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October/November 2006

Profile:
Wim Wenders
by Martin Ganni

    With unruly, longish hair, casual clothes, and dark-rimmed spectacles, Wim Wenders looks more like a university professor than a filmmaker. His responses are comprehensive and focused, as if the scrupulous director that he is, is aiming to deliver value for money. “What I love in a movie,” he says, “are the emotions carried in what is left unsaid and unseen. To produce the right feeling, often I’m forced to leave out my favorite scenes. It’s like reading a book. The interesting things are often between the lines, something I’ve noticed ever since I was a kid.” I met Wenders, easily the greatest contemporary cinéaste to come out of Germany, at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland where he received an honorary award for his outstanding career as a filmmaker.

    What is the purpose of cinema for Wenders? “When you think about it for a minute, the cinema and major cities were born at about the same time – the country folk didn’t need the cinema. In the cities, life has always been fast. There is little time for friends and family, jobs are demanding, overtime is often necessary. The movies remind these stressed out people what they’re missing. I want these people to dream, to walk away with something meaningful from their cinema experience.”

    Where does Wenders get ideas for his films? “It’s always a place. I’m taken by a city, a landscape. I then look for a story that fits this place. At any one moment I have some twenty ideas circulating in my mind. Alas, I rarely get to make more than one of these ideas. My last film, Don’t Come Knocking, began with this town in Montana called Butte set in a wide-open space. I first saw it in the 1970s and returned seven times and took photos. I could see the changes taking place there. The population halved but somehow I just didn’t have the right story for it till now before it was too late, so I asked Sam Shepard to set the story there. He never takes planes so he’s driven through all these little towns across the American West, even stayed in the hotel we put in the film, so his experience was very helpful.” Out of all the twenty ideas he has wandering in his mind, why did Wenders choose a Western? “The American West belongs to all of us. It was shaped and populated by the emigrating Europeans,” he responds with conviction.

    Wim Wenders was born in Düsseldorf in 1945. He studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Freiburg and seriously contemplated the priesthood. In 1967, he started attending the film and television academy, Hochschule fur Film und Fernsehen, in Munich. His first professional film, The Goalie’s Fear of the Penalty Kick, won the Critics’ Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The same year, the budding director co-founded the Filmverlag der Autoren with fourteen other filmmakers. This production and distribution company soon marked the beginning of New German Cinema.

Oktoberfest! – Coast to Coast
by Sherwin Yoder

    When the beer flows and the Chicken Dance starts, you will know Oktoberfest has begun its sweep across the United States.

    The first Oktoberfest took place on October 12, 1810, in Munich, Germany. The occasion marked the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. King Max I opened the celebration up to all the citizens of Munich, and over time, the festival’s popularity grew and began to be recognized outside of Munich. Today, Oktoberfest is celebrated internationally and has become the largest festival in the world. A testament to the festival’s popularity and appeal can be found in the abundance of Oktoberfests held within the United States. These festivals are established for a variety of reasons, but they often signify the impact German immigration and heritage has had on the United States.

    Though the earliest German immigrants arrived at the Jamestown colony in 1608, the first German settlement, fittingly named Germantown, was not established until 1683 when German settlers arrived in Pennsylvania. As of 2000, the largest ethnic group in the United States was those with German ancestry. The role that Germans and German-Americans have played in shaping this country’s history has made a lasting impression.

    The following six Oktoberfest festivals in the United States have been selected to highlight the variety in which Oktoberfest is celebrated and to focus on a few historical facts concerning the impact Germans and their descendants have had on the history of this country.

    Newport, Rhode Island – Newport’s International Oktoberfest

    • Dates: October 7 to 9, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 8,000 to 10,000
    • FYI:
    • On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island was the first colony to declare independence from British rule.
    • In November 1776, British troops took control of Newport. German soldiers, known as the Hessians, were part of the British command. In 1780, under the leadership of French Commander Conte de Rochambeau, Newport was again restored to colonial possession, and a German contingent, known as the Zweibrükeners, were part of Rochambeau’s command.

    Newport’s 14th Annual International Oktoberfest will be held underneath tents situated by the waterfront. Festival organizers plan on using three stages that will feature live entertainment, and the entertainers love to get everybody involved. A few of the entertainers performing this year include: Die Schlauberger, HSV Bavaria Dancers, Peter Beck and Mississauga Express, SGTV Alpenblumen Dancers, and The Dominoes International Showband. Shoppers at the festival will be able to browse through a marketplace as well as many exhibitor and vendor booths that will be selling German crafts and goods. An extensive Biergarten and Weingarten will be available, and the food choices will consist of traditional German foods and American cuisine.

    Newport plans to have activities designed for family fun such as pumpkin painting and carving, Balloon Magic with Ron Sargent, and for an additional cost, “Bungee Jumping Fun” with Heightened Senses, and pony rides. The event costs $8 per day if you order tickets in advance and $12 at the gate, and children under twelve are free if accompanied by an adult. The monies will go to cover the cost of the event, and any additional monies will be donated to a charity organization. A more complete listing of times, entertainment, special events, and ticket information can be obtained by visiting the website: www.newportfestivals.com/Oktoberfest/.

    Las Vegas, Nevada – Hofbräuhaus Oktoberfest

    • Dates: September 16 to October 31, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 55,000
    • FYI:
    • Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is fully licensed by and an exact reproduction of Hofbräuhaus Munich, originally commissioned by Duke Wilhelm V in 1589.
    • The beer served daily at Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas is brewed in Munich according to the over four hundred-year-old Bavarian purity law.
    • In the 1800s, German beer barons Jacob Ruppert, George Ehret, Frederick Pabst, Joseph Schlitz, Adolphus Busch, and Johann Lemp helped establish the burgeoning beer industry within the United States.

