VOLUME 11 NUMBER 4 • WINTER 2002

Director’s Corner. Page 7

Collection Feature: AdviceBooks for German Americans.

Page 8

Jack Thiessen offers a briefhistory of Mennonite LowGerman.

Page 5

New German-themed booksavailable fromMKI’s mono-graph series.Page 3

Max Gaebler reflects on thehistory of the Free Thinkerscongregation in Sauk City. Page 2

WHAT’S INSIDE:

VisitingScholarAlexandraJacob saysgoodbye. Page 9

Max Kade InstituteFriends Newsletter

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON, 901 UNIVERSITY BAY DR., MADISON, WI 53705

Milwaukee part of Bach legacy

Liederkranz to sing Bachat anniversary concert

By Ann Reagan

Who: Milwaukee LiederkranzWhat: 125th anniversaryconcert featuring C. Bach’s musicWhen: April 26, 2003, 7 p.m.Where: Mount Mary College,2900 N. Menomonee River Pkwy.,Milwaukee.Admission: Adults $10 at the door,$7.50 in advance. Students $5 inadvance and at the door.

See related story on page 12

Christoph Bach

Continued on page 12

Highlights of Recent LibraryAquisitions.

Page 10

This month’s Friends Profilefeatures Jeanne Schueller. Page 4

During the latter half of thenineteenth century Milwaukee was acity of music, graced with thepresence of a strong German-American community that supportednumerous musical societies andgroups. But although Milwaukeewas home to many talented perform-ers and conductors, one musician inparticular became associated withthe city more than any other, spenthis entire career there, and waswithout a doubt the most popular ofall its musicians.

Christoph Bach was born inGermany in 1835 and spent hisyouth preparing to follow in thefootsteps of his father, a frescopainter. While few details are knownabout his early life, it is clear that hebegan his musical training relativelylate, at the age of sixteen. Neverthe-less, after his family emigrated to theUnited States in 1855, he began hiscareer in earnest; by August of thatyear he made his first public appear-ance in Milwaukee, performing oneof his own compositions with theMilwaukee Musical Society. Soonhe organized a sextet, which grew innumber over the years, forming thecore of the famous “Bach Orches-tra.”

Photo courtesy of the UW Mills Music Library

2

The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute forGerman-American Studies is published quarterly at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison. The Newsletter is editedand produced by Nicole Saylor with the assistance of theNewsletter Committee of the Board of Directors and isprinted by Great Graphics, Inc. The Newsletter appearsquarterly in March, June, September, and December.Submissions are invited and should be sent directly to:

Max Kade Institutefor German-American Studies

901 University Bay DriveMadison, WI 53705

Ph: (608) 262-7546 Fax: (608) 265-4640Any submissions via e-mail may be directed to

nasaylor@students.wisc.edu.

Visit the Max Kade Institute on theWorld Wide Web at:

http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki

Freie Gemeinde celebrates 150 years in Sauk CityBy Max Gaebler

Photo courtesy of Helmut Schmahl

The Sauk City congregation held a series of programsin October through November in honor of the FreieGemeinde’s sesquicentennial.

Continued on page 14

“As always, when we face problems of identityrather than of technical mastery, we have to carryon an endless dialogue with our past, to relate ourhopes to our memories.”

– Prof. Paul Conkin, during a centennial yearaddress of the First Unitarian Society in Madison.

For the Free Congregation (Freie Gemeinde) inSauk City, the issue of identity is even more compellingthan it is for most other groups. Immigrants freshlyarrived from Germany organized the group in 1852.Those founders were not just a random cross-sectionof mid-nineteenth century German immigrants toAmerica. They were people who had made thedemanding and often perilous trip across the Atlanticfor reasons of conscience and conviction. The hope ofmore promising economic opportunities in Americasurely played a part in the motivation of some of them.But by far the major factor in their decision to build anew life in a new world was the prospect of a freesociety, a society offering a religious, educational, andcultural environment free from the shackles of en-trenched privilege and authority.

There were in the late nineteenth century a sub-stantial number of such congregations founded byGerman immigrants to America, most of them amongthe so-called Forty-Eighters who came in the wake ofthe failure of the German Revolution of 1848. But fora variety of reasons, the principal one being theircontinuing attachment to the German language, thesecongregations gradually declined.

Today, the Sauk City Freie Gemeinde is the onlysurviving congregation from the once-prominent free-thought movement in Wisconsin. In fact, it is the onlysuch congregation in the United States. The Sauk Citycongregation held a series of programs in October andearly November of this year in honor of their anniver-sary.

I made the acquaintance of this congregation soonafter arriving in Madison in 1952, since it has longenjoyed a close friendship with the First UnitarianSociety. I have shared in many delightful and stimulat-ing occasions in Park Hall, the meetinghouse of thegroup. And thirty years ago I had the opportunity tolearn a great deal more about the origins of thereligious movement this congregation represents. Thatopportunity arose when I was invited to spend a year

3

You can order our books either at yourlocal bookstore, Web retailers such asAmazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, ordirectly from the University of WisconsinPress. Included below is the contactinformation for ordering from the Press.When ordering from them, please re-member to add $4.50 for shipping andhandling for the first book and $1 foreach additional one.

