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February/March 2008
GALLERY
The World is a Disk: The Sky Disk of Nebra – Germany’s 3,600-year-old astronomical clock
by Anna Cramer
When a treasure hunters' pick-ax hit a metal disk on a hill near Nebra, close to Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, he had no idea that he had just found much more than an archaeological
gem. The small round bronze plate with a diameter of one foot, smeared with soil and dirt, turned out to be the oldest visual representation of the cosmos ever discovered. It revolutionized the way
archaeologists see our prehistoric ancestors’ view of the cosmos, giving far more credit to their intellectual achievement than hitherto believed. However, to understand the mysterious message of the Sky Disk of
Nebra, to prevent its disappearance into a private vault, and to create an adequate and instructive presentation for the public, there was a still long way to go.
With the development of highly sensitive metal detectors, illegal treasure hunting has become the nightmare of archaeology. Immediately after their discovery, the objects are sold
on the "gray market." Similarly, in this case, only three weeks after the illegal digging in 1999, the Sky Disk was sold for 31,000 Euros to a buyer in the Rhineland who, while trying to clean it,
added to the damage already done by the brutal search method, scratching much of the gold surface. He then tried to sell it for one million Euros to the Berlin Museum of Pre- and Early History. Its director
immediately recognized the importance of the object, became suspicious and contacted his counterpart in Halle. The location had been correctly rendered as "Saxony-Anhalt," therefore the disk could not
have left the state legally, because all important finds become the property of the state. Contact with the sellers broke off until three years later when they started a new attempt to sell the disk. It
was offered to a “private” buyer in a hotel in Basel, Switzerland. The “buyer” however, was Dr. Meller himself, director of the State Museum of Early History in Halle. The trap snapped, the police transferred
the disk to its rightful owner, the state of Saxony-Anhalt, arrested the seller, and brought him to court. Most often, however, illegal diggers and their fences get away with their deeds, and important
archaeological finds are destroyed or sold to private owners and lost to the public forever. The James Bond-style recovery of 2002 opened the public's eye to the problem and will hopefully make lawmakers aware
of the loopholes that make Germany a popular market for stolen antiques…
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Carnival Behind the Mask
by Skip Kaltenheuser
It is the last fling before the fasts of Lent and there is no celebration quite like Carnival in Germany.
“Pack up all my care and woe, here I go, singing low, Bye Bye Blackbird” – Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon, 1926.
Since ancient times, new beginnings have been celebrated – that is Carnival. Worship of Dionysus and Bacchus mingled with pagan rites of Spring, until finally co-opted by the
Church after a failure to suppress the festivities. “Carnivale” is Latin for “Flesh, farewell,” and most carnivals are pegged to the last blast before the Lenten fast leading to Easter.
Carnival absorbs local traditions, with blends fascinating to this writer, who catches a different carnival culture each year – out of a sense of duty. The underlying theme
remains renewal. Let go of the bad things, the disappointments and failures of the past year.
Western carnivals generally climax at midnight on Shrove (Fat) Tuesday — Feb. 5, 2008. Orthodox religions have different traditions and carnival dates can vary as much as a month.
Schedules differ, so consult tourist boards and the Internet.
German carnivals include Mainz, Düsseldorf, and several towns in the Black Forest. There is a new carnival in Berlin that is humble but heartfelt, transplanted by Cologne
refugees. Munich sports a one-day street party. Swiss carnivals include Lucerne, Bellinzona, and Berne.
Two cities showcasing how different carnivals can be, with schedules that allow revelers to visit both, are Cologne, Germany, (www.koeln.de) and Basel, Switzerland, (www.basel.ch).
After this past year, who among us could not use a clean slate?
Cologne Karneval
Carnival virginity and I parted company in Cologne, Germany. Hopping the midnight train from Potsdam, I aimed to sleep all night and arrive rested the morning of the big Rose
Monday parade.
Alas, sleep was verboten on a train crowded with red-nosed clowns drinking heavily throughout the night. They fell short as night porters. However, weariness was absorbed by the
frenetic energy of a million revelers, mostly dressed as clowns, gathering like ants at a picnic around the gothic cathedral masterpiece, the Kolner Dom…
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Sachertorte and Its Namesake Hotel
by Lucy Gordan
From five-star hotel to famous confection, the Sacher name embodies something special.
