The Danube Swabian Foundation of the U.S.A., Inc.
Die Donauschwaebische Stiftung der USA, Inc.
Christmas Letter 2017
Zwei junge Schwowe Mädchen Collaborative Story: Karl Themare, Catherine Weissman and Ed Tullius
Zwei junge Schwowe Mädchen, Evi und Lissi, sitzen zusammen. Es war das erste mal daß Evi bei der Jugendgruppe mitmachte, und Lissi ist zu ihr gegangen, sie wilkommen zu machen. Evi sagt zu Lissi, “Schau mal den gut aussehende Junge dort drüber, der linken von die drei. Was denkst du über Ihn?” “Ja, er sieht nicht schlecht aus, aber der mittlere gefällt mir besser,” antwortet Lissi. “Mit dem habe ich früher getanzt – Mensch, der hat mich gut auf die Zebe getretet!” beschwerrt sich Evi. “Dem der, Ich meine,schaut mir aus wie er ein bessere Tänzer ist.” Lissi schüttelt den Kopf und sagte, “Ja, ich habe schon oft getanzt mit ihm. Das Zeppeln get gut, aber da sinn auch andere hier die gerade zu gut oder vielleicht noch besser tanzen können.” Evi sagt: “Schau dir seine blauen Augen an.” Lissi sagt: “Es sieht so aus, als würde er alle Mädchen anstarren”. Evi sagt: “Schau dir seine schönen Zähne an.” Lissi sagt: “ Er hat Zähne wie ein Pferd.” Evi sagt: “Schau, wie groß er ist.” Lissi sagt: “Er ist so groß wie ein Bohnenstängel.” Evi fragt: “Warum sprichst du so über ihn? Kennst du ihn so gut? Was für ein Junge ist er? Hat er schon ein Mädel? Interessierst du dich für ihn?” Lissi lacht und antwortet, “Ja, ich kenn ihn. Sein Name ist Hans, aber er hat viel mehr zu tun mit der Arbeit und seine Kameraden wie die Mädeln.” “Das ist nich untypisch,” meinte Evi, “aber ich möchte ihm ebenso kennen lernen. Kennst du mich bitte, bitte ihn vorstellen?” Lissi schaut sie ganz genau an, studierte ein paar Momente, und sagt, “Ich meine dass ich das schon machen kann.” Sie dreht sich zu die drei Junge und rufte, “Hans!” Der Hans drehte sich von seine Kameraden und schaut die zwei an. Lissi winkt ihm zu and sagte, “Komm mal herr!” Er drehte sich zurück zu seine Kameraden, sagte etwas zu ihnen und sie lachten alle. Dann kommt er zu die zwei Mädeln und mit ein lachendes Gesicht sagt zu Lissi, “Schwester, wer ist deine hübsche neue Freundin?” Evi wird ganz rot ins Gesicht, schaut die zwei an, und weiß nicht was sie machen sollte. Lissi schaut sie amusiert an und sagte, “Hans, daß ist meine Feundin Evi.” Moralischer Wert: Egal aus welchem Blickwinkel man sich richten kann, Die Donauschwäbische Stiftung wird unsere Jugend immer unterstützen und ihre Donauschwaben-Aktivitäten stets.
For our English speaking friends, above is a short story of two Schwaben girls meeting for the first time with the Youth Group. The two are looking over the boys and discussing the boys’ ability to dance. One of the girls has a fancy for one of the boys and discloses her desires to her new girlfriend. The girlfriend does not have the same opinion but continues this discussion until she discloses she will introduce him to her new friend. Turns out, this is her brother and the new friend is embarrassed by the dialog between them. Both girls had a different point of view of the same boy. Moral Value: No matter from what point of view one can take, the Danube Swabian Foundation will always support our youth and their Donauschwaben activities.
Frohe Weihnachten und ein Glückliches Neues Jahr von uns allen in der Donauschwäbische Stiftung. Eddie Tullius, Stiftungspräsident, USA
Please give an annual donation to your Danube Swabian Foundation USA, Inc.