    The Hofbräuhaus restaurant in Las Vegas is part of a beer legacy that extends back several centuries to its establishment in Munich, Germany. Even in 1632, the Hofbräuhaus reputation was so well known that when the Swedes attacked Munich, they made a deal with the officials: no pillaging and plundering in exchange for one thousand buckets of beer.

    Hofbräuhaus will be hosting their third Oktoberfest, and the restaurant plans on continuing their tradition of holding a keg tapping once a week. With the exception of opening day, the keg tapping will take place every Friday, and Hofbräuhaus will try to get a celebrity to do the honors. Last year, Siegfried and Roy participated in the keg tapping, and Hofbräuhaus is hoping they can return. For musical entertainment, the restaurant selects a different band for each month of the event, and the band plays every evening for the guests.

    Hofbräuhaus places great emphasis on Oktoberfest authenticity. Their beer is brewed according to the purity laws of the original Oktoberfest, they have imported seventy thousand roof tiles from Germany, and they serve the same German foods using the long tables and benches characteristic of those used in Munich. Last year, the restaurant was given an award that bestowed on them the honor of being the best ethnic restaurant in Las Vegas.

    For more information on the Hofbräuhaus Oktoberfest, call: 702-853-BEER (2337), or visit the website: www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com.

    San Francisco, California – Oktoberfest By the Bay

    • Dates: October 12 to 15, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 45,000 to 50,000
    • FYI:
    • Born in Lindau, Bavaria, Albrecht Kuner engraved California’s state seal.
    • Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, German-American Joseph Strauss was the chief architect of the Golden Gate Bridge.
    • Born in Bavaria, Levi Strauss settled in San Francisco where he created the first pair of jeans.

     Gemütlichkeit Night kicks off San Francisco’s Oktoberfest By the Bay. The night is set aside to feel – well, Gemütlichkeit, a warm feeling of friendliness and amicability, in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. The festival is held on a large pier that functioned as an armory during World War II. Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen from the pier. Entertainment for the event will include several dancing groups, the Chico Bavarian Band (a twenty-two-piece brass band that has played at Munich), and The Nationals.

     The United German American Society works hand-in-hand with the Oktoberfest directors to create an authentic German atmosphere and experience. The dancing, music, food, and, of course, beer are all authentic German style and fare, and different organizations will provide historical and cultural exhibits. As in times past, the last day of the event, October 15, will commemorate the annual German Day anniversary. This year’s 110th Anniversary of German Day will focus on activities and entertainment designed specifically for a family friendly event, and a concert put on by the San Francisco Musik Verein will highlight the day’s entertainment.

    Tickets can be purchased at the door for $15 per adult, $5 for an attendee aged thirteen to seventeen and anyone under twelve gets in free. For more information call: 510-568-9536, or visit the website: www.oktoberfestbythebay.com.

    St. Louis, Missouri – Soulard Oktoberfest

    • Dates: October 6 to 8, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 12,000 to 15,000
    • FYI:
    • St. Louis native, Elizabeth Blow, founded the first kindergarten in the United States. The kindergarten was based on the model designed by Friedrich Froebel of Germany, and the location was Carondelet, Missouri, a French settlement five miles outside of St. Louis.

    The Soulard Oktoberfest is entering its third year, and the directors are excited because last year’s attendance numbers increased by six thousand. For 2006, Soulard has landed three big-name entertainers to perform for their guests. Two-time Grammy-winning Brave Combo will return for another year, and the festival will also feature Die Schlauberger and a special appearance from the German group The Haarbruecker Brass Band. There will be no charge for the event and musical performances.

     Soulard has many sponsors who provide funding for the family-oriented event, and the event has been designed to give back to the community. This year, all participating high school German Clubs will have a chance to win $400 in prize money for designing the best booth. The German Clubs help provide some of the German games, crafts, and foods, and the Oktoberfest organizers place great emphasis on German authenticity by hiring German cooks and serving international as well as local beer.

    For more information call: 314-368-3419, or visit the website: www.soulardoktoberfest.com.

    Galveston, Texas – Island Oktoberfest

    • October 28, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 15,000
    • Considered the deadliest natural disaster in United States history, the hurricane that struck Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900, killed six thousand to ten thousand people and destroyed approximately thirty-six hundred buildings. Albert Hall, then known as the German Evangelical Church, was used as a refuge center for The Great Storm of 1900.

    Galveston’s 25th Island Oktoberfest is sponsored and hosted by the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. The all-volunteer workforce is made up of church members and their friends and families. The congregation spends days cooking for the event, and festival goers are treated to authentic German cuisine – such as the famous German Dinner (pork tenderloin, sauerkraut, red cabbage, and German potatoes). Plenty of grilled bratwurst, knackwurst, smoked sausages, German beer and wine, pretzels, special homemade strudel, and other desserts will be available.

    The festival is free and very family-friendly. Highlights of the day include high-quality arts and crafts booths set up inside Albert Hall, the original church constructed in 1868 that showcases stunning floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows, and many activities for adults, including dancing and singing along with the internationally-recognized band Alpenfest. A Cake Wheel, raffle, and silent auction coupled with many activities geared for children will also be offered. The event comes to a close with a church service at 5:30 p.m. with the pastor, dressed in authentic German garb, offering a contemporary service and communion to any interested festival goers.

    For directions or more information call: 409-762-8477, or visit the website: www.1st.lutheran.com or call 409-762-8477.