The Sacher Hotel in Vienna is one of the few five-star hotels in Europe to have always been family-run. The others are the Bayerischehof in Munich, the Baur du Lac in Zürich, the
Palace in St. Moritz, and the Hassler in Rome, all with Austrian, German, or German-Swiss owners.
The Sacher is also unusual in another way. While most great hotels became famous for their hospitality first and then for their cuisine, the Sacher Hotel owes its take-off to a
cake. The hotel was opened in 1876 by the Eduard Sacher, the son of the inventive pastry chef Franz.
Thanks to the generosity of the Austria Tourist Board in New York, the Vienna Tourist Board, and Reiner Heilmann, the Managing Director of the Sacher Hotel, last March Franz's
present-day successor, Alfred Buxbaum, took me on a tour of his strictly off-limits bakery.
Franz Sacher, a sixteen-year-old apprentice chef at the court of the Austrian State Chancellor Prince Clement Wenzel von Mitternich, created the
first Sachertorte in 1832. The official story relates that the afternoon before an important banquet the head chef, who was supposed to invent a new sweet for that evening's high-ranking guests, fell ill. In
spite of his overnight success, Franz did not become a confectioner, but one of the greatest court chefs of all times. It is generally agreed that he is the father of "Viennese cuisine."
On March 15, 1999, the Sacher Hotel's Bakery moved off-premises. The advantage: more space and custom-designed equipment. "On average we produce between five hundred and
eight hundred Sachertortes per day," said Mr. Buxbaum. The first professional pastry chef in his family, he started working at the Sacher Hotel at age nineteen in 1989 and has been the head pastry chef
since 2003. "Sachertortes come in four standard sizes. The smallest called ‘Piccolo’ or small in Italian, is twelve centimeters in diameter, weighs four hundred grams and serves four; the others are sixteen
centimeters, seven hundred grams, and serves six; nineteen centimeters in diameter; weighing a kilo, and serving nine; twenty-two centimeters in diameter, weighing one-and-a-half kilos, and serves twelve."
"We make about three hundred fifty thousand every year," Buxbaum, who collects sunglasses and watches, continued. "Our busiest time of the year is Christmas, when
we bake about three thousand cakes a day. Annually we use more than one million eggs, twenty-five tons of castor sugar, around seventy-five tons of icing sugar, sixty-four tons of apricot jam, twenty-three tons
of butter, and twenty tons of flour. We use three types of chocolate, all preservative-free and handmade. As you can see, the dough is mixed in machines, but the rest is all hand-made, including the wooden boxes
Sachertortes are packed by hand in."
Mr. Buxbaum's typical day begins at 6:00 a.m.; he lays out the day's ingredients and then informs his staff of their jobs for that day. Next he controls all the special orders,
only private individuals, and never cafés or shops except at the Sacher Hotels and Cafés here, in Innsbruck, Graz, and Salzburg, and at the Vienna airport. Last on the agenda before his paperwork, Buxbaum and
his team cover all the cakes with hot chocolate icing and then move on to doing traditional (chocolate seals), seasonal, or special-order decorations which include marzipan roses, Santa Clauses, and Easter
bunnies. In fact, on the day of my visit I watched as they decorated a Sachertorte with a diameter of eighty centimeters. It was a special order for a seventy-fifth birthday, but Sachertortes are most popular
for weddings…
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The Splendor of Fulda
by Alevtina Altenhof
This thriving industrial city has been fortunate to retain its Baroque heart and soul.
When approaching Fulda by car, it is difficult to overlook the signs along the highway reading “Fulda – city of the Baroque.” And once in this
charming city – in the heart of Germany – one can only agree that Fulda surely lives up to the hype. Looking like they did centuries ago, most of the city’s historical monuments and buildings have retained their
Baroque splendor; and after being discovered, they remain in your memory for good.
I have visited Fulda several times for various reasons. Yet the last time I was there, I decided to spend all my time wandering from one historical monument to another, appreciating the
stunning beauty of well-preserved Baroque architecture. It was as if I was following the footsteps of Goethe, who loved Fulda’s townscape, and stopped in his favorite Baroque town whenever traveling between
Weimar and Frankfurt.