Order by Mail:Customer Service DepartmentThe University of Wisconsin Pressc/o Chicago Distribution Center11030 S. Langley Ave.Chicago, IL 60628Order by Phone:Call (773) 568-1550Order On-line: http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/order.html

By Nicole Saylor

MKI’s monograph series is planning onreleasing two more books in the next few months,an English / Mennonite Low German Dictio-nary by frequent newsletter contributor JackThiessen and a collection of essays on the Ger-man-Jewish experience in America, publishedwith the German Historical Institute in Washing-ton, D.C. Please visit the monograph seriesportion of our webpage for updates on thesebooks and information on our entire monographseries. Its address is: http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki/publications/1.PublicationsFrames.htm

More books on the way

Kuenzi rememberedfor his love of music,genealogy, astrology

MKI remembers former Friends President EdKuenzi — a one-man bass section, an enthusiasticgenealogist, and a whiz at fixing clocks. He even builthis own telescope as a teenager, kept bees, andplayed violin for decades with the same bunch offriends.

Kuenzi passed away at his home on December 6,2002. He was 86.

His love for his German heritage led him to headthe MKI Friends organization from 1996 to 1999, andserve as vice president the two years prior.

“As the president and a member of the board, EdKuenzi not only worked hard for the Friends and forthe Institute, but he always did it with humor and in hisremarkably low-key way,” said former MKI directorJoe Salmons. “Ed will be greatly missed.”

Kuenzi was a native of Watertown, WI, born onFebruary 28, 1916, to Edward and Elvira (Emmerling)Kuenzi. He graduated from the University of Wiscon-sin–Madison with a degree in civil engineering in 1941and became a research engineer at the US ForestProducts Laboratory, a job he would hold for 33years. On October 11, 1947, he married Viola A.Andler.

Growing up in Watertown, Kuenzi developed vastinterests and innumerable talents.

“The two things I associate with Ed are music andastronomy,” said Max Gaebler, who grew up withKuenzi in Watertown. “He was a great guy.” Kuenzihelped start an astronomy group in Watertown, ofwhich Gaebler’s father was also a member. Aroundthe same time, Kuenzi built his own telescope andused it until just recently.

He was a long-time member of the Madison CivicChorus and of his church choir.

“He was a whole bass section unto himself,” saidhis long-time friend and fellow singer Dr. HenryPeters. In addition, Kuenzi was a talented violinist who

Continued on page 6

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The Friends of the Max Kade Institute Board of Directors:

Rose Marie Barber, MilwaukeeRobert Bolz (Vice President), MadisonDennis Boyer, DodgevilleCharles James, MadisonFran Luebke (President), BrookfieldBob Luening (Treasurer), Madison

Friends profile: Jeanne Schueller

By Nicole Saylor

Milwaukee educator makes outreach a focus

Antje Petty (ex-officio), MadisonKaryl Rommelfanger, ManitowocMark Louden (ex-officio), MadisonKent Salomon, AppletonJeanne Schueller, WatertownSue Stoddard (Secretary), WausauWilliam Thiel, Eau Claire

Jeanne Schueller

For Jeanne Schueller, being a German scholar isabout more than doing research and teaching collegeclasses. It is about making the University ofWisconsin–Milwaukee German program part of thelarger world.

That is why she hosts a film series each fall foranyone in the community interested in seeing German-language movies on the Big Screen. And that is alsowhy, when she can, she spends time visiting highschool classrooms or coordinating the university’sannual German Day through email with high schoolteachers.

“It’s important for me to build up our program,”said Schueller, who coordinates UWM’s first- andsecond-year German courses. “I really enjoy what Ido. I think outreach is really important.”

One of Schueller’s most recent outreach effortswas becoming a member of the MKI Friends Boardof Directors, a role she assumed this fall.

She is an assistant professor in the Germanprogram within the Foreign Languages and Linguisticsdepartment at the University of Wisconsin–Milwau-kee. But her journey to an academic life was not acalculated one.

Schueller, 34, grew up in Coon Valley, a smallcommunity outside of La Crosse. Her father’s ances-tors immigrated to Wisconsin from Dockweiler, asmall town in the Eifel region of Germany near theborder with Belgium and Luxemburg. But it was notuntil high school that Schueller was exposed to theGerman language. “It was the only language offered at

the time,” she said. “Itcould have as easilybeen Spanish.”

She went on tomajor in German at theUniversity of Minne-sota. “I decided tomajor in it because Ienjoyed aspects of thelanguage,” she said. “Iwas not aiming atbecoming a professor.”While her undergradu-ate studies focused onGerman literature andculture, it was not untilher graduate work at UW–Madison that she shiftedher focus to linguistics. There she became interested inhow adults learn a second language, an interest thatwould guide her toward a teaching life.

Her other interests include taking pictures with theNikon N60 her father, Mark Schueller, gave her as awedding gift four years ago. She said she is drawn tothe duality that photography offers: “It’s creative and itfeels productive at the same time.” She likes takingnature photos, in particular close-ups. “I like to see thedetails in things.”

To view her photos or find out more about theUWM German Department, log onto Schueller’s website at http://www.uwm.edu/~jeannems/.

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A brief history of Mennonite Low GermanBy Jack Thiessen

With the main-stream switch toEnglish, Plaut-dietsch, thelinguistic soul ofMennonitism, is alanguage used lessand less in Canadaand the US.

Plautdietsch, Mennonite Low German, was forhundreds of years a dialect at the very heart of thePrussian-Russian Mennonite experience and culture ina way that High German and later, in North America,English could never be. As an exclusively oral languagethat did not appear in written form until modern times,Plautdietsch was much more than ameans of communication; it was, infact, a way of life. Analogous toYiddish, it is a colorful, spirited, andspiritually alert language that is an off-shoot of Low German dialects thatare many centuries older thanChaucerian English, and like therobust speech of Chaucer’s pilgrimsexpressively rooted in the quotidianlives of ordinary folk. When Menno-nites away from home unexpectedlyheard their Low German beingspoken, their response was apt to be:“Soo wiet von Tus, enn doch sootusijch” (So far from home and yet sohomey). In a strange or even hostilesetting, just hearing their mother tongue spoken wasusually enough to lift the spirits of Mennonites to acommon accord and comfort level. And that remainstrue today for those Mennonites who still understandMennonite Low German.