    Seymour, Indiana

    • Dates: October 5 to 7, 2006
    • Estimated Attendance: 50,000-60,000
    • FYI:
    • During World War II, approximately eleven thousand Germans living inside the United States were interned.
    • German-Americans Dwight D. Eisenhower, Carl Spaatz, and Chester Nimitz played significant roles commanding Allied operations during the war, and the Japanese surrendered on Chester Nimitz’s ship.
    • Seymour had been the home of many German immigrants, and the Air Force purchased farmland from the residents to build an airport. Freeman Field Airport trained four thousand twin-engine pilots for combat during World War II.

     The 34th Annual Seymour Oktoberfest will have activities for all ages. A small sampling of the planned events are: a bluegrass festival, balloon races, a Bier Garten serving authentic German beer, a quilt show, German entertainment featuring the band Schulhaus 4+3, a carnival, a 5k race, and minicar racing. (And that’s just scratching the surface!) Free entertainment will be offered on three stages every evening and all day Saturday, and “One Kids Square” has become very popular with the younger attendees.

    Though the German theme runs through the heart of the festival, the town has branched out and embraced other cultural influences such as serving a variety of ethnic foods. The event is designed for community participation, and the organizers work hard to provide plenty of security and staff to ensure a safe and clean environment. Once expenses for the event have been met, the extra monies are made available to special projects within the community. Last year $20,000 was donated to community organizations. Oktoberfest in Seymour is truly a community affair.For more information, call: 812-523-1414, e-mail: info@seymouroktoberfest.com, or visit the website: www.seymouroktoberfest.com.

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Porsche – Creator of Icons
By Ryan Lee Price

    Ferdinand Porsche’s creation of the Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche brand were landmarks in automobile history.

    The year was 1900, and the L'Exposition Universelle De Paris was called the event of the century though it was only a few months old. Pavilions were bigger, more visitors arrived, more countries participated, and more exhibits were present, but what was most impressive was the advent of science and engineering, clearly the focal point of the entire exhibition. The Eiffel Tower stood proudly above it all, and the technological progress of a world’s people was proudly on display, all lit by new-fangled electric arc lights. Each corner of engineering was on show: machine guns, electric conveyor belts, a steam engine by Borsig, an eighteen-foot stationary engine from Lanz, and, of course, there were automobiles.

    And there was Ferdinand Porsche, a bright energetic designer whose blueprints for the electric drive on the “System Lohner-Porsche” electric motor carriage stood out in a year of relatively inadequate advances in the new genre of car making. This was Porsche’s future, a road blighted with disappointment, war, prison, and diligent perseverance while milestones celebrated his genius, success, prosperity and dreams come true.

    Ferdinand Porsche was first introduced to the world in 1875 in Mattersdorf, a small village close to Reichenberg, in what was then North Bohemia, (later Czechoslovakia). He spent most of his youth fiddling with various mechanical projects, one of which was providing one of the first electric lights in a residential home in Mattersdorf.

    This excellent mechanical aptitude caught the attention of several businessmen and, at age eighteen, Porsche was recommended for a job in Vienna with Bela Egger, a company that would today be called an electrical contractor. While in Vienna, Porsche was only able to steal his education. Unable to afford admission, he sneaked into night classes at the Technical University; limited as it was, it was the only "formal" engineering education he ever obtained.

    After five years in Vienna, he landed his first job in the automotive field with Jacob Lohner. His “System Lohner-Porsche” debuted at the World's Fair in Paris eventually won several Austrian land speed records. After all, it could manage 35 mph, an unheard of speed at the time. More speed records followed when he created the “System Mixt,” a combination of Daimler and Panhard's internal combustion engines to power wheel-mounted electric motors. In 1905, Porsche was the recipient of the Poetting Prize for outstanding automotive design in Austria. Success and fame had been achieved at the age of thirty.

    Early in 1906, Austro-Daimler convinced Porsche to join their firm as the chief designer, and one of his most important projects was the famous “Prince Henry,” an eighty-five-horsepower streamlined car built in 1910 for the Prince Henry Trial where it won the top three places. For most of the next decade, Austro-Daimler concentrated on war material, including aircraft engines, huge trucks, and motorized cannons. In 1916, Porsche became the firm's managing director, and the following year, Porsche received what became his most cherished honor, an honorary doctorate from Vienna Technical University, a title that would forever be a part of his persona as a “professor” and eventually part of his firm’s name.

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Darmstadt: Home of Jugendstil
By Leah Larkin

    Art Nouveau architectural gems and openness to English-speaking visitors, make the city a pleasant stop for visitors.

    Darmstadt is synonymous with Jugendstil, Germany’s Art Nouveau.  This city of one hundred thirty-eight thousand gained worldwide recognition at the turn-of-the century when a colony of artists congregated there to devote themselves to this new, modern style.

    It’s also known as a city of science, as well as a pleasant place to live and visit. “I sat on a park bench recently in a big park just a few steps from downtown. It was very relaxing.  It’s a very attractive place,” noted Leonard Hill, an American who has lived in the city for forty-six years.

    I lived in nearby towns for some fifteen years when I worked for the American military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, which is based in adjacent Griesheim. It was hard for me to leave when I got married and moved south to Stuttgart.  I knew I would miss my shopping excursions to lively downtown Darmstadt, visits to the wonderful outdoor Saturday market, sitting outdoors in summer in its beer gardens, and showing off its Jugendstil masterpieces to visitors.

    The city has an impressive cultural life with opera and theater, and its location is ideal.  Darmstadt, in the state of Hesse, is just twenty minutes from the Frankfurt airport and about a half hour from the center of Frankfurt. Nearby are the beautiful Bergstrasse, a street that leads through half-timbered towns south to Heidelberg, and the Odenwald, a lovely area of picturesque hills and more quaint towns.