Though Fulda appeared on the map long before its Baroque style did (few monuments from the earlier centuries are still to be found in Fulda), the Baroque quarter remains the
city’s main sight. Right in the heart of the town, the Cathedral of Fulda, the Palace Residence with its gardens and the Orangery, as well as the noble houses, are unlikely to escape a visitor’s view. These
historical monuments were built in the early eighteenth century during the Baroque campaign in Fulda. Closely strung together, they form an urban ensemble and are somehow reminiscent of the times when
horse-drawn carriages crowded the streets of the town.
I ventured out into the crowded Old Town on a wonderful, sunny day. As soon as I reached the vast square in front of the imposing Baroque Cathedral of Fulda, the overall charm of the
place became immediately apparent. The square offered the ideal perspective for admiring the city’s most venerable church with the magnificent twin spires dominating the skyline in all its splendor.
To many, the façade of the cathedral and cupolas may initially appear rather austere, composed of weathered grey, red, or white stone. Yet this is only the first impression. Once inside
the church, you will marvel at the interior, brilliantly restored to royal white. The crossing-cupola and richly embellished nave are equally impressive. They are said to reflect the baroque elements of churches
in Rome. The magnificent main altar with a canopy motive has even been compared with the underside of the cupola in Rome’s St. Peter’s Dome…
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But What Did They Eat?
Preserving Pennsylvania German Food Heritage
by Bill Simpson
They may not be pretty and perfect but for a true taste of what your German ancestors ate, try an heirloom vegetable.
The exploits of generals, politicians, explorers, and barons of industry fill history books, but histories generally focus on the big events and give little attention to the daily
activities of the people. For instance, we know that George Washington slept everywhere from Tippecanoe to Kalamazoo, but we do not know much about what he ate in all those roadhouses.
Today, we can go to the supermarket and buy every food from every part of the world, but that convenience is a modern breakthrough. For most of man’s time on this planet, people
had few food choices. They ate the plants that grew nearby and the animals that lived nearby.
So, if you want to know what your German ancestors in the United States ate, you will have to do a little research, and a good place to start is the Landis Valley Farm Museum in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The museum shows how the early settlers in the area lived, and the Landis Valley Heirloom Seed Project keeps alive many of the plant varieties grown by the Pennsylvania Germans from 1750
to 1940.
The Heirloom Seed Project began in the mid 1980s when a local man named Lee Stoltzfus approached the staff at Landis Valley and asked why, if the museum was preserving many other
aspects of Pennsylvania German history, it was not also preserving the foods that those people ate. That question led to one of the earliest heirloom seed preservation efforts in the country, and since then the
idea has grown significantly. Many businesses now sell heirloom seeds, but Landis Valley has the only project focused entirely on plants used by the Pennsylvania Germans.
At Landis Valley, Joe Schott is Farm Manager and Coordinator of the Heirloom Seed Project. “We’re saving seeds from our German heritage,” he said. “Some of these plants actually
came here from Germany and disappeared there.” Ironically, that statement can also describe the Amish, who came to the United States from Europe but have completely disappeared there.
Schott said that many of the seeds at Landis Valley came originally from Amish and Mennonite families who had been growing the plants in their home gardens. Many plants have names
that speak to their Pennsylvania German, commonly known as Pennsylvania Dutch, heritage. Some examples are Pennsylvania Dutch Red Lima Beans, Mammoth German Gold Tomato, Mescher Bibb Lettuce, Munchen Bier
Radish, and German Strawberry Tomato…
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The Mercedes-Benz Museum
by Leah Larkin
The world’s oldest car company applies its passion for quality and excellence to an equally impressive museum showcase.
You do not have to be an automobile aficionado to enjoy a visit to the new Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart. The architecture is awesome. In addition to cars, the museum has
fascinating exhibits on history and technology. There are films on a wide variety of subjects, from significant developments in the past to thrilling car races. For the ultimate thrill, sit in a racecar
simulator and be jolted and jerked as you spin around curves.
The museum, which opened in May 2006, is a one hundred eighty thousand foot facility with fifteen hundred exhibits and one hundred sixty vehicles that is estimated to have cost about
€150 million. The futuristic structure looms over surroundings like a giant, misshapen gourd of silver steel and glass. It was designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel on principles developed in the
construction of multilevel car parks. It is also an example of the spiral corridor principle pioneered by the architects of New York’s Guggenheim Museum. However, the Stuttgart museum has two intertwining
corridors meandering downward nine levels, one through “legend rooms” which relate the history of the brand in chronological order, and the other through “collection rooms,” where a huge variety of the brand’s
vehicles is displayed.
