Conference examines state’s German heritage

In the past century and a half, German immigrants to Wisconsin have gone from being seen as an alien group, sometimes even a threat to Anglo-American values, to becoming a major part of Wisconsin’s dominant culture, even stereotypical of Wisconsin’s image in the state and beyond.

A conference sponsored by the Max Kade Institute, October 15-17, “Defining Tensions: A fresh look at Germans in Wisconsin,” is providing a forum for almost two dozen scholars to examine that remarkable transformation.

In addition to featured talks on the German roots of Wisconsin’s Free Thinkers and on the broader significance of Wisconsin German-American History (by John O. Holzhueter, State Historical Society), sessions will be dedicated to a variety of issues, including “Ethnicity and Identity,” “Public Life” and “Social and Political Tensions.” Almost one third of the presenters will be coming from Germany, including Heike Bungert, historian from the University of Cologne, who will speak on the importance of German-American festivals in Milwaukee from 1870 – 1920. Anke Ortlepp, also from Cologne, will investigate Milwaukee’s women’s organizations social, cultural and political. Other papers deal with more troubling times and issues, including one by Harry Anderson (Milwaukee Co. Historical Society) on a Milwaukee Nazi propagandist and another by Brent Peterson (Ripon College) challenging notions of ethnicity among German-Americans.

There will also be sessions on German language authors who lived and wrote in Wisconsin and the long, rich life of the German language in the state. One of those, by Garry Davis of UW-Milwaukee, will focus on the use of German today in Milwaukee’s German-American clubs and organizations, while another, by Mike Lind of UW–Madison, will discuss the survival of a Pomeranian dialect, still spoken today in communities in Marathon and Lincoln counties.

Thursday night’s opening session on Oct. 15, begins at 7:30 at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive. On Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16-17, the conference will take place at the State Historical Society, 816 State St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Defining Tensions” is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is encouraged, though not required.