed for their intelligence, not even when they belong to the legendary Hummel family.
Whether you love them or hate them, the whole multi-dollar industry behind the hand-painted faces has tended to mask the story of the unassuming woman artist who created the figures in the first
place.
Berta Hummel was born as the third of six children on Friday, May 21, 1909. Her mother, Viktoria, came from a farmer’s family, while several of her paternal ancestors found light relief from their
daily grind as merchants in drawing, painting, and etching. Jakob Hummel had chanced across the rural market town of Massing in the deeply religious Niderbayern, settled and passed on his shop to his son Adolf,
Berta’s father.
When World War I broke out, Berta was an innocent five-year-old who had spent a carefree childhood amidst the pastel-colored house fronts and red-tiled roofs of twelfth-century Massing, the open
countryside with its gentle rolling hills and fruit orchards on her doorstep and no end of brothers and sisters to play with. Her teachers at the School Sisters of Notre Dame primary remember Berta as a bundle
of restless energy, a trait that fitted curiously well to her – quite common – surname Hummel. The word means “bumble bee” or “busy bee” and is used colloquially in the same way that English speakers might
describe someone as having “ants in their pants.” It would seem that the little girl could only sit quietly when engrossed in her favorite activities of drawing and painting, for which she showed a keen talent.
Germany was sliding towards the hyperinflation, which would be the downfall of so many of her countrymen, when Berta started secondary school in Simbach von Inn where, again, she excelled in art
classes. After passing her Absolvia, she then matriculated – with her parents’ blessing – at the Staatliche Kunstundgewerbeschule (State College for Art and Design) in Munich.
There, Berta experimented with everything from aquarelle painting to gouache, wood engraving, and charcoal works, oil and pastels. Wide-ranging, too, were her choice of subjects. Country scenes
reminiscent of her rural upbringing, portraits of members of her family, friends, and teachers, caricatures, still life, sketches of children, botanical studies of animal and plant life – all these belonged to
her repertoire…
For more, subscribe today!
Maestro Heinz Fricke:
Music Director of The Washington National Opera Orchestra
by Frauke de Looper
“Returning from Berlin to work with the Washington National Opera Orchestra is like coming home,” remarks Maestro Heinz Fricke, who was in town to attend the audition of a musician for the French
horn. Often, this takes several days and involves a committee that is present during auditions.
Maestro Fricke has been at the helm of the opera orchestra for the past eleven years during which time he shaped and reshaped the orchestra, raising the quality step by step. When the avuncular
Fricke took over as music director and conductor of the Washington Opera in 1993, the orchestra was not very good. Though he immediately set to work, success eluded him. The orchestra continued to receive bad
reviews. Sometimes it was considered too loud, at other times the balance between instruments and sections was not good. Some sections were stronger than others and that carried through in performance.
Up to then, nobody was really able to pinpoint the problem. Attending all performances, Fricke soon realized that the problem was not the orchestra but the pit. The orchestra had improved quite a
bit during his early tenure but its position in the orchestra pit was too low. So he raised the seating and – voilà – the orchestra sounded better! It was not louder, as some had feared, but clearer, as the
Maestro predicted.
Tons of experience followed Fricke to Washington. He can look back on a long and illustrious career as music director and conductor at several European opera houses. Until his mandatory retirement
at age sixty-five, he had worked at the Berlin Opera (Berliner Oper) in formerly East Berlin, East Germany, for thirty-two years, during the last period as “Musikdirektor.” From 1981 to 1992, he held the same
position at the Oslo Opera in Oslo, Norway. Also, he has been at the podium of major opera houses all over the world.
The offer to join the Washington Opera, where Fricke had just conducted “The Flying Dutchman” in 1992, coincided with his retirement. It was a big surprise and the Maestro felt honored by the
proposal. He thought about it, discussed it with his wife Anne-Marie and finally decided to embrace a new challenge. “Well, thirty-two years at the Berlin Opera was enough. I could have still done some
guest-conducting there, but it was better to leave and learn something new with another company”…
For more, subscribe today!
Mühlhausen – At the Heart of Germany
by Jörg M. Unger
Travel to Germany’s geographic center and find medieval charm and the hometown of America’s bridge building genius, John A. Roebling.