Originally, the majority of Anabaptist Mennonites,the Doopsgezinde, came from the Netherlands at atime in the sixteenth century when religious and socialupheaval was the order of the day. Martin Luther hadalready probed and rejected papal claims and author-ity, and Menno Simons, a Frisian priest, soon followedhim and became the leader of the Anabaptists, whoadopted his name. United in their resolve to worshipGod directly through Christ and his grace, theAnabaptists were persecuted and forced to flee to theVistula Delta later in the century. There they retainedtheir native Dutch as a church language for a while, butadapted the region’s prevalent Lower West Prussiandialect (among many others) into what became theirown dialect of Plautdietsch. It became the internal

verbal expressionof their isolation from the rest of the world. It wastheir Ausgleichsprache, their compromise language,that ensured Gemeinschaft, community-mindedness,to go along with the unity of purpose demanded bytheir radical Anabaptist faith. In fact, over the centu-

ries Plautdietsch ensured a morestable base for Mennonite cultureand society than Anabaptism, whichperiodically occasioned spiritualrestlessness leading to congrega-tional upheavals and divisions.

Sadly, that rich Mennonitemother tongue is now threatenedwith decline through neglect, at leastin North America. Urbanizationand the accessibility of the massmedia have leveled and exposedthe hidden valleys of linguisticretreat. Mennonites, like otherethnic groups, have joined themainstream of society and becomeever more pragmatic and materialis-

tically minded in their search—largely urbanizednowadays—for success and prosperity. With themainstream shift to English, Plautdietsch, the linguisticsoul of Mennonitism, is a language used less and lessin Canada and the United States, although it stillflourishes in the Mennonite colonies of Mexico andSouth America. However, since human ways arenever entirely predictable, one can only hope thatPlautdietsch will at least be retained in North Americaas a literary language for the foreseeable future, andthat the familiar “Soo wiet von Tus, enn doch sootusijch” may still be heard as expressing the essenceof Mennonite Gemeinschaft and ethnic and linguisticdurability.

Jack Thiessen, retired professor of Germanat the University of Winnipeg, is well known for hisLow German short stories, which have appeared inthe Mennonite Mirror and in Rhubarb. He has alsotaught at the Universities of New Brunswick, Kiel,Strasbourg, and Jena.

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Jewish women in Upper Midwest exhibit opensThe Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison is

hosting the traveling exhibit “Unpacking on thePrairie: Jewish Women in the Upper Midwest” fromDecember 16 to March 1, 2003.

The exhibit explores the experiences of immigrantJewish women and how they interacted with theirneighbors, maintained Jewish homes, and createdJewish communities in a region with relatively fewJews.

The exhibit is divided into three broad sections.The first is Packing Up and Unpacking, whichfocuses on women’s experiences in Europe and theiradjustment to new settings and new neighbors in theUpper Midwest. The second, Women in the JewishHome, explores women’s roles in maintaining andtransforming domestic religious culture in the UpperMidwest and women as the keepers of family memo-ries and mementos. The third section, Women in theCommunity, focuses on women’s experiences andchanging roles in the workplace, the synagogue, andin voluntary organizations of the region.

“Unpacking on the Prairie” will be open 9 a.m. to4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission to themuseum is free, but there is a suggested donation of$4 for adults, $3 for children under 18, and $10 forfamilies. For more information, call 264-6555.

The museum is at 30 N. Carroll Street on theCapitol Square. The Minnesota Historical Societyand the Jewish Historical Society of the UpperMidwest organized the exhibit. Locally, exhibitprogramming is in collaboration with Madison PublicLibrary, Hadassah, and the Jewish Women’s Net-work.

North Dakota homesteader Bessie Schwartz, left, andseveral members of her family outside their sod hut.

Photos courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society

played regularly with a quartet. “They would get intosome pretty heavy stuff. They probably did that 20 ormore years.”

It was Kuenzi’s engineering skills that enhancedhis ability to fix clocks.

“(Ed) could take a complicated clock apart andput it back together again without even looking at it,”

said Peters. “He learned it from his father. I don’t knowhow many clocks in town are put back together by him.If it needed a new part, he could make it.”

Kuenzi is survived by his wife, two sons, and severalgrandchildren and great grandchildren. Preceding him indeath was his twin sister, Margaret, who died in 1991.

“He had a lot of get-up-and-go,” said Peters. “Hewas great guy. He had all the features of a great per-son.”

Kuenzi from page 3

B’nai Israel Congregation women’s auxilaryprepares to serve Sabbath dinner, Sioux Falls,SD, about 1950.

7Director’s Corner

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season isalready upon us and that the fall semester is rapidlydrawing to a close. I am happy to report that this hasbeen a very productive time for both the Max KadeInstitute and Center for the Study of Upper Midwest-ern Cultures. On the research front, two new publica-tions have now appeared, Land without Nightin-gales, edited by Philip V. Bohlman and OttoHolzapfel, and Pickled Herring and Pumpkin Pie byHenriette Davidis, with an introduction by our longtimeMKI friend, Lou Pitschmann. (See full story, Page 3.)Early sales information is positive so far, and we hopethat especially the Davidis cookbook will be a strongseller during the holiday season (I’ve already decidedthat it will be going to several on my Christmas list thisyear!). Several other publications are currently in theeditorial pipeline and should be appearing over thecourse of the coming year, keeping our tireless projectassistants, Eric Platt and Emily Engel, quite busy! We’ve been no less busy in the area of outreachthis fall. Ruth Olson, Antje Petty, and I have hit theroad several times for individual and joint presentationsto a number of community groups. One recent eventthat all three of us participated in was a daylong affairat the Neville Museum in Green Bay. Every year, localschoolchildren through eighth grade come to themuseum for UW On The Road, a series of 20-30-

