November2003 Newsletter

One of the principal purposes of our Society is the fostering of the German culture. The achievements of Martin Luther make up an important aspect of German culture, and our Society, by joining with other groups in sponsoring the Luther Exhibit, fulfills our purpose.

We therefore have undertaken to help make the Luther exhibition successful by encouraging all our members to attend the exhibit and tell others about it. It comes to Baltimore through the auspices of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the Lutheran museum in Wittenberg, Germany, from which the artifacts come. Some of our members will be working at the exhibition, helping with security, with assisting visitors and with food sales.

The exhibit displays facsimiles of almost 200 objects from collections illustrating Luther's life and work. It will be located in the Adlersaal of the Zion Church, City Hall Plaza, Baltimore. See page 7 for the exhibition schedule. The exhibit is free of charge. Parking on the church lot is free on evenings and weekends. Food and drink will be sold on the premises.

It is a touring exhibit, traveling to many American and Canadian cities. Locally, in addition to Zion Church, the exhibit is sponsored by The Walters Art Museum, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library of the Johns Hopkins University, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Zion Forum for German Culture, The German Society of Maryland and other area German societies

Martin Luther, (1483 - 1546) was one of the most significant figures in history, leaving a literary cache of unparalleled treasures, evidenced in more than 450 scholarly treatises, more than 3,000 sermons and 2,600 letters. Luther's reformation of medieval Christendom ushered in the modern age, focusing on freedom of conscience, the sciences and arts. especially music and the creation of a uniform German language. Luther was the first to translate the bible into the vernacular, thus making German the first modern language in which ordinary people could learn the lessons of the bible. His influence divided Germany into Protestant and Catholic realms, which resulted in centuries of strife, but also brought great benefits by creating channels of thought which have helped form the modern western world.

Although some denominations bear his name, he never saw himself as the founder of a new church. His legacy as a reformer affects the history of culture as much as the history of religion. Even in Baltimore, his memory is honored by a statue of Luther standing by Lake Montebello, not far from Druid Hill Park.

The Associated German American Heritage Societies of Greater Washington holds its 4th annual heritage festival at Blob's Park on Sunday, Nov. 9. Our Society is a member of "AGAS" and all of our members are invited to attend. The program schedule is:

2:30 Fashion show: German, Austrian and Swiss Tracht and traditional dress - all who wear Dirndl or Lederhosen invited to join in

German food, beverages, cakes and coffee available all day. Stop by at our Society's table and say hello to our president, Jim Schaub.

All of us have an interest, to varying degrees, in German food. Germany's Agricultural Marketing Board is offering a new service, a free newsletter, and is encouraging us to sign up for it. You may sign up for it over the internet: www.germanfoods.org

The Christmas Market, sponsored by Zion Church and the Baltimore Kickers' Club, will be held Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 29th and 30th on the Zion grounds and building, City Hall Plaza. Spend a few hours at this event and you will feel as though you've been transported to a German town in the days just before Christmas, with music, sausages, Glühwein, cakes and lebkuchen, Christmas candies and cookies, and the typical array of imported gifts from Germany and local wreaths and greenery in the German fashion. Lebkuchen in colorful treasure chests from the famous Schmidt bakery in Nürnberg are for sale at reasonable prices, imported especially for this event.

Goucher College in Towson, MD commemorated the 65th anniversary of Kristallnacht, (the night on which the Nazis broke the windows of synagogues and Jewish enterprises throughout Germany), at a story-telling and reading of the poetry of Eva Rennebarth. The event honored the memory of Hilda Stern Cohen (1924-1997), a Baltimore resident , holocaust survivor, poet and teacher.

We are always looking for people to send in things for our newsletter. You can send us information on an event which you think will interest our members. You can write an article or even a short blurb about something of current or historical interest to German American Marylanders. Perhaps there is a story about your German ancestors or an event from your travels which you could share with our readers, or perhaps a bit of family genealogy. How did your family get from Europe to Maryland? Most members like to know about one another and enjoy learning about these elements of our heritage. Maybe you have an old newspaper article or a letter from the old country to a family member. The more we know about one another and see a common thread in our lives, the better our Society will be. Drop a line to our editor (Ted Potthast, 1819 Leadburn Road, Towson, 21203-1830) or call him at 410-828-8137. He enjoys hearing from you.

