|
| Home |
the
Vierings |the Vogts | Harold
Vedeler |Paul Lutz | Ernst
Krenek
German
immigrants
More Americans claim German descent than any other
ethnic group. Of those millions of Germans who emigrated to "Amerika"
in the first third of the 20th century, the rise of National Socialism in
the land of their birth complicated their lives. While family and friends
remained in the Old World, their growing familial ties and adopted
communities in the New one vied for their complete loyalty. In the case of
the Vierings, Fritz would confront his family over what he assumed to be
an imminent war between Germany and its many enemies. The Vogts would
befriend some of those Teutonic warriors caught up in the subsequent
global conflagration in their Iowa farm home.
|
the
Vierings
|
|
|
|
The
Vierings (right) and the Bruenes, late 1930s.
|
|
|
|
|
the
Vogts
|
|
|
Martha Vogt, with her nephew,
Johnny Sass, during WWII. |
|
|
Fritz
and Augusta Viering
Natives of rural Hessen, in Central Germany,
the Vierings created flourishing new lives for themselves in Iowa—yet
found themselves in conflict with family and Nazi-convert friends
back in a Germany trapped in Hitler's trance. Like their neighbors
the Vogts, the Vierings used German-POW labor on their farm to
take in important war-time harvests. After the war, the Vierings
sent innumerable Care Packages to their village, helping friends
and family survive the post-war crisis.
|
Herman
and Martha Vogt
Martha Vogt left her native Schleswig-Holstein
for Iowa in 1909. Her husband Herman—a German POW in France
during WWI—came to Iowa in 1921. During the Second World War,
this immigrant couple used German-POW labor on their farm—and,
in the process, struck friendships with men from their homeland
that would last half a century.
|
|
| top |
|
|
|
other
German Americans
The rise of National Socialism in Germany also affected
native-born Americans of German descent—for example: those studying
or working in Germany as of 1933, and even individuals who'd never been to
Europe but were suspected, for whatever reason, of "suspicious
alliances" assumed to be pro-German.
|
Harold Vedeler
Working
on a doctoral thesis at the
University
of Wisconsin, Iowa native Harold Vedeler was in
Berlinin 1932 and early 1933, during the Nazis’ rise to power. With
another student, he stood within a few feet of Adolf Hitler at a
political rally and later reported “He was quite dramatic… a
performer.” Harold was “alarmed by the reaction from the
crowd,” which was “held spellbound. [Hitler] told them what they
wanted to hear—that there was a way… for them to rise from their
problems."
After
teaching from 1933 the outbreak of war, Harold began working with
the State Department in 1943, focusing until 1945 on postwar
policies and the “de-nazification” of
Germany. He played a key role in mapping
U.S.policy regarding the peace settlement; at a foreign ministers’
conference in
Moscowhe served as political advisor for the negotiation of the post-war
Austrian Treaty. In 1945 he served in the Central European Affairs
Division as an interrogator of war prisoners, including Hermann
Goering. Harold found the fallen Nazi leader “cooperative and
willing to talk… He came in with this big cape and unfurled [it]
with great flair.” Harold interviewed Goering for three and one
half hours on one day and again on another. He later commented:
“What a shame this man was involved in the Third Reich. If he’d
been in a democracy, he’d have been an outstanding politician. He
had a very pleasing personality if you could forget the evil side of
him.”
One of Harold
Vedeler’s colleagues was Gustave Gilbert, a
U.S.interrogator and psychologist who interviewed Goering at Nuernberg
in 1945, when Goering admitted that
Of course the people don’t want war. But after all,
it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and
it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along
whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament,
or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All
you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce
the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to
greater danger. It works the same way in any country.
| photo of Harold Vedeler
|
|
Paul C.