minute interactive presentations by UW-Madisondepartments and centers sponsored by the WisconsinAlumni Association. The theme for the joint MKI/CSUMC presentation this year (the only one in thehumanities) was “Cultural Play,” a look at how webecome acculturated through toys and games. Wechose examples from several ethnic groups repre-sented in Wisconsin’s past and present, includingOneida Indians, Germans, Hmong, and Amish. Wewrapped up by playing a question-and-answer gamewith the kids drawing on their knowledge of culture,including games, sayings, and languages they speak.Of the 200-plus children we worked with (dividedinto ten groups), the cultural and language groupsrepresented included African-Americans, Chinese,French, Germans, Hmong, Lao, Mexican-Americans,Oneidas, and Russians. This microcosm of diversityaptly reflected our ongoing mission to document andpromote understanding of the varied cultural land-scape of our great state. Let me close by expressing my sincere thanks toall the Friends for their sterling support over the pastyear. That support is what keeps us going, somethingfor which all of us on the MKI staff are deeplygrateful. Have a healthy and very happy holidayseason!

MKI explores ‘cultural play’ in WisconsinBy Mark Louden, MKI Director

Online exhibit explores bread-making, German musicBy Cherie Wolter

Two new virtual exhibits are now available at theMax Kade Institute’s web site http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki. “German-American Music in Wisconsin” and“Breaking Bread, Bridging Cultures” are exhibits thatwere presented as part of conferences at the MaxKade Institute and the Center for the Study of UpperMidwestern Cultures.

“German-American Music in Wisconsin,” whichwas created by Geraldine Laudati, director of the MillsMusic Library, and Steven Sundell, curator of the

Wisconsin Music Archives, features descriptive textand images of several important German-Americancomposers, music publishers, bands, festivals, andrecordings.

“Breaking Bread, Bridging Cultures,” originallypresented by Antje Petty and Ruth Olson, describesGerman-American and other breads that are a part ofWisconsin’s ethnic heritage. Colorful images ofbakers, bakeries, and bread, as well as descriptionsof traditional uses for bread, are included.

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Collection feature: Advice booksBy Kevin Kurdylo, MKI Librarian

Continued on page 11

Self-help books are not a recentphenomenon. As long as independenceand self-reliance have been Americanvirtues, there have been pragmaticguides available in this country—justthink of Poor Richard’s Almanac.Advice books were also published inthe German language in America, withseveral aimed at helping German-speaking immigrants adjust to their newhomeland. As seen in the last issue ofthe Newsletter, a German settler couldrefer to Der deutsche Farmer forcomprehensive advice on all aspects ofrunning a successful agricultural enter-prise. Other books addressed suchpractical subjects as diet, cooking,dress, table manners and behavior in public, moralconduct, relationships with the opposite sex, child-rearing, business and law, and health and medicine. Inthis collection feature, we’ll highlight a few booksdirected to new immigrants. Look for health andmedicine books in the next issue!

Amerikanischer Dolmetscher. Ein unfehlbarerRathgeber für Einwanderer und Eingewanderte.Winona, Minn.: National Weeklies, 1901. 365 pp.

Der große amerikanische Dolmetscher, miteinem vollständigen Handwörterbuch derenglischen und deutschen Sprache, nebst richtigerund sprachgerechter Aussprache der englischenWörter. Ein Hülfsbuch zur Erlernung derenglischen Sprache ohne Lehrer, besondersgeeignet für deutsche Einwanderer...New York:Wilhelm Radde, 1873. 288 pp.

Aiming to help the German-speaking immigrantlearn the English language without the help of a teacher,these two guidebooks include basic grammar and aguide to pronunciation. Words are given in Germanand then English, with a phonetic aid to pronouncingthe English words. For example, der Abend, “evening”in English, to be pronounced “ihw’ning” by speakers of

German. Lists of everyday words arefollowed by essential phrases, as wellas examples of important letters andbusiness forms in both languages, andthen an English-German/German-English dictionary. The 1901 volumealso includes a guide to writingEnglish longhand, forms of address,the states and their capitals, postalrates, and information on “wie manBürger dieses Landes werden kann”(how to become a citizen of thiscountry).

Bogen, F. W. The GermanImmigrant in America: F. W.Bogen’s Guidebook. Edited by Don

Heinrich Tolzmann. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books,1992. 101 pp.

A reprint of the 1851 publication The German inAmerica, or Advice and Instruction for GermanEmigrants in the United States of America, whichoriginally appeared in both German Fraktur andEnglish. Among other advice, Bogen lists elevenrecommendations to help the immigrant avoid “fallinginto the hands of some swindler and of becoming thedupe of his own confidence and ignorance.” WhileBogen urges immigrants to learn the English language,he “by no means asks his countryman to renounceentirely his mother tongue, which is in reality one ofthe most powerful, rich and refined in the world....”

Buel, Elizabeth C. Barney, comp. Taschenbuchüber die Vereinigten Staaten für Einwanderer undAusländer. [Washington, D.C.]: National-Gesellschaftder Töchter der Amerikanischen Revolution, 1924.101 pp., ill.

Prepared by the Daughters of the AmericanRevolution and translated into German, this bookincludes information on how to become a citizen of theUnited States, a short history of America, and adiscourse on its government, rules for the use of the

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Visiting scholar ends her Low German researchDat hew ick nie nich dacht!

