Previous recipients of the award include Chancellor Angela Merkel (2010) and maestro Kurt Masur (2009). The award pays tribute to persons who have promoted reconciliation between Germans and Jews.

Insatiable curiosity and wanderlust resulted in the north German spreading his wings at an early age. His boundless passion for both his native Schleswig-Holstein and the United States jumps off the pages of the many books he's authored. (Photo: Reppmann, right, and friends at the Steuben Parade banquet in September in New York.)

Many people, such as Carolyn Schlesinger, are drawn by the handmade glass-blown ornaments. “They have different, unique figures. It’s always kind of cool to see what they’ve come up with,” she said.

There also are plenty of gifts to be found, rare European fabrics and textiles and a chance to devour everything from brats and potato pancakes to cookies and spiced wine.

The Institute said Kiefer's work" critiques German myths and chauvinism" which eventually brought the Nazis to power. "His paintings depict  his generation's ambivalence towards the grandiose impulse of German nationalism and its impact on history."

The Leo Baeck Institute is a New York City-based research library devoted to
the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry.

Christian Moerlein will be the only person to be inducted in the first class of Beer Barons next May, Fox19 said.

Members of the Hall's selection committee include attorney and (Over-the-Rhine) Brewery District trustee Michael D. Morgan, German-American historian and author Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, genealogy and local history librarian Chris Smith from the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, UC Archivist, author, and historian Kevin Grace, and historian, author and Spring Grove Cemetery docent trainer Phil Nuxhall, according to Fox.

Last week, seven students from Germany
accompanied Flenz on her visit as part of
the Menasha Joint School District's world
languages program that starts in
kindergarten.

Julia Sager, 15, one of 21 students from
Germany participating in a three-week
home stay under the German American
Partnership Program, was impressed with
the language skills and curiosity of the
second-graders with whom she spent
some time, conversing in both English and
German.

Col. Gustav Tafel (1830-1908), the author of the original German-language edition, was a native of Munich. In 1847, Tafel came to Cincinnati as an immigrant. "In Cincinnati", Tolzmann writes in the introduction to his English translation of Tafel's history, "he helped found the Cincinnati Turnverein, serving later as its president when the Civil War broke out.

There were exuberant cheers mixed with some emotional tears when the legendary duo entered the reception room on the 35th floor of the Oriental Mandarin Hotel. (Photo: Siegfried and Roy with Bill Hetzler, right)

The German-American Hall of Fame celebrates the fascinating stories of Americans with German roots, who have truly come to help define the United States over the centuries.

“Siegfried & Roy and Carl Schurz have amazing stories to tell or their careers here in America,” said German-American Hall of Fame President William Hetzler.

Norwegian Royalty loves to visit St. Olaf College, writes Yogi Reppmann of Northfield where he and his wife Gitta live when they are not in their native Flensburg, Germany.

King Olav V, father of Harald, came in 1939 as a prince to this fine college of liberal arts, returning as king in 1968, 1975, 1987, and 1995. Norwegian Lutheran immigrants had founded St. Olaf in 1874.

Many students and friends of the college lined up the path from the student center through Tomson Hall.

Along with delicious Austrian food fare, such as the Sacher Torte, a thick, chocolate cake separated by layers of jam and topped with whipped cream, there will also be cultural happenings.

Enjoy a free film screening, sample some of the best wines from Austria, listen to a concert by Austrian composers, or sit in on some Austrian storytelling.

By Don Heinrich Tolzmann

On the 6th of October, thirteen German families led by Franz Daniel Pastorius came ashore in Philadelphia from their ocean voyage on the Concord and founded Germantown.

The Ohio Chapter of the Palatines to America presents its 2011 Seminar Saturday, October 15, focusing on “German Immigration, Settlement and Contributions.” 

The Palatines to America, a national German genealogical society, publishes the historical journal, The Palatine Immigrant.

German-American historian Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann will present four lectures on the following topics:

Serving as the Parade’s Grand Marshal is the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany, Christa Tiefenbacher-Hudson (photo). The annual event is sponsored by the German-Bohemian Heritage Society. Parade Chairwoman is Pat Eckstein.

Locals who plan to attend are asked to make a sign with the famlly name and the year in which the familiy arrived in America and/or New Ulm.

At a gala banquet Friday night, the organizing committee's chairman Lars Halter introduced Miss German-America 2011-2012, Denise Manukian, and her court, as well as this year's Grand Marshals.

Fortunately for those whose budgets and schedules preclude the trip to the Bavarian capital, there is plenty to do — and drink — in the U.S. during the fall beer festival season.

Think of it as Oktoberfest in America.

The Councilman called the parade a “great celebration of German-American culture in this city.” Approximately 200 people attended, including many members of the German-American Steuben Parade Committee. Photo: Steuben Parate Chairman Lars Halter, center. Tio his right is Miss German-America 2012, Denise Manukian.

Additions include an enclosed, 97-piece sequential diorama depicting the battle between Hermann and the Romans in Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D.; Roman Legionnaire "Marcus Maximus" complete with armor and weapons, plus memorabilia from the Order of the Sons of Hermann who built the New Ulm monument more than a century ago, according to the local Newspaper The Journal.

The result will benefit Freedom High School’s foreign-language students, the school district and two educators who faced the prospect of not having contracts to teach this year.

Back in March, rumors swept around the world, literally, that Burke County Public Schools planned to discontinue its German-language program for budgetary reasons.

Here the first Turnverein, or gymnastic society, was founded in 1848 by Forty-Eighters such as Friedrich Hecker who is honored with a monument in Washington Park. German churches line with streets with German inscriptions like “Wahrheit, Tugend, Freiheit,: or “Truth, Virtue, Freedom.”

A popular Union commander, Sigel was the highest ranking German-American officer in the Union Army, with many Germans enlisting to "fight mit Sigel."

Sigel was a political appointment of President Abraham Lincoln, who hoped that Sigel's immense popularity would help deliver the votes of the increasingly important German segment of the population.

Rodney Koenig can look back upon a career as an attorney in Houston, but he often prefers to think about his childhood in rural Fayette County, TX. Photo: New Braunfels' First Protestant Church.

Christian Ortschig’s weekdays are spent working in Germany’s social insurance administration. But on any given Saturday, he might be leading Union troops into battle against the Confederate Army.

Ortschig's historical re-enactment character is modeled after a member of the 79th New York Cameron Highlanders – a militia unit of Scottish immigrants from New York City who fought for the anti-slavery North. That accounts for his uniform: a brightly-coloured kilt and a dark jacket with brass buttons.

Such a settlement would become a German colony or state in the U.S.A.The response to their book was overwhelming, causing a second edition to be published and thousands of copies printed.

Altogether, five hundred signed up and in 1834 made the journey to the U.S. Although plans for a German state failed, many of the members of the Giessen Emigration Society landed in Missouri and settled there.

These settlers and the publicity surrounding the Giessen Emigration Society no doubt contributed to the emigration of others to Missouri.

The exhibit was produced by the Franckesche Stiftungen zu Halle, Germany, from which Muhlenberg was called to serve as a Lutheran pastor in America.

Muhlenberg officially served as pastor to congregations in Pennsylvania and New York, but even more importantly worked as an advisor to hundreds of small Lutheran settlements scattered across the colonial landscape.

He traveled frequently, journeying by horseback, wooden sailboat, and canoe to meet with settlers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia.