German-
society for
society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1society for german-american studies march 2012published triennially issn: 0741-5753
society for german american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1
contacts
President, Randall P. Donaldson Loyola University Maryland [email protected] Tel: (410) 617-2299
Membership, North America J. Gregory Redding Wabash College [email protected] Tel: (765) 361-6129
Membership, Europe Katja Hartmann Alexander von Humboldt Foundation [email protected] Tel: 011 49 (30) 857 326 77
American Studiesnewsletter
volume 33 no. 1
sgas.orgWalther Leisler Kiep is one of the most
independent and influential German post-
war politicians. He is also a successful
entrepreneur and longtime chairman of
Atlantik-Brücke, the influential German-
American friendship organization, which
he now serves as honorary chairman.
On March 8, Kiep, who had been at
Purdue in West Lafayette, IN, to promote
the release of his memoirs just recently
published by Purdue University Press,
visited the Max Kade Center at IUPUI.
Accompanying him were Dr. Beate
Lindemann, former Chair of the Atlantik-
Brücke, and Dr. William Gray, Associate
Professor of History at Purdue.
In his autobiography, Kiep speaks frankly
about a life at the center of power: as an
independent politician and treasurer of
the governing CDU party from 1970 to
1991, who did not shrink from conflict
with party leaders Helmut Kohl and Franz
Josef Strauss; as Minister of Finance in
Lower Saxony; as a longtime member
of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board
for 21 years; and as an ambassador for
German-American relations, and confidant
of several US presidents. As well as
presenting an inside history of the
relationship between Germany and the
United States, the book sheds particular
light on the struggle for German
unification and that country’s
complex relationship with the
Middle East.
“One of Germany’s most distinguished
statesmen, Dr. Walther Leisler Kiep
has come to personify the commitment
of postwar German leaders to close
German-American relations. It was a
distinct pleasure for me to collaborate
with Walther, and I deeply valued his wise
counsel. Through his ongoing passionate
and persistent contributions as a leading
foreign policy voice in Germany and as
longtime chairman of Atlantik-Bruecke,
Dr. Kiep has played an extraordinary role
in building trust and mutual understanding
between our two countries. His memoir is
an invaluable addition to our understanding
of international diplomacy.”
—Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Co-Chair of the 9/11 Commission, former Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and presently Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University
“Kiep is an entertaining storyteller, and he shows a good sense of narrative pace. His memoirs are also of immediate relevance for scholars of international history. Over the past decade, historians have been eager to uncover the activities of ‘transnational,’ nongovernmental actors, as opposed to formal government-to-government relations. From this standpoint, Kiep’s wide-ranging activities as a diplomatic and financial troubleshooter are illuminating.”
-William Glenn Gray
Max Kade German-American Center Daniel Nützel, PhD Director 425 University Blvd. Suite 329 Indianapolis, IN 46202
president’s message By the time you receive this, you will have had time to peruse the latest Yearbook, which likely landed in your mailbox late in 2011. When you’ve finished enjoying the many fine articles and informative book reviews, take a closer look at the back matter, where the Bylaws of the Society always appear. There you will find significant changes. The Executive Committee worked diligently at its fall meeting to reframe the purpose and aims of the Society, to refine the committee structure and, most importantly, to make clear our commitment to the support and encouragement of scholarship on the life and culture of the German element in the Americas.
The Society’s commitment to scholarly endeavors is long-standing. That is evident in every volume of the Yearbook, and we celebrate it each year at our annual meeting and symposium. This year we will meet in Lawrence, Kansas, April 12–15, for our Thirty-Sixth Annual Symposium. The theme for the Symposium will be “Transforming America: Immigrants, Explorers, and Exiles.” Information on registration and accommodations can be found at <sgas.org> .
The Executive Committee is also taking a close look at the Society’s ability to fund scholarly projects. Since 1983 the officers of the Society have endeavored to husband the financial resources of the organization in such a way as to build an endowment large enough not only to underwrite the cost of the Yearbook where necessary but also to generate income to support scholarship in the field of German-American Studies. Through careful stewardship of dues income, additional contributions by members, and one very generous gift, the Society now has two funds. The Arndt Fund supports the publication of book-length monographs, and the Faust Fund underwrites smaller projects by helping to defray the necessary costs of doing research. Applications to either fund received by October 15 of any one year will be considered for the following year. Applicants will be notified in January, and awardees will be announced at the annual meeting. The full statement of the Society’s programs in support of scholarship can be found on our website.