Walking over the one hundred twenty-year-old Brooklyn Bridge and crossing the East River is similar to strolling on the ancient town wall of Mühlhausen, hometown of the American bridge builder
Johann August Roebling. Roebling was appointed to build this masterpiece on May 23, 1867, which was completed by his eldest son, Washington Roebling, sixteen years later, in May 1883. From both constructions,
you have a spectacular view of the cities that have always determined the history of their country. While New York was the dream and goal of millions of emigrants from the old world, Mühlhausen – lying about
thirty miles northwest of Thuringia’s capital Erfurt – was one of those towns in Germany that lost hundreds of inhabitants, who looked for a better life and new challenges in the new world beyond the Atlantic
Ocean – among them Johann August Roebling and his brother, Carl Friedrich.
The valley of the river Unstrut, between the hills of Hainich and Dün, had been inhabited by the Franks since long ago, when, according to legend, Attila, the king of Huns, met with leaders
of Thuringian tribes on Castle Mulhus to forge an alliance against the Roman-Teutonic army in the south. While the origins of Mühlhausen, once known as Mulinhuso (old German for “the houses by the mill”), dates
back to 755 AD, the place was mentioned in a document for the first time in the year 967. Because of the beauty of this place, King Otto II gave the town to his Byzantine wife, Theophanu, as a gift seven years
later. In the following centuries, many German kings and emperors occupied the castle in Mühlhausen to rule the region – among them Lothar III, Heinrich II, and Friedrich I Barbarossa.
Weaving mills, tanneries, trade, and the production of blue wood dye formed the prosperous foundation of the imperial city and its political influence in the area. In the first half of the
thirteenth century, the town laws were written down in the German language – for the very first time in the empire – and some years later, the citizens of Mühlhausen freed themselves from the direct influence of
the king by destroying the castle in 1256. When Mühlhausen, with a population of about ten thousand inhabitants, became a Hanse town in 1430, it was one of the most important places in the middle of Germany. It
defended its privilege as a free town until 1802, when, weakened by several wars, it became a district town of Prussia, whose authorities tried to suppress every thought of liberty and fraternity that had spread
throughout the region after the French Revolution…
For more, subscribe today!
Creating the Invisible:
The Paintings of Hans Hofmann
by Kim Carpenter
Strong use of color and geometric patterns made Hans Hofmann a modern master in Abstract Expressionism.
Mention famous artists of the twentieth century, and names like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Wassily Kandinsky immediately spring to mind. Yet one of the most instrumental artists and
teachers of the twentieth century often remains overlooked and underestimated. Hans Hofmann, born in Weissenburg, Bavaria, in 1880, brought European modernism to American shores, influencing the course of modern
art in the United States for decades to come. With powerful prescience and ambitious vision, this German master introduced a wholly new approach to painting and helped to create the modern art aesthetic known as
Abstract Expressionism.
The child of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann, young Hans initially seemed more suited to a traditional career in civil service. Hofmann’s mother heralded from a family of brewers, while his father
worked as a government official. Raised and educated in Munich, his early interests included science and mathematics. He also demonstrated an aptitude for music and played the piano, organ, and violin. With his
father’s assistance, Hofmann secured a position under the Director of Public Works for the State of Bavaria in 1896. While still in his mid teens, he developed impressive expertise in the technical applications
of mathematics, inventing several scientific devises, including an electromagnetic comptometer.
By 1898, however, Hofmann decided to leave the civil service and focus exclusively on art. He had long been interested in drawing, with the masterworks in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek serving as
inspirations for his own desire to paint. By age eighteen, the budding artist began studying at Moritz Heymann’s Munich art school, where he first encountered Impressionism. With the financial backing of a
wealthy art patron from Berlin, Hofmann rejected the more academic approach to painting taught in Germany and moved to Paris in 1903. He remained there for over a decade, befriending such innovative artists as
Picasso, Fernand Léger, and Georges Braque. He also took evening classes at the prestigious Académie de la Grande Chaumière with Henri Matisse and learned the techniques of Fauvism and Cubism. After a bout with
tuberculosis, the artist returned to Munich in 1915 and founded the Hans Hofmann Schule für Bildende Kunst at 40 Georgenstrasse. Hofmann’s decision to focus on instruction had practical roots. He needed to earn
a living, and teaching provided steady income. Indeed, in the first half of the 1920s, Hofmann settled down, marrying Maria Wolfegg, affectionately called “Miz,” whom he first met at the turn of the century.