    On September 11, 1944, Darmstadt was bombed by the Royal Air Force.  Within twenty minutes, twelve thousand residents were killed and seventy thousand left homeless. Most of the city’s ancient structures were destroyed, but many have been rebuilt. The Jugendstil treasures located outside of the city center suffered only minor damage.

    And, it’s Jugendstil that is the city’s big draw. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig founded Darmstadt’s Jugendstil in 1899 when he asked seven artists to come to the town to build an artist’s house (Kunstler Haus), as well as houses that they could live in while they worked on the main building which was to be part of an architectural exhibition. The aim of the group was to show how to combine life and art.  The area for the project was the Mathildenhöhe, a hill where grapevines once grew but where already a city monument – the Russian Chapel – stood.

    The Chapel was built for the Russian Czar Nicholas II, who married Princess Alexandra of Hesse, the sister of Ernst Ludwig. The Darmstadt princess wanted to return to her hometown often and the Czar agreed if a chapel would be built.  It’s a picturesque sight with mosaics, gold plated cupolas, and colorfully painted tiles – a fairytale structure crowning a hill.

    The streets surrounding the Chapel are lined with the Jugendstil jewels associated with well-known artists of the time including Josef Maria Olbrich and Peter Behrens.  The houses are fascinating -- interesting combinations of shapes and forms with colorful, fanciful décor, including tiles. Large windows are an important feature – to let in light, which, the artists felt, would make the houses healthier places to live in. I never tired of treks to this pleasant neighborhood, an outdoor architectural museum.

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Love, Lust, and Lola: King Ludwig I of Bavaria – Part II
by Kim Carpenter

    His passion for building reshaped Munich but his passion for a young Irish woman, reborn as a Spanish dancer, caused his reign to unravel.

     By the time Ludwig I entered his sixtieth year, he had ruled over the Kingdom of Bavaria for more than two decades. During that time, he had accomplished a great deal of which he could be justifiably proud. When Napoleon Bonaparte established Bavaria as a sovereign monarchical state in 1808, Munich became its lackluster capital, a simple, provincial town with little to distinguish it – either culturally or economically – from any other German municipality. During Ludwig’s reign, however, Bavaria became one of Europe’s most fiscally fit kingdoms, and Munich emerged as a cosmopolitan city that boasted a well-respected university, striking architecture, and impressive museums. From founding the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität to building both the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, Ludwig rebuilt Munich according to what he believed it should be, ultimately creating a capital worthy of a burgeoning kingdom.

    Bavaria’s second king was able to achieve so much, because he was utterly relentless in pursuing his objectives. Throughout his reign, he considered his sovereignty “God given,” and he frequently ignored ministerial advice to follow his own carefully considered policies. Whether cutting civil servant positions from a bloated government bureaucracy or selecting art for a new museum, Ludwig governed with great dedication, indicated by the thousands of Signate, or royal decrees, that were issued during his twenty-three years on the throne.

    For as much as Ludwig ruled the public realm with his intellect, however, it was his heart that controlled his private life. He had a weakness for beautiful women, and as Crown Prince, he indulged this proclivity during visits to Italy where he wrote rapturously about the dark beauty of “Sicilian eyes.” And it was not just Italian women who captured his attention – Ludwig was a true internationalist in his love life. His conquests included a Hungarian countess, an Italian courtesan, an American socialite, and an Austrian actress, among many others. Ludwig’s 1810 marriage to Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen did little to change his behavior. Although she was beautiful in her own right, Therese had limited schooling, and Ludwig cited his need for intellectual parity to justify romantic trysts. Because many of his paramours became his momentary muse, he often became deeply infatuated with them, going so far as to purchase homes for some in Munich, so that they were within convenient walking distance from the royal palace.

    Publicly, Ludwig paid homage to beautiful women – at least those who embodied his ideal of beauty – by engaging portraitist Josef Stieler to immortalize them on canvas. His so-called “Gallery of Beauties” occupied two exhibition spaces in the royal palace and featured nearly three-dozen women he handpicked himself. Ludwig proudly shared his on-going collection with visitors during appointed times, and the Gallery quickly became one of Munich’s most popular tourist attractions, with people praising – or criticizing – his choices.

    As in his affairs, Ludwig demonstrated no preference for specific social classes or nationalities. Greeks, Americans, Italians, and Englishwomen all had their sessions with Stieler, as did countesses and the daughters of millers, bankers, and coppersmiths. While one malicious gossip categorized the gallery as “a painted harem,” Ludwig was as likely to include his lovers as not. Despite sitting for two different portraits, Ludwig’s long-time paramour actress Constanze Dahn failed to join the “Beauties,” because he found the likenesses unconvincing. In contrast, Helene Sedelmayer, a simple shoemaker’s daughter, became one of Stieler’s most striking subjects, and Ludwig promised her the sum of one thousand Gulden if she remained a virgin until marriage. (Sedelmayer made good on the bargain. She married one year following her sitting with Stieler and died close to seventy years later after a very happy marriage that produced ten children.) Any beauty who caught the king’s eye was a likely gallery candidate, and women vied openly to capture the monarch’s attention. One Münchner dryly complained that when attending a concert at the Odeon, only women occupied the row seats, because they knew Ludwig frequently walked up the main aisle following the performance.

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Striking “White Gold” in Meissen
by Emily Grosvenor

    Explore the “Porcelain City” and share August the Strong’s addiction to the fine creation of alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger.

     When his employer, Saxon Elector August the Strong, locked him in the Albrechtsburg in the little town of Meissen in 1701, alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger could not have known that he was about to make history. With flames from a fire propelling noxious fumes at his face, the hot breath of his enslaver practically breathing down his neck, Böttger toiled for eight years, eventually fusing two forms of decomposed granite, to concoct the first European recipe for porcelain. The work that would eventually kill him put that tiny burg on the map and gave Meissen an identity it can be proud of even today.