“Our museum is the biggest car museum in the world with a unique architecture and a unique exhibition concept which can bring a lot of people in contact with Mercedes-Benz,” said Enrich
Muller, director of press and public relations for the museum.
The €8 museum admission includes a headset for detailed explanations of all the exhibits in a choice of eight languages. All signs in the museum are in both German and English.
Begin the visit with a ride on a high-speed elevator, which soars to the top as you listen to sounds of racecars, church bells, and finally horses’ hooves clapping. Emerge and come face
to face with the animal behind the sounds – but he is stuffed, not alive.
“We killed the horse as a means of transportation,” noted a guide. The horse, she added, provides a light touch. “People have the image of Mercedes-Benz as arrogant. They might be
afraid of coming here.”
There is nothing to fear, except that you might not have time to see it all. On my first visit, I was so taken with the legend rooms; I missed much of the collection section.
Although it is easy to switch from one corridor to the other, I focused on history and the legend rooms…
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The Hamburg Spice Museum
by Marlene Fanta Shyer
In a country filled with every type of imaginable museum, the spice world gets its own home.
Walking up one flight, then another, you think you might be in the wrong place. In this one-hundred-year-old warehouse, part of a huge complex in Hamburg's "Docklands," the
stairs you are climbing are industrial cast iron and the dusky brick walls and dim lighting are not too inviting. When you pass a carpet showroom, walk up another flight and just follow your nose. There is
Spicy's Gewürtzmuseum, through the door on your right.
Spice Museum is not altogether an accurate description. With fluorescents lights on the ceiling and a wood plank floor underfoot, it is a shop, exhibit space, and café – all in one.
There is a casual disorderly order here, a fragrant mix, and it is hard to know where to look first.
On the floor are large open burlap sacks of spices, displayed as they were once shipped, labeled with their place of origin. Go ahead, touch and smell: Here is German chive and Asian
mugwort, Hungarian paprika, and bird's eye chilies from Africa. On shelves, you find both spices you have used as well as those you have never heard of: smoke-salt, mushroom spice, pimento, cardamom, mace. In
clay containers, there are turmeric root or fennel seeds to pinch and try. Unusual teas are also available, and recipes are posted (anyone for Sweet Mango penne?) as are tins of items imported from around the
world. Most impressive is the collection of antique machines once used for measuring, packing, and milling, as for example, a spice-mixing machine, circa 1889. They are a graphic look into the past…
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Carl Spitzweg --Chronicler of the Biedermeier
by Robert A. Selig
On 5 February 2008, Germany celebrates the two hundredth birthday of Carl Spitzweg, one of its most beloved artists. Few painters are as dear to the German soul as Spitzweg, whose
paintings of pastoral landscapes, carousing monks, mail coaches, picnics, and walks in unspoiled countryside can be found in many a German home. In a recent survey his most famous painting, Der Arme Poet (The Poor Poet)
of 1839, was voted the second most popular painting among Germans right behind Leonardo de Vinci's Mona Lisa. To celebrate the anniversary of his birth, the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt will open a
special exhibit of his works on 29 June, the Deutsche Bundespost (German mail) will issue a commemorative stamp in February, and the Federal Treasury will even issue a ten Euro Commemorative coin, showing, what
else – The Poor Poet! Who was this artist who is receiving so much honor two hundred years after his birth?
Carl Spitzweg was born in Munich on 5 February 1808. His father Simon had moved his impressive home, situated at the corner of Neuhauserstrasse and Eisenmanngasse, shortly after the
turn of the century from Unterpfaffenhofen near Fürstenfeldbruck. In Munich, he married Franziska Schmutzer, daughter of a wealthy fruit merchant. Simon was a very successful cloth merchant with political
ambitions. In 1818, he was elected to the Bavarian Landtag or Parliament. Simon had big plans for his three sons Simon (born 1805), Carl, and Eduard (born 1811). Simon was groomed to continue the family
business and Eduard was to become a medical doctor. Simon had little tolerance for the artistic inclinations of his second son: Carl was to be an apothecary or pharmacist. Only his mother encouraged her son's
artistic talents, but when she unexpectedly died in 1819, he lost that support. Her sister, Kreszentia, Simon's second wife, is not known to have encouraged her stepson as he entered the Wilhelm-Gymnasium in
Munich in 1820. On Easter 1825, however, the seventeen-year-old voluntarily left the Gymnasium again to begin a three-year apprenticeship under Dr. Franz Xaver Pettenkofer at the Königlich Bayerische Hof- und
Leibapotheke, the Royal Bavarian Court Pharmacy, in Munich. The father was going to have his way…
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Auerdult – Munich’s Other Festival
by Laura Fleming Schulte
A bounty of everyday treasures and taste treats make Auerdult the traditional local favorite.
Squeezing my way down the long, crowded row of wooden shopping stalls, I fought the urge to hurry the ample, dirndl-clad woman in front of me as I stretched and craned in vain to
see farther ahead. Would they be here this time?
Past the butcher selling cured ham and rounds of country bread, past the woman selling clover honey and beeswax candles, past still others selling nougat and spices and teas, I searched
anxiously for the “cake ladies” and their divine Milchstrudel, a rolled pastry filled with raisins and a light vanilla pudding. In my experience, this delicacy is found only in Viennese pastry shops, in the kitchens of certain German grandmothers, and here – at Auerdult – in the booth of the cake ladies.
Auerdult is Munich’s other festival. What began in 1310 in St.-Jakobs-Platz as a market that coincided with a church festival, or “Dult,” has morphed into an open-air extravaganza that includes rides, a Biergarten,
Europe’s largest housewares market, and stall after stall filled to overflowing with Bavarian specialties. Although not haute cuisine, the waffles and crepes, alpine cheese Spätzle, fresh roasted trout,
and grilled Nürnberger sausages are authentic regional taste treats. However, it is the selection of culinary equipment, specialty foods, and traditional table wares – both new and antique – that make this festival a must for any gourmand, strudel lover or not!
As the stream of shoppers carried me along, I finally spotted it – Andrea Maier’s strudel stand! There, behind a glass-fronted case that ran the length of the booth, four well-padded,
grey-haired, rosy-cheeked women wearing blue aprons were slicing and serving up piece after piece of homemade Bavarian pastries. With the skill of seasoned homemakers, they whittled away at the logs of thinly
rolled dough bulging with apple, poppy seed, cheese, raisins, almond paste, and cherries as fast as wide-eyed customers could call out their favorites.
My milchstrudel! As I scraped the last creamy traces from the porcelain plate, I remembered what the Munich native who introduced me to this event had explained. “We prefer Auerdult.
It’s really ours, whereas the Wiesn is just for the tourists,” she said, referring to Oktoberfest by its hometown nickname. Even though I know that many Munich residents go to Oktoberfest (the tell-tale
circles under their eyes during the second two weeks in September give my neighbors and co-workers away), Munich’s thrice-yearly, nine-day Auerdult, also a festival of Bavarian scale, really is strictly for
locals…
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Delicious Döner: Germany’s Favorite Fast Food
by Leah Larkin
Forget burgers and fries – for Germans, it is this Turkish creation that claims the crown as king of fast food.
Germans eat hefty quantities of sauerkraut, bratwurst, and roast pork. Then there is the döner kebab, the country’s favorite fast food. Even Big Macs and pizza take second place
to the döner kebab in a food popularity contest in Germany.
The “döner,” which originated in Turkey, consists of thin slices of meat cut from a huge rotating cone, hence the name, which comes from the Turkish verb dönmek, to turn.
In a socio-culinary study, Aufgespiesst: Wie der Döner über die Deutschen Kam (Done on a Spit: How the Döner Conquered the Germans), Eberhard Seidel-Pielen proclaimed döner “the
national dish of the Federal Republic.”
There are thousands of döner stands throughout Germany selling the tasty treat, which is served as a sandwich. Slices of seasoned meat, originally mutton, but today often beef, turkey
or chicken, as well as lamb, are piled into a section of flat pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers, then topped with a sauce. The sauce is usually made with garlic, herbs, and yogurt. There
is also a spicy hot version. The concoction is similar to the Greek gyros, although the Greeks often use pork – a no-no in a döner.
The bread is folded over and the sandwich is wrapped in paper. Eating it can be a challenge. It is usually consumed while standing as most döner sellers operate from street stands with
no tables and chairs. Take a bite and the lettuce and tomatoes often fall out. The gooey sauce spills over the corners of your mouth, leaks onto your hands, even your clothes if you are not careful. Never mind.