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in Lawrence in April. The details are online at <sgas.org>. Register through the link, pick a hotel in your price range and phone in your reservation.
Until then, alles Schöne!
-Randall DonaldsonPresident, SGAS
Bridge Builder Kiep, Walther Leisler. 2012. Bridge Builder: An Insider’s Account of Over 60 Years in Post-War Reconstruction, International Diplomacy, and German – American Relations. Purdue University Press. Almost no buildings of the nineteenth century have
survived on the campus of the University of Kansas.
Understandably, a small structure such as the Sudler
Annex adjacent to the Max Kade Center (Sudler House)
has not received much attention. Before it became
known as “the Shack,” the home of the student radio
station (KJHK), it served as the carriage house or garage
for the Mervin T. Sudler home. This native stone structure
is the oldest campus building and takes us back to
Lawrence’s pioneer days. The property on which the Max
Kade Annex lies was at the southwest corner of a forty-
acre land segment claimed
in 1857 by one of the most
famous men in Kansas
history, James H. Lane (1814
-66). With his rival Charles
Robinson, Lane made the
major political and military
decisions for the antislavery
cause in the late 1850s in
Kansas Territory. Having
acquired military experience
in the Mexican War, Lane
became recognized as the
leader of the Free State
Movement. He organized
forces of volunteers to
defend the voting places
against fraudulent ballots
by proslavery men from Missouri and was instrumental
in making the Jayhawk a symbol of the struggle against
the Missouri proslavery forces. He became one of the first
two United States senators from Kansas, and President
Lincoln valued his services in the Civil War struggle.
Documents signed by Lincoln confirm that the entire
property, including the structure that eventually became
the Max Kade Annex, belonged to Lane. According to
a document in the Topeka Land Office, dated February
4, 1862, and preserved today in the National Archives in
Washington, DC, “a stable has been built” on Senator
Lane’s property. A photograph from the 1890s provides
evidence that more than a hundred years ago the
structure still had the appearance of a stable. It also had
features of a barn.
After Lane’s death in 1866, his widow, Mary E. Lane, sold
ten acres, including Lane’s stable, to Wesley H. Duncan
(1814 -1902), one of the wealthiest men of Lawrence.
He had come to Lawrence in 1855 and established
a successful hardware
and dry-goods business.
During the 1870s, Duncan
built an imposing mansion
overlooking the Lawrence
landscape. Duncan’s new
building stood at the location
of today’s Audio Reader.
On September 1, 1925, Dr.
Mervin T. Sudler, formerly
dean of the university’s
medical school, purchased
the property (2.74 acres)
previously owned by James
H. Lane, Wesley H. Duncan,
Olin Templin and the National
Bank of Lawrence. The
annex probably underwent
considerable renovation
at that time. The original stones at its south end appear
to have been removed to make it possible to use the
building at the lower level as a garage. A continuous wall,
interrupted only by a turret above a gate, connected
the annex to the Sudler House. After Sudler’s death in
1956, the house and the grounds became university
property. Since 1992, the Max Kade Center for German-
American Studies (part of the Department of Germanic
News from the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies Sudler Annex Approved for the State Historic Register— Oldest Building on the KU Campus
UNiveRSity Of KANSASWilliam Keel
Sudler Annex adjacent to the Max Kade Center at the University of Kansas prior to renovation.
continued
society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1
Walther Leisler KiepWalther Leisler Kiep is Honorary Chairman of Atlantik-Brücke, the private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that aims to develop strong relationships between Germany and the United States. He was treasurer of the CDU party in Germany from 1970 to 1991, and he has held a number of other important posts in German politics and served on many company boards in Europe, the United States and Canada.
support
society for german-american studies
newsletter volume 33 no. 1
36th Annual Symposium Society for German-American Studies Lawrence, Kansas
Kyle Cline, a former Max Kade Fellow, was awarded a Robert Bosch
Foundation Fellowship to study renewable energy policy, technology,
trade and development in Germany. Kyle Cline has been general
manager for the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy in the
Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI since August
2008. Over the past five years he has participated in several programs
in Germany, including an internship with the Bureau of European Affairs
at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt. With assistance from a Max Kade
Foundation fellowship, awarded through the IUPUI Max Kade German-
American Center, Kyle conducted research for his graduate thesis on
green policy issues in Germany in 2007/2008. He was also a delegation
member for the American Council on Germany in 2009. Kyle will be
departing for Berlin this summer and begin his one-year fellowship working
initially with the German Federal Ministry of the Environment. He also
anticipates working with the Ecological Institute, a think tank, to further
his understanding of German and EU policies and green technologies.