Their marriage lasted close to forty years until Miz’s death in 1963…
For more, subscribe today!
Rügen: Paradise in the Baltic
by Leah Larkin
Towering chalk cliffs, splendid beaches and scenery make a perfect vacation retreat.
Rügen, Germany’s largest island, is vacation perfect with white sandy beaches, dramatic chalk cliffs, beech forests, heaths, and lovely harbors. Back in the nineteenth century, it was the
playground of the nobility who built ritzy neoclassical villas on the Baltic island.
Long before royalty roamed Rügen, Teutonic tribes made it their home until the Slavs pushed them out during the fifth century migrations. Some five hundred years later, in 1168, the Danes invaded
and converted the islanders to Christianity. Later, in the eighteenth century, the island was ruled by the Swedes, and then occupied by the French, but fell to Prussia in 1815.
During the Nazi era and the following years of Communist rule, Rügen, which belonged to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or the former East Germany, was a vacation center for workers on
holidays paid for by the state. They stayed in places such as the residence on the beach at Prora, said to be the world’s longest building (two and a half miles long) with its sixty-five hundred rooms. It is now
empty, but the Prora museum provides a better glimpse of those days.
These days there are still signs of those bleak years of Communism: towns with severe Soviet style apartment blocks, rundown storefronts, shabby buildings, and bad roads. Yet there has been a lot
of progress in the past thirteen years. Many of those villas, which had fallen into ruin, have been restored. There are new roads and hotels, sleek banks, ice cafes, and good restaurants.
“This place seems to be going somewhere. You get that feeling on the whole island,” said Ulla Juergens, who, with her husband, owns and operates the Wreecher Hof hotel just outside the town of
Putbus near the coast in the south central part of the island.
The Juergenses, from Munich, came to Rügen on vacation in 1991. They fell in love with the island. “We wanted to do something for the economy here. We wanted to be part of the change.” So, they
built their charming and unusual hotel, a series of thatched roof cottages with rooms and suites, and opened for business in 1993.
Last summer, a friend and I spent a few days on Rügen. We stayed at the Wreecher Hof, a perfect place for an escape to tranquility in pretty surroundings by a lake. It was easy to reach the main
attractions by car, which we set out to do each day. We usually began our journey with a drive through part of the Deutsche Alleenstrasse (German alley street), a dark tunnel through a forest of Caucasian lime
trees whose branches extend across the road creating a leafy roof. It is so dark, cars drive through with lights on…
For more, subscribe today!
Oktoberfest – American Style!
by Jennifer Raley
Chants of “Eins, zwei, g'suffa!” will reverberate across the land this autumn as German-Americans gather together for their annual fall celebration.
Oktoberfest season is here! In towns all over the United States, the preparation has begun. Beer, food, and music are all common elements among Oktoberfests. However, each town has facets that
make its festival unique.
Cincinnati, Ohio, hosts the largest Oktoberfest in the United States – approximately half a million people show up for two days of merriment. They are famous for holding the record for the
world’s largest chicken dance, from 1995 through 1997. Although, no longer the record holder, Cincinnati’s chicken dance still draws tens of thousands, and each year a different celebrity leads the crowd in the
dance. In past years, Vern Troyer, Eddie Money, Weird Al Yankovic, and Davy Jones have led groups in the feather-flapping bash. Other highlights of Cincinnati’s Oktoberfest include performances by authentic
German bands, and, of course, the tapping of the first keg.
Just how many kegs are tapped during those two days? According to Raymond L. Buse III, public relations manager of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the amount of beer consumed at
the festival remains a secret never to be revealed. Buse does say, however, “We do sell a great deal of beer at Oktoberfest, Cincinnati.”
Planning an event of this magnitude is a tremendous task. “We have a very strong German community here, and they take the planning of the event very seriously and very passionately,” Buse
stated.
This gigantic festival takes place among the skyscrapers in the heart of the city in Fountain Square, where the Tyler Davidson Fountain, that was cast outside of Munich, home of the original
Oktoberfest, sits.
The Oktoberfest held in Frankenmuth, Michigan, became the first Oktoberfest in the United States to operate under the auspices of Munich – the Certificate of Ennoblement was signed by
Christian Ude, Lord Mayor of the City of Munich, and Hermann Memmel of the German parliament.