Everyone loves this filling and reasonable meal, costing between 2.50 to 3.50 euros.
According to the weekly, Der Spiegel, Germans consume some eight hundred million döner kebabs annually, meaning every German eats roughly five döner per year –over two pounds worth.
Sales are about two billion euros annually – more than German McDonalds and Burger King combined. Berlin claims fifteen hundred döner shops, more than in Istanbul…
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LANGUAGE:
Auf deutschen Spuren in New York City: Kleiner Brunnen erinnert an großen Verlust
Von Gert Niers
Die Kinder, die im Tompkins Square Park auf der Unteren Ostseite Manhattans spielen, wissen nicht, was es mit dem General-Slocum-Gedächtnisbrunnen auf sich hat, auch sprechen sie
kein Deutsch. Die etwas über drei Meter hohe, aufrechte Stele mit einem Jugendstil-Relief erinnert an die Opfer (darunter viele Kinder) des schlimmsten Schiffsunglücks der New Yorker Geschichte. Der Brunnen aus
rosa Tennessee-Marmor ist das Werk des Bildhauers Bruno Louis Zimm (1876-1943).
Der Ausflugsdampfer namens General Slocum ging am 15. Juni 1904 in Flammen auf, als er gerade den East River hinauffuhr. Von den 1,358 Passagieren (die meisten davon
Deutschamerikaner) kamen über 1,000 ums Leben (vgl. German Life, April/Mai 2003). Der seelische Schmerz angesichts eines solch enormen Verlusts an Menschenleben und der folgende wirtschaftliche Niedergang
der Gegend veranlassten zahlreiche Bewohner, “Kleindeutschland” (heute unter dem Namen Alphabet City bekannt) zu verlassen und in Richtung Norden nach Yorkville zu ziehen (86. Straße Ost, von wo sie inzwischer
weiter wegzogen).
Was war eigentlich geschehen? Die Evangelisch-Lutherische Markusgemeinde hatte die dem Untergang geweihte General Slocum (benannt nach Henry Warner Slocum, einem General der
Unionstruppen, der später Brooklyn im Kongress vertrat) geheuert, um einen Dampferausflug auf dem East River zu unternehmen, und zwar zum Locust Grove, einer Picknick-Anlage auf Eatons Neck, Long Island. Bald
nach Ablegen vom Dock an der Dritten Straße Ost entstand ein Brand im vorderen Lagerraum des dreistöckigen, aus Holz gebauten Schaufelraddampfers. Von da an ging alles, was schiefgehen konnte, schief. Die
Mannschaft entdeckte das Feuer zu spät und versäumte obendrein, Kapitän William Van Schaick umgehend in Kenntnis zu setzen. Das gesamte Rettungs- und Löschgerät funktionierte nicht (infolge gesetzwidriger
Unterlassung der Instandhaltung sowie entsprechender Bestechung des Personals), und der Kapitän bestand darauf, den Kurs zu halten statt sein Schiff zu einer nahen Anlegestelle zu manövrieren. Schließlich lief
die lichterloh brennende General Slocum vor North Brother Island (nahe Riker’s Island) auf Grund – nachdem die meisten Passagiere entweder ertrunken oder den Flammen zum Opfer gefallen waren…
On German Traces in New York City: Small Fountain Reminds of Great Loss
By Gert Niers
The children who are playing in Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side of Manhattan do not know what the General Slocum Memorial Fountain represents, nor do they speak German. The
nine-foot upright stele with an Art Nouveau-style relief commemorates the victims (many of them children) of the most disastrous shipwreck in New York history. The fountain was sculptured from pink Tennessee
marble by Bruno Louis Zimm (1876-1943).
The excursion steamer by the name of General Slocum burst into flames on June 15, 1904, while traveling up the East River. Of the 1,358 passengers (mostly German-Americans) more than
1,000 lost their lives (cf. German Life of April/May 2003). The emotional pain caused by such a horrendous loss of lives and the following economic decline of their neighborhood motivated many inhabitants to abandon “Little Germany” (today known as Alphabet City) and move north to Yorkville (East 86th Street, which they have left in the meantime, also).