The program is fully funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, one of the
largest foundations in Germany.
Kyle ClineNews from the Max Kade Center at IUPUI
Claudia Grossmann
Oread Hotel, Lawrence, KansasApril 12-15, 2012
Thursday, April 12
2:00 pm - 5:00 pmSGAS Executive Committee Meeting
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm Early Registration
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Gemütliches Beisammensein
Friday, April 138:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration
9:00 am - 9:15 am Welcoming Remarks:
Randall Donaldson, President, Society for German-American Studies
Marc Greenberg, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas
9:30 am - 11:00 am EXILE STUDIES I
Egon Schwarz, Washington University
“Zu jung und ungeschult für die Anden”
Guy Stern, Wayne State University
“One Thousand Children: The
Rescue Mission of the American
Jewish Committee in 1938”
Leonie Marx, University of Kansas
“Between Harlem and Hellas:
On Becoming American”
9:30 am - 11:00 am TURNERS I
Katja Hartmann, Berlin, Germany
“The Turner Movement’s
Philosophical Foundations: Fore-
fathers, Heroes and Stars”
Annette Hofmann, Pädagogische Hoch-
schule Ludwigsburg
“From Jahn to Lincoln: Transformation of
Turner Symbols in a New Cultural Setting
Gerald Gems, North Central College
“Downfall of the Turner
Movement in the United States”
9:30 am - 11:00 am ARCHITECTURE
La Vern Rippley, St. Olaf College
“The Restored Ratskeller in the Min-
neapolis State Capitol in Saint Paul”
Wiebke Krämer, Universität Bonn
“Gothic Revival Churches of Ger-
man Immigrants in the USA”
Matthew Kuhnert, Columbia University
“Turner Buildings in New York”
11:15 am - 12:45 pm EXILE STUDIES II
Stefan Manz, Aston University
“Transnational Organizations
and German Diasporic Identity
in the Americas, 1871-1914”
Christian Wilbers, College of William & Mary
“Between Third Reich and American
Way: Transatlantic Migration and the
Politics of Belonging, 1920-1945”
Eric J. Schmaltz, Northwestern
Oklahoma State University
“The Voices in Exile Have Returned:
Recent Scholarship on Ethnic German
Letters from the Soviet Union Published
on the Great Plains from 1917 to 1937”
11:15 am - 12:45 pm TURNERS II
Nora Probst, Universität Köln
“The New York Turn Verein:
Cultural Mobility and German-
American Identity in the Turner
Movement of the 19th Century”
Gertrud Pfister, University of Copenhagen
“German Turnen in the United States:
A Transnationalist Movement”
Ernest A. Menze, Iona College
“Friedrich Ludwig Jahn: Some Sources
Anticipating and Informing his Views”
11:15 am - 12:45 pm GENERAL TOPICS
Cora Lee Kluge, Max Kade Institute, University
of Wisconsin-Madison
“Hitler’s Exiles in the German
Immigration Course:
Problems and Perspectives“
Antje Petty, Max Kade Institute, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
“Immigrants from Mecklenburg in Dane
County, Wisconsin: A
Collaborative Project to Bring German
Settlement History to K-12 Students”
Berit Jany, Ohio State University
“Coming Home:
The Bruderhof Community
Returns to its German Birthplace”
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm EXILE STUDIES III
Esther Schneider Handschin,
Technical College Basel
“The Impact of Hermann Broch’s
Political Writing in the USA and Europe“
Marike Janzen, University of Kansas
“The World Literary Canon in Anna
Segher’s Post-Exile Oeuvre”
Hans Peter Baum, Würzburg
“Max Mohr (1891-1937), an Almost
Forgotten Dramatist and Novelist of the
1920s in Exile in Shanghai, 1934-1937”
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm CHARLES SEALESFIELD
Wynfrid Kriegleder, Universität Wien
“Sealsfield—Strubberg—Karl May,
oder: Der deutsche Amerika-
Roman wird zum Ego-Trip“
Alexander Ritter, Universität Hamburg
“Die Nöte des Biographen mit Charles
Sealsfield: Über die ominöse Flucht von
1823, eine fragwürdige Predigt und
hektischen Aufbruch des Börsen-
spekulanten im panic year 1837”
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Workshop
Karyl Rommelfanger, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Reading Deutsche Schrift
3:45 pm - 5:15 pm ALEXANDER v. HUMBOLDT