This truly authentic festival draws around ten thousand visitors each year. Frankenmuth Oktoberfest Coordinator, Jeanna Zehnder, says that the decorations are an integral part of the
festival: “The whole atmosphere is a big attraction. We do a lot of decorations that make it look like you’re in Bavaria.”
Helen, Georgia, also features architecture similar to that of Germany. Helen’s Oktoberfest celebration is famed for being the longest running Oktoberfest in the world: forty-four days of
fun. This year, thirty thousand people are expected to attend.
Autumn is the perfect time of year to visit Helen’s alpine village. Kay Mathena, executive director of the Helen Chamber of Commerce says, “We have beautiful fall weather: the leaves, the
sky, the low-humidity. It’s just a great time of year to visit.”
The beautiful fall weather played a part in inspiring the residents of La Crosse, Wisconsin, to establish one of the first Oktoberfests in the United States in 1961. Myrna Schmidt of the La
Crosse Oktoberfest says, “Everything is so gorgeous here in the coulee region.”
La Crosse owns the registered trademark, “Oktoberfest, USA.” Their Maple Leaf Parade alone draws around one hundred thousand people. The Miss Oktoberfest pageant is also quite popular with
the crowd, and the winner of the contest goes on to compete for the title of “Miss Wisconsin.”
New to the event schedule this year is the mini-tractor pull. Schmidt says that there is something fun for people of all ages: Oktoberfest, USA features constant entertainment. They will
have an authentic German band, exciting events, German food, and beer.
Attendees of Cullman, Alabama’s, Oktoberfest will not have to worry about hangovers because beer is not a part of their celebration. Cullman, a dry county, has hosted Oktoberfests without alcohol
since 1977.
Gay Voss of the Cullman County Museum says Cullman’s Oktoberfest is probably the only dry Oktoberfest in the world. “Well, it’s a novelty. It also reflects our heritage, traditions, and
values, and we have a lot of fun without beer,” she goes on to say.
The absence of beer does not seem to stop people from attending – this year, around ten thousand are expected. Voss says the food is one of the most popular aspects of the event; local
churches and restaurants serve German dishes throughout the weeklong celebration.
After indulging in the cuisine, one can wash it all down with a glass of “OktoberZest,” an apple-flavored ale with a sparkle. Since beer is off the menu, OktoberZest is the official beverage
of the Cullman Oktoberfest.
While Cullman is known for hosting an Oktoberfest celebration without beer, Mount Angel, Oregon, is known for being the largest event in the Northwest that is led entirely by volunteers. Each
year, the event grosses around six hundred thousand dollars.
President of the Mount Angel Oktoberfest, Jerry Lauzon, says, “It is truly a folk festival. It’s a great way for non-profit organizations to make money.”
The planning of Mount Angel’s elaborate Oktoberfest is a year-round activity. Lauzon says that approximately eight to nine hundred kegs of beer will be ordered, and half of them will be
German beer with Spaten and Paulaner among the favorites.
The event features music by German bands, including the “Original Donaumusikanten,” sponsored by Lufthansa, the official airline of Oktoberfest.
With all the food, beer, and entertainment, pinpointing the most popular aspect of the Mount Angel Oktoberfest is difficult, but Lauzon says that the Maypole dance, which is performed by
children from Mount Angel School, is probably the most photographed event.
When asked to describe the Mount Angel Oktoberfest in one word, Lauzon says, “Gemuetlichkeit (friendliness).”
Whether attending the biggest, the most authentic, or the longest of the Oktoberfest celebrations, people can be assured of a good time.
For more, subscribe today!
The Way of Emperors and Kings
by Nicholas Corder
Set off for a journey in the tracks of emperors and kings on a route from Frankfurt to Budapest.
There is a current fashion in Europe to link towns, villages, and cities thematically. Almost every country’s tourist authority has come up with a series of routes that reflect the country’s
history, geography, local produce, or architecture.
One such route in Southern Germany is the Route of Kings and Emperors. Based on the roads the Holy Roman Emperors would have traveled, the “Strasse der Kaiser und Könige” stretches from Frankfurt
to Passau inside the German border, and presumably must, in theory, continue the length of the Austrian Danube as far as Budapest.
For this article, we are going to hug the stretch of the route that follows the Danube from Passau through Southern Germany, turning off the river’s course to arrive at Nürnberg.
