oldenburg-l - Nachricht 2008-01 00147

[Mary Cervantes <mcervantes(a)cinci.rr.com>]

Re: " ...Today, finally, we are beginning to take pride in our
German-American
origins.  But even so, I notice that while there are documentaries about
Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, etc., there are almost
never any about our German-American heritage, though it is one of the oldest
and more people trace their origins to Germany than any other country..."

Dear Mr. Schroeder, 
I am happy to report that here in Cincinnati, we still refer to a large area
just north of the city's downtown business district as "Over-the-Rhine."
This area was the heart of a huge German-speaking community at least until
World War I.   Many of the churches in the area still bear original German
inscriptions above the carved entrances.  My own grandmother (b. 1895)
attended grade school where German was spoken.  I grew up being scolded in a
kind of pidgin-German (Haraus mit you!")  and coddled as a little "wuscht."
Newspapers, shops, events, singing groups, and all manner of German culture
were and continue to be openly enjoyed.

Old St. Mary's Church in Over-the-Rhine still has Mass in German, English,
and Ltin every Sunday.  http://www.oldstmarys.org/introduction/index.html

My own home (Catholic) parish of Holy Cross-Immaculata in Mt. Adams was
built in the 1850s and sits on a hilltop overlooking the Ohio River,
downtown Cincinnati, and northern Kentucky.  The parish catered to the
German immigrants in Mt. Adams, and  there are many German inscriptions
above the main altar, including: Wilkommen ___ Amerika!"   I forget the
preposition used --although Altavista uses "Nach," I don't believe that's
the word used in our church's inscription. 

I recent years, there has been a movement to revert to the original German
names of streets in the O-T-R area which were anglicized during World War I.


And of course, we have many ties with our sister city, Munich.  Cincinnati's
Oktoberfest is an annual attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of
people.   And don't get me started on the topic of goetta, which is a
must-have for German-Cincinnatians (and many others).  Cincinnati and other
mid-western authors have written extensively on the subject of
German-Americans and their culture and heritage. 

Mary Cervantes



-----Original Message-----
From: oldenburg-l-bounces(a)genealogy.net
[mailto:oldenburg-l-bounces(a)genealogy.net] On Behalf Of Hugo Schroeder
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:58 PM
To: oldenburg-l(a)genealogy.net
Subject: Re: [OL] Oldenburg-L Digest, Vol 50, Issue 30

Hello Gerold,
This has been a most interesting discussion, and I too am impressed.  I was
caught by your statement that "As far as I know. . .there was no major
military ground-combat in the duchy of Oldenburg. . . ."  On our trip to
Oldenburg in 2004 we stayed in Hude, and as you may have seen, there are
12-15 graves in the Friedhof there marked "unbekannt Soldat."  I understood
that these were the graves of men killed in an action with Canadians as they
drove through the area.  Of course, that is certainly not a major military
action.  Are there any statistics about the number of men and boys who lost
their lives as Oldenburg was occupied?

I found it most moving to read the names on monuments from both wars at the
churches in towns where my family had resided and to see many must have been
cousins.  Fortunately, as others have reported, the men in my family all
fought in the Pacific, so at least our family does not bear the sadness of
knowing cousins were fighting one another.

I was also moved deeply by the small bronze memorial in Jever where the
pre-war synagogue had stood.  It is shaped like a stack of books, each
bearing on its spine the name of person who died in one of the camps? or on
Krystallnacht? with dates of birth and death.  I don't know who placed the
memorial--the town or the Jewish community itself--but I was so glad that it
was shown to me.  Manny hands had rubbed the bronze until it shone in places
like new.

The war, of course, as some of have mentioned, came close to killing our
German heritage over here.  My father's family came from Oldenburg, his
mother from Ostpreussen, so he was raised in a German home.  But I, born in
1937, was not told anything about this.  I caught him speaking a few words
of German many years later, and asked if he knew the language (which I had
studied in high school and college).  "My God, boy," he said, "in my home if
you couldn't have spoken German you wouldn't have gotten food!"  In his soul
he had just put to death his entire heritage.  I've spent a lifetime trying
to recover things he knew intimately but would not talk about.

Today, finally, we are beginning to take pride in our German-American
origins.  But even so, I notice that while there are documentaries about
Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, etc., there are almost
never any about our German-American heritage, though it is one of the oldest
and more people trace their origins to Germany than any other country.

Hugo Schroeder
____________________________________________________________________________
_
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:10:36 EST
From: GDiers9488(a)aol.com
Subject: Re: [OL] Olderburg during the Wars
To: oldenburg-l(a)genealogy.net
Message-ID: <c40.2952d2ab.34c799ac(a)aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hello,
I'm quite impressed by your discussion on this subject.

I'm still living in Oldenburg and was born in 1935. As far as I know

-except for the town of Friesoythe, there was no major military ground -
combat in the duchy of Oldenburg
-british and US planes dropped a lot of bombs on Wilhelmshaven - one of the
major sea-ports of the 'Reich'.
-some bombs were dropped on Delmenhorst and Oldenburg.

As mentioned by others already, there was a small jewish population, which
suffered enormously. But it is not true, that the only remaining jewish
graveyard of Germany is to be found in Wittmund . There are other ones, one
of  them
being in Wildeshausen.

It might not be obvious to Americans, that the population of Oldenburg
(town
and duchy) grew by approx. 50 % within one year after world war II,  because
of all the people either fleeing or being expulsed from the eastern
provinces
of Germany. This also caused a significant mixup in religion. Up to  the end
of 1945, southern Oldenburg was almost 98 percent catholic, the northern
Oldenburg 98 percent lutheran. The 'Fluechtlinge' as we called them, reduced
this
predominance of one religion in either part significantly.

After the end of WW II,  some canadian troops occupied part of our  house.
The chief of the group had emigrated to Canada in the 1930th. His brother
was
fighting with the german army.

By the way, my father died in Berlin, May 3, 1945.

Gerold Diers


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