What had actually happened? The St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church had chartered the doomed General Slocum (named after Henry Warner Slocum, a Union Army general who later
represented the City of Brooklyn in Congress) for a cruise on the East River to the Locust Grove Picnic Ground on Eatons Neck, Long Island. Soon after departure from the East Third Street dock, a fire broke out
in a forward storage compartment of the triple-decker wooden side paddler. From then on, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The crew noticed the fire too late and did not alert Captain William Van
Schaick immediately. The entire rescue and life-saving equipment failed (due to criminal neglect, as well as corruption), and the captain insisted on moving ahead instead of maneuvering his ship to a nearby
pier. Engulfed in flames, the General Slocum finally ran aground off North Brother Island near Riker’s Island – after most of the passengers had either drowned or succumbed to the flames. ..
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“Stuffed” in Munich – A Tale of Weisswurst
by Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Gently simmered, never boiled, these delicate creations have a rich history and a huge following of hungry admirers.
Described by Bavarian poet Herbert Schneider as the “Queen” of the sausage realm, the Weisswurst is as much a part of Munich as the Hofbräuhaus and Oktoberfest, and the treasured
treat celebrated its one hundred fiftieth anniversary in 2007. Apparently developed by sheer coincidence in 1857, this unique sausage has become firmly entrenched as an essential element of Bavarian cuisine, and
attained worldwide popularity as well.
Best served warm with sweet mustard, crunchy Brezn (English: pretzels; High German: Brezeln), Weisswurst is best washed down with a glass of crisp Bavarian Weissbier. Considered
the “quintessential” Bavarian mustard, Händlmaier’s Sweet Bavarian Mustard is a “must” with Weisswurst – brown in color and coarsely ground, it is known for its delectable sweet taste.
Tradition holds that Weisswurst should be consumed before noon (a custom that derives from the days before refrigeration), so that the sausage would be fresh. Of course it can be
– and is now – eaten any time of day, and with various additions, such as sauerkraut and potatoes. Some non-purists even add ketchup and French fries.
Veal and pork bacon provide the basic ingredients to which are added various spices, onions, and parsley. History tells us that Sepp Moser invented Weisswurst on February 22,
1857, at an inn, Zum Ewigen Licht, located at the Marienplatz in Munich. Today the inn is a bistro, Am Marienplatz, but does bear an inscription denoting that it is the “Geburtsstätte der Weisswurst,” or
“birthplace of the Weisswurst.” When it came time to stuff the sausage, Moser could not find the necessary sheep intestines that provided the casings for the sausage, so he made use of the thicker pig casings
instead, which were light in color and larger, and make for the distinctive appearance of Weisswurst. Not fried or grilled as they might burst, Weisswurst was then warmed up in hot water and served. An instant
hit, Weisswurst has been with us ever since…
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At Home:
High on the Hog
The German Love Affair with Pork
by Sharon Hudgins
Germans love to eat pork. And they consume all parts of the pig, from the snout, tongue, and ears to the rump, tail, and feet. Any way you cut it, the pig is the most popular
source of meat in Germany.
Pigs are also an efficient meat-and-fat-producing animal. These fast-growing omnivores will eat almost anything they're fed, and they're an excellent way to recycle kitchen
scraps. In earlier times, pigs were raised not only by farmers but also by city dwellers who kept a pig or two in a sty in the yard behind their homes.
Traditionally pigs were slaughtered between St. Martin's Day on November 11 and Christmas, when the animals had matured to a heavy weight and when the cold weather would keep the
meat from spoiling before it was cooked or preserved with salt. Autumn-killed pigs also provided much-needed calories and protein during the cold dark days of winter. In modern times, the development of
refrigeration and the commercial raising of pigs have now transformed pork production into a year-round industry.
German pork products are not only well loved in that country but also well known beyond its borders. Surely "the sausage capital of the world," Germany produces at least
several hundred (and probably more than a thousand) kinds of Wurst (sausage), much of it made from pork – fresh, cooked, or cured; smoked or unsmoked – from the original smooth-textured Frankfurter to coarsely ground Bratwurst,
from white Bavarian Weisswurst (veal-and-pork sausage) to spicy red Polish-style Kolbassa (seasoned with paprika) and black country-style Blutwurst (blood sausage). There's also Sülze ("head
cheese"), made of pieces of chopped pork (cheeks, tongue, various innards) suspended in aspic, as well as its cousins known as Sülzwurst, Presskopf, and Press-sack, some of them encased in a pig's stomach…
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Family Research: Wealth Often Makes for Rich Family History
by James M. Beidler
All that glitters may not be gold, but reader Daniel N. Klinck of Louisville, Kentucky, has found that forebears’ Midas touch can be helpful in genealogical research. “If the
ancestors had wealth, their lives become a story waiting to be told, since they participated in historical events or made history themselves,” Klinck said. “I realized this part-way through my investigation of
the Strybings.”