Our Society's annual ecumenical service, held on the Sept 28, the feast day of St. Michael, patron of Germany, proved to be a thrilling and emotionally- charged activity. Held in conjunction with Zion church, the music and the ceremonies lifted the spirits of the participants in a rare presentation. Trumpets blared throughout. accompanying the hymns and the Zion choir. A highlight of the ceremonies was the chanting by the Junge Gemeinde (youth group) of St. Peter's Church, Halle, Germany, consisting of 22 college-age men and women who sung German prayers in the style of Gregorian chant.

Rev. Dr. Holger Roggelin, Pastor of Zion, was the presiding minister. Preaching was Father John Wm. Klein, SSC, DMin, pastor of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, American's first Anglo-Catholic parish. Fr. Klein is committed to keeping the treasure of Anglo-Catholicism before the Episcopal Church and is a member of the Society of the Holy Cross.

Assisting in the ceremonies were Father Frank Donio, S.A.C., St. Jude's Shrine and Father Paschal A. Morlino, OSB, St. Benedict's church. Fr. Morlino is a member of the Russian rite of the Catholic church and appeared in Russian regalia, using the censor to bless the congregation with the fragrant smoke of burning incense. Also participating with the reading of prayers were Mr. Michael Behrens, St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Mrs. Nancie Clarke, Christ Lutheran Church, Mrs. Rita Kirsch, Edelweiss Society and Mrs. Roswitha Schmitz, Women's Auxiliary of the German Society of Maryland.

Following the church ceremonies, the assembly adjourned to the Adlersaal for a buffet and desserts put out the ladies of Zion Church. Our president, Dr. James Schaub addressed the group to thank all for attending the historic event.

The ecumenical service was instituted in 1989, a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin wall, to celebrate the freedom from communist oppression, particularly the freedom of religion resulting from the fall of communism. This was the 15th consecutive year of the ecumenical service.

A fund has been established at the Heritage Museum in Stauton, Va. honoring the famous German American scholar, Klaus Wust, who died earlier this year. Wust wrote the history of our society, entitled "Pioneers in Service."

The Eastern College Athletic Conference on Sept. 30 at its Honors Dinner in Hyannis, Massachusetts, granted its Alumni Award of Valor to our member, Diane Geppi Aikens who died June 29. Diane was an athletic director and lacrosse coach at Loyola College. The event was attended by Joseph Boylan, Loyola's athletic director, and Diane's parents who accepted the award. Diane is survived by 4 children, ages 9 to 18.

Loyola's athletic department sponsored a Memorial 5-K Run as a fund raiser for the children. Another fund raiser was held via a dinner/auction sponsored by her friends on Sept. 29 at the Galway Inn in Annapolis, attended by over 200. A well-attended memorial Mass was offered for Diane by Rev.Frank Donio at the St. Jude Shrine on Paca Street in Baltimore.

CBS presented a 4-part show on Nov. 2 after the Sunday NFL football game. One of the segments included aspects of Diane's accomplishments.

An inspirational book on Diane's life and philosophy has been written by Chip Silverman, a local writer and member of the "Diner" group, which will be published by Warner Books, a division of AOL/Time Warner. It is entitled "LUCKY EVERY DAY" and set for release around Mother's Day, 2004.

Charles F. Stein, Jr., president of our Society in the 1960's was a prominent lawyer and historical scholar. He published a dozen pamphlets on German American history. Our Society would like to republish and distribute the pamphlets, but we can't find any of them. Even Mr. Stein's son, Charles Stein, III., a life-time director of our Society, does not have a single copy of his father's works. Perhaps some of our older members may have copies of some of the pamphlets in their private collections. If you find a copy, let us know so we can make reprints and pass them out to our members and the public. The pamphlets are about 4 inches wide and about 11 inches tall and have covers in various colors.

KATHERINE EGGERL PETERS OUR SOCIETY'S 2003 HONOREE

Each year our Society honors a German American who has made significant contributions to our nation, state or community. Katherine Peters was born on a farm in Dorsey , Maryland on Dec. 20, 1917 to Crescentia and John Blob. Her father had immigrated here from Vogenburg, near Passau, Bavaria. with his mother, father and two brothers in 1892. Her mother was first generation American, her parents having come from another small Bavarian village in 1893.

Katherine attended St. Augustine's parochial school in Elkridge, founded by German Redemptionist priests in the mid- 1800's. She graduated form St. Michael's business school in Baltimore.

Her uncle, Max Blob had a farm in the area and brought over young men from Germany to help out, one of them being John Eggerl. whom she married in 1936. In 1942 they moved to Uncle Max's farm to help out. By then it included a Bavarian Beer Garden and Dance Hall. Katherine never left. She raised her 5 children in the house in Blob's Park. John Eggerl died in 1974 and in 1980 Katherine married Arthur Peters.

