2008 October Lindenmaier Landestrachtenfest

August 29. 30. 31^st, the Donauschwaben of North America and Canada observed their Landestrachtenfest at the German American Cultural Center (Lenau Park) on the premises of the Donauschwaben in Cleveland, Ohio. The large tent which was used for the 3-day Summer-Oktoberfest did remain standing and now served again for the activities of this Festival.

Indeed, the first guests arrived from Germany, Austria, Australia and other cities of the USA and Canada already during the beginning of the week and the guests of honor; “the directors of the Weltdachverband” were welcomed and treated royal by the host. Since the meeting of the Weltdachverband Organization of the Donauschwaben was planned for Thursday. The additional days our guests’ had to their disposal due to the early arrival here were opportune times to tour the city of Cleveland on Tuesday and the Amish country on Wednesday.

As we learned from Mr. Josef Jerger Chairmen of the Weltdachverband of several years, the Annual General Meeting ran very harmoniously. Mr. Jerger retired as the head of the organization and Mr. Bernhard Krastl Vorsitzender of the Banater Swabians in Germany was elected the new chairperson. Congratulations to him and his newly elected board of directors.

The Landestrachtenfest actually started already on Friday evening with the well known and customary “Kameradschaftsabend” in the Holzer Hall and the tent outside with a band playing for the guest pleasure,

On Saturday buses and private cars arrived from out of town, loaded with hundreds of young people, children, their parents and group leaders. Already in the early afternoon workshops for our youth groups as well as children’s groups were held which were interesting and informative for everyone taking part.

The official opening of the festivities took place in the exhibit facilities of the Donauschwaben on the lower level sports complex. Franz Rimpf, president of the Donauschwaben in Cleveland had the honor doing so, followed by the recital of a poem from our homeland by Helga Schlothauer. After the conclusion of the poem the women group joined by all women presented two songs. Now the festivities and the Heimat exhibit was official open and it gave the guests an opportunity to see the many beautiful Trachten, dolls in Trachten and artifacts from our homeland. It appeared that many people were involved to give this exhibit a cross section of the many arts from of our ancestors of long ago.

The parade and “Die Grosse Kundgebung” (huge revelation) was next on the agenda. All the participants in the parade met behind main building. Ingrid Dorr, the first vice-president of Donauschwaben, Cleveland and the National Youth Leader of the Donauschwaben-USA had a big surprise in store for everyone. A real “schwowischer Wagen” a Swabian wagon on which we saw Karoline Lindenmaier, Jakob Gayer and children in Trachten seated, leading the parade around the lake to the soccer field accompanied by the sound of the brass bands from St. Louis and Cleveland. The wagon was followed by the honorary guest and the many groups from the USA and Canada.

After the honorary guests were seated in the grand stands of the field, the various youth groups took their positions on the soccer field with their flags and signs from their organizations they proudly carried to the field. The bands played the national anthems of Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia and the United States and finally the anthem of the Donauschwaben presented by Michelle Esper.

President Rimpf extended his greetings with hearty words to everyone in particular to the honorary guest from afar, which he introduced. First he introduced the guest speaker Mr. Wolfgang Drautz, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany from the Consulates in Chicago. Then Robert Filippi (10 Jahre President in Cleveland und Vice-President of the Weltdachverbandes) who had the honor to introduce the newly elected officers of the Weltdachverband. The are: Bernhard Krastl President (Deutschland); Josef Jerger Vize President (Deutschland); Dipl. Ing. Alexander May Vice-President (Austria); Dipl. Ing. Hans Supritz (President of the Donauschwaben of the Federal Republic of Germany); Henriette Mojem Secretary of the Haus der Donauschwaben (Deutschland); Stefan Ihas Jugend- und Trachtengruppenleiter (Deutschland) as well as other personalities:

Among other Donauschwaben personalities present were; Hermann and Marianne Lammli, Australia); Helmut Berner, President of the Sathmarer Schwaben (Germany); Barbara Fetzer (Germany); Johann Kehlbach (Germany); Father Peter Zillich (Germany), Leo Mayer, president of the Donauschwaben-USA; Maria Abt, women group leader of the Donauschwaben-USA, Hilde Hornung, cultural adviser of the Donauschwaben-USA, Mike Talan sport group leader of the Donauschwaben-USA; Ingrid Dorr, youth group leader of the Donauschwaben-USA; Erin Sucher, children group leader of the Donauschwaben-USA; honorary presidents of the Donauschwaben-USA Theo Junker and Adam Medel. In addition there were: Hans Schaadt, President of the Donauschwaben-Canada; Jennifer Offak, youth leader of the Donauschwaben-Canada. There were 12 city groups from the USA and 2 city groups from Canada and one German-Hungarian dance group from Babarc, Hungary with their leader Eva Treitz in attendance.

During the breaks the children and youth groups had the opportunity to rehearse the dances they would present to the general public and the dance competitions, a tri-annual event for our youth dance groups whose defending champion is the youth dance group from Cleveland.

The festivities of the day ended with the customary lantern parade of the children around the lake. Ingrid Dorr, Helga Schlothauer, Erika Rounds and other mothers of the children groups had made lanterns from paper, in which a light bulb was placed to illuminate the lake during their march. The children had a lot of fun marching around the lake while the adults enjoyed watching the spectacle.

