The Carpathian Germans were a small German people living in the territory of today's Slovakia from the 12th century to 1945, when they suffered genocide. This are the current doings, of the people I come from. This page is provided as a private volunteer public service, and does not represent the official opinions of the Carpathian German Landsmannschaft.

Dr. Thomas Reimer 11/01/2001

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CARPATHIAN GERMAN CONVENTION 2001

2000 1999

Events 2001

2001/10/20-21. The annual convention of the Carpathian German Association of the USA & Canada took place in the ballroom of the Sheraton, 18 Old Ridgebury Rd, in Danbury, CT. But first, at 1 pm, the Memorial to the estimated 23,000 to 32,000 Carpathian Germans who died of war-related causes between 1941 and 1947, was inaugurated at the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Danbury, Tamarack Road, near the Motor Vehicles Building. A memorial booklet was published. The photos below show the board of trustees before the monument and two boys with Carpathian German roots laying a wreath.



The meeting began around 4pm. The board of officers (Vorstand) was reelected. Then, the progress of the history book to be written by Anthony X. Sutherland and of the cookbook was discussed. Then followed a debate about how to struggle for the voiding of the Benes-decrees, which, in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, still make second-class citizens out of the German ethnics still living there. The meeting agreed to support the Institute for German-American Relations of Dr. Marianne Bouvier because of its work to make Americans aware of the horror of the "Vertreibung" (ethnic cleansing) of ethnic Germans after World War II. The meeting also nominated Dan Behl, a member of the board of directors, to explore how to get more American-born members through promoting awareness of Carpathian German culture and genealogy. If you are interested, contact him at danbehl@us.ibm.com

Then followed the social part, with music from the "Heimatklaenge" Band, a good dinner (it was US style, roast pork with apple brandy sauce and oven-roasted potatoes, or chicken marsala on rice. For children 5-12, Chicken fingers with french fries), a raffle and much socializing. All that for only $36 per adult and $17 per kid, with the surplus having to pay all the bills from one year to the other. About 160 people were there, since the children and spouses of members, who do not attend the general meeting, now had joined us. Many couples went to the dance floor. Their greying bodies swayed in Danbury, but from the expression of their faces one could feel how their souls were dancing back home again, where they had met a long time ago, before a cruel fate struck them and uprooted them. A beautiful note where the young children in the room. A particularly pretty sight were Mrs Belliveau and her daughters, who showed that to wear ethnic costume and be proud of one's Carpathian German roots could be the "coolest" thing to do. Let us hope more young people will follow their example. Below are photos from the social part, showing the Hentschel-Alexy-Reimer family (all with roots to the Alexy-family from Eisdorf/Zips) at one table, and then the coolest gals on earth. If you are interested in coming next year to Philadelphia, or in joining in the meantime, notify Erwin Koch, 347 Rockledge Ave., Huntington Valley, PA 19006, (Phone 215-379-8192).


Also, Danke schoen to the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, this 167-year old paper ( http://www.germancorner.com/NYStaatsZ/) for publishing our meeting announcement and then on November 3, p. 32 a report of our meeting. No other newspaper in the East Coast would have cared! Support your German-American press, even though you might not agree with every article that paper writes!

2001/02/02 Carpathian German Memorial in Danbury A beautiful color sketch of the planned memorial to the Carpathian German victims of the Vertreibung was sent out. It will be inaugurated on October 20, 2001 at the Lutheran Cemetery in Danbury, CT, where the simple cross stood before. After the inauguration, we shall have our annual meeting. Donations to the Memorial Fund (funding and upkeep) are welcome, and tax-deductible for the Carpathian German Association in the USA is a registered non-profit. For details, contact our speaker John Gally, or Dan Behl, KDL Trustee, 52 Bittersweet Drive, Glen Mills, PA 19342-1318.

EVENTS 2000

2000/10/28-29. Carpathian German meeting, this year at the United German-Hungarian Club, 4666 Bristol Road (c. Bristol & Spruce) in Oakford near Philadelphia. Elections of the board of trustees, then socializing, folk-dancing, dinner, prayers by Rev. Schweitzer from St Immanuel's, (whose father is from Eisdorf/Zips, like my Opa), a raffle and an exhibit. On Sunday, common breakfast, and more socializing. A very nice atmosphere, even for teenagers.

2000/06/17. The Carpathian German Cultural Museum in Karlsruhe/Germany opened an exhibit focusing on two Carpathian German artists, Hans Weiss and Andreas Antony. Weiss, born in 1931 in Malthern/Zips, was deported in 1945 and ended in Manchester, CT. He created a company making specialized electronic parts, including for NASA, the Dynamic Metals Product Company. After retiring in 1989, he focuses on painting, often dwelling on memories from home. Antony was born 1947 in Goellnitz. His family remained, and in 1994 he was able to receive the abandonned plant of the furniture metal-parts manufacture founded by his great-grandfather in 1868. It had been confiscated in 1945 and closed in 1975. Production has resumed. The exhibit of 60 paintings of was a success.

EVENTS 1999

On the week-end of October 9th to 10th, the Carpathian German Association in the USA & Canada met in Vernon, Connecticut, (near Manchester), at the Colony Center. It was a beautiful meeting. Exactly 161 people came for photos, food and fellowship. At the business meeting, we reelected our board of officers, discussed then the forthcoming English-language history book prepared by Dr. Anthony Sutherland, the success of the website, and voted not to have a quarterly newsletter yet. An important and urgent task is to create a Perpetual Care fund for the monument to our dead, which is in Danbury, CT. At the dinner there were not only grizzled Carpathian German immigrants and survivors of the Vertreibung--the genocide of the Germans of the East--but also a fair number of US-born children and grandchildren, together with their non-Carpathian German spouses. Very pretty were the young dancers from the Belliveau family, in Zipser costume. Among the youngsters fascinated by their ethnic heritage were Jasmine Chiang, from Connecticut, whose father is from China and whose mother comes from Malthern in the Zips, and Erich and Friedrich Reimer, from Albany--my kids--whose mother is from Red China. As the old generation increasinly ascends to a better world, the Landsmannschaft will change towards a more America-style cultural club, focusing on genealogy and culture. For this, we need more young and middle-aged people to join, and to do it soon. The next meeting will be in Philadelphia. For information, call or FAX Mr. Gally at 1-860-868-2660.

Below is the Carpathian German Memorial Cross in Danbury. In the next years, a new, larger sign and other items will identify it more explicitly as our cross. Mr. Weiss has borne most of the costs so far--let's share the burden. Also, a heartfelt thanks to the American Legion of Danbury, which put in the two little American flags at Decoration Day.

The weather was gorgeous on Saturday. On Sunday, it rained, as if the sky was crying for the memory of these Carpathian German civilians slain after the war on the orders of the Beneschist Czech government, and the double standard of a world that does not denounce genocide in principle. Because of the weather, a much smaller group went to the cemetary. The man in blue, 2nd to the right, is our president for North-America, Mr. Gally.

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