Visiting scholar Alexandra Jacob interviews Plattspeaker Bill Storm.

By Alexandra Jacob

Jacob

My stay at the Max Kade Institute as a visitingscholar and my Low German research project inWisconsin have finally come to an end. I came toMadison in January 2002 as a recipient of a DAAD(German Academic Exchange Service) scholarshipfrom the University of Bielefeld in Westphalia, Ger-many. When I began my research in Wisconsin, I washoping initially to find some Westphalian Low German

speakers, but after a while Irealized that I would not be ableto find people who could stillspeak this variety of Plattdütsch.

On the advice of Prof. Joachim(Yogi) Reppmann, co-founder ofthe American/Schleswig-HolsteinHeritage Society and professor atSt. Olaf and Carleton Colleges,Northfield, Minnesota, I shiftedmy focus to the Pomeranian Low

German speakers of Wisconsin. In May I met Donand Lou Ann Zamzow from the Pomeranian clubPommerscher Verein Central Wisconsin at theannual Max Kade Friends banquet, and then myresearch project really got underway. I visited theWausau area several times, and was the speaker at thePomeranian club’s Piknik im Bush in July and at theannual club meeting at Rib River Ballroom in October.I also co-hosted the Pommern Life radio show onBig WRIG 1390 Wausau (Fridays from 12:30 to 1p.m. after the Polka program) four times with BobGruling and Don Zamzow.

The main part of my research was the documenta-tion of Pommersches Platt. I conducted and re-corded 89 interviews (approx. 45-60 mins. each) withPomeranian Low German speakers, mostly fromMarathon and Lincoln Counties. I was amazed to findso many fluent speakers! The Pommerscher Verein isvery much interested in preserving its German heritageand Low German language. Through the club’s news-letter Dat Pommersche Blatt, I learned a lot aboutthe group’s activities. The club has more than 380members from all over the world and is still growing! It

has been very supportive of my research.My series of interviews with Low German speak-

ers will be digitized on CD at the University ofBielefeld in January 2003. The recordings will be thebasis for my doctoral thesis, which will focus on theinfluence of American English on WisconsinPomeranian Low German.

In addition to the speech recordings, I collecteddata on the nineteenth-century history of immigrationfrom Pomerania to Wisconsin, photocopied a numberof Pomeranian family histories, scanned old photosand official and personal documents (includingpassports, certificates of naturalization, baptismal andmarriage certificates, land deeds, etc.), and spenthours and hours in the State Historical Society ofWisconsin and the Historical Society of MarathonCounty to copy information on the early settlers andlife in nineteenth-century Wisconsin.

On December 10, I flew home to Germany. Afterthe Christmas break I will start analyzing my data andwill go on with my work on Wisconsin PomeranianLow German.

I am very grateful to those who have supportedmy research and would like to thank everyone whohelped me and made my stay in Wisconsin a successfulone. When I came to Madison in January 2002 I reallydid not expect to find so many excellent Low Germanspeakers in Wisconsin. Thanks again for all yoursupport!

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Highlights of recent library acquisitionsBy Kevin Kurdylo, MKI Librarian

Marriageannouncementtaken from acollection oflettersdonated byMax Gaebler.

Continued on page 15

Once again we highlight a small number of themany donations added to the MKI Library over thepast few months, selected from the Published in theUnited States, Subject, and Family History andArchives collections. A complete list of recent acquisi-tions will be available on our Web site as a link fromthe News page or at the URL: http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki/Library/NewAcqs/NewAcqs.htm. Contact theMKI Librarian at (608) 262-7546 or by e-mail atkkurdylo@facstaff.wisc.edu if you are interested inviewing any of these titles, or if you would like todonate materials to the Max Kade Institute. We wouldlike to express our gratitude to Max Gaebler, Jim andLydia Groetsch, Gary(Gerhardt) and BettyHillmer, Alexandra Jacob,Madeline Kanner, JoanMeier, Helmut Schmahl,Jack Thiessen, Alice Wendt,and Daniel J. Zehren for theirrecent donations.

Published inthe United States

Tisch und Küche. EineZusammenstellung vonbewährten Koch-Rezepten. Sorgfältig ausgewähltfür den Familiengebrauch und angeordnet fürrasches Nachschlagen. Ergänzt durch kurze Winkefür Tisch und Küche. Chicago, Ill.: Price BakingPowder Co., [1893]. 61 pp.

A German-language edition of a cookbook pub-lished by the Price Baking Powder Company ofChicago, the English title is Table and Kitchen. ACompilation of Approved Cooking Receipts Care-fully Selected for the Use of Families and Ar-ranged for Ready Reference. Supplementd by BriefHints for the Table and Kitchen. The book providesrecipes for such foods as bread, biscuits, and break-fast rolls; muffins and gems (Formgebäck); eggs;soups; fish, meat and poultry; vegetables; saladdressings and fish and meat sauces; pickles andcatsups; frozen desserts; puddings; pies and cakes;

and candies. There is even a brief section on nourish-ment for sick people, and a report on the dangers ofammonia and alum in baking powders, with certifica-tions that “Dr. Price’s Cream Backpulver” is free ofsuch impurities. As a bit of trivia, I discovered that thePrice Baking Co. was founded by the grandfather ofactor—and gourmet cook—Vincent Price!

Subject CollectionButts, Porter. Der Rathskeller + der Stiftskeller,

1928–1978. Reprint. [Madison, Wis.]: WisconsinUnion, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1982.24 pp., ill.

A history of the University ofWisconsin–Madison’sRathskeller—a gatheringplace for students that isreminiscent of the cellar of aGerman Rathaus, or townhall—and the Stiftskeller, or“cellar of the founders.” Bothrooms are decorated withmurals that have legends inGerman; those in the Raths-keller were painted byEugene Hausler, and those in

the Stiftskeller were executed by Kurt Schaldach.Provides the meanings of the murals and their legends.

Jacob, Alexandra. Niederdeutsch im MittlerenWesten der USA: Auswanderungsgeschichte —Sprache — Assimilation. Westfälische Beiträge zurniederdeutschen Philologie, Bd. 10. Jürgen Macha,Robert Peters, and Jan Wirrer, eds. Bielefeld: Verlagfür Regionalgeschichte, 2002. 147 pp.

Based upon MKI visiting scholar AlexandraJacob’s dissertation, this work examines the initialtransplantation and the now-threatened existence ofthe Low German dialect in Illinois and Missouri. WhileJacob’s area of interest is primarily linguistics, sheprovides a detailed look at the background andreasons for the emigration of speakers of Low Ger-man.

11

Collection Feature from page 8American flag, and translations of the Constitution andBill of Rights. Practical advice for immigrants coverspreparing for the trip, where to go when a familymember falls ill, what to do if you have a job-relatedaccident, and what expectations or laws apply to suchthings as signing documents, hunting and fishing,operating automobiles, and getting married. In addi-tion to urging immigrants to learn English (after all,

“Englisch ist eine schöne Sprache”) and mentioningvarious methods for doing so, there is advice on thecare of one’s living quarters: “Halte Deine Zimmer ineinem reinen und ordentlichen Zustand. Laß immerfrische Luft herein. Schlafe immer bei offenemFenster.” (Keep your rooms clean and orderly.Always let in fresh air. Sleep next to an open win-dow.)

MKINews in brief

National Max Kade leaderswant high school alliances

WisconsinState Genealogi-cal Society(South-CentralChapter) Geneal-ogy Fair, January11, 2003, 9 a.m.to 2 p.m., atCovenant Presby-terian Church,326 South SegoeRoad, Madison.

Lecture by NPR classical music correspon-dent Martin Goldsmith on his new book, TheInextinguishable Symphony: A True Story ofMusic and Love in Nazi Germany, to bepresented in the Pyle Conference Centerauditorium at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 22,2003. Contact Mark Louden atmllouden@wisc.edu for more information.

Events Calendar

MKI Director Mark Louden attended a two-dayMax Kade Foundation conference in New Yorkwhere representatives from several affiliated institutesand exchange programs talked about the teaching ofGerman in the United States and the future of Ger-man-American studies.

A key challenge that arose from the conference,October 10-11, was the need to uncover reasonswhy the number of high school students studyingGerman drops when they enter college.

There has been a noticeable decline in the study ofGerman over the last ten years, both at the highschool and university levels. In 1990, 133,000undergraduates and graduates students were studyingGerman; by 1998 that figure had dropped to 89,000,according to the Max Kade Foundation in NewYork.

One proposal made at the conference was toestablish more systematic, cooperative “alliances”between pre-college and undergraduate Germanlanguage programs, perhaps using the network ofMax Kade centers and affiliated institutions through-out the United States.

Another idea to address the decline in under-graduate German language study was “academicentrepreneurialism,” combining German study alongwith other disciplines in which Germans have tradi-tionally excelled, including engineering, science and

technology, and alternative medicine. The plan wouldinvolve not only a semester of study in Germany, butalso a semester-long internship with a German com-pany.

Discussions also focused on how to get moreAmerican students interested in exchange programswith Germany. Conference participants underscoredthe need to think of international exchange in abroader perspective than just university-based studyabroad.

Calendar

of Events

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The Milwaukee Liederkranz was founded onJanuary 21, 1878, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. TheMilwaukee Liederkranz is a male chorus thatsings a wide repertoire of songs from GermanLieder to German drinking songs. It has givenpublic concerts every year since its founding,even during the first and second world wars. Inaddition to performing at its own events, theLiederkranz also performs with other Germanchoruses at periodic statewide Sängerfests, orsongfests, at national Sängerfests and atMilwaukee’s Germanfest. The Liederkranz alsotoured in Europe on a number of occasions, withthe last tour in 1953.

The chorus has had many talented directors.Its first director was Christoph Bach (see anaccompanying article, Page 1), who directed itfrom 1878 to 1884 and again from 1900 to1908. Its third director was Hugo Kaun who wasa well-known composer both in American andGermany. Its current director is Tim Wurgler whois a Swiss-American and a native of New Glarus,Wisconsin.

Over the years the membership of theLiederkranz has varied. The numbers were highwhen there were large numbers of German

immigrants in Milwaukee, before WWI and afterWWII. The membership declined during the wars.There were 135 active singers in 1932. Today thechoir has 36 active singers. The singers areincreasingly American-born so meetings are held inEnglish. But they continue to sing mostly in Ger-man. The chorus has won the singing competitionof the Wisconsin German-American choruses eighttimes since 1976.

At 7 p.m. on April 26, 2003, the MilwaukeeLiederkranz will perform a concert at Mount MaryCollege in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in honor of its125th anniversary. As part of this concert, theLiederkranz will perform songs by some of its pastdirectors, including Hugo Kaun and ChristophBach. In addition to performances by the Milwau-kee Liederkranz, the concert will also feature theperformance by Milwaukee musicians of additionalpieces by Christoph Bach.