Throughout these years she wore many hats, the most recent of these has been as Hostess to the many guests at the park. Her children all live nearby. She has 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. She is active in supporting her church, St. Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church in Jessup.

This spring Blob's Park celebrated its 70th anniversary. Katherine has used this venue to foster German culture in Maryland: a yearly Fasching costume party, Sonnenwendfeier, or fire celebration (longest day of the year), an Oktoberfest and a Children's Christmas Party when Blob's Park welcomes Santa Claus and Kris Kringel.

The Smithsonian Institute cites Blob's Park as the site of the first Oktoberfest in the United States, in 1947.

Although a minor stroke in January slowed her down for a time, at the age of 85 you will still find her at the door of Blob's Park, ready to share her heritage with her guests. (by Ann Henline, daughter of Katherine)

BILL BRICKER DIES AT AGE 73

William Tecumseh Sherman Bricker, a loyal and active member of our society, died on October 9 of heart failure. Bill was a member of the committee which restructured the Society and set its future goals at our membership "convention" in 1994. He graduated from Baltimore's Polytechnic Institute in 1943, and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland after serving in the army in the Korean War. He obtained a law degree from the University of Baltimore and went on a long career of legal and public service.

Bill was a prosecutor in the Baltimore State's Attorney's office, moved to a position of Assistant Attorney General assigned to the motor vehicle administration and was later named Deputy Administrator of the MVA. In 1979 Gov. Hughes put him in charge of the MVA which he served with great success. Bill persuaded the legislature to tighten the drunk driving laws, which greatly reduced the incidents of drunk driving in Maryland, resulting in the saving of many lives. He designed the aluminum reflectorized license plates that incorporated our state flag, the most beautiful of all state flags in the USA. He successfully fought the tire manufacturing industry and approved radial tires as snow tires, thus eliminating motorists' need to buy separate sets of snow tires and changing tires for the winter. He moved from the MVA to become director of the Uninsured Employers' Fund handling workers' compensation claims. He was a past president of the Trial Judge's Association. His obituary in the Baltimore Sun recited his membership in The German Society of Maryland.

Bill is survived by three daughters and two grandchildren. He had many friends who are members of our Society and he himself brought many new members into the Society.

GERMAN MEDIA STORE

The latest feature on the website sponsored by the German Dept. of Agriculture is sauerkraut and salami pizza. The photo makes it look appetizing. Kraut is "healthy, versatile and delicious", says the recipe. Will the next be sauerbraten pizza? Check he website: www.germanfoods.org

We have not heard from any of the members whose names are listed below for 3 years. The directors have declared a dues amnesty for those wishing to remain members of the Society and who send in the $15 dues payment, which will cover the 12 month period beginning November 1, 2003. If your name is on this list, please respond. We need your help to encourage young people in the study of German language and culture, through your dues payment. This issue of the newsletter is being mailed to you, but will be the final issue sent to you unless you respond in the affirmative. If you know any of the people on the list, contact them and ask if they are still interested in supporting our Society's efforts.

Kurt Schulze, President and moving force of the German Radio Hour, died on September 26 at age 89. Many of our members attended his wake and funeral ceremonies. Kurt could be seen at most German American events, particularly at the summer German Festival and at the Maryland Oktoberfest. Kurt's voice could be heard every Friday and Saturday on AM 730, until his recent illness sidelined him. The radio hour suspended its broadcasts this summer.

Kurt was born and raised in Berlin. He served in the German army in WWII. He was seriously wounded in Russia and was taken prisoner and held in a Russian POW camp. When he returned to his mother in Berlin after the war, he was so emaciated she did not recognize him. He married his wife Erica in Germany and they immigrated to Maryland. He worked in an oyster shell processing business while building up his own TV repair business. When the Radio Klub was founded around 1963, Kurt served as its vice president and in 1980, upon the death of the founding president, Kurt Kunzel, Mr. Schulze took over as president and remained as such until his death.