Ingo Schwarz, Berlin-Brandenburg
Akademie der Wissenschaften
“Alexander von Humboldt’s Inter-
est in the Supplies of Precious Metals
and their Impact on the Economy”
Sandra Rebok, University of Virginia
“A Transatlantic Dialogue with
the Natural World: Alexander von
Humboldt and Thomas Jefferson”
Detlev Doherr, Hochschule Offenburg
“Online Access to Alexander von
Humboldt’s Travels to the Americas”
3:45 pm - 5:15 pm GUSTAV KÖRNER
Steven Rowan, University of
Missouri St. Louis
“Gustav Körner’s Illinois Gesetzbuch of
1838: Making American
Law Speak German”
Jack LeChien, Gustave Koerner House
“Gustave Koerner, Friend of Lincoln”
Molly McKenzie, Gustave Koerner House
“Restoring the Koerner House
in Belleville”
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Workshop
Karyl Rommelfanger, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Reading Deutsche Schrift
6:15 pm Beer and Wine Reception
7:00 pm SGAS Awards Banquet
7:45 pmSGAS Outstanding Achievement Award
8:00 pmChoral Concert: Penzliner Männerchor from Brandenburg, Germany
Saturday, April 14
8:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration
8:30 am - 10:00 am MORAVIANS
William Petig, Stanford University
“The Vanderbilts and the Moravians”
Rowena McClinton, University of Southern
Illinois-Edwardsville
“Early Nineteenth Century Cherokee
Conjuring: How Circuitous the Journey
in the Moravian Springplace Mission”
John Thomas Scott, Mercer University
“Johann Töltschig’s Georgia Sojourn”
8:30 am - 10:00 am LINGUISTICS I
Nina Berend and Ludwig Eichinger, Institut
für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim
“Intra- und interdialektale Variation
am Beispiel von Aufnahmen aus
den amerikanischen Sprachinseln”
Daniel Nützel, Indiana University-Purdue
University Indianapolis
“Varietätenspektrum in
Several Midwestern Heritage
Speech Communities”
8:30 am – 10:00 am Workshop
Karyl Rommelfanger, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Reading Deutsche Schrift
10:15 am - 11:45 am EXILE STUDIES IV
Bärbel Such, Ohio University“What’s Happening in der Park
Avenue?: Alfred Gong Scholar-
ship in the 21st Century”
Michael Rice, Middle Tennessee State University
“Passing Landscapes: The Life and
Poetry of Hilde Domin in Exile”
Christoph Rosenthal, Freie Universität Berlin
“Stories of `Political Flotsam`: The
Reception of Lion Feuchtwanger’s
Novel Paris Gazette (1940) in
North American Newspapers”
10:15 am - 11:45 am LINGUISTICS II
Nicole Eller, Universität Passau,
and Alfred Wildfeuer, Universität Regensburg
“Heritage Speakers: Sprecherbio-
graphien und Sprachenkontakphän-
omene von Sprechern deutschböh-
mischer Auswanderervarietäten”
Hermann Scheuringer, Universität Regensburg
“Reconstruction Rather Than
Deconstruction: Form and Status
of German in Romania Compared
to the American Situation”
Gabriele Lunte, Washburn University
“Clothing, Cooking and Household
Items: The Unique Lexicon of Old
Colony Mennonites in Kansas”
10:15 am - 11:45 am Workshop
Karyl Rommelfanger, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Reading Deutsche Schrift
12:00 noon - 1:30 pmLuncheon followed by SGAS Business Meeting
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm GENERAL TOPICS
Greg Divers, St. Louis University
“Brinkmann’s Americana, Part II: From
Die Sammlung Brinkmann-Rygulla im
deutschen Literaturarchiv Marbach
to Brinkmann’s Westwärts 1 & 2”
Petra DeWitt, Missouri University of Science
and Technology
“Search for Fred E. Frank:
An Exercise in Historiography”
Antje Lechleiter, Badische Zeitung, Freiburg
“Der Briefwechsel zwischen Friedrich
Hecker und Adolph Blankenhorn”
1:45 pm - 3:15 pmDIGITAL RESEARCH AT THE MAX KADE CENTER
Chris Johnson, University of Kansas
“The Linguistic Atlas of
Kansas German Dialects”
William Keel, University of Kansas
“Foreign Language Units of
Kansas: A Resource for German
Dialectology in Kansas”
Adan Lau & Frank Baron, University of Kansas
“The Humboldt Digital Library”
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm POETRY
Ingeborg Carsten-Miller, Silver Spring, Maryland
“An Immigrant’s Poetry in
German and English”
Norbert Krapf, Indianapolis “The Widening Family Circle”