Lutz was a Lutheran pastor in Lime Springs/Iowa when the
United States entered World War II. Rumors began circulating in the small,
mainly Welsh community about “the German church” and its
German-language services, and Paul’s allegedly pro-German views
and supposed lack of patriotism. Later, Paul criticized local
farmers he encountered in the local drugstore for gloating over
the wartime rise in commodities prices. More accusations against
the 38-year-old pastor’s presumed pro-German sentiment was one
factor prompted
him to enlist as a chaplain in the U.S. Army in 1943. He left
behind his young wife to care for their five sons.
An
extensive tour of duty took him to
Italy,
France and
Bavaria—which Paul’s immigrant grandfather had left in 1855. Near
Munich, he toured the infamous concentration camp at
Dachau. Along with providing pastoral
care to U.S. troops for seven months after hostilities ended, Paul
administered Holy Communion to homeless European refugees, acted
as an interpreter between American officers and German government
officials, and helped local churches recover art pieces that had
been hidden away during the war.
At the end
of 1945 Pastor Lutz returned to the
U.S.and accepted the call to serve a mostly German-American
congregation in Renwick/Iowa. During the war German POWs from
nearby
Camp Algonahad worked on area farms and formed close friendships with local
farmers, including several of Paul’s parishioners.
|
|
| top |
|
|
|
German and Austrian émigrés
Many German and Austrian newcomers to "Amerika"
in the early 20th century came voluntarily, but some did not. Political,
intellectual or artistic dissidents were not welcome in the Neues
Deutschland, the "New Germany" (which included annexed
Austria), and found a safe haven in the New World, including the Midwest.
Many German and Austrian newcomers to "Amerika" in the early 20th century came voluntarily, but some did not. Political, intellectual or artistic dissidents were not welcome in the Neues Deutschland, the "New Germany" (which included annexed Austria), and found a safe haven in the New World, including the Midwest. Unexpectedly, they included princes and musicians, as the following articles attest:
Ernst Krenek
Born in
Viennain 1900, composer Ernst Krenek achieved popular success with the
jazz-inflected opera Jonny spielt auf
(“Johnny Strikes Up the Band”). Ernst and his wife, actress Berta
Haas, fled Europe
in 1938, with assistance from violinist Louis Krasner, who later became
concert master of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. First assuming
teaching positions in
Boston and then at
VassarCollege, Ernst subsequently came to
Hamline
University in
Saint Paul, where he served as head of the music department from 1942 to 1947. He took
American citizenship in 1945 and in 1947 moved to
Los Angeles.
Krenek’s music was
included in the Nazis’ “Entartete
Musik” (degenerate music) exhibit in
Duesseldorf in 1938. The Nazis applied the scientific term “degenerate”
to a wide range of music—atonal, jazz and, especially, works by Jewish
composers. Though Ernst Krenek was Roman Catholic, Jonny
spielt auf’s lead character was a black jazz fiddler, the composer
worked with atonal and serialist forms, and he was associated with the
Jewish composer/conductor Gustav Mahler. (Ernst had been briefly married to
Mahler’s daughter, Anna, a painter and sculptress, and he was engaged to
complete Mahler’s unfinished 10th Symphony by the composer’s
widow, Alma Mahler Gropius.)
While at Hamline Krenek
composed a number of works reflecting the tragedy of war, including Lamentatio
Jeremiae prophetae, op. 93, and Cantata
for Wartime, op. 95. The latter used a text from Herman Melville and was
scored for female voices due to the lack of male singers at Hamline during
wartime.
(The information about Ernst Krenek was supplied by the
Schubert Club of Saint
Paul/Minnesota.)
|
|
|
Ernst Krenek as a young man
in Vienna, circa 1920
|
|
|
|
A scene from Krenek's musical Jonny spielt auf at
the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera)
|
|
|
|
|
Nazi poster decrying Krenek's musical Jonny spielt
auf.
|
A "Degenerate Music" poster from the Nazis. |
|
|
Ernst Krenek teaching, circa 1940s.
|
top | Home
|
