Paul Stangenberg is one of the quiet people. But when he talks about the upcoming trip across the pond, he can’t hide his excitement. The 25-year-old from Grimme near Brüssow is traveling to New York State in October with a group of 36 people from Uckermärker. Some of them are descendants of immigrants who started anew in the USA in the middle of the 19th century, often for religious reasons. Others, such as Paul Stangenberg, are concerned about the development of the Brüssow Museum on the museum’s advisory board.
The young man is enthusiastic about the history of his town, which Grandpa Kurt is not completely innocent. “He still spoke real Low German and knew a lot about Grimme,” says grandson Paul. For Grimme’s 750th anniversary in 2017, they created a photo exhibition about the town today and in the past. The most interesting thing so far, however, was the discovery of a wall stone inscribed with initials in the old house of Samuel Friedrich Jagow, who emigrated to Niagara with his wife and children in 1846 This visited the descendants, now the Yagow family, who came to Grimme in 2019 in search of their family roots. Since the visit of brothers Jim and Wayne Yagow in 2022, a trilingual commemorative plaque has been in front of the Jagow House in Grimme.
So Paul Stangenberg is aware of the disputes about religious questions that were growing between Breslau, Stettin and the Uckermark in the 19th century. Most people from Uckermark have not heard of the Old Lutherans who opposed the rule of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. ordained union of the Reformed and Lutheran congregations. Against this background, many left their homeland, especially emigrating to America. It was only about 180 years after the first arrival, mainly by the Wallmower emigrants, that descendants came knocking on their great-grandmother’s home. This is where this part of history began to return to public consciousness.
Günter Trester (left), who has been the director of the Brüssow Museum for years, and Paul Stangenberg, the youngest member of the museum’s advisory board, are excited about the upcoming trip to America to visit good friends. (Photo: Monika Strehlow)
The rich sister from America?
Günter Trester, volunteer director of the museum for 26 years, remembers well the summer of 2004 when two women suddenly appeared at his door. When a man told him that her name was Marilyn-Ann Woodrich-Trester and that she was related to him, he thought: “Is this the rich sister from America that many people dream of? Marylin, who was 79 years old at the time, and her daughter Wendy, who was 57, were looking for clues about the family in the Uckermark. Already well informed about her own family tree, which goes back to 1742 to Johann Friedrich Trester in Caselow, she was able to explain the family’s history to the wonderful friend Günter. As early as 1977, Eugen Camann, great-grandson of the Brüssow slipper manufacturer Friedrich Caman, traveled from the US to the city of his ancestors; But, secretly, without permission from the state socialist authorities, as he later told Günter Trester.
German Settlers Museum
Camann was the founder and chairman of the “Historical Society of Northern German Settlements in Western New York”, which now has about 250 members in the US and Canada. In his parents’ house in New-Bergholz, an area of the city of Niagara Falls, there is a small museum of German settlers called “The House, A House and the Stable” in the original home of the Camann family.
The museum in New-Bergholz, a district of the city of Niagara, is located in the former home of the Camann family. Eugen Camann founded the “Historical Society of Northern German Settlements in Western New York” and gave it his parents’ house as its headquarters and museum. (Photo: Brussow Museum)
Invitation to return visit
Since the barriers came down with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the people of Uckermark have been able to welcome visitors from the US again and again. Interest was raised and research on the ancestors was going on a lot. Eugen Camann himself wrote two books about the uprooting of people from Prussia and the settlement in Niagara County and gave copies to the Brüssow Museum of Local History. The first contacts became close acquaintances. After the visits from the other side of the world the people of Brüssow were invited to take a look at the German museum in New-Bergholz. In January 2009, the treasurer of the historical society, Elaine Timm, not only sent a warm congratulations on the 750th anniversary of Brüssow, but she invited him to visit specifically. 15 years have passed since then. In October 2018, a cooperation agreement was concluded as part of the “Year of Germany USA 2028/19” initiative with the support of the Goethe-Institut. The document was signed by the mayor of Brüssow and the director of the museum on the one hand, as well as the president of the historical society and its treasurer.
Some descendants of the Uckermark emigrants still speak Low German today. They maintain the language of their ancestors to this day, as is the case here in the Low German group. (Photo: Brussow Museum)
On pilgrimage for religious reasons
Matthias Gienke decided it was finally time to head west and put him in touch with a travel company. Minister Brüssow has closely followed the development of bilateral relations since he took office in 2010. Finally, his predecessor Carl Büchsel – himself from Uckermark, who was a senior – later general director – in the religious debate. It is important for Matthias Gienke to remember the questions people had to deal with. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Back then, whole families dared to venture out into an uncertain future and start anew together.” They often had religious reasons; In many cases, extreme poverty also caused them to burn all bridges to their own country. There’s a lot we can learn from this, stresses Gienke. For example, counter today’s common unhappiness or apparent hopelessness with one’s own confidence. Not just a symbolic transition to a new world – to the minister of the heart of Christianity – is still relevant. He is happy to have found so many traveling companions from Brüssow and the surrounding area.
The Brüssow Museum is located in the church built in 1859 for the Old Lutherans. The museum’s advisory board is currently looking for donations so that they can raise their contribution to the renovation, which will cost almost 500,000 euros. (Photo: Monika Strehlow)
Like Paul Stangenberg, Matthias Gienke is particularly curious about New-Bergholz, its people and the museum. Above all, however, they hope, together with museum director Günter Trester and the museum’s advisory board, to find new ideas on how to give their own institution a vision. November 22 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Brüssow Museum by Erich and Ernst Kersten. This makes it ten years older than the museums in Fürstenwerder and Wittstock. But the structural shell of the Old Lutheran Church from 1859 has been in a fragile state for years. According to a five-year-old concept study, almost 450,000 euros would be needed for the renovation. The Brandenburg Museum Association suggested focusing on emigration in the mid-19th century. It should not be difficult to add the things that inspired the immigrants in their new country. This would build a bridge to today, in which the universe has become much smaller.
2024-08-15 15:00:00
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