    The name Meissen has become synonymous with the high quality, delicate “white gold” creations that Böttger made famous – and he has become something of a local deity there. And though it may be difficult to imagine the passions that fueled August the Strong’s “malédie du porcelain,” as he called his mad addiction to the stuff, it is quite possible to fall in love with Meissen, the “Cradle of Saxony” and the self-named “Porcelain City.”

    Meissen’s Albrechtsburg, high atop the Altstadt and overlooking the Elbe River, is the focal point of the city skyline and the place where it all went down. Built by Arnold von Westfalen, beginning in 1470, to house the two courts of Ernst and Albrecht von Wettin, the late-gothic Albrechtsburg’s status as the first ever German castle built in the “Schloss” style make it a seminal work of German architecture. With its dual spiral staircases and its arched interiors, it houses spaces where light plays with shadows with dramatic results. Its stateroom murals, painted in the nineteenth century, depict the story of Böttger’s discovery and the 1710 conversion of the castle by August the Strong into the first state porcelain manufactory. The Albrechtsburg is flanked by the Meissen cathedral, finished around 1400, a Gothic structure that Goethe once called “the slimmest, most beautiful church I have ever seen, from any era.”

    Taken together, the striking Albrechtsburg and its meticulously restored old city, Meissen is a crowning gem of the former East. Unscathed by the nearby fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945, it is a city whose image is forever interlaced with the history of “white gold” and whose artisan shop-laden streets and epicurean delights make it a must-see for travelers to the region.

    The story of porcelain, the kind of hubris-breeds-prosperity yarn fit for fiction, makes Meissen a city where history and industry curiously intertwine. Indeed, the drama did not end with the 1709 European decree in which the Saxon ruler shared the discovery of European porcelain with the world. In 1710, he founded the Staatliche Porzellan Manufaktur Meissen, yanking Meissen out of economic stagnation for the first time since the Thirty Years’ War. The man he enslaved would see just the earliest fruits of his discovery. Set free in 1710, Böttger died just nine years later, after a long illness caused by years of inhaling noxious fumes. Soon after Böttger’s death, the factory’s head ceramic artist Samuel Stöltzel escaped to Vienna with the secret recipe. It was not long before Meissen encountered its first European competition, with new porcelain factories opening in Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

    However, the betrayal was an unexpected good turn for the factory. In 1720, Meissen chemists developed the underglaze of cobalt blue used to create the brand that distinguishes real works of Meissen from their forgeries. Even today, variations of the two crossed cobalt swords that adorn the underside of each piece of Meissen porcelain – considered the longest continuously used brand in the world – are a sign of the highest quality in porcelain manufacturing.

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Basic Training: Model Railroads of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland
By Ernest Robl

    For many, the excitement of a model railroad on Christmas morning has never gone away.

    Many of those who love scenic Austria, Germany, and Switzerland also have fond memories of the trains that took them there. Some have brought back to North America not only their memories, but also some of those trains.

    Well, not full-size versions, but rather scale models. A small but dedicated group of American model railroaders choose to model not just the trains of these countries but also their surrounding landscapes and towns. I count myself among them, having long collected models of the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen or ÖBB).

    American model railroaders who focus on Austrian, German, or Swiss equipment, have their own reasons for choosing that avocation. "It's what I know and love to ride," Peter D. Verheyen, a professional bookbinder and conservator explained.

    One modeler, who came to the United States as a child (like myself), described the receipt of his first model trains as "a rite of passage into boyhood."

    Model trains still have their fascination for children of all ages, including adults. Model railroading has hundreds of thousands of adherents in the United States and Canada – though only a small segment focuses on European prototypes.

    If you picked up a piece or two of model railroading equipment on your travels in Europe or are thinking about model railroad equipment as a gift for the holidays, you are not alone. The Internet has helped bring together those fascinated by European trains, both to talk about them, and to provide access to smaller manufacturers that you may otherwise never hear of.

    However, even those who have spent their entire lives in America can get hooked on European trains. "I was shopping for miniature ship models for a war game I was playing and came home with a Lok (locomotive), trafo (transformer), three cars, and a loop of Track," said Thomas Stephens, a Texas-based engineer. "After my first E94 (an early German electric locomotive), there was no turning away."

    Forget about "playing" with model trains. Model railroading is a hobby providing great satisfaction, as well as some frustrations. Building a smaller version of another country and its railroads requires substantial knowledge and a good eye for what fits or does not fit in a scene. To model railroaders, modeling and collecting is a form of art.

    While you may purchase models "ready to run" – requiring minimal assembly, building models from kits or even basic raw materials such as plastic or wood, has its own challenges.

    Modelers of European railroads seldom try to re-create an exact scene. Rather they try to capture the flavor of a particular region or era.

    Modeling is not just about place but also about time. Some modelers love the sleek electric high-speed trains of today; some are interested in the steam-powered trains of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Steam survived in the German-speaking countries into the 1970s, mostly on secondary lines. And, steam locomotives and other historic equipment still exist today in operating museums and excursion service.

    For many fans of European railroading, a key attraction is electrification, seen on only a few applications in North America. Switzerland has the most electrified railroad system in the world, with ninety-nine percent of its routes electrified. Electrification of Alpine lines began in Europe in the early twentieth century due to a scarcity of fossil fuels (and an abundance of hydroelectric power). Steam (and later diesel) exhaust caused problems in long tunnels. Even from the beginning, electric locomotives provided adequate pulling power to battle the mountain gradients where steam locomotives often had problems.