Greg Redding, Wabash College
“Norbert Krapf’s
Widening Familienkreis”
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm CIVIL WAR ERA IN KANSAS
Todd Mildfelt, Richmond, Kansas
“Charles Leonhardt, Jim Lane
and the First Jayhawkers”
Mark A. Lause, University of Cincinnati
“Race and Radicalism
in the Union Army”
Charles Reitz, Kansas City, Missouri
“German, Black and Indian:
Intercultural Union Troops in the
Civil War in the West—Lessons for
Multicultural Educators Today”
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm DOCUMENTARY FILM “The World War I Internment Camp
in Hot Springs, North Carolina”
Sunday, April 15 Optional Tour to National World War I Museum
Languages and Literatures) has occupied the renovated Sudler House. On August 13, 2011, the Kansas Historic Sites
Board approved the annex for the state historic register. Generous donations from the New York Turn Verein 1850
Foundation and the Max Kade Foundation of New York are making it possible to renovate and maintain the annex in
its historic form. It will provide an opportunity to preserve the legacy associated with the building, including archival
materials of historical significance relating to the Turners in New York, Lawrence and elsewhere in the United States.
Dedication of the renovated facility is scheduled for April 12, 2012, in conjunction with the SGAS Symposium at the
University of Kansas.
Max Kade Center Continued
The website of the DAUSA has been redesigned and contains, among many other updates, the following valuable additions, some both in German and English:
• A scanned original copy of Bernhard Wechsler’s lecture The Emigrants (only in German: Bernhard Wechsler: Die Auswanderer. Oldenburg: Stalling 1846). This represents the pre-revolutionary voice of Oldenburg’s highest ranking rabbi and can be found under Quelleneditionen/Primary Sources Editions;
• The letters of a farmer’s son from Rieste near Bramsche (Osnabrück, Kingdom of Hanover) (only in German: Antonius Holtmann, Hg.: Ferner thue ich euch zu wissen. Die Briefe des Johann Heinrich zur Oeveste aus Amerika 1834-1876). Johann Heinrich zur Oeveste, with compatriots from Osnabrück, settled in White Creek near Columbus, IN (under Veröffentlichungen/Publications);
• The letters of Johann Heinrich zur Oeveste are now expanded using the official records (1853-1905) of his St. John`s Evangelical Lutheran Church congregation at White Creek, IN, under Quelleneditionen/Primary Sources Editions. Under Veröffentlichungen/Publications you will also find the 2006 dissertation of Harro Eichhorn: Stellenwert und Funktion von Gemeinde, Pastor und Lehrer in Kirchengemeinden der Missouri Synode des 19. Jahrhunderts: Auf den Alltagsspuren deutscher Auswanderer in
Kirchenbüchern, Protokollbüchern und religiösen Periodika;
• Antonius Holtmann’s article No Masterpiece or: How ‘Liwwät Böke’ Was Adorned with Borrowed Plumes;
• Holtmann’s Basic Reliable Information About Early Emigration from the Osnabrück Area (Landdrostei) to the USA (only in German: Einiges Grundlegende und Verlässliche zur frühen Auswanderung aus der Landdrostei Osnabrück des Königreichs Hannover in die USA im 19. Jahrhundert), which offers a succinct introduction to typical emigration from the German Northwest (under Veröffentlichungen/Publications);
• Holtmann’s Emigration and Resettlement Policy for the Kingdom of Hanover 1832-1866 (“We’ve got to send him to America!”), as well as Karl-Heinz Steinbruch’s The Practice of Kicking out Prisoners, the Sentenced and Homeless from Mecklenburg Across the Ocean and Gerd Behrens’ Emigration of Prisoners and Other Undesirables from the Rhineland, all under Veröffentlichungen/Publications.
These are only some of the changes made recently to our website.
DAUSA also offers maps for sale and researches and offers copies
(DIN A 3) of ship passenger lists (The National Archives Microfilm
Publications, 1820-1897).
www.dausa.de By Gerd Behrens, Harro Eichhorn, Antonius Holtmann
The Redesigned Website of the Research Center of German Emigration to the USA (DAUSA) at the Institute for Social Research at the Universität Oldenburg