VISITING AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE FEBRUARY 2009 German American Day 2008 Forwarded From Trenton Donauschwaben
October
6, 2008
Bob Walter I
was fortunate to have attended the wreath laying ceremony in Germantown,
Philadelphia commemorating 325 years of Germans in America.
Of course, there were Germans here before October 6, 1683 but this was
when 13 families from Krefeld, Germany, led by Daniel Pastorius, arrived in
Philadelphia and started a small community in what is now still called
Germantown. The park in Germantown is called Vernon Park and these are our two statues dedicated to the Germans. One is for the 13 families and the other refers to Daniel Pastorius as their leader. It also mentions that the Germans were against slavery. I found a monument that acknowledged the German communities’ involvement in our American Civil War. The wreath laying ceremony was arranged by Marlene and Bob Stocks. The ceremony was well attended. There was also a direct descendent of Daniel Pastorius present, (his great-great-granddaughter, who now resides in Canada).. The Burgermeister (Mayor) from Krefeld was also there as was an individual who was involved in trying to make this an annual event here in the U.S. Following the wreath ceremony there was a luncheon in Center City at the Union League. At the lunch the Mayor of Krefeld spoke about exchange students and Mr. Haas ,of the Rohm and Haas Corporation, was honored.
|
Page Author: DSNA webmaster. The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page remain the property of the author/copyright owner. Some pages will be updated on a regular schedule. Suggestions or fixes are welcome but may take weeks to months to be incorporated. Anyone may link freely to anything on this page and print any page for personal use. However, page contents, structure and format, and design elements, cannot be copied or republished without the express written permission of the page author/copyright owner. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email the DSNA webmaster at: tcthornton1@sbcglobal.net . © Copyright 2012 |