    For any American fan of European model railroads who did not make his first acquaintance with model trains through a set received for Christmas, the first railroad model was probably an impulse purchase during a trip to Europe. At a hobby shop near one of the major railroad stations, you see an exact replica of a car you just traveled on or a locomotive you have just traveled behind.

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Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, Der Hauptmann von Cöpenick
by Robert A. Selig

    A petty criminal in a makeshift uniform commandeered Köpenick’s city hall and, in doing so, focused attention on the Prussian Kingdom’s longstanding acceptance of militaristic thinking.

    In the morning hours of Wednesday, 17 October 1906, newspaper boys in the town of Cöpenick (the spelling was not changed to Köpenick until 1 January 1931) outside Berlin hurried through the streets hawking an extra edition of the Cöpenicker Tageblatt. Its headlines announced, in bold letters, how the previous day someone wearing the uniform of a captain of the First Regiment of Foot Guards of the Royal Prussian Army had entered the only recently completed Rathaus (built between 1901 and 1904) at the intersection of Rosen-, Böttger-, and Alt Cöpenicker Strasse.

    The editor was well-nigh beside himself at the audacity with which that impostor had ambushed City Hall. Never before had the town, nay the whole kingdom, witnessed such “rogue play, devised extremely boldly and cunningly and executed so daringly." What could have "brought the feelings of the city of Cöpenick" to such indignation?

    At the center of this excitement stood a rather unlikely villain in the person of a petty criminal named Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt. Born on 13 February 1849, in Tilsit in East Prussia (today's Sovetsk in the western-most Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation), he had had his first brush with the law in 1863. As he was walking to visit relatives in a nearby town, police picked the fourteen-year-old Voigt up as a homeless vagrant and the County Court sentenced the innocent boy to two weeks imprisonment for theft.

    Upon release, he learned the trade of a shoemaker with his father, but, in view of his criminal record, found it difficult to find work. Between the years 1864 and 1891, he was convicted six more times of theft and forgery so that by the time he was released from a fifteen-year prison sentence for aggravated theft on 12 February 1906, he had spent some twenty-seven of the previous forty-two years behind bars.

    By the summer of 1906, Voigt was boarding with his sister in Langestraße 22 in Rixdorf, a suburb of Berlin until police expelled him as a "person dangerous to public safety and morality." Rather than depart for Hamburg (as he told the police), Voigt moved deeper into the city of Berlin, and on 1 September started to work in a shoe factory. Hatching his "rogue play," he spent the next weeks purchasing the uniform of a captain of the First Regiment of Foot Guards from second-hand stores across the city. His disguise complete, Voigt quit his employment on 6 October. Ten days later, on 16 October, he took the early morning train to Cöpenick. Wearing his captain's uniform, he scouted the area around the Rathaus, and then took a train to Pulitzstrasse, a neighbor-hood with numerous barracks, where he waited for the right moment to execute his plan.

    That moment arrived in the early afternoon when he encountered a detachment of four soldiers of the Garde-Fusiliere, irreverently called Maikäfer by the sassy Berliners, under the command of a corporal, who were on their way back to the barracks in the Kesselstrasse. Voigt stopped the detachment, assumed command, and citing allerhöchste Kabinettsorder – orders from the highest authorities – ordered the troops to follow him. The corporal was dismissed to report to his superiors. Shortly thereafter a detachment of six men from the Forth Foot Guards suffered a similar fate. Boarding a train at the Pulitzstrasse Station, Voigt took his detachment to Cöpenick and marched straight to City Hall and posted guards at the exits. By that time, it was close to 4:00 p.m. As a crowd that eventually numbered in the hundreds began to gather outside City Hall wondering what was going on inside, he instructed local police officers to maintain law and order around the Rathaus.

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A Stein of the Times
by Walter Vogdes

    These colorful and collectible containers are as synonymous with Germany as the nutcracker, Lederhosen, and the Volkswagen Beetle.

    The word "stein" is an essentially American term referring to a vessel which has a handle and a lid, and whose intended use is for drinking or serving beer. The English have a preference for the term "tankard," while the Germans use a variety of different names, the most universal being Bierkrug (literally, beer jug). Actually, the word Stein is a perfectly legitimate German word, but it means "stone," and if you encounter a shop owner who does not speak English (or if you are trying out your German), a request for a Stein may bring some odd looks or even laughter.

    It is commonly thought that the word "stein" is a shortened and "Americanized" version of the German word Steinzeugkrug, which means stoneware vessel or jug. Stoneware is a type of ceramic used to produce all sorts of vessels, dishes, storage containers, and tablewares in Germany since the late fifteenth century. Steins were made from stoneware before the technique of making porcelain was discovered in Europe, and in a period when glass, pewter, and silver were exclusively for the well-to-do. Stoneware is a very hard form of ceramic, totally vitrified in its firing and, therefore, suitable for holding liquids, and heat does not readily pass through its walls. In other words, it is a material that is perfectly suited to holding a cool beer while drinking in a beer garden or Gasthaus!

    Lids are traditional on German steins, hence the term is widely taken to imply the presence of a lid. While some lids may just sit on top of the stein, more commonly the lid is attached at the top of the handle by a pewter strap with a hinge. A "thumblift" above the hinge allows the drinker to grasp the stein by the handle and with the same hand pull the thumblift to raise the lid for a drink. When set back on a table, the lid closes of its own accord. The lid might be entirely of pewter in a stylish conical or domed shape, or it might use a decorative porcelain, glass, or copper insert held by a pewter ring. Often the rim portion of the lid was engraved with the name of the original owner, or the date the stein was given by one person to another.