Passau
Passau is the gateway from Germany to Austria. At the confluence of three rivers – the Ilz, the Inn, and, of course, the great Donau itself, Passau has for centuries been an enormously important
stop on the traveler’s route.
Passau is a tight little town that can be viewed on foot as well as by boat. The short boat trip is genuinely worth the effort as it gives you a completely different perspective of the town.
Although, as with all such trips, much of the commentary is often whipped away by the wind, it does give you a sense of the place which, because of its geographical position, was an extremely important strategic
trading post in years gone by. Cynically, you also get the feeling that for a few euros, you are getting to see just as much of the place as the people who have forked out thousands for a complete cruise.
There is much old architecture to be admired in Passau, as well as an extraordinary modern hotel, the Rotel Inn, that has been built in the shape of a person lying down asleep.
Passau was largely destroyed by fire in the late seventeenth century, allowing the city fathers to rebuild huge portions of it in the baroque style. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is probably the town’s
most interesting and famous building. It took over a hundred years to build, was finished in 1520, and is home to the largest organ in the world. It has over seventeen thousand pipes and in excess of two hundred
organ stops. According to the guidebook, it can be played by five people at the same time. Unfortunately, I did not get to witness this, but I bet it is some sight!…
For more, subscribe today!
The Heritage of the Hansa
by Mark Lardas
Just as mysteriously and quickly as the Hansa came into being and dominated sea trade, it was suddenly gone.
Its origins are shrouded in mystery. No one knows when it dissolved. Neither a society nor a corporation, it owned no joint property, had no exclusive executive officers, no joint treasury, and
lacked a unique seal for authenticating treaties and documents. A mercantile organization, it was not ruled by merchants. It had no common council. There was no obligation to attend its meetings, and it lacked
coercive power.
Yet, despite its lack of power and definition the Hansa – an alliance of communities pursuing their own trading interests profitably and securely – dominated the history of northern and central
Europe for nearly two centuries. At the height of its influence, it monopolized trade in the North and Baltic Seas. Crowned princes bowed to its will.
“Hansa” means “group.” It is an appropriately ambiguous label. The Hansa was less a league of cities than a league of merchant associations in those cities. It grew from an alliance of two
Northern German towns – Hamburg and Lübeck. Lübeck was a herring center, and Hamburg had access to the salt mines at Kiel. Between the founding of Lübeck in 1143 and 1200, merchants in these towns cooperated to
create a canal linking the Baltic to the North Sea. Thereafter, the towns worked together to further their mercantile interest. Soon they established trading partnerships with other towns on the Wendish coast of
the Baltic.
At the same time, trade revived on the Rhine. Cologne prospered, negotiating favorable trade agreements with England. As Hamburg and Lübeck traded with more distant ports, they found themselves
competing with Cologne. The cities did something unusual – cooperating rather than competing.
Individually, free cities were small and weak. They were free only in that their charters allowed them to run their own internal affairs free from their overlord’s interference. In exchange for
autonomy, they paid taxes to their lord – whether an emperor, a king, or a duke. The arrangement freed the overlord from the responsibility of administering a town, provided the royal coffers a stream of hard
cash, and let the townspeople manage their own lives…
For more, subscribe today!
Hermann Pückler-Muskau
by Phyllis Meras
He was a landscape artist with a grandiose vision and his loves were guided by his legendary monetary needs.
He was handsome. He was charming. He planted a million trees on his honeymoon and used up most of his wife’s dowry doing it. He was said to have had more mistresses than Spain’s Don Juan or
Italy’s Casanova and, when he died, a packet of his love letters was discovered, matter-of-factly marked “to be used again if necessary.”
However, nineteenth-century Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich Pückler-Muskau was also a landscape gardener of genuine brilliance, a father of urban planning, and a travel writer and social
commentator of perception and wit. His 1830 The Tour of a German Prince, describing England, Wales, and Ireland, was a bestseller of its day that was translated into a dozen languages. And the prince’s Hints on
Landscape Gardening is credited with having helped develop parkland in the romantic style in the United States.
Hermann Pückler-Muskau was born in 1785, the son of Count Erdmann Pückler, a privy counselor to the King of Saxony, and his half-French wife. The marriage meant that there were two estates in the
family, for Count Pückler had his own small property of Branitz near Cottbus while his wife had eighteen hundred fifty-three acres. When Hermann was fourteen, however, his parents were divorced. His mother
returned to France and remarried. His father kept her estate, lavishly spending money he did not have on it and, simultaneously, taking up with other women, thereby setting the precedent his son would follow on
a much grander scale.
