2010 July GAS DC Heritage Museum

VISITING AUTHOR-ARTICLE

JULY 2010

New German-American Heritage Museum

Opens in Downtown DC

Forwarded by German American Society, Portland

The German-American Heritage Museum of the USA highlights the history of German immigration and migration across the United States via various exhibitions and events, while at the same time introducing modern Germany to an American audience. German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth visited the new museum, financed by more than $2 million in private contributions, on March 19 in Washington as a guest of honor during an official opening ceremony. Senator Richard Lugar (Republican-Indiana) and Bernd Deichmann, president of the German-American Heritage Foundation (GAHF), opened the museum for business together with Ambassador Scharioth.

Based in Hockemeyer Hall, the former historic townhouse home of a German immigrant, the new Heritage Museum serves as both a local community center as well as a national home for German-American associations and individuals across the country.

In a special Oral History Research Project administered by the museum, German- Americans - regardless of whether they are first or fifth generation immigrants - will be able to record their own personal stories, which will be used for wider educational purposes.

"There are so many stories of individuals and families who came to this country to start a new life that we would like to tell," said Rüdiger Lentz, executive director of the museum with decades of experience as a German journalist and director of Deutsche Welle programming in the United States.

The oral history research project is funded through the European Recovery Program, a German governmental program to foster transatlantic relations. "By recording, evaluating, archiving and publishing audio-visual testimonials from Americans of German descent, we are following our primary mission of preserving the rich cultural heritage of German- Americans," the museum states on its website.

Exhibitions and Events Bring Heritage to Life

Permanent and temporary exhibitions, such as on literary influences and on German pioneers in Alaska, will moreover illuminate contributions both past and present of German, as well as Austrian and Swiss, immigrants to the United States - from Levi Strauss (blue jeans), to Wernher von Braun (space exploration) to Heidi Klum (Project Runway).

Among the permanent exhibitions is a striking historic timeline sprawling across an entire wall of the museum's main exhibition space tracing German immigration to the US from 1600 to the present. Another permanent exhibition highlights the role of German music and choir traditions in US history.

Rotating exhibitions will include two separate panels highlighting the stories of German families and of German clubs across the country. These will be swapped on a continuous monthly basis. In addition to the exhibition spaces, a modern auditorium, with seating for up to 60 people, will serve as a venue for lectures, multimedia presentations and small conferences.

Educational programs designed for students of multiple age groups will complete the Heritage Museum's programs and allow visitors to delve deeper into the subject of German immigration

to the United States.

About the Museum

Admission to the museum is free. A small gift shop is located near the main entrance.

Located in the heart of DC's booming downtown Chinatown/Penn Quarter area, the museum is situated right across from the Verizon Center near several other museums, hotels, restaurants, the Goethe-Institut and the National Mall.

Opening hours are from 11 am to 6 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 2 pm to 7 pm on Wednesdays, and from 12 pm to 5 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Closed Mondays.

http://www.gahfusa.org/gahm/gahm.html

The German Information

Center USA is provided at a

kiosk inside the museum.

The new German-American

Heritage Museum in

Washington.

Museum of the USA)