    Why were lids affixed to steins? Although it is widely held that the lid was legislated by a "Covered Container Law" as a step in combating the bubonic plague, no evidence has ever been found in support of this claim. It seems much more likely that once the lid was invented, several factors made its widespread adoption inevitable. The lid does provide cover against flying insects and other debris, which might fall into one's drink while spending an afternoon in a German Biergarten. It helps to keep the beer cool. Because the pewter is easily engraved, it offers an easy way to personalize a stein with names and dates. It adds a distinctive decorative touch. We must also concede that the pewter guilds were greatly in favor of pewter lids on steins, and would have promoted their continued use!

    But enough about the defining characteristics of the stein; let us take a look at the position this drinking vessel has claimed in German life and culture.

    While it is generally recognized that beer has been an essential part of German life for centuries, the prominent position held by the beer stein in German culture is not so readily understood. Actually, there is no item in any other culture that enjoys the stature of the beer stein in Germany. Despite the glasses often used for serving beer today, the traditional serving vessel of Biergarten and Gasthaus is the stein. Breweries have manufactured many thousands of steins bearing their logos, and use them to serve their beer, never more proudly or in such abundance as during Oktoberfest.

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Language: Alte Schulbücher in neuem Licht
Von Gert Niers

    Lehrmittel und Lehrmethoden sind so alt wie der Lehrberuf selbst. Das gilt besonders für den Fremdsprachenunterricht, wo der Lehrinhalt sowohl schriftlich als auch mündlich einer dauernden Prüfung standhalten muss. Methoden, welche die besten Lernerfolge erzielen, werden vom Lehrenden fortlaufend getestet und aktualisiert. Diese Methoden sind verschieden von Generation zu Generation, von Schule zu Schule, von Land zu Land. Zu den neueren Methoden in Amerika gehört die Totalumgebung in der Fremdsprache (“total immersion”): eine Methode, die beispielsweise an der von Peter Pabisch gegründeten Deutschen Sommerschule von New Mexico praktiziert wird oder – wenn man einen Blick auf ein anderes Fremdsprachenfach werfen will – dem Programm French in Action von Pierre J. Capretz zugrundeliegt.

     Jeder am Lernprozess Interessierte – Lehrer, Schüler, Schülereltern – mag mit Nostalgie oder Verwirrung auf die Lehrmittel blicken, die vor etwa 100 Jahren in Anwendung gebracht wurden. Man mag sich fragen: Warum funktionierte jene Methode zu jener Zeit und warum musste sie ersetzt werden? Oder: Was haben alte und heutige Schulbücher gemein? Welche Textarten wurden von Herausgebern benutzt, um die Anwendung von Grammatik und Wortschatz zu veranschaulichen? Ist es heute leichter oder schwerer für einen Schüler Deutsch zu lernen? Und warum ist dies so?

     Uns sind einige deutschamerikanische Lehrbücher von anno dazumal in die Hände gekommen. Das älteste Exemplar unserer Sammlung ist Witter’s Deutsch-Englische Schreib- und Lese-Fibel und Neues Erstes Lesebuch für Amerikanische Freischulen, erweiterte Neuauflage (St. Louis, Mo., 1881). Bei diesem mit Bildern ausgestatteten Band handelt es sich um eine Publikation, die “den Bedürfnissen der Anglo-Amerikaner ganz besonders Rechnung tragen und zugleich den Anforderungen, welche Deutsch-Amerikaner […] stellen können, vollständig genügen soll.”

     Faszinierend für den heutigen Leser ist die gründliche Behandlung der Fraktur-Buchstaben sowie der alten deutschen Handschrift, die im 19. Jahrhundert gebraucht wurde. Das Wort Fraktur ist vom lateinischen Tätigkeitswort “frangere” = “brechen” abgeleitet, was besagen soll, dass die Buchstaben aussehen als seien sie zerbrochen. Es war dies die klassische Schrifttype, die seit dem 16. Jahrhundert im deutschen Druckereiwesen Verwendung fand – im Gegensatz zur Antiqua, die in anderen Ländern benutzt wurde. Für den heutigen Geschmack mag die Fraktur etwas ornamental und schwer lesbar erscheinen. Jedoch sind die Probleme, welche die Fraktur dem Leser verursachen mag, minimal im Vergleich zu den Schwierigkeiten, welche die alte Handschrift bereitet.

New Light on Old Schoolbooks
by Gert Niers

    The tools and theories of teaching are as old as teaching itself. That goes especially for foreign languages where the teaching content has to be verified continuously in both written and spoken form. The methods that achieve the best learning results are being tested and revised by the teacher. These methods may differ from generation to generation, from school to school, from country to country. One of the more recent approaches in America was that of total immersion, as practiced in language schools like the Deutsche Sommerschule von New Mexico founded by Peter Pabisch or – if you would like to take a look at another foreign language – the program French in Action designed by Pierre J. Capretz.

     Anyone interested in the learning process – be it the teacher, the student, or the parents of the student – may look with nostalgia or bewilderment at teaching tools used 100 or so years ago. One may wonder: Why did that method work at that time and why did it have to be replaced? Or: What do old and contemporary schoolbooks have in common? What kinds of text were used by textbook editors to demonstrate the application of grammar rules and vocabulary? Is it, today, easier or harder for a student to learn German? And why is that so?

     We came across a few German-American textbooks from yesteryear. The oldest of our collection is Witter’s German-English Primer and New First German Reader for Public Schools, revised edition (St. Louis, Mo., 1881). This illustrated book is “particularly designed to meet the needs of Anglo-Americans while, at the same time, fully meeting the requirements of German-Americans.”