Hermann studied law, but gave it up to become a guardsman in the Saxon Army and later to fight with the Russians and the Prussians against Napoleon. Meanwhile, when he was twenty-five, his father
had died, leaving him his estates.
However, with the property came all of his father’s debts, and Pückler was advised to find himself a wealthy wife to help out with his financial burdens. England appealed to him both as a place to
see and a place where he might find a wife, so off he went…
For more, subscribe today!
Autumn Apple Delights
by Sharon Hudgins
Autumn is the season for apples in Germany – from the vast orchards of the "Altes Land" near Hamburg in the north, all the way southward through Hesse, the Saarland, and the Pfalz,
to Baden, the Black Forest, and the shores of Bodensee (Lake Constance). And in household gardens throughout the country, apple trees laden with autumnal fruit bend their branches toward the earth, waiting for
their heavy burden to be harvested.
Apples are the most popular – and the most widely grown – fruit in Germany. Dozens of local and regional varieties are cultivated, from bright red to green and golden types. The peak season
for fresh apples is September through November, when the fruit is at its finest for both eating and preserving. Surplus apples are stored in cellars, pressed into juice, and made into jellies and jams. And
apples are used year-round as a favorite ingredient in a large number of German recipes, including soups, salads, sauces, stuffings, side dishes, meat dishes, and a delicious array of desserts.
A thorough discussion of German apple drinks alone would fill a small book. Apfelsaft (apple juice) – a drink beloved by children and their fitness-minded mothers – is often served at
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A refreshing summer drink is made by mixing chilled apple juice – half and half – with sparkling water. And in autumn you can taste Apfelmost, a lightly alcoholic drink made from
the juice of freshly pressed fruit. Frankfurters are partial to their mildly alcoholic apple wine – Äppelwei or Ebbelwoi, in the local dialect – traditionally served in blue-and-gray stoneware jugs. Viez is the
local term for the alcoholic apple wine produced around Merzig, between Saarbrücken and Trier. The city even hosts a Merziger Viezfest, a folk festival held on the first Saturday in October, featuring hot apple
wine flavored with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon. Germans also make much stronger drinks known as Apfelbrand (a potent clear liquor distilled from apples) and Apfelkorn (a sweet liqueur made from distilled grain
alcohol blended with apples)…
For more, subscribe today!
"Nothing but Heat, Cold, Hunger and Thirst"
German Convicts on the Galleys of the Mediterranean Sea
by Robert A. Selig
A sentence to the galleys transformed thousands of lives into the power that fueled the military ships of the Mediterranean.
"To be sent to the galleys for the remainder of his natural life." For almost two hundred years, from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries, thousands of German-speaking
people living north of the Alps heard this verdict in some form or another, either as a life sentence or for terms of two, four, or eight years, pronounced over them. Frequently, the verdict was accompanied by
the admonition to the offender that he had received this sentence only as a special favor, as his crime was worthy of the death penalty. Since few states of the Holy Roman Empire had galleys in their fleets, the
sentence had to be served on the fleets of Mediterranean City States such as Venice, Triest, Amalfi, Genoa, in the fleets of the papacy, or even on the galleys of France. Twice a year, transports of convicts
ranging from a few men to hundreds of unfortunate souls crossed the Alps. At mortality rates of between sixty and seventy percent, few if any ever saw their homes again.
Galleys and the poor souls sentenced to live and, more often than not, to die, on them, hold a morbid fascination for modern man. Who were these men, what were their crimes, and what did they have
to suffer as they spent their days chained to their floating coffins?
Galleys were long, small, and highly mobile ships which, in post-Roman times, first appeared in the twelfth century in the fleets cruising the Mediterranean. Initially they were about one hundred
twenty to one hundred fifty feet long, fifteen to twenty-five feet wide with a draft of about six feet. On twenty-five rows of benches sat nine rowers, three to each of the three oars, hence the name terzarolo.
The Venetians preferred the terzarolo technique which used single oarsmen arranged in echelons of three. They all sat on the same level pulling oars of different lengths. The left or port side had twenty-four
rows; instead of the twenty-fifth row, there was a fireplace to provide food and warmth during cold weather for the four hundred forty-one rowers and the galley crew. On larger ships, up to five men were used to
work one of the oars that could be thirty-six feet long. With the help of one or two large triangular Latin sails, its average speed was three to four knots (one knot = 1.15 mph), but at twenty-two to twenty-six
beats per minute, it could go as fast as seven to eight knots…
For more, subscribe today!
