The following article was written by Houston Chronicle writer Joe Holley and appeared on Page A3 of the Saturday, December 24, 2016 issue of the Houston Chronicle. (joe.holley@chron.com). You can view the article and see pictures by clicking on the following link: online. NATIVE TEXAN Wending through Rumplich country SERBIN — Meandering through the pleasant, wooded countryside […]
Wending Through Rumplich Country by Joe Holley Read More »
As I was translating one of the many articles which my grandfather, Rev. Gotthilf Birkmann, submitted to the Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt during the 1930’s, that are now in the Birkmann Blog on the Wendish Research Exchange website, I spotted this article immediately following his in the October 8, 1936, issue of that paper. Mr. Proske, the publisher
October 8, 1936 Something New From the Old Wendish Homeland Read More »
This article, introduced by George Nielsen and written by Pat Larsen, first appeared in the July 2016 Newsletter of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society, Serbin, Texas. One aspect of Wendish life that is generally ignored in Wendish studies is the daily activity of making a living. While most Wends took up farming, there were also
Andrew (Andreas) Urban, a Wendish Craftsman Read More »
This article by George Nielsen first appeared in the October 2016 Newsletter of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society. Helping fellow members of the faith has a long history with the Texas Wends. Both German and Wendish newspaper articles that reported the departure of the 1854 migration from the Bautzen train station also stated that the
The Household of Faith Read More »
Until now we had only four accounts of the 1854 migration written by individuals who were participants. 1. Pastor Johann Kilian left his collection of a diary, letters, and notes. (See the TWHS Newsletter of October 2012 “Death on the Irish Sea.“ 2. A German, August Haak, also wrote an account of his experiences, which
Another Account of the 1854 Migration Read More »
I have always found patents and inventions fascinating. A few years ago I found out that my Wendish great grandfather, Andreas Mattijetz, had been awarded six patents during a ten year period (1888 – 1898), thanks to the help of Kathe Richards and Weldon Mersiovsky of the Wendish Research Exchange. Since then I have been interested
The Seach for Patents Read More »
Language death occurs usually as a combination of circumstances. In the Lower Sorbian area the cohesion of the language area with its dialectal features was considerably reduced by moving entirevillage populations to other areas in order to get easily to the lignite coal deposits. This in itself required more effort to speak the language across
This article by Dr. Peter Barker first appeared in: Dislocation and Reorientation. Exile, Division and the End of Communism in German Culture and Politics, ed. Axel Goodbody, Pól Ó Dochartaigh Denis Tate, German Monitor No. 71, Rodopi, Amsterdam/New York, 2009, pp. 179-195. -0- This chapter will highlight three particular points in the post-war social development of
Dislocation and Reorientation in the Sorbian Community (1945-2008) by Peter Barker Read More »
This article by Dr. Peter Barker first appeared in Editions Rodopi, German Monitor, no. 75 in 2012. -0- Jurij Brězan was the major Sorbian writer of the 20th Century, who was known above all for his novels, a genre which before 1945 hardly existed in Sorbian literature. Despite his view that his most important task was
Re-writing My Life and Work: Jurij Brězan’s Autobiographical Writings by Peter Barker Read More »
Dr. Charles Wukasch shares some memories. -0- As I’ve pointed out several times, the Miertschins were one of the Serbin families which kept up Wendish for a number of years. If my memory serves me correctly, Carl Miertschin (the father of TWHS member Monroe) told me that his grandfather came over on the Ben Nevis.
Frederick the Great and a Wendish Soldier Read More »