     What makes it fascinating for today’s reader is its thorough introduction into the German Fraktur (blackletter) type, as well as the old German script used in the 19th century. The word Fraktur is derived from the Latin verb “frangere” = “to break,” meaning that the letters look as if they were broken up. It was the classical type used in German printing since the 16th century – in contrast to the Antiqua used in other countries. For today’s taste, Fraktur may appear somewhat ornamental and difficult to read. However, the problems that Fraktur may cause for the reader are minute compared to the difficulties the old script imposes.

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At Home: Alsatian Bäckeoffe – The Classic Covered Casserole
by Sharon Hudgins

    During the fifteen years I lived in Germany, I frequently visited nearby Alsace, a region of France directly across the Rhine River from Germany's Baden-Württemberg region. When I first started going there, Alsace was still one of the "undiscovered" areas of France – too far from Paris and too distant from the sea to attract hordes of foreign tourists. However, this gem couldn't remain hidden for very long. Today, Alsace is a major destination for travelers from all over the world.

     The region's many attractions include the historic cities of Strasbourg and Colmar, fairy tale villages, soaring Gothic churches, massive stone fortresses, snow-covered mountains, deep green forests, and a unique blend of French and German cultures. Two of the primary attractions are the Alsatian wines and foods. Some of France's finest white wines are produced in Alsace, and the region boasts one of the highest concentrations of Michelin-starred restaurants in the country.

     So I go to Alsace to eat. Some of my favorite restaurants are out in the countryside, where classic Alsatian dishes made with local ingredients still reign supreme over modern food fads. One of my favorites is Bäckeoffe, a stick-to-your-ribs meat-and-potatoes casserole that is best eaten on cold winter days.

     Flavored with onions, leeks, and Alsatian white wine, Bäckeoffe has risen from its humble peasant origins to a place of honor on many restaurant menus. However, since this casserole requires a long time for marinating and baking, few restaurants used to offer it on a daily basis. You either had to request a Bäckeoffe (usually for a minimum of four people) twenty-four hours in advance – or find a restaurant that served Bäckeoffe on a particular day of the week (usually Friday or Saturday). Alas, with the advent of microwave ovens, previously made, reheated Bäckeoffe is now all too common in Alsatian tourist spots.

     Traditionally Bäckeoffe was made in Alsatian homes on laundry days and at harvest time, when the women were busy with chores outside the kitchen. Alsatian Bäckeoffe, which always contains pork, was often made with three kinds of meat, including beef and mutton or lamb, marinated and cooked in Alsatian white wine. The ingredients were assembled in advance and taken to the local bakery early in the morning, to be slow-cooked in the commercial oven after all the bread had finished baking. At noon the women would converge on the bakery to claim their casseroles and carry them home for the midday meal. In fact, the name of this dish means "baker's oven." And you'll find the same dish, with a similar name, served right across the Rhine in Germany's Baden wine region.

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Family Research: Another Round with the Readers
by James M. Beidler

    It is time for the German Life readership to take over with their interesting questions, many stimulated by the columns we have already published.

    Q: I found your "Family Research" column about "German surnames in genealogy" in the June/July 2006 issue to be particularly interesting. I wonder if you might be able to provide any insights or guidance to me regarding my surname, "Schnier."

    I do know a bit about my paternal ancestry. Most pertinently, my great-grandfather immigrated to the USA from a small town outside Bremen (Schwanewede) in the mid-1890s.

    I have traveled to Bremen, and did note that one of its more interesting districts is the Schnoor, which apparently was once a center of the fishing industry and, hence, notable for the number of fishing net makers who worked there. And, I believe that the word for net or string, in at least the local German dialect, is "schnoor."

    With that in mind, I wondered if my surname might be what you describe as an "ecknahme," and that the spelling on my name was altered somewhere along the way (perhaps to more closely resemble "schneider," with which Americans might be more familiar).

      • Steven V. Schnier, San Francisco, CA

    A: You really have put together the pieces of a theory about your name rather well. I cannot confirm the theory, but I think you are on the right track.

     As I believe you understand, Germany is a nation of dialects and so Schnur (as I find it spelled) and Shnier could be the same word in different areas, especially if some areas umlaut the u in Schnur (which would change the vowel sound to closer to what we would call a "long e").

     If you get a chance to research further generations in your family line, you will probably find spelling variants that will either confirm your theory or lead in a different direction. Church records for Schwanewede are on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and cover from the early 1700s through the 1850s.

    Q: I just read your article on chain and cluster immigration in the August/September issue. I wondered if you knew that there is a Yahoo group called Geborner Deutscher (somewhere just over three hundred members I believe) where many people ask questions relating to family research. I wondered if it is possible to repost your articles to the group or you would like to join and offer your insight to the group?

        • Steve Cox, Morristown, TN

    A: I was unaware of this group previously. Cox provided the World Wide Web URL for it: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geborener_Deutscher .

    Q: I am enclosing a picture that I believe to be my grandmother, said to be Bertha Gaule, born in Prussia about 1881, who married Gustav Gaule in Germany. Grandfather Gustav immigrated to the United States in June 1911 and Bertha followed with their two children in November of that year.

    This picture has always been said to be our grandmother; as children we thought what she was wearing was an odd dress/coat/uniform. What can this style of dress tell us about her?

    A: One of a columnist’s most important duties is not be afraid to say: “I don’t know.” And this is one of those cases. Therefore, Cookie, we are running the photograph in the hope that someone in the readership will be able to help you (anyone without e-mail can send a letter to me that I will forward).

    James M. Beidler, a free-lance writer and lecturer specializing in German genealogy, welcomes reader ideas for “Familie Forschung.” Write to him at PO Box 270, Lebanon, PA 17042, or by e-mail to james@beidler.us

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