American Soldiers — A German Family
by Ruth Hebel-Petrauskas
Two cultures thrust together during World War II survive the conflict with an ever-lasting bond.
Almost hidden under overhanging lilacs, tanks were parked in front of a German house. The scene looked deceptively peaceful. A closer look revealed American soldiers on a bench with some German
women and children. They were evidently enjoying the spring evening with the scent of lilacs perfuming the air. The end of World War II was sometime in the future.
Upon closer inspection, however, those people – from different countries – had a hard time conversing. None spoke the language of the other except me, a young girl who learned the English
language in school. This is the unusual story.
My mother and I were visiting relatives for the Easter holiday in the village of Soehlde, near the city of Hildesheim, in the northeastern area of Germany. One day, children riding their
bicycles outside the village, came racing down the street and telling us: “We saw tanks on the hill. It looks like they are coming here.”
Everyone went inside. My aunt’s friend owned a large brick house at the end of the village surrounded by large trees and bushes. She said, “Let’s go to my friend. We will not be so visible.”
Our government had told us, anyone seen on the street by the advancing enemy would be shot. After a short while, tanks were visible on the main street, on top of a small hill. All of a
sudden, they started shooting straight down the street several times. We learned later this is how they ascertained whether German soldiers were in the community. The street was like a ghost town with no one in
sight.
However, being young and unafraid, I had gone back to fetch an item I had forgotten. Just as I was walking back to our hiding place, the grenades came singing down the street. I jumped into
the ditch running along the side of the road in every village, filled with not so clean water.
As the tanks came closer, I saw the soldiers sitting on top and on the gun barrels. The people who had ventured outside and the soldiers were waving to each other. I then felt safe to
continue my walk.
Right at the end of the street, near our house, the street made a sharp right turn in front of a small hill. After about half a kilometer it turned left up that hill. As the first tank
entered the top, it drew fire from a German contingent some distance away. Immediately the rest of the tanks spread out on the hilly field, and the battle started. It was late in the afternoon. Since only a few
soldiers were needed to man the tanks, the others went to the various farms to gather fresh eggs, a real treat for them. A communication center had been set up inside the house. The four women fried eggs and
baked some biscuits, well into the night. I tried to improve my English language talking to them…
For more, subscribe today!
Family Research
Sometimes “Three Brothers” Really Turn Out to be Three Immigrant Brothers
by James M. Beidler
Many beginning family historians encounter what prominent genealogist Sharon DeBartolo Carmack calls “The Three Brothers Myth” in her book A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your Immigrant &
Ethnic Ancestors.
“It’s always three brothers who immigrated to America, never two or four or five or six. Sometimes one is lost at sea during the voyage over, or once they got America, one went north, one went
south, and one headed west, never to be heard from again. There were never any sisters involved in the big move across the ocean. Be wary of the brothers myth, and always keep an eye out for additional siblings,
both in America and once you start foreign research. You also want to confirm through your research that there were, in fact, three brothers, that the three brothers were indeed brothers and not two brothers and
an uncle, for example, or that the three brothers weren’t just three men with the same last name.”
My mother’s maiden name is Hiester, and we are descendants of immigrant Johann Jost Hiester (Hüster in Germany). The tale repeated in print for close to two hundred years was that this immigrant
was one of three brothers from the town of Elsoff in Wittgenstein (modern German state of North Rhine-Westphalia).
Among the articles written about the family was one from the early 1900s by descendant Isaac Hiester, who had returned to Elsoff and triumphantly found the baptisms of the three immigrant brothers
– Johannes, Johann Jost and Johann Daniel.
Or so he thought. However, his knowledge of German genealogical research methodology did not include the fact that for most German men who bear “Johann” as a first name with an additional “middle
name” – it is the middle name by which they are usually called…
For more, subscribe today!