Klinck says that his aunt often mentioned her admiration for her grandmother, born Isabella Strybing, who died before his aunt was born, but left pictures of herself and a few
heirlooms. “My interest became more serious after receiving a package from a library containing a number of articles from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper where the name Strybing was mentioned. Until then,
I had found virtually nothing, except for census data,” Klinck said. “I next looked up present-day Strybings on the Internet and was soon speaking with my third cousins.”
These cousins did not know a lot more of the family story, but they were trying to prevent Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco’s Gold Gate Park, from being stripped of the family name.
In that process, Klinck unearthed the history of two prominent brothers. “This family came from Gnoien, southeast of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin,” he says he learned.
One brother, Henry Strybing (born Joachim Friedrich Heinrich Struebing in 1811), immigrated to New York in 1835. He was soon established in business as one of more than six hundred
commission merchants on the Lower East Side of New York. His brother, Christian Henry (born Christian Heinrich in 1821), arrived in San Francisco in July 1849, at the height of the California Gold Rush. Relying
on shipments from Henry, Christian opened a grocery. The brothers became pioneers in the clipper ship trade. They had the vision and capitalization to set up a very profitable New York/San Francisco partnership.
Henry frequently shipped merchandise (mainly foodstuffs) around South America’s Cape Horn, which would take up to four months. Every two weeks, Christian would remit payments in gold
coins (roughly $30,000 today) by steamer across the Isthmus of Panama, which took three weeks. This occurred during the 1850s and 1860s…
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Calendar:
Please contact events directly to confirm dates, times, locations, and admission fees.
December
Frederick, MD
First Friday of the month: Der Stammtisch at Brewer’s Alley, 124 N. Market Street. Call 301-631-0127.
Indianapolis, IN
First Wednesday and first Saturday of the month: Docent-led tours of the Athenaeum at 401 East Michigan Street. Call 317-630-4569 or E-Mail athfound@sbcglobal.net .
Tucson, AZ
February 2: Saddlebrooke Genealogy Club Tenth Anniversary All-Day Genealogy Seminar and Fair. At the Mountain View Clubhouse. Visit www.sb-genealogy.org .
Indianapolis, IN
February 3: Kinderkarneval – German Children’s Mardi Gras at the Athenaeum/Das Deutsche Haus. Admission fee. Call 317-655-2755 or E-Mail jimgould@sbcglobal.net .
Oregon, OH
February 10: Damenchor’s Valentine Day Dinner. Oak Shade Grove Hall, 3624 Seaman Road. For reservations call 419-478-2130 by February 4.
Bellville, TX
February 29 – March 1: 2008 Texas German Society State Convention. Austin County Fair Convention & Expo Center. German music, heritage, culture, and vendors.
Call 979-865-0935, E-Mail: rdhecomm@nstci.com, or visit www.texasgermansociety.com .
March
Frederick, MD
First Friday of the month: Der Stammtisch at Brewer’s Alley, 124 N. Market Street. Call 301-631-0127.
Indianapolis, IN
First Wednesday and first Saturday of the month: Docent-led tours of the Athenaeum at 401 East Michigan Street. Call 317-630-4569 or E-Mail athfound@sbcglobal.net .
Ambridge, PA
March 9: Charter Day at Old Economy Village. Re-opening of Old Economy Village for the 2008 season. Call 724-266-4500 or visit www.oldeconomyvillage.org .
Kutztown, PA
March 15: Easter on the Farm. Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, 22 Luckenbill Road. Call 610-683-1589 or visit www.Kutztown.edu/community/pgchc .
Tomball, TX
March 28-30: Tomball German Heritage Festival. Old Downtown Tomball Texas with two hundred vendors and four music stages. Call 281-379-6844, E-Mail: gradsand@yahoo.com , or visit www.tomballsistercity.org
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