Brüssow‘s pastor Matthias Gienke was the tour guide, which made the two-week tour “across the pond” a little more affordable for the people of Brüssow. He was still excited about his trip to America when the Uckermark Kurier reached him after returning from the USA. “It was so great, there were such loving encounters with our friends in New Berkholz. “They started over there 180 years ago, but they still maintained their Germanness – they even had their own brass band there, says the priest.
Dealing with cultural heritage impressed
“It was clear that we belonged together,” the priest still gushes enthusiastically. He was particularly impressed by the service that was celebrated with the people there. The man of God’s enthusiasm about the Bible’s solidity, faith and optimism of the Americans is still clearly noticeable. “We can be really happy about how well we are doing here, and we have to look more positively into the future again,” is how he tries to describe the experiences of the trip.
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Norman Glowe, second mayor of the city of Brüssow, is still enthusiastic. He took part in the trip together with his son Tristan Steinhöfel. The whole tour was impressive for him. The architecture of Boston, Washington and New York impressed the Brüssower: “It was also fascinating for me to see how Americans deal with their cultural heritage and maintain their identity. We visited old cemeteries, with graves up to 300 years old. In Brüssow and the surrounding villages, the old graves were destroyed as part of ABM measures,” he says.
The cemetery in Wallmow/New York with the graves of the emigrants from the Uckermark (Photo: Norman Glowe)
But it wasn’t just historic America that made the Uckermark tour group euphoric; the advanced digitalization and the cleanliness of the front gardens also earned admiration. Wi-Fi was available everywhere, and internet was even available in the vastness of the countryside, which particularly excited the younger generation.
The Brüssowers also visited the church in Wallmow/New York. (Photo: Norman Glowe)
Reunion with old friends
Günther Trester from the museum advisory board of the Brüssow Local History and Emigration Museum vividly describes the local history museum in New Berkholz. It is a small house with four small rooms at the bottom, two rooms at the top and a barn next to it. He particularly admires the personal register, which is still complete in New Berkholz. He always emphasizes that he really, really liked it.
It was a particular joy for the museum director to see Jim Yagow and Norbert Brauer again. Yagow, who often comes to Brüssow with American visitors, traveled the 1,000 kilometers from Appleton in the state of Wisconsin to New Bergholz, a district of the city of Niagara Falls, in the state of New York, to meet his German friends.
The tour group from Brüssow also visited the world-famous Niagara Falls, after all, New Bergholz is in Niagara County. (Photo: Pastor Matthias Gienke)
Another highlight that no other tour group experienced was the reception of the people from Brüssow at the German embassy in Washington, as Günther Trester explains. Due to participation in the “Wunderbar Together” Germany Year 2018/19 in the USA and the signing of the cooperation agreement between Brüssow and New Bergholz, Trester had contact with the diplomat Dr. Niels von Redeker, who was in charge of the partnership at the time.
Redeker, who was informed about the trip by Trester, established contact with the embassy in Washington so that the people from Brüssow were able to enjoy a reception at the German representation in the USA. An experience that will certainly be remembered.
National anthem at the end
Just like the meeting in a German church with a German pastor in Baltimore that Karin Albrecht remembers. But that’s not all, for the veterinarian from Wollschow, the joint service with the reading by Tristan Steinhöfel and Fiete Engel in New Bergholz was a special highlight. An older woman even drove 150 kilometers to experience this service.
“When the German national anthem was played by the brass band at the end of the celebration with the New Bergholzers, the goosebumps moment was perfect,” says the veterinarian, still touched.
The tenor is clear – everyone is enthusiastic: “The trip was unique, it cannot be repeated.” There is also agreement that Pastor Matthias Gienke was an excellent tour guide.