CALENDAR
October
Huntington Beach, CA
Through October 30: Oktoberfest. Old World Restaurant. Call 714-895-8020 or visit www.oldworld.ws
LaCrosse, WI
September 24 – October 2: Oktoberfest. Call 608-784-3378 or visit www.oktoberfestusa.com
Reading, PA
September 30 – October 3: Oktoberfest. Call 610-373-3982 or visit www.readingliederkranz.com
Fredericksburg, TX
October 1-3: Oktoberfest. Call 830-997-4810 or visit www.oktoberfestinfbg.com
Sarasota, FL
October 1-3: Oktoberfest Suncoast. Call 941-708-3456 or visit www.oktoberfestsuncoast.com
Leavenworth, WA
October 1-2 and 8-9: Oktoberfest. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org.
San Antonio, TX
October 1-2 and 8-9: Oktoberfest. Call 210-222-1521.
Rayne, LA
October 2-3: Roberts Cove 10th Annual Germanfest. Call 337-334-8354 or visit www.robertscovegermanfest.com
Washington, D.C.
October 5:
Lecture: German-American Experience: Four Centuries of Achievement by Professor Don Heinrich Tolzmann. 6:30 pm at Heurich House Museum. Call Margrit Krewson at 813-835-7024.
Rhinelander, WI
October 8-9: Rhinelander’s Oktoberfest. Call 800-236-4386 or visit www.rhinelanderchamber.com
Ocean City, MD
October 8-10: Oktoberfest. Call 410-524-7020 or visit www.oceanpromotions.info
Lake Worth, FL
October 8-10 and 15-17: American German Club’s Oktoberfest. Call 561-967-6464 or visit www.americangermanclub.org.
Frohna, MI
October 9: Saxon Lutheran Memorial Fall Festival. Call 573-824-5404.
New York, NY
October 9: German Language Schools in USA’s 25th Annual Conference. Call 203-792-2795.
Baltimore, MD
October 9 & 10: 35th Annual Maryland Oktoberfest. Held in Baltimore’s 5th Regiment Armory. Call 410-522-4144.
Newport, RI
October 9-11: 12th Annual NBC-10 International Oktoberfest. Call 401-846-1600 or visit www.newportfestivals.com.
San Francisco, CA
October 14-17: Oktoberfest by the Bay at Fort Mason. Visit www.oktoberfestbythebay.com
Miami, FL
October 16-17, 23-24: Oktoberfest. Call 305-552-5123 or 305-553-8587 or visit www.germanamericanclub-miami.org
Oregon, OH
October 17: German Roast Pork Dinner. Hosted by the Teutonia Maennerchor and Damenchor. For tickets, contact Ron Schmidt at 419-691-3537 or Hans Ersepke at 419-475-4712.
Tulsa, OK
October 21-24: Oktoberfest. Call 918-744-9700 or visit www.tulsaoktoberfest.org
North Bergen, NJ
October 22: Oktoberfest. Schuetzen Park. Call 973-259-1046 or email www.ygac.org.
Deerwood, MN
October 22-24: Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge Oktoberfest. Call 800-450-4545 or visit www.ruttgers.com.
Atlantic City, NJ
October 23 & 24: Trump Taj Mahal’s 11th Annual Oktoberfest. Call Gisela at 732-528-5135.
New Braunfels, TX
October 29-November 7: Wurstfest. Call 800-221-4369 or visit www.wurstfest.com.
November
Baltimore, MD
November 7: Lutherfest at Zion Church (reservations required). Call 410-727-3939 or visit www.zionbaltimore.org
Bethlehem, PA
November 9: Tutt (Brown Bag) Talk: Pennsylvania German Christmas Customs. Presented by Paul Kunkel at PA German Heritage Center. Call 610-691-0603.
Southgate, MI
November 13: Karneval. Opening celebration. Music, food, and refreshments. Call 734-479-4278 or visit www.germaniaclub.homestead.com
Harmony, PA
November 13-14: Annual Weihnachten Platz Crafts Market. Carriage rides, tours, refreshments, and entertainment. Call 888-821-4822 or visit www.harmonymuseum.org
Jessup, MD
November 14: 5th Annual German Heritage Fest. Blob’s Park. Call 202-554-2664 or visit http://www.geocities.com/agas_dc/
Sheboygan, WI
November 25-late December: Holiday Memories. Call 920-458-1103 or visit www.sheboygan.org
Leavenworth, WA
November 26-28: Christkindlmarkt. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.christkindlmarktleavenworth.com.
Baltimore, MD
November 27-28: Christkindlmarkt at Zion Church. Call 410-727-3939 or visit www.zionbaltimore.org
|
