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    A member of the Rochester Federation of German-American Societies and the Verband der Donauschwaben, USA, the Verein der Donaudeutschen was founded in 1957 by new arriving immigrants mainly from the southeastern part of Europe. The Verein provided the new arrivals with an opportunity to meet socially to promote German heritage, culture, and language. We are proud of our family membership and encourage the participation of the younger generation in our activities.

Adolf Ribitsch, President

Did you know...

• that in 1835, 1 in 40 Rochesterians was German born, and by 1855 1 in 7 was German born and their American children comprised another seventh, making 2/7ths of German ancestry?
• that the German immigrant areas of Rochester were seperated by religion (Catholics, Presbyterian, Methodists, Baptists, and Jews)?
• that St. Joseph's Church organized the first parish school in Rochester in 1836, offering instruction in German as well as in English?
• after the failed 1848 German Revolution, many German idealists immigrated to America, and the first German sport club was founded in Rochester in 1851, a gymnastics organization called the Turnverein?
• that Rochester had a daily German language newspaper, "Der Beobachter am Genesee", as early as 1851? A second German language paper started weekly publication in 1853. The Beobachter merged with another paper in 1883 to appear as the "Abendpost und Beobachter". Its success prompted the English language paper, the "Union and Advertiser", to run a daily column in German beginning in 1888.
• two German singing societies, the Harmonie Society and the Maennerchor, were founded in the 1850's, and a Swiss-German one in 1861?
• that Rochester had one German-speaking unit in the 13th NY State Regiment during the Civil War?
• that in the 1860's, an average of two Germans a year served on the Common Council of the city government?
• that George Ellwanger and his partner, Irishman Patrick Barry, founded a horticultural enterprise in 1840, becoming one of the largest nurseries in the country and shipping their famous fruit tree stock as far as Jerusalem and Japan? George Ellanger donated 20 acres, for the children of the city, in 1888 to form Rochester's first park, Highland Park.
• that German Jews founded Rochester's famed mens garment industry, selling ready-made suits and overcoats sown in homes after the pieces were cut in the shop thereby enabling many early immigrants to earn a living even before mastering English or U. S. customs? and that German immigrant Moses B.Shantz founded a button factory in Rochester in 1888 and, within a quarter century, two Rochester factories produced more than half the buttons in the U.S.?

Reprinted with Permission

Verein der Donauschwaben, Rochester