Cecilia Muth Herman, one of our loyal members and an avid genealogist, wrote to tell us about a member of her family who was a leader in the congregation of the Christian Brothers. Peter Muth left Germany in August, 1840 as a 3-month old infant with his parents on the ship "Chilo", arriving in Baltimore after a voyage lasting 6 months. He went to school at St. Alphonsus at Park Ave. and Saratoga St., and at age 14 joined the Christian Brothers. He took the religious name of Brother Clementian. He became a teacher, but his leadership talents were quickly recognized and he was put in charge of a series of schools and between 1880 and 1885 he was put in charge of the order's Manhattan College and LaSalle College in Philadelphia. By 1891 he was called to the order's headquarters in Paris and made Superior General of the brothers in America, England, Ireland, Canada and other English speaking countries. In 1905 the French expelled the order from France and he moved to a new HQ in Belgium. As Superior of the brothers, he made regular visits to every institution under his authority. He was renown for his learning, intelligence, piety and friendliness. He died in Belgium on December 12, 1912. The Christian Brothers operate Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland.

SWASTIKA FLEW OVER CITY HALL

A newly published book on the life of Jack L. Levin (1912-2001), an activist who was born and died in Baltimore, refers to the time a Nazi German flag flew over City Hall. In 1936 a German warship docked at Fells Point and the city flew the swastika in welcome. Levin was in the Fells Point picket line protesting the visit. Also in 1936 the commercial German submarine, Deutchland, came to Baltimore and raised funds for the German cause against England. Its captain, Paul König, was feted at a banquet attended by the mayor of Baltimore and the governor of Maryland and nearly 1,000 citizens.

Until WWII, Baltimore was heavily populated by citizens of German ancestry and a strong pro-German sentiment prevailed. WWII changed the city. Several hundred thousand migrated from the south to work in the shipyards, airplane factories and defense industries and never went back.

GERMAN AMERICAN HISTORY

Our member, Franz George Deuringer, who emigrated from Germany in 1952 and now lives in Severna Park, wrote to tell us about the abundance of German American history and culture which can be found on the website of the German Embassy.(www.germany-info.org) Franz passed along numerous tidbits from there, among which were the following notes:

"Prohibition and the anti-alcohol amendments to the U. S. Constitution were caused at least in part by Yankee Puritanism's prejudice against the German immigrants' fondness for beer. Particularly scandalous was the German American habit of using Sunday to socialize in beer gardens (likely a hard-working German American's only day off).

Herbert Hoover, elected in 1928, was the first American president with German ancestry (his family's last name was originally Huber). President Eisenhower, another German American, could trace his ancestors back to Hans N. Eisenhauer, who came to America in 1741."

GERMAN UNEMPLOYMENT BLAMED ON PRES.BUSH'S ADMINISTRATION

According to an article on the editorial page of the Baltimore Sun on September 8, the cause is "the Bush administration." It claims that Bush has let the dollar fall against the Euro, thus reducing purchases of German goods here and thus making German workers lose their jobs. The Euro was 1.18 to the dollar.

MD. LAWS CHANGED IN 1771 TO PERMIT HAGER TO HOLD OFFICE

Jonathan Hager, who had already founded the city of Hagerstown, was elected to the Maryland legislature in 1771. He could not take his seat, however, because the laws only allowed native born persons to hold office, and Hager was born in Germany, although naturalized in MD in 1747. To accomodate Hager, the legislature on Nov. 16, 1771 passed a law permitting certain naturalized citizens to hold office. Luckily for Hager, he was a Protestant, since Jews, Catholics and others were prohibited from holding public office. The act which gave Mr. Hager his seat reads:

"Whereas many foreign protestants have settled in this province, and others, from the lenity of our government, the purity of our religion, and the benefit of our laws, may be hereafter induced to settle therein, if they were made partakers of the advantages and privileges which natural born subjects enjoy;

Be it therefore enacted by etc., That all such foreign protestants who have been already naturalized in this province...and all foreign protestants who shall hereafter be naturalized in this province shall be deemed, adjudged and taken to be natural subjects...as if they had been born within the kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland, or within any other of his Majesty's dominions."

NEEDED: A COMPUTER PROGRAM TO TRANSLATE FROM GERMAN

Peter Dryer, an American newspaper editor, receives a weekly e-mail summary from a German news service in New York - in German. The translation program on his computer just can't deal with the German umlauts: ü, ë, ö, Ä or the ss. The ä comes out in nonsense characters: ä the ö is &ouml: and the double s evolves into &szlig: Chancellor Schröder is now Schröer. Since umlauts occur once or twice in each line of text, and the German language loves triple compound words, the result is gobbledegook.

Last month Germany's Supreme Court ruled that Berlin could not prevent a Muslim woman from covering her head with the traditional hijab (head scarf) while teaching in a public school, unless state law prohibited it. The legislators in Berlin and some other German states announced plans to pass a law prohibiting the hijab in public schools. It is seen as a sign of fundamentalist Islam. Islam is Germany's second largest religion, with 3.2 million muslims.