The Sunday began with an ecumenical church service at 10:30am in the large tent. The entrance song was recited by the Banater Chorus: “Praise to the lord” conducted by Andrea Ball. The Cleveland Donauschwaben Kindergruppe sang two songs and the Banater choir also recited several songs by Schubert.

The church services were held by Father Peter Zillich from Regensburg, Germany, as well as Pastor Horst Hoyer and Michael Franz of Cleveland who all held church service before on such occasions at the park. The sermon was held by Father Zillich who held church services previously during the Kirchweihfest in Cleveland. The Gospel was read by Pastor Hoyer of the Lutheran Immanuel Church and Father Franz of the Catholic St Stephan Church.

The readings were done by Edwin Moore, Pastor Hoyer and Father Franz. Father Peter Zillich knew how to conduct his sermon as usual which was going through the hearts of the parishioners. He emphasized encouragement to the believers, not to forget God and their native country. Of course father Zillich is an established accordionist and brought forth his accordion and sang the lyrics he wrote especially for his Donauschwaben parishioners throughout the world. He set the poem to music which was not only very fitting for the occasion, but also hearth worming in particular to those who were born in the old country.

A poem by Nikolaus Franzen (Hatzfeld, Cleveland) “An die Donauschwaben” interpreted by the chorus who joined framing the poem with a melody. The presentation of the offertory gifts to the altar were done by Cleveland Donauschwaben honorary president and general manager at Lenau Park, Sepp Holzer and his wife Franziska. Several women were honored in joining passing out the Holy Communion.

In addition, the new flag of the Donauschwaben was blessed by all 3 priests. With the song: “Nun danket alle Gott” (now we all thank God) all joined in a procession to the memorial garden led by the priests and the children groups in ther national Trachten for a short commemorative observation of our departed loved ones.

After the conclusion of the services, food, the kitchen prepared; Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Sauerkraut among other well tasting Donauschwaben Kuchen tediously prepared by chef Steve Weiss an his staff. The guests were served quickly and efficiently by the many hands in the kitchen and the bar, which was welcomed by all. There is no question; everyone in the kitchen and the bar had to hustle to fill the orders, since these scenes repeated throughout the day.

The program in the afternoon was continued by the “Tanzgruppe” Babarc from Hungary in the Holzer Hall in which an audience of more than 1,000 were fitted by removing all the tables normally in the hall. The group from Babarc impressed with their well balanced, highly synchronized movements and accurate execution of several Donauschwaben dances and a presentation of a Donauschwaben wedding as many from our older generation remember it from old home towns. Needless to say their performance earned a standing ovations several times during their perfomance.

After the presentation by the dance group from Babarc, Mr. Hans Supritz chairperson of the Donauschwaben in the Federal Republic of Germany took the opportunity to address the Landsleute and youth groups who had prepared their dances during the last three years for the dance competitions of the Dr. Jakob Awender Wander-Kulturpreis of the Donauschwaben of North America a program which was under the direction of the Landesjugendleiterin Ingrid Dorr.

The Holzer Halle would be closed during the competitions so that the youth dancer, as well as the audience would not be disturbed during the presentations of their performances. The audience was instructed to hold back their applause till the end of the 15 minute performance allotted for each group. The stellar performances of each group, and they were all winning performances one can say, were the highlight of the long weekend. The work of the youth dancers and their directors of the highly precise performances done to perfection created a welcome difficult task for the judges to establish a winner. In the spectator’s eyes, however they were all winners. The standing ovations after each performance were laud and long and can not be appreciated enough if you did not see the presentations. Congratulations to every participant.

The following Donauschwäbischen youth dance groups were participating in this event: The Donauschwaben from Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, The American Aid Society of Chicago, Akron, Cincinnati, Detroit, and from Toronto, Canada. The judges’ scoring system is strictly by points and the winner is determined by the group with the highest points. The winners were announced under visible tension and excitement on the dance floor by all youth dancers and audience alike. The 1^st place price went to the American Aid Society of German Descendants from Chicago. The 2^nd place price went to Cleveland and thee 3^rd place price to Milwaukee. The cheers after the announcement, we never witnessed nor experienced in the Holzer Hall. It seamed as though it would shake the building to its foundation.

Other Donauschwaben groups performing not mentioned above, who opted not to participate in competition were the groups of the St. Louis German Cultural Association, the United Donauschwaben of Philadelphia and Trenton, the friends from Rochester, N.Y. and the Donauschwaben from the city of New York.

According to reports the celebration went on long into the night before one had to depart on the buses for a long journey home. It is certain that the Landestrachtenfest in Cleveland and its memorable days will stay in the memories of many for year

Weltdachverband:

Josef Jerger, Anton Baumann, Hans Supritz, Bernhard Krastl, Präsident Henriette Mojem, Stefan Ihas, Robert Filippi and Alexander May

Gottesdienst

Father Peter Zillich Father Michael Franz Pastor Horst Hoyer

Wettbewerb Winners

Renee Stein and Ron Farland with Landesverband Jugendleiterin Ingrid Dorr