Liebe Landsleut,
As chairman of the Danube Swabian Foundation I am charged with soliciting contributions for our worthwhile cause. I have a knack for repeating myself in our yearly Christmas letter for obvious reasons. Most of our spending supports programs which enable our youth to actively participate in our culture. That focus remains unchanged from year to year! Please include our foundation on your gift list for 2017. Our future depends on your generosity! This past June and July, my wife Liz and I went to Germany. Aside from visiting family and friends, we were also privileged to see the Cleveland Jugendgruppe perform. Our Landesverband ambassadors performed in Karlsruhe, Albstadt, Sindelfingen, Wurzburg, Crailsheim, Ulm, Salzburg, Piliswerischwar, and Tacsony. Their three-part program featured dancing, singing, and speaking. Another highlight of the trip was the dedication of a plaque on the wall of the city of Ulm. This plaque was placed alongside those of Australia and Brazil, as well as many representing the villages, towns and cities of our Heimat. The foundation’s support of the plaque project and the youth trip to Europe was critical in enabling these two key projects. Frankly, the work of the foundation is ongoing and multi-faceted. It supports German schools in our clubs, youth groups, brass bands, the soccer tournament, and so much more.
A few years ago I asked for your support as follows: We need your support in the following ways:
- Encourage your family’s participation in activities at your club.
- Explain your family history to your children and their offspring.
- Try to speak German and “Schwowisch” with your family.
- Give financial support to your local club, especially for youth activities.
- Make a donation to the Danube Swabian Foundation annually beginning today.
The priorities haven’t changed, but the urgency has. During the past few years I’ve seen two of our clubs, New York and Rochester, close operations. Why? Because they were unable to sustain youth programs in their clubs and there was no “next generation” to take over. As they closed, both made sizeable contributions to our cause. Please heed my call for support and send your contribution today! In closing, I ask you to pray for those that set such a wonderful example. As our immigrant generation sits on the doorstep of becoming ancestors, remember them daily in your prayers! Their motto for many years was: “ Hält unsre Jugend an die Tradition!” Let’s leave our children similar memories of us and our generation.
Frohe Weihnachten!
Robert F. Filippi President, Landesverband der Donauschwaben Chairman, Danube Swabian Foundation
As in previous years , we are pleased to share with you the many activities which the Stiftung helped sponsor this past year.
Of special note, the Stiftung gave a generous donation towards the new plaque which was placed near the Donauschwaben Museum in Ulm, Germany. On Monday July 10, 2017 a dedication ceremony was held on the banks of the Donau for the new plaque for Donauschwaben from America. The Cleveland Jugendgruppe danced and sang as Father Peter Zillich, Heimatpfarrer, presided over the blessing. Also present at this event was Oberbürgermeister Gunter Czisch of Ulm, Weltdachverband President Stefan Ihas, DS Landesverband Vorsitzender Hans Supritz, President Margot Maurer of Cleveland, and Robert and Elisabeth Filippi from the Landesverband USA. Many local citizens participated in the ceremony. A floral arrangement was placed at the monument honoring deceased members of our worldwide Donauschwaben community by Ava Fabian and Lukas Biondich, assisted by Stefan Ihas and Robert Filippi.
AKRON JUGENDLAGER
Every year there is a Jugendlager, or youth campout in which all Donauschwaben groups from around the country are invited to participate in this friendship and culture themed weekend. This year our group had the honor in hosting this large event. This was our second time hosting this campout; our first time hosting being in 2009. Many of the other groups have hosted this event and we took the opportunity to host it again. A lot of time and planning went into hosting this event and I would like to give a shout out and huge thank you to everyone who put their time and efforts into planning and helping make this event a huge success!