Further information can be obtained at theMilwaukee Liederkranz web site http://members.aol.com/bgclubnews/liederk2.htm, by e-mailing Ed Langer at edlanger@execpc.com, orwriting him at 11430 West Woodside Drive, HalesCorners, WI 53130-1143 or by calling him at(414) 529-4822. – Ed Langer

Liederkranz celebrates heritage with concert

Bach from page 1

Continued on page 13

By 1864, Christoph Bach and his orchestra beganthe regular Sunday concerts that would entertainMilwaukee for decades to come. Their regular seasonwas from September to May, and during the summermonths, they sometimes participated in outdoorevents. In addition, the orchestra often appeared withvocal societies, providing accompaniment for operas,oratorios, and the like.

Christoph Bach’s mission was twofold: to educateand to entertain. Programs often were lengthy andeclectic, including some of the most modern musicfrom Germany as well as favorites from the time ofMozart. It was not uncommon to attend a concertfeaturing compositions by both Richard Wagner andJohn Philip Sousa, or a symphony by Beethoven

alongside songs by Victor Herbert, and maybe evenChristoph Bach’s own works. So it was that for histhirty-seventh birthday, a group of citizens honoredhim with an gold-tipped ebony baton, inlaid with gemsand engraved with the names of its donors.

His popularity did not wane in later years, espe-cially since he spent little time traveling or performingfar from home. He participated in rallies and parades,and was careful to appeal to a large audience, muchlike those attending the Boston Pops concerts today.

As a composer, Christoph Bach was equallyversatile. Among his compositions are full-scaleoperas, Lieder, vocal compositions, piano pieces, andmarches, to name a few. Although not well known

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Bach from page 12today, many were published during his lifetime, and areavailable in Wisconsin archives as well as in theLibrary of Congress. Bach was known for his ardentdislike of jazz, and other types of “modern” music. Hisown works tend to be conservative, and in somecases are reminiscent of Johann Strauss the Younger.

Unlike some of his peers, Bach was not given toregular press interviews, and avoided controversy.However, when threatened with the impending estab-lishment of a rival orchestra, he made it clear that heregarded his group as not simply important, but theonly orchestra in Milwaukee. In his own words to theMilwaukee Sentinel:

…As is well-known I have built up, and main-tained and managed the only standing orchestrawhich this city has had the last twenty-five years.My organization was, and is so far, the only one inthe city which can and does give regular symphonyconcerts…have also maintained myorchestra…during all these years without demand-ing or receiving any kind of guarantee fund…

The new group never materialized, partly becauseBach’s musicians remained loyal to him and did notdefect.

In 1906, Milwaukee celebrated half a century ofChristoph Bach’s talents. In his address Mayor DavidS. Rose stated “…no man has ever done more for thecity of Milwaukee than Mr. Bach and his orchestra.”Honors and accolades continued even after hisretirement from the podium, as on the occasion of hiseightieth birthday. Christoph Bach continued compos-ing until his death in 1927.

Milwaukee honored him once more on thehundreth anniversary of his birth, with Mayor DanielW. Hoan declaring “Christoph Bach Day.” MayorHoan’s words summarize the remarkable life andenduring contributions of Christoph Bach:

WHEREAS, this year marks the 100th anniver-sary of the birth of Christoph Bach, who played animportant part in the development of our city as amusic center, and distinguished himself as com-poser, musician and orchestra director;

WHEREAS, the Bach orchestra was a chieffactor in the cultural life of Milwaukee, serving asthe main support of all larger musical presenta-

tions in this city;WHEREAS, the Milwaukee Musician will honor

the memory of Christoph Bach by observing theanniversary of his birth with appropriate festivi-ties…;

THEREFORE, I…do hereby declare Sunday,March 31st, Christoph Bach Day and urge themusic-loving public of Milwaukee to express theirappreciation of the life and work of ChristophBach…

Clearly Bach’s influence and his contributionswere unmatched, helping Milwaukee to attain its statusas the city of music, the Deutsch-Athen.

Ann Reagan is Professor of Music History atthe U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,Colo.

See page 4 for a related article on MKI’svirtual exhibit that highlights German music inWisconsin.

Photo courtesy of the UW Mills Music Library

Christoph Bach pieces were regularly performed andfrequently published in Milwaukee.

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Freie Gemeinde continued from page 2

Continued on page 15

working as an exchange minister with the Free Reli-gious Congregations in the German state of Baden,Württemberg.

The year in which the Sauk City congregation wasorganized—1852—was only four years after theeruption of violence across Central Europe, violencethat marked the end of the soaring hopes kindled bythe Frankfurt parliament at which dreams of a unifiedGermany had merged with profound commitment topolitical, intellectual, and religious freedom. Therevolutionary turmoil, which accompanied the Frank-furt parliament, began in a mood of euphoria butended in disaster. The liberals who dominated thatparliament proved to be such dogmatic individualiststhat they could not reach significant agreement onanything. As their momentum flagged, the old authori-tarian forces—princes, established churches, and themilitary—moved to reassert themselves decisively. Atthe end there were scattered efforts at armed revolt,but these were quickly and ruthlessly put down. Whenunification came to Germany two decades later, it wasunder the paternalistic leadership of ChancellorBismarck.

This brief euphoric and ultimately tragic interlude ofdemocracy had its religious side. Indeed, develop-ments on the religious scene were so dramatic as tohave earned the failed revolution the sobriquet ofGermany’s Second Reformation. It came completewith its nineteenth-century Tetzel and its nineteenth-century Luther. Tetzel was the great salesman of papalindulgences in the sixteenth century. He went aboutpromising that at the very moment a coin clinked in thecollection box, the soul for whom the indulgence waspurchased would be freed from purgatory. It wasoutrage at these tactics that drove Martin Luther topost his famous ninety-five theses against indulgenceson the door of the church in Wittenberg. And it wasthat act of defiance that launched the Reformation.

In 1844 it was Bishop Arnoldi who played the partof Tetzel. In that year he placed on display in thecathedral at Trier the garment that was alleged to bethe Holy Cloak, the seamless robe of Christ. Arnoldipromised blessing and health to all who made pilgrim-ages to Trier to touch the Holy Cloak and who inreturn placed their sacrificial gift on the altar of God.These crass appeals produced astonishing effect.

People by the tens of thousands began streamingtoward Trier. All roads leading into the city wereclogged with pilgrims, and within six months a millionpeople had visited the cathedral to touch the HolyCloak, and all manner of miraculous cures werewidely reported.

Finally, the nineteenth-century Luther appeared, anunknown Catholic priest from Silesia named JohannesRonge. He wrote an open letter to Arnoldi protestingthe exploitation of the piety of simple people. “Do youknow,” he wrote, “—as a Bishop you must know it—that the founder of the Christian religion did not leaveto his disciples his cloak but his spirit?” He went on toaddress his colleagues in the priesthood: “Be silent nolonger, for you are guilty of a sin against religion,against your people, against your calling as a priest ifyou remain silent, if you hesitate any longer to makeknown your true persuasion. …Demonstrate that youhave inherited his spirit, not his cloak!”

The letter appeared in a widely circulated liberalnewspaper and spread quickly across Germany.Ronge was chastised by his ecclesiastical superiors,and later excommunicated. But by this time he hadfounded a new congregation in Breslau, the UniversalCatholic congregation he called it, where he rejectedoutright the worship of saints, the adoration of relics,and the rule of celibacy for the clergy. Ronge’s successwas immediate and great. New so-called GermanCatholic congregations sprang up in every part of thecountry.

However, the religious movement he foundedsuffered greatly from the reaction that followed thepetering out of the revolution. In 1859, the congrega-tions combined with another group called the Friendsof Light, which originated in the 1840s but within theProtestant churches. The combined groups werecalled Free Religious Congregations, the name theybear to this day.

The combination of religious, political, and intellec-tual idealism that found expression in these events isrepresented dramatically in the career of EduardSchroeter, for three decades speaker of the Sauk Citycongregation. A student radical in the 1830s,Schroeter, by then a candidate for the Protestantministry in Germany, joined the new German Catholicmovement founded by Ronge.

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Freie Gemeinde from page 14

Aquisitions from page 10

As leader of the congregation in the ancient city ofWorms, he made himself sufficiently unpopular with theauthorities that he was banished by the government ofHesse. After a farewell to his congregation, he leftWorms on May 25, 1850, and came to the UnitedStates. Eduard Schroeter, however, was not the onlyone among the members of the Congregation whoshared this tradition.

I speak of these connections between the Germanorigins of the Free Religious movement and the con-gregation in Sauk City in celebration of a great mile-stone in the church’s history. For in that story there arevalues and commitments that transcend the culturalparticularity of the group. The Sauk City congregationgave up the German language in 1937, one major

reason why it survives today. And just fifty years ago,in 1952, the congregation joined the American Unitar-ian Association. It was with a view to the future thatleaders decided on this secondary association toensure a wider context within which the congregationmight establish its own unique and special place. I daresay that without those two changes this congregationwould not be here celebrating its 150th anniversary.But with change we have also preserved a unique andimportant heritage. And embedded in that heritage arevalues we forget at our own great peril.

Max Gaebler is Minister Emeritus of the FirstUnitarian Society of Madison, where he served for35 years.

Zersen, Katherina Maria Sophia (Kirchhoff).“A Pioneer Pastor’s Wife, 1903–1907.”Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, vol.62, no. 2, Summer 1991, pp. 53–67, ill.

Transcription of tapes made in the mid-1960s.“The tapes contain a vivid and fascinating accountof the life of a missionary’s wife on the NorthDakota prairie in the early years of the twentiethcentury. Mrs. Zersen’s primary language wasGerman, then the language of most of theLutherans in the area of North Dakota ....”

Family Histories and Archives[Documents relating to the von

Puttkammer family].Assorted photocopied family papers: Family

crest; map showing where Puttkamers lived inPomerania; four photographs showing Heinrichvon Puttkamer in Germany and in the US, as wellas an image of Fanny (Francesca) von Puttkamerin Milwaukee; a Danish ship passage receipt forHeinrich von Puttkamer; an Army certificate forHeinrich von Puttkamer for a suitcase repair; USArmy discharge papers for Heinrich (Henry) vonPuttkamer (served 1889–1893); a marriagecertificate for Heinrich von Puttkamer and

Francesca (Fanny) Metz, 1893; and two post-cards from relatives still in Pomerania. Donated byMrs. Joan Meier.

[Documents relating to the Westphal family].Assorted photocopied family papers: passport

for Friedrich Westphal and Albertine (Berta)Budtke from the Königlich Preussische Staaten,Provinze Pommern (1851); biographies (in Ger-man) for Friedrich and Berta; small pox vaccina-tion paper for Berta; photo of Hulda Westphal,daughter of Friedrich and Berta; wedding invitationfor Hulda; four letters; and a poem for a new babywritten by Louise Newin, née Bayer. Donated byMrs. Joan Meier.

[Hand-bound book of letters].Hand-written letters in the old German script

between Catharine Juessen (née Ruetz), an aunt ofCarl Schurz, living in Clay Centre, Kansas, andEmil C. Gaebler, living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,and later in Chicago. The letters date from Jan. 25,1889 to Oct. 14, 1890, with the final pagesshowing a visiting announcement from a newspa-per, a marriage announcement for Emil C. Gaeblerand Catharine Jussen, and a poem entitled“Spätherbstblüthe.” Donated by Max Gaebler.

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