Category Archives: German Language

Max Kade Institute Free Lecture

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Virtual Lecture

“Wo man singt”
German-American Singing Festivals, 1849–1914

with

Heike Bungert

Wednesday, April 5, at 12:00 pm Central Time

Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Email Antje Petty to receive a Zoom link: apetty@wisc.edu

​Links will be emailed the day before the event.

Between 1849 and 1914, German-American singing festivals with thousands of participants and visitors were a constant yet changing element in the cultural landscape of the United States. They brought German and European music to America, helped immigrants construct a German-American (musical) identity, and contributed to asserting their status in society. This presentation will focus on the beginnings and the expansion of German-American choirs, especially Männerchöre (choirs for male voices), singing federations and their festivals, and the musical repertoire that was performed from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I.

Heike Bungert is Professor for North American History at the University of Münster in Germany and has published extensively on the festivals of German Americans.

Click here for further information about this presentation

or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu)

——

**The Max Kade Institute Virtual Lectures Series is made possible with the support of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. ​To learn more about the Friends of the Max Kade Institute, including how to become a member, click HERE.

German-American Dialects Online

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GERMAN-AMERICAN DIALECTS ONLINE!

Are you curious what your German-speaking ancestors in America might have sounded like?

The Max Kade Institute’s German-American and American English Dialects page is new and improved and back online! Go tohttp://language.mki.wisc.edu/, click on the tabs and explore “The German Language in America,” listen to “German-American Dialect Recordings,” and read “Essays” to learn more about facts and myths regarding German in America.

GERMAN GENEALOGY Workshop in Madison, Saturday, February 23, 2019

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Finding Our German Ancestors in Europe:

a Workshop for Genealogists 

with Antje Petty 
Saturday, February 23, 2019
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
UW-Madison Memorial LIBRARY, Room 126,
728 State Street, Madison
Cosponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and the Wisconsin Historical Society

REGISTER ONLINE at www.wisconsinhistory.org  Registration begins on December 14 and is first-come-first-serve. Limited to 75 registrants!

Fees (including lunch): $36 for members of the Friends of MKI, the Wisconsin Historical Society, or the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society; $40 for non-members

Session I         “All I know is they were from Germany”

Before you can do any meaningful family research in Europe, it is crucial to know where your ancestor lived at a certain time. This session will give advice on how to identify your ancestral hometown in the context of Central Europe’s complex territorial history.

Session II        Lives lived and documented

Vital records are usually the first ones we try to find when researching our ancestors in Europe, but people’s lives were documented in many more ways. Whether our ancestors owned land (or not), paid taxes, attended a school or a church, joined the military, had a business or a bank account; were members of a guild, club, or community organization; etc. – chances are, they left traces that can help us discover their stories.

Session III      Finding documents from German-speaking Europe

This session is an introduction to finding historical records from German-speaking Europe online and off. It will include tips on how to do archival research as well as on how to navigate and use the ever-growing online selection of German and other European historical documents and genealogical resources.

Session IV      Working with historical German documents 

You found a family document. You made a copy.  But now what?  In this session you will learn strategies to efficiently interpret historic German documents, even if you do not speak the language and cannot read the script.

PRESENTER

Antje Petty is the Associate Director of the Max Kade Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She shares the resources of the Institute with the community through lectures and workshops and has done extensive research on German-speaking immigrant families.

For more information go to: https://mki.wisc.edu/events/2018/finding-our-german-ancestors-europe-workshop-geneaologists

or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu / 608-262-7546) or Lori Bessler (Lori.Bessler@wisconsinhistory.org / 608-264-6519)

CD Release Party – November 17

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Sound Salon – Alpine Dreaming
November 17, 2018 – 7:00pm
University Club, 803 State St., Madison, WI

Join us for this lively CD release party featuring the Grammy award-winning owners of Archeophone Records Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, accordionist Deb Krauss Smith, and folklorist and Professor Emeritus James P. Leary.
In 1920 Ferdinand Ingold, a poor but visionary Swiss settler in the small Wisconsin town of Monroe, audaciously launched a record label, Helvetia—invoking his homeland’s ancient name and celebrating its musical heritage. Praised in the immigrant press yet beset by fiscal challenges, Helvetia issued a scant 36 sides. Illuminating one of the first American record labels established by an immigrant for his own community, Alpine Dreaming both recalls a bygone era and resonates with all who seek better New World lives while remembering their homelands.
Co-sponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, Mills Music Library, and the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Happy Valentines Day

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Was es ist

Es ist Unsinnheart12
sagt die Vernunft
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

Es is Unglück
sagt die Berechnung
Es ist nichts als Schmerz
sagt die Angst
Es ist aussichtslos
sagt die Einsicht
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

Es ist lächerlich
sagt der Stolz
Es ist leichtsinnig
sagt die Vorsicht
Es ist unmöglich
sagt die Erfahrung
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

Erich Fried: Es ist was es ist. Liebesgedichte, Angstgedichte, Zorngedichte. Wagenbach, Berlin 1996

my translation into English:
What it is

It is nonsense
says reason
It is what it is
says love

It is misfortune
says calculation
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It is hopeless
says insight
It is what it is
says love

It is ridiculous
says pride
It is careless
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love

The Deutscher Sprachatlas Is Back!

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Wednesday, October 9, 2013; 5:30–7:30 p.m.

The Rathskeller, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street

The Deutscher Sprachatlas is an important German linguistics atlas in Memorial Library’s German language and literature collection. Unfortunately it has not been available to linguistic students and scholars due to its fragile condition. With funding from the Friends [of the UW-Madison Libraries], the original has been carefully restored by Memorial Library’s Preservation Department and a facsimile created for use in the stacks.

Help us celebrate the unveiling of the restored atlas and facsimile in Der Rathskeller at Memorial Union. You can view the Sprachatlas, listen to German-Wisconsin music, learn about the importance of this document, hear about its preservation, and celebrate Oktoberfest! German-style refreshments will be available. Wunderbar! For more details about the restoration, see the article on page 8 in the

Fall 2013 Friends Newsletter.

Cosponsored by the

Memorial Library Reference and the Collection Preservation Departments, the Department of German, the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and Mills Music Library.