The Jugendlager this year began on Thursday evening with groups beginning to arrive after 6 and ended on Sunday morning after breakfast. There were 7 groups that attended this year; Akron, Cincinnati, Chicago Donauschwaben, Chicago Aid, Detroit, Kitchener and St. Louis. It was a pretty large group which made for a lot of fun and a lot of opportunities to make new friends. Thursday was more of a casual day. As the groups arrived everyone set up their tents, got settled in,then headed into the clubhouse where there was a taco bar for dinner. We had a registration table set up so the group leaders could check everyone in and pick up their T-shirts for their groups. Since it was such a large group we decided that we would divide everyone into 4 groups. We gave every group leader a bag of different colored T-shirts, and these would be the different groups for the weekend. We had yellow, red, white and black groups.
After everyone was settled in and had dinner we called everyone into the club house for a large group activity. After the activity we split into our 4 groups- while in our different groups we made a group poster and did several ice breaker activities to get to know everyone in our group. After everyone was finished we had free time. Some people went to the back fields and played soccer, others sat down inside and played cards, and the Kitchener group stayed in the outdoor pavilion and taught their dance “Du Hast” to everyone who wanted to learn. Lights out was at 11or 11:30 every night to ensure that everyone had enough rest for tomorrow’s long list of fun activities.
Friday morning began with an early breakfast along with some rain. All the groups got on the buses and we headed to Akron for the day. We began our excursion at St.Bernard’s church to learn the Donauschwaben history that the church has. After that we headed down the Locks where each of the 4 groups had their own tour guide. The guides took each group on a tour of the locks and canal systems and explained to us the history. After our tour and a quick lunch we got back on the buses and started our trip to Parma to play a game called “Whirleyball”. Whirleyball is kind-of a mix between bumper cars, lacrosse and basketball. The facility also had Laser Tag and bowling and we spent about 4 hours here playing games and having a great time. Then we returned to the club where we had free time for the rest of the night.
Saturday was the cultural day. We had some of the founding members of our club come in and speak to everyone about the history of our club and how it all began. It was very touching to look around at everyone while our founding members were speaking because there were very few dry eyes in the crowd. After this we split up into our 4 groups again. There were 4 stations, a cooking station where we prepared our dinner, a dessert station, a cultural station and a dance station. Before the Jugendlager our Youth Group made up a Friendship Dance to teach to everyone at the campout. When the groups rotated to the dance station they were taught the dance. After dinner, everyone went outside and performed the Friendship dance with all the groups. Towards the end of the evening we gathered everyone for a candlelight ceremony. Every group was to write an answer to what it means to be Donauschwaben, and how does your culture affect your everyday life. Everyone was very moved by this ceremony and it served as a very reflective time for everyone there. All in all the Jugendlager this year was an amazing experience. Thank you again to all the groups that attended and thank you to everyone from our club who helped plan this event Taylor Herring
CLEVELAND EUROPE TRIP
The Cleveland Jugendgruppe served as Landesverband ambassadors this past summer. The group performed in Karlsruhe, Albstadt, Sindelfingen, Wurzburg, Crailsheim, Ulm, Salzburg, Piliswerischwar, and Tacsony. Their three-part program featured dancing, singing, and speaking. One highlight of their trip was the dedication of the US Donauschwaben plaque on the wall of the city of Ulm. This plaque was placed alongside those of Australia and Brazil.
On a sad note, this past year another Donauschwaben Verein ceased their operations, the Donauschwäbisher Hilfs and Jugendverein of New York with George Ritter, President. The club and all its members were very generous and donated their funds to the Donauschwäbishe Stiftung to enable us to continue to support our mission.
Previously, the Verein der Donaudeutschen in Rochester, New York , President Gus Hoyer also ceased their operations. They as well made a generous donation to the Donauschwäbische Stiftung.
We are truly thankful for these generous donations but are very sorry that they come to us due to a club closing it’s doors. Let us all remember that we need our youth to sustain our clubs, our soccer teams, our dance groups, our Blaskapellen, and our future as a Donauschwaben culture.
************************************************************************* Please send donations to: Danube Swabian Foundation, USA c/o William Kolbow, Treasurer 14678 Willamette Ave., Chino, Ca. 91710